Cal 34 wins Key West Race

Shady Lady, my 1970 Cal 34, won the Naples to Key West Spinnaker Class race this year. She completed the 95 mile race in under 15 hours in flukey winds, winning her class and overall. We had won the same regatta last year (13 hours) so I deemed it only sporting to go back and give them another crack at us. But we received a less-than-warm welcome at the Naples Yacht Club and I decided that this was going to be our last year doing that race because of it. Naples Yacht Club is one of those snooty places where they act is if they are doing you some big favor if they turn their heads to look at you. Powerboats outnumber the sailboats something like 40 to 1. The powerboats are all gleaming and very expensive looking, but rarely used. Most of the activity on the docks is hired help who clean the boats nearly daily. Few of the workers speak any english. I guess the club used to have more sailors and the only reason they host this regatta is due to one member, who is getting old. Most of the race entries come from other clubs. I presume that when the one member gets too old to mess about with boats, that will be it for their involvement with sailboats. I've done this race for many years, previously in the True Cruising Class, but the last two years in Spinnaker (because they came up with a new rule that excluded me from True Cruising - no 180 genoas allowed, even with the nine second hit I took on my rating for it.) I switched to Spinnaker Class mostly because I just wanted more power to get to Key West quicker, and the race is usually a reach. Well, we all know how well Cals do on a reach, so last year we shamed their finest Farr 395 and others out of their prised club prepetual trophy. They even broke part of it off prior to the presentation! They always offered free dockage to race entrants prior to the start but this year they hit me up for dockage. And this, out of a club dripping with money. I don't care how much fun it is to kick their ass, if they are going to be this snotty about it, screw em! This race is gonna die, anyway. Might as well go out with a bang. That's it, they had their chance. We are taking our victories and running with em. They'll never get another crack at the Shady Lady. On the converse side of this story is a happy future. I have heard excellent stories about a new player on the hosting scene, Bird Key Yacht Club in Sarrasota. They do a start in the same regatta to the same finish, but their course is something like 170 miles. Also, it's not as much of a reach, closer to the wind, and possibly close hauled. But everybody said they have new blood and bent over backwards to make everyone feel welcome. They also have nearly double the participation and I bet it goes up next year, as I am not the only one fed up with Naples. I'm not gonna race Shady Lady this season because we are fixing her up to do a Bahamas Cruise next year. But if the stories continue favorable we may do Sarrasota to Key West in '08. Sometimes the wind allows a close reach on that course, so we may even have a chance at winning, but I know the competition will be more fierce. At this point, I'd rather lose in that race than win the other one. And who knows? We could do some good. I've been wanting to see if I can log 150 miles in 24 hours since I got the boat. This could be just the venue for it. Meanwhile, we've got a Bahamas cruise to get ready for.... Love my Cal, ~smile~ SMon aka Steve Honour --------------------------------- Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min.

Congrats, Steve! Great job. Good to hear from you. Too bad about Naples Yacht Club, but clubs do go through cycles. Every area has at least one of them. Fortunately, we have LAYC and Vallejo out here and they are just great clubs. No snoot. Great sailors and boaters and really friendly people. Once again, though, it's all about sailing and having fun. Sounds ike you are getting that part in spades! \Rog Cal 29+ #1 Swiss Navy Cal 2-30 #77 St. Lori's Comet

Congratulations on a very just win! Snootiness is always worth deflation! Speaking of snooty, it isn't just powerboaters. Here at Captain's Cove we have an annual two day gathering of the Long Island Sound Calatina Association (LISCA). A very unfriendly bunch. Last year I needed to walk out onto E dock, (transient dock) to speak to a friend. The LISCA crowd was on the dock partying. The did not want to let me on - just gave me the hairy eyeball till a just about pushed my way through. Same treatment with unpleasant muttering on the way back off. So this year, I was sailing towards the channel when the LISCA fleet was sailing down. Now that's a very pretty site, 12 boats in line astern. As usual, I waved at every boat in passing. One, only ONE acknowledged the wave. Every boat looked at me, the hairy eyeball again. Oh well, the fact that all the boats were 34 feet or over, many over 40, and most under 5 years might be an indicator. Thomas Downing From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com on behalf of steve honour Sent: Mon 8/28/2006 11:02 AM To: Cal_boats Subject: [Cal_Boats] Cal 34 wins Key West Race Shady Lady, my 1970 Cal 34, won the Naples to Key West Spinnaker Class race this year. She completed the 95 mile race in under 15 hours in flukey winds, winning her class and overall. We had won the same regatta last year (13 hours) so I deemed it only sporting to go back and give them another crack at us. But we received a less-than-warm welcome at the Naples Yacht Club and I decided that this was going to be our last year doing that race because of it. Naples Yacht Club is one of those snooty places where they act is if they are doing you some big favor if they turn their heads to look at you. DISCLAIMER: Important Notice ************************************************* This e-mail may contain information that is confidential, privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, do not duplicate or redistribute it by any means. Please delete it and any attachments and notify the sender that you have received it in error. Unintended recipients are prohibited from taking action on the basis of information in this e-mail.E-mail messages may contain computer viruses or other defects, may not be accurately replicated on other systems, or may be intercepted, deleted or interfered with without the knowledge of the sender or the intended recipient. If you are not comfortable with the risks associated with e-mail messages, you may decide not to use e-mail to communicate with IPC. IPC reserves the right, to the extent and under circumstances permitted by applicable law, to retain, monitor and intercept e-mail messages to and from its systems.

