Summer 2006 - New England Multihull Association

RACING ROUNDUP
2006 Trimaran Nationals
by Glenn Howell
The year 2006 will go down as a special
year in the annals of the trimaran
nationals. Fort Walton
Beach, FL is a quite simply great place to
sail. Think about it. You can launch your
trimaran at the Fort Walton Yacht Club,
and while your crew is washing down
and parking the trailer at the YC, you sail
across the bay to your beach-side
anchorage or condominium dock.
Secure the boat and walk to your condo
for a dip in the pool or a walk on the
beach. Later on, walk to the Ramada
ocean pier Tiki bar for an adult beverage
or, if you like, a cool Fiji water while
enjoying the live entertainment and
watching the surf roll in.
Then it’s on to the Summer House
restaurant, a short walk from the
Ramada, for a fine dining experience and
camaraderie with the competition. A
brisk walk home will rid you of that overstuffed
tightness in your gut. Next morning
head over to the condo gym or perhaps
the pool for a bit of exercise. Then
it’s a short walk to the boat for a shakedown
sail and some practice spinnaker
sets, jibes, and tacks, or perhaps to participate
in the well-attended and much
appreciated Randy Smyth sailing school.
Glenn Howell’s Adios! (number 22) at the start of one of Friday’s races.
Repeat the next day, etc.
Oh, and did I mention the Boat US
and the West Marine, as well as the
Publix supermarket and the Fort Walton
Yacht Club are all less than 10 minutes
drive from your condo or Leeside Park
anchorage? Sorry for the inconvenience,
but the Wal-Mart is about a 15
minute drive from your accommodations.
Oh yeah, and about the weather.
Well, what is there to complain about?
Seventy something degrees and partly
sunny every day, I mean geez, the wind
blew every day too, between 6 and 17
knots. There was that one thunderstorm
that blew through on the last night and
bashed up the Remmers/Onsguard F-28
float combing, and we actually had to
wait a few hours the next morning for the
wind to fill. What an inconvenience!
And if you can imagine the sight of the
sun glinting off of the turquoise blue
water at the Destin Inlet bridge as we
sailed in from the Gulf races, watching a
pod of dolphins shepherding their newborns
through their first play session.
Then blend in with the fleet of Corsairs
smoking across the large expanse of flat
warm protected water that is
Choctawhatchee Bay as we zoom to our
Dave Calvert helming Bert Kornyei’s Hot Flash.
dock. Yes we did jump into the pool
afterward and walk to the Ramada, and
….you get the picture. I should have told
you about the picnic race to the park
too!
The first race was a “Bermuda
start” with each boat assigned a starting
time based on handicap. The poor F-31s
had to start last and sail through all of
the other boats to win, and of course the
F-24s got to sail in nice clean air the
whole race. But who’s complaining?
Adios! was able to catch all but the
Sprint 750s crewed by the winning
Wigston/McGarry and Styne/Wright
teams, and the always excellent
Kuertin/Shaw f-24 team, to finish 4th
overall. Imagine thirty-something sleek
Corsairs lined up on the tropical beach
like so many giant spiders, with masters
lounging languidly nearby and lunching
lazily on the infamous Grady BBQ chicken
tartar sans tomatoes!
Yes, the wind did build for the race
home and we did see Randy Smyth blow
by at the helm of Kenny Winter’s soupedup
31-1D Rocketeer III. In fact they went
past in a hail of spray and foam going so
fast that it seemed like we were standing
still. How does Randy work the traveler
6
N E M A Summer 2006