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Smooth, fast sailing in Harvest Moon Regatta, before tanker comes
  
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By JOHN IRA PETTY
Editor’s note: Intrepid sailor John Ira Petty sailed on the Harvest Moon Regatta and chronicled his adventures aboard Indian Summer.
It’s about two miles from the No. 6 buoy on the Aransas Pass Channel to the finish line. It took us about two hours to cover that distance.
We weren’t alone. Other boats reported spending up to four hours.
The fleet had a fast sail down the coast from the Harvest Moon Regatta starting line off Galveston’s Flagship Hotel. But once off Port Aransas, IIndian Summer and a lot of other boats found the tide going out the channel.
The wind was so light that we could make little – or sometimes only negative -- progress. We noted our position in relation to a parked camper on one side of the channel and a little blue tent on the other. We passed them at least three times.
We and about 40 other boats were stacked up in the channel when a tanker’s arrival added spice to the mix.
The Panama-registered Ocean Bridge needed, and got, most of the channel. The race committee did a good job giving advanced notice and making way for the ship. Competitors were allowed to use engines to get to the side of the channel, though not to advance toward the finish line.
There was occasional brisk language as the boats became more tightly packed. Several boats dropped out and motored past the finish line.
All ended well, and shortly after the tanker passed, the breeze picked up enough to get us and the other boats across the line.
Indian Summer owner Pat Cunningham had gotten us off to a good start that Thursday afternoon, sailing up the line and then heading for Port Aransas when the gun sounded.
The conditions suited Indian Summer, a robustly built Downeast 41.
The wind was off the coast and strong enough to keep us near the boat’s maximum theoretical speed though the seas remained relatively small. We stayed closer to the coast than many of the competitors, and were rewarded with a following current.
With us aboard Indian Summer were Guy Rodgers, owner of a shipping container business, Betty Birkner, a real estate consultant and experienced sailor; Marta Rudy, a marketer for a human resources outsourcing company; Dixie Stange, manager at a psychology practice who races her own J-24, and Kay Bramlett, a long-time boat owner and marketing manager for an insurance company in Temple.
We continue to move quickly down the coast. The favorable wind and the boost from the current continued. Clouds covered the event’s namesake moon. While a moon would have been nice, we were glad to be going fast.
We knew many of the other boats were enjoying the same conditions. Still, we though we were more competitive than in some of the previous Harvest Moon Regattas sailed in lighter conditions.
The night went by quickly. Rodgers and Stange had the 9 p.m. to midnight watch. She steered most of that watch, while Rodgers rested to gather strength for the coming shoreside activities. Rudy and I had midnight to 3 a.m. and Birkner and Bramlett had the 3 to 6 a.m. stint.
The offshore structures slipped by quickly, their lights provided good steering reference points. Daylight came, and eventually we saw Port Aransas and its jetties.
We’d had to work the sails coming up the channel, so when we got across the finish line about midday Friday we were tired enough to be glad to furl them. We power up the Corpus Christi Channel to Island Moorings Marina.
About 160 boats had registered for the race. More than 130 crossed the finish line of the 150-mile race.
Aransas Pass is among the world’s more hospitable places. Its people are friendly, welcoming and eager to please. I was especially impressed with a smiling, substantial, tattooed female cab driver who gave us cards with her cab company information on one side and numbers for two bail bond companies and an auto towing company on the other.
At the Saturday night awards ceremony Indian Summer’s Cunningham accepted the trophy for first in C Division of the Cruising Non-Spinnaker Fleet. But we’d had our sights set on the Cameron Cannon, a trophy Indian Summer had won once before
Alas, it was not to be. If we had been able to finish 20 minutes quicker, we might have won that fleet trophy.
Still, we did have a victory of sorts at the dance after the awards ceremony. Cunningham and crew had come up with the Indian Summer Sail Dance featuring pantomimes of various yacht-racing activities, starting with the halyards, continuing through grinding winches, steering in various sea conditions, swabbing the decks and even pumping the bilge.
By the end of the evening the participants had expanded well beyond the Indian Summer crew, with people from other boats swelling the circle.
Among winners of the major Harvest Moon Regatta awards were Steve Rhyne on Mojo, who got both the Bacardi Cup for first in the ORC Spinnaker Fleet and the Bill Hall Memorial Trophy for the first monohull to finish.
Bill Greak on Frayed Knot won the Cameron Cannon for first in the Cruising Non-Spinnaker Fleet. The Commodore’s Trophy for the Cruising Spinnaker Fleet went to Chuck Weilchowsky on Texas Ranger.
The Mayor’s Trophy for the first multihull to finish went to Jim Van Fleet of Abandoned Assets. Carolyn Jenko of Sea Gypsy took home the Sea Lake Yacht Sales’ Luna Trophy for the all-women crew, cruising non-spinnaker competitors.
This year’s was the 22nd annual Harvest Moon Regatta. It is organized by Lakewood Yacht Club. Major sponsors include Bay Access Inc., a charitable group supporting amateur racing; Bacardi, West Marine and the Harry S. & Isabel C. Cameron foundation.
