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February's twoCatboat races
Skinny LeeLee, surroundedby J-22 spinnakers
Photo courtesy of Terry Scheel
The Catboat gang is an unusual group in that it does not seema group at all, though there is an almost fierce unity amongstus.
Each of us is independent - a ship's captain,a lawyer, a plumber, a dentist, a maintenance man, a treasurehunter, a jack of all trades, a sales clerk, an architect, a cabdriver.
We spent the day before the races callingaround to ensure people were still coming.
On Saturday, 24 February, we put the borrowedaluminium outboard skiff into Sound waters next to Elford Dilbert'sTradition I and II Catboats, and slid the boats into the waters.
A good breeze was pushing patchy cloudsfrom the east nor'east and jumping swells. Rain threatened andthe weather was not the warmest.
I was left to transport the two vesselsby myself. I could not do it with the wind force piping up andthe seas that were running so I anchored one and towed the otherto Safe Haven. When I returned I could not find the anchored vessel.
I lost a Catboat on the North Sound!
Luckily, a Department of Environment Boatcame along and helped me search. He found it and I towed it overto Safe Haven.
The Safe Haven Kaibo No-Holes-Barred Race
Four Catboats beat their way out of theSafe Haven exit channel, each taking a different tack, West Westby North, Northwest, Southeast and South. Almost all the crewswere new to Catboats,
including two Brits, one of which had justlanded on Grand Cayman the night before and was excited to saila real Caymanian design.
The breeze intensified to around 20 knots.The crews were patient about their paths toward the goal. SeeHerGo,with Austin Ebanks and Don Patrick aboard, chose the middle roadof tacking often but aiming as close to the mark as possible.It was the slower route but they were consistent. Captain Crosbycut his fingers and was unable to race.
David Foster's Brac Cat, Simon Boxall andNick Vernon aboard, moved toward the land hoping to cut the seasdown by being on the lee shore where the waves began and wereat their smallest. Kenneth Ebanks, Eric Rivers and Francisco Contreraswere learning that Tradition II did not like being over- canvassed.
The sail for Tradition I was set on TraditionII. They eventually turned back because of the lack of maneuverabilityof the boat. David Walker and his recently-arrived friend, JonathanBrooksbank, aboard Tradition I, took a long tack to the NorthNorth West, becoming a dot on the horizon. Unfortunately for Simonand Nick, Brac Cat's rudder became unhinged. Nick jumped overboardto bring it back and the boat went over.
SeeHerGo finished the 11-mile course injust over two and a half hours to beach the crew at the bar ofKaibo where a $200 bar credit was arranged by Ronnie Foster. Davidand Jonathan came in just after we towed Brac Cat in, bringingour total of Catboats arriving at Kaibo to three.
Don Patrick sees sailing Catboats in hisfuture.
The Kaibo/Cayman Islands Sailing Club MardiGras Regatta
This was held to get the Catboats to Kaiboin time for the Ash Wednesday Mardis Gras Regatta, hosted by RonnieFoster's Kaibo Marina.
The Cayman Catboat Club had been invitedto participate by both the Cayman Islands Sailing Club and Kaibo,independent of the other. This would be the first time in over20 years that Catboats would race with modern racing rigs underthe sponsorship of the Sailing Club.
As an extra incentive, Thompson Shipping,the National Drug Council, Tropicana Tours, Texaco, Cable &Wireless, Kirk Freeport and Foster's Food Fair rewarded the winnersof the Catboat part of the regatta.
The races were to coincide but be separate.J-22s, with their light weight and large sail areas and littleone-sailed Cayman Catboats could not compete on an equal playingfield. The race starts would be six minutes apart with a 15-minutebreak between the back to back series for each class. The Catboatfleet had never sailed three back to back races before.
It was a beautiful day for racing-lightoverhead puffs with a blue Caribbean sky, and a breeze from theNorth East with very slight shifts to the East Nor'East.
