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RACINGeven a trawler was in the “Race”! But special recognitionwent to the MYC commodore, who managed to runaground!The other fleets—“the serious racers”—had anothergood day of racing on Sunday with a little more breeze, butno more consistency. At the end of the day, the first-placefinishing boats were: Mike Young and his Airborne Melgesteam in the PHRF Fleet; Cruising went to Jerry Ross andcrew on Sleighride; and J Peas, with Paul Anstey at the helmof his J/24, took honors for their fleet. The J/24 is not exactlynew to Melbourne, but it’s going through a strong rebirthand has become the largest fleet with lots of one–designcompetition.For complete results, go to www.sail-race.com, orwww.melbourneyachtclub.com.Race Reports59th Annual Mug Race,Jacksonville, FL, May 5By Dave EllisCooper McGee (10 years), on the right, and his sister Tara (8 years)on their Hobie 16, Double Trouble, at the start of the Mug Race.The two kids sailed the entire course from start to finish, but finishedat 8:35 p.m.—after the deadline. They sailed in the MultihullNonspin C class, and no one in that class finished in time. SinceCooper and Tara were the first in that class to get to the ShandsBridge mid-course gate, they were awarded first in class. Their parentsshadowed them in a skiff, but Cooper and Tara sailed the boatby themselves. At the end of the race, they looked in a lot bettershape than most of the adults. Courtesy photo.Racers coming into the finish line in the early evening in the MugRace on May 5. Photo by Bud Newton.It was a light air trek down the St. Johns River again thisyear. Of the 109 registrants, 55 finished by the 8:15 p.m. timelimit. Eric Roberts, sailing the highly modified RC 30 withan asymmetrical spinnaker of nearly 700 square feet of area,as first to finish again, as he is nearly every year.The city of Palatka and Putnam County have come onboard this year to help the regatta host, The Rudder Club ofJacksonville, this year with several before-racing highlights.Chip Laibl of the Tourism Development Council highlightedthe Friday night Palatka party, with oyster bar, music atthe skipper’s meeting, beer tent (with the city cooperatingon open container laws) at the waterfront, and a free trolleyinto town and back until midnight. Rat Island Yacht Clubsponsored a Friday afternoon race in the Mug Race startingarea, the Beef-o-Brady Cup, that will be promoted andexpanded next year.On Saturday morning at 7:30, the slowest boats started,with progressively faster boats having an assigned time tostart based on their “Rudder Club Handicap”—mostly figuredon US SAILING Portsmouth numbers. Roberts was thelast boat to start, at 10:28:32. It took them 7:35:55 to sail the38 miles as the crow flies. But these crows had to do a lot ofjibing, so the actual distance was significantly longer.Bret Moss on a Marstrom 20 sailed a stellar race, jibingon the lifts, finding wind, staying out of or in the current, asit changed in the middle of the afternoon on this tidal river.Yet he only managed second place to the powerful RC 30.There was a groundswell of comment by competitors that itis time to review the rating of the winner, as the boat haschanged over the years, but the rating has not. To have thesame boat win nearly every year is not helping the participationof the event. Other boats reputedly had modifiedtheir boats or rig or carried non-class sails without “declaring”the changes to the handicapper. Since the Mug Race isnot a Gaboon-style anything-goes open event, severalsailors opined that if this is addressed, they may feel theyhave more of a chance at a higher finish.First non-spinnaker multihull was KIyle Runnfeldt on aHobie 16, the top junior finisher. They were 20th overall inthe fleet. There were no all-female finishers. Laura Toth andJulie Runnfeldt found themselves just a short distance to themid-point, Shands Bridge, when their old Hobie 16 startedto list for no apparent reason. Well, the reason becameapparent when one hull sank. While they were in no danger,all kinds of emergency people showed up, and the bridgewas closed to traffic for a time to keep drivers from gawkingand causing accidents. They were pulled into shore withno further drama.First non-spinnaker monohull, in 31st overall, was48 June 2012 SOUTHWINDS www.southwindsmagazine.com