Thanks to all who responded to my race report. I appreciate the feedback and assure you that I will not quit racing. Although, I guess I am getting old enough to be spoiled and am leaning much more heavily toward picking my races very carefully. I used to be all about blood and guts winning, at all cost, and managed to piss off a few friends over it. But that was all years ago and I have since become much more centered around having fun. When I make it fun for the whole crew, then I have more fun. Winning is fun so we always try very hard to win, but a win that results in fractured friendships is a shallow win, in my book. If Naples can't be gracious enough to offer a sincere congrats after a solid win, then I'd rather move on. Taking this season off has nothing to do with the Naples friction. We have been planning the trip to the Bahamas for a long time. I will continue to crew on OPB's for this race season, and also will race my Sunfish a bit. We are simply going to be adding a lot of gear to Shady Lady for cushy stuff and time becomes an issue. Back when I was obsessed with winning, I wondered what the losers got out of racing. Why would they come back over and over even if they never won anything? Now I know. It's all about the comaraderie. I still win (sometimes) and enjoy it but it doesn't mean as much to me as the people. That's what it's all about. The people make it fun. Same thing with the awards. It's not about how nice the trophy is. I'd rather receive a cheap plastic plague, awarded to me in front of a huge crowd of well wishers, than to be given a silver bowl, after the fact, in the hallway outside a protest room. Happy sails, SMon (Steve Honour) steve honour <st… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: Shady Lady, my 1970 Cal 34, won the Naples to Key West Spinnaker Class race this year. She completed the 95 mile race in under 15 hours in flukey winds, winning her class and overall. We had won the same regatta last year (13 hours) so I deemed it only sporting to go back and give them another crack at us. But we received a less-than-warm welcome at the Naples Yacht Club and I decided that this was going to be our last year doing that race because of it. Naples Yacht Club is one of those snooty places where they act is if they are doing you some big favor if they turn their heads to look at you. Powerboats outnumber the sailboats something like 40 to 1. The powerboats are all gleaming and very expensive looking, but rarely used. Most of the activity on the docks is hired help who clean the boats nearly daily. Few of the workers speak any english. I guess the club used to have more sailors and the only reason they host this regatta is due to one member, who is getting old. Most of the race entries come from other clubs. I presume that when the one member gets too old to mess about with boats, that will be it for their involvement with sailboats. I've done this race for many years, previously in the True Cruising Class, but the last two years in Spinnaker (because they came up with a new rule that excluded me from True Cruising - no 180 genoas allowed, even with the nine second hit I took on my rating for it.) I switched to Spinnaker Class mostly because I just wanted more power to get to Key West quicker, and the race is usually a reach. Well, we all know how well Cals do on a reach, so last year we shamed their finest Farr 395 and others out of their prised club prepetual trophy. They even broke part of it off prior to the presentation! They always offered free dockage to race entrants prior to the start but this year they hit me up for dockage. And this, out of a club dripping with money. I don't care how much fun it is to kick their ass, if they are going to be this snotty about it, screw em! This race is gonna die, anyway. Might as well go out with a bang. That's it, they had their chance. We are taking our victories and running with em. They'll never get another crack at the Shady Lady. On the converse side of this story is a happy future. I have heard excellent stories about a new player on the hosting scene, Bird Key Yacht Club in Sarrasota. They do a start in the same regatta to the same finish, but their course is something like 170 miles. Also, it's not as much of a reach, closer to the wind, and possibly close hauled. But everybody said they have new blood and bent over backwards to make everyone feel welcome. They also have nearly double the participation and I bet it goes up next year, as I am not the only one fed up with Naples. I'm not gonna race Shady Lady this season because we are fixing her up to do a Bahamas Cruise next year. But if the stories continue favorable we may do Sarrasota to Key West in '08. Sometimes the wind allows a close reach on that course, so we may even have a chance at winning, but I know the competition will be more fierce. At this point, I'd rather lose in that race than win the other one. And who knows? We could do some good. I've been wanting to see if I can log 150 miles in 24 hours since I got the boat. This could be just the venue for it. Meanwhile, we've got a Bahamas cruise to get ready for.... Love my Cal, ~smile~ SMon aka Steve Honour --------------------------------- How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.