Three of our young brothers, Catboat RaceChairman, Craig Nixon, 24, with Mario Sanchez, 24, from BoddenTown and Alex Mena from the Brac had never sailed a Cayman Catboatbefore.
On their practice rounds, Skinny LeeLee'smast snapped off at the base. The three young men pulled in themast and sail, tucked them neatly aboard,got out their oars andpaddle and started back for the beach. We went out and gatheredthem in tow, but when we arrived back at the beach they wantedto cut the mast down and re-rig Skinny LeeLee and get back inthe race.
With a Sawz-all borrowed from Kaibo,themast foot was tapered, the mast raised into place, the sail rolledon to its boom and they put out again... all within 15 minutes.
The starting flags saw a confused firststart for the Catboats. The first to venture forth was SeeHerGo,Austin having his son, William Austin Jr. aboard with Don again,slicing cleanly through the softening breeze and easy seas.
Tradition II, Skinny LeeLee, Brac Cat andTradition I followed. The race soon developed between SeeHerGoand Brac Cat, crewed by Kem Jackson with son, Joey, a Cayman Airwayspilot, flying on the weather board. Skinny LeeLee and TradtionII were there to take up the slack if either of two slipped atall. Tradition I, over-crewed with Richard Vernon, Terry Scheel,Marybeth Seher and Ron Saburon, took some time to figure out theirsituation and get the boat to move properly.
Toward race's end, they moved up to fourthplace through a good last minute strategic move, then broke theirboom, forcing the boat to retire. A surprise came on the downwind leg of the race as the J-22s were catching up with the Catboats.They could not pass them.
The J-22s, with spinnaker, jib and mainsailflying against the one sail of the Catboats not only could notcatch the smaller boats on the run, but SeeHerGo and Brac Catwere pulling away from them!
SeeHerGo pulled the first place, by inches,from Brac Cat.The Nina arrived adding her stately bearing to thetraditional end of the celebration. The second race started witha little less confusion about the flag meanings but not with theusual competitive drive that marks Catboat race starts.
Still, Skinny LeeLee passed first acrossand stayed in contention even with a falling breeze. SeeHerGogot off to a very bad start and could only place second this timearound to Tradition II with its novice crew of Ralston Rivers,Don Bigelman and Francisco. Brac Cat took third place. The oddthing was that on the downwind leg again the J-22s could not passthe Catboats and the leaders were pulling away from them.
It would be interesting to see one of JessieArch's glass fibre (400-pound) Catboats, fitted with a small jibsail against a J-22.
In the third and final race, Tradition IIwent out into the lead with SeeHerGo, Brac Cat and Skinny LeeLeebehind. The breeze lightened even more, probably to the sun-blesthappiness of those ashore but visibly slowing the under-canvassedSkinny LeeLee.
On a beam reach, the J-22s surrounded theCatboat like Indians in the movies surrounding Custer. All thosespinnakers and a Catboat! Tradition II and SeeHerGo were comingup to a photo finish when a J-22 on a port tack set a course thatwas collision-bound with SeeHerGo. The four people aboard theJ-22 were sailing without looking ahead... strange way to walk,let alone sail toward a committee boat. SeeHerGo had to give upher finish, and change course in order not to collide and takea second.
Brac Cat took another third place. The sailorsaboard J-22, CA-5, apparently never knew what they had done untilDavid Carmichael, the CISC coordinator, told them after the race.
Final Results
Catboat Races
Place Vessel Points Sponsor
1st Tradition II 5.5 Thompson Shipping/NDC
2nd SeeHerGo 6.7 Kirk Freeport
3rd Brac Cat 7.0 Foster's Food Fair
Overall Regatta
1st Radium 2.2 Donald McLean
2nd Tradition II 5.5 Thompson Shipping/NDC
3rd SeeHerGo 6.7 Kirk Freeport
As Craig Nixon said, "That was fun!"