As for Indian Summer’s crew, we hope to be back next year for another shot at the Cameron Cannon. We might even come up with some new moves for the Sail Dance.
It’s about two miles from the No. 6 buoy on the Aransas Pass Channel to the finish line. It took us about two hours to cover that distance.
We weren’t alone. Other boats reported spending up to four hours.
The fleet had a fast sail down the coast from the Harvest Moon Regatta starting line off Galveston’s Flagship Hotel. But once off Port Aransas, IIndian Summer and a lot of other boats found the tide going out the channel.
The wind was so light that we could make little – or sometimes only negative -- progress. We noted our position in relation to a parked camper on one side of the channel and a little blue tent on the other. We passed them at least three times.
We and about 40 other boats were stacked up in the channel when a tanker’s arrival added spice to the mix.
The Panama-registered Ocean Bridge needed, and got, most of the channel. The race committee did a good job giving advanced notice and making way for the ship. Competitors were allowed to use engines to get to the side of the channel, though not to advance toward the finish line.
There was occasional brisk language as the boats became more tightly packed. Several boats dropped out and motored past the finish line.
All ended well, and shortly after the tanker passed, the breeze picked up enough to get us and the other boats across the line.
Indian Summer owner Pat Cunningham had gotten us off to a good start that Thursday afternoon, sailing up the line and then heading for Port Aransas when the gun sounded.
The conditions suited Indian Summer, a robustly built Downeast 41.
The wind was off the coast and strong enough to keep us near the boat’s maximum theoretical speed though the seas remained relatively small. We stayed closer to the coast than many of the competitors, and were rewarded with a following current.
With us aboard Indian Summer were Guy Rodgers, owner of a shipping container business, Betty Birkner, a real estate consultant and experienced sailor; Marta Rudy, a marketer for a human resources outsourcing company; Dixie Stange, manager at a psychology practice who races her own J-24, and Kay Bramlett, a long-time boat owner and marketing manager for an insurance company in Temple.
We continue to move quickly down the coast. The favorable wind and the boost from the current continued. Clouds covered the event’s namesake moon. While a moon would have been nice, we were glad to be going fast.
We knew many of the other boats were enjoying the same conditions. Still, we though we were more competitive than in some of the previous Harvest Moon Regattas sailed in lighter conditions.
The night went by quickly. Rodgers and Stange had the 9 p.m. to midnight watch. She steered most of that watch, while Rodgers rested to gather strength for the coming shoreside activities. Rudy and I had midnight to 3 a.m. and Birkner and Bramlett had the 3 to 6 a.m. stint.
The offshore structures slipped by quickly, their lights provided good steering reference points. Daylight came, and eventually we saw Port Aransas and its jetties.
We’d had to work the sails coming up the channel, so when we got across the finish line about midday Friday we were tired enough to be glad to furl them. We power up the Corpus Christi Channel to Island Moorings Marina.
About 160 boats had registered for the race. More than 130 crossed the finish line of the 150-mile race.
Aransas Pass is among the world’s more hospitable places. Its people are friendly, welcoming and eager to please. I was especially impressed with a smiling, substantial, tattooed female cab driver who gave us cards with her cab company information on one side and numbers for two bail bond companies and an auto towing company on the other.
At the Saturday night awards ceremony Indian Summer’s Cunningham accepted the trophy for first in C Division of the Cruising Non-Spinnaker Fleet. But we’d had our sights set on the Cameron Cannon, a trophy Indian Summer had won once before
Alas, it was not to be. If we had been able to finish 20 minutes quicker, we might have won that fleet trophy.
Still, we did have a victory of sorts at the dance after the awards ceremony. Cunningham and crew had come up with the Indian Summer Sail Dance featuring pantomimes of various yacht-racing activities, starting with the halyards, continuing through grinding winches, steering in various sea conditions, swabbing the decks and even pumping the bilge.
By the end of the evening the participants had expanded well beyond the Indian Summer crew, with people from other boats swelling the circle.
Among winners of the major Harvest Moon Regatta awards were Steve Rhyne on Mojo, who got both the Bacardi Cup for first in the ORC Spinnaker Fleet and the Bill Hall Memorial Trophy for the first monohull to finish.
Bill Greak on Frayed Knot won the Cameron Cannon for first in the Cruising Non-Spinnaker Fleet. The Commodore’s Trophy for the Cruising Spinnaker Fleet went to Chuck Weilchowsky on Texas Ranger.
The Mayor’s Trophy for the first multihull to finish went to Jim Van Fleet of Abandoned Assets. Carolyn Jenko of Sea Gypsy took home the Sea Lake Yacht Sales’ Luna Trophy for the all-women crew, cruising non-spinnaker competitors.
This year’s was the 22nd annual Harvest Moon Regatta. It is organized by Lakewood Yacht Club. Major sponsors include Bay Access Inc., a charitable group supporting amateur racing; Bacardi, West Marine and the Harry S. & Isabel C. Cameron foundation.
As for Indian Summer’s crew, we hope to be back next year for another shot at the Cameron Cannon. We might even come up with some new moves for the Sail Dance.
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