I know we've spent not a lot of time on the water together, but most of it has been the KW races. I remember my first one with you (also the best one) as OMG this is going to be a long 2 days. I didn't know the crew or you for that matter as I was a last minute (literally) substitution. I knew the boat and how hard it could be run before things started breaking. At the starting line you were barking a little bit and I wasn't used to that, but 30 seconds after the start things were back to the Steve I grew to know and loved racing with. I went from being ballast to being a shift captain in a very short time. You deserve all the wins you got, even when I was a close second behind you in my boat. Naples Yacht Club is a very snooty place. The dock master was a seriously good guy, the assistant dock master was a serious dock Nazi. I hope we'll race again together someday, it was always fun. Rich and Carol

Hi Rich, (Hi Carol,) Thanks, man! I can't tell you how glad I was to have you aboard for that race. I had a hunch that getting you aboard was a good idea but having only met you once or twice, and never raced with you, it was a decision made more on feel and gut than on experience. Wow, did that ever pay off! I could not think of a better crew for that situation. That race cemented the core of a great friendship and I'd be glad to race with you any time I get the chance. Participating in several day offshore event is a leap of faith and being a race skipper can be a quite a challenge. Put em together and then toss in people you hardly know and the outcome is highly unpredictable. The start of a race is often quite crucial as it can determine the initial race position and the very mood of the entire event. No pressure there, ahem. ~rolling eyes~ Thanks for coming along, putting up with my (hopefully temporary) impatience, and showing your prowess. I can't tell you how glad I was to have you aboard to take the helm during some demanding conditions in which we pushed that boat literally to it's limits and then backed off to save the ship, ourselves, and eventually our competitive effort. What was it we said? A 30 year old mainsail in 30 knot winds is not a good idea? I was impressed that about the time I was thinking we had to reduce sail that you were saying the exact same thing. The only part of the equation that you didn't know was that the old roller reefing set up was woefully inadequate (no clew tension and a blown out sail) and our only choice was to take the main down all together. You also didn't know that I had done this once before on a fractional rigged boat and lost the mast! (no after-support at the hounds on that Santana 23.) But we survived the blow and at dawn we reset the sail. It's amazing how fast the old Cal reached thru the night on just a 135 genoa. I'm sure we all felt the pressure was off, tho, as surely we must have forfeited our lead that night and were resigned to also-ran position. I guess we must have all held out hope that somehow we were still in the race; and that jelled later as we began to converge with competition that should have been hours ahead of us. It is hard to explain the jubilation we all felt when we finally learned that we nearly won. What was it, something like 4 minutes we lost by after all that? Had to be one of the sweetest second places I ever took part in. Then the way the crew plotted and contributed to the new mainsail effort! I could not have been more touched. We made that yard sale such a huge success and raised the needed cash for a brand new sail the following year. Now, that's teamwork! Always good to hear from ya and you know you are missed around these parts. Take care, my friend. Hope to see you soon. Perhaps next spring when I pass thru your area bound for the Bahamas? ~smile~ SMon ps: We won the return race to Naples that year in better winds. richard beliveau <ri… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: I know we've spent not a lot of time on the water together, but most of it has been the KW races. I remember my first one with you (also the best one) as OMG this is going to be a long 2 days. I didn't know the crew or you for that matter as I was a last minute (literally) substitution. I knew the boat and how hard it could be run before things started breaking. At the starting line you were barking a little bit and I wasn't used to that, but 30 seconds after the start things were back to the Steve I grew to know and loved racing with. I went from being ballast to being a shift captain in a very short time. You deserve all the wins you got, even when I was a close second behind you in my boat. Naples Yacht Club is a very snooty place. The dock master was a seriously good guy, the assistant dock master was a serious dock Nazi. I hope we'll race again together someday, it was always fun. Rich and Carol Yahoo! Groups Links --------------------------------- Get your email and more, right on the new Yahoo.com