Turkey Day 2005 on December 3rd had Sunshine and Great Wind!

Story by Mark Barr

What a day! The sun was shining brightly and the Afterbay was just starting to whitecap as we launched our boats for the rescheduled Turkey Day 2005. This event was rescheduled after the eight boat fleet was becalmed two weeks earlier on November 13th. From the time we first pulled into the Monument Hill Day Use Parking lot, it was clear that we would not lack for wind on this day.

The only drawback was the light turnout. Only three boats attended this event. Paul Ritchie, Mike Maddox and David Sears were going to sail Paul's Hunter 216, Dave Neilsen and Jody Christopherson rigged Dave's Windmill and Jim Marazzo and I were sailing my Thistle. This was planned as a reverse Portsmouth race, so Dave and Jody (the slowest rated boat in theory) started at 11:00. Approximately eleven minutes later, the Hunter was to start, but Paul's main halyard shackle failed and his main came tumbling down. As Jim and I started in the Thistle (17 minutes after the Windmill started), the Hunter was forced to return to the dock under power. Paul later told me, that this mishap was a big disappointment for everyone on board. Click here for Paul's amusing account of what happened on his boat.

Photo on left: Dave and Jody raising sail. Photo right: Paul Ritchie, Mike Maddox and David Sears

Click on photos for higher resolution download

As Dave and Jody headed out onto the main body of the Afterbay, Paul's Hunter 216 can be seen at the dock. The wind at
the start was only about 10 mph, but that increased to a solid 12 - 15 by the end of the race. It was outstanding!

Jim and I were able to easily lay the first mark in the race, Sandbar Island at the end of the launch lagoon. From there, we eased our sails, pulled the centerboard up 2/3 of the way and had a fantastic deep broad reach headed almost due south. The helm was balanced and my boat easily planed over the light chop with an occasional bit of surfing on the bigger swells. There was not time to take photos, but the scenery was spectacular. We could just make out Dave's Windmill Sail as a tiny speck at least 2 miles off to our south. It didn't look likely that we would ever catch him. Jim and I thought briefly about putting the spinnaker up, but it was getting more and more windy with occasional gusts accelerating us nicely. We agreed that upright was probably the fastest way to sail on this cool December day. Click here for sound of clucking chicken..

We made the jibe onto port tack OK, though I still managed to bump my head on that boom-guillotine thing as it came across. You would think I would be able to avoid that foible by this point in my sailing career, but alas, no. We sailed right around the point at the southern most end of the Afterbay and prepared for a fantastic reach down the "dog leg" part of the course. We did get some great planing rides in this part of the race, but it was not as good as I had hoped. The land and trees on our left broke up the wind just enough to take away what could have been an epic ride. Oh well. It was pretty darned good at that. I should never complain about the quality of the wind when I'm lucky enough to get in a sail like this in December. We passed Dave and Jody as they were returning from the mark rounding at end of the "dog leg". They were going like hell, too. I couldn't see there faces as they passed, but the bow wave of that little Windmill made it look like even the boat was smiling.

After we tacked around the buoy closest to the dirt boat ramp at the eastern most end of the "dog leg", we close reached our way back out to the main body of the lake. We passed the point and tacked over onto port for the long beat up the east shore. I had the traveler down half the time, when Jim and I couldn't keep the boat flat. Every time the wind picked up, we feathered up higher. Amazingly, we were able to sail all the way home without another tack. We were "lifted" (wind shifting in our favor) all the way up the beat. It was perfect conditions for a race, but we would have had an easier beat if we had taken a third person to hike our boat flat.

This is the route we sailed to the best of my memory. It is hand-drawn, not a GPS route.

When we rounded Sandbar Island on the way in, Jim reached forward and handed my my water bottle. We had been so focused on the sailing, I hadn't even taken a sip. As we came into the dock, Dave and Jody spectated from the tailgate of Dave's truck. Dave's finish time was approximately 1:17 while ours was about 1:10. We didn't even come close to catching that Windmill. To make matters worse, I missed the dock landing twice (not used to landing it that much breeze), but Jim was very patient with me. We finally got it on the third try and put the boat away without further mishap.

Dave and Jody accepted the coveted bronze turkey head trophy as proof that they were the convincing winners on this day. Hopefully, next year will see better participation, but if not, I know I will be there anyway.. This was too much fun to miss.