Pete Melvin and I had good speed using a newly developed Danger main with maximum roach at all points, it looked a little funny but seemed to be very fast. With the help of this sail we were lucky enough to be in the lead at the finish, to win both races. However, this is where our luck ran out. While lifting the boat out of the water, the ring of our lifting bridle broke and Mr. boat met Mr. concrete seawall in a big way. The only thing that dampened the fall was the rig getting caught up in the crane which ripped the spreader off and bent the mast. As I heard the stomach turning sound of cracking Kevlar and crushing honeycomb, I thought so much for that boat, and regatta for that matter. The only positive thought that went through my head was at least we are in Santa Cruz and Larry Tuttles' shop (Waterat) is only a mile away.
With only minor begging and pleading, Larry brought the boat into his shop and started to cut and rip at the bottom with a glorified carpet knife. A sight and sound as hard to stomach as the original incident. After an initial inspection Larry told us to get lost and come back the next morning. Upon returning the next morning we found Larry polishing off the bottom of the boat around the repairs, which were hard to find without close inspection.
Editor's Note: In a converstation with me, Larry pointed out that our strong and stiff fully cored hulls are able to absorb a considerable amount of force. If this had happened to a conventional polyester, non cored hull, there would have been multiple pieces or at least a huge hole in the boat resulting in total destruction.
The boat fell over ten feet, hit the concrete sea wall, bounced from there down to the dock another four feet, and off the dock into the water. The boat was NOT holed, but the outer skin suffered cracks and fractures. It was determined that the boat could actually have been raced as it stood, prior to the repair. Some of you may remember hearing about Howard Hamlin's own boat coming off its trailer and bouncing end for end down the interstate, with minimal damage. The strength of the Waterat 505, and many of the Hamlin and Lindsays is incredible. You may also be interested in Howard Hamlin's 505 Interstate Flying article.
So we loaded up the boat and headed back to the yacht club and started to install the spare rig. The wind cooperated with us and stayed dead calm, causing a postponement, and allowing us extra time to get everything squared away. Unfortunately the wind never came up at all that day. Dave Wally wisely abandoned racing at 4:00 allowing us time to go surfing before heading to the big party at Jim Maloney's house to celebrate Jeff Miller getting his Ph.D., and marking the end of his 35 years of education. It was a great social event with lots of food and beer for everyone.
Sunday morning rolled around with a light breeze filling in allowing us to get three races in. Again the conditions were marginal trapezeing and we had more tight racing with different leaders on almost every leg of every race. With our boat in one piece, and our luck returning, Pete and I managed to win all three races on Sunday as well, to finish the regatta with a perfect score. In a ferocious battle for second place the famous Howard Hamlin with a borrowed boat and I 14 Crew Mike Jankowski beat out local favorites Dave Shelton and Bruce Edwards. Getting seconds in the last two races were Mike Holt, who came all the way from England just for this regatta, and Brad Cole who beat out 8 time P.C.C. champ Jeff Miller and Bruce Heckman for fourth place. Also in the money were Don Smith with guest driver Mike Punnet. They were followed by only one point by Tom Poore and Tim Park. Complete results are listed below.
PLACE CREW DRIVER RACE 1 RACE 2 RACE 3 RACE 4 RACE 5 POINTS
1 Martin Melvin 1 1 1 1 1 3.75
2 Jankowski Hamlin 2 4 8 4 5 23
3 Shelton Edwards 3 2 7 10 3 25
4 Cole Holt 6 11 10 2 2 31
5 Heckman Miller 4 3 2 19 10 38
6 Smith Punnet 7 10 9 9 4 39
7 Park Poor 17 6 4 5 8 40
8 Brox Craig 11 8 5 3 18 45
9 Kuncl Wondoleck 14 7 11 6 14 52
10 Koblenz Thompson 9 13 12 7 13 54
11 Liston Brown 16 19 3 12 7 57
12 Harland Hamilton 12 9 13 15 9 58
13 Leib Bartz 15 5 14 8 17 59
14 Burnard Hayley 10 14 17 13 6 60
15 Cook Tara 5 15 20 11 19 70
16 Perez Smith 20 16 6 18 11 71
17 Anderes Robinson 13 18 15 16 15 77
18 Ives Gooding 8 20 16 17 20 81
19 Hopkins Andreasen 19 12 21 20 12 84
20 Pauling Klein 18 21 18 14 16 87
21 Gilmour Gilmour 21 17 19 21 25 103
22 Clemp Weaver 22 22 22 22 21 109
23 Rettinger Rettinger 25 25 23 23 22 118
24 Craig Craig 25 25 25 25 25 125