Well we did it. We entered our first race in our Wave.

What a great boat!!!

We entered the Mayors Cup race in Plattsburgh NY. They have a Portsmouth multi-hull division in the race and since it is in our back yard we decide to enter. My son(13) and daughter(15) have been part of the “Boom” learn to sail program in Canada for the last 3 years as a birthday present from their grandparents (Both Sailors). We purchased a Wave last fall and sailed it a few times then and again this summer. The kids said they would like to enter but were intimidated by the size of the field and having never raced before didn’t quite know what to do. So I entered and they each sailed one race with me.

The field for the multi-hull was 8 boats, one 21’ Hobie some 17’s and 16’s and our little Wave. Two races were run one at 10:00 am and one at 1:00 pm. The wind was 20 Knots with gusts up to 28 from the south. The wind had been up for the past 2 days and that caused the waves to run in the 3 – 4’ range. We didn’t know any better so we went out and sailed the race. I will admit that it was a wild ride but the kids had a blast, kind of like having an extreme water park all to our self. We sailed out to the committee boat, checked in then got out of the way as best we could. 100 boats were entered in the race, multiple divisions for any boat that wanted to sail, from cruising boats to racing boats. Starts for each race we 5 min apart. We were bouncing around so much that we could not see the committee boats flags and decided that we would just follow the other cats across the line. We could only find three other cats as we bobbed around so when the started we started. With 3’ – 4’ waves our little boat sailed more like a cork than a racing boat but we stuck with it (we found out later that evening that they had issued small craft warnings). The Wave is a remarkable boat! Each wave that we hit rolled over the leeward hull up onto the tramp and we just plugged along. We buried the hull (the whole thing) multiple times and it kind of left us floating on top till it bobbed back up. It would pick up the wind and off we would go! We never did tip! With two people on the windward side (about 300 lbs) we didn’t have much trouble with the wind. The other cats took off and we barely saw them again. One of them pitch polled (their term) 3 times that we saw and withdrew from the race. The other two we never saw again. One thing that was very disconcerting was finding the marks. They were large but very far apart and from our vantage point of 1 – 2 feet off the water we had a hard time finding them until we realized that the must be where all the boats in front of us are turning. We finished the race and headed to shore for the lunch break. We were considering not running the 2nd one but one of the other cat sailors told us that we were only one of three boats that finished the race in our class and we should do the 2nd race so we could get third place overall. ( the others had DNS or DNF for the first race). We changed crew ( my son for my daughter) and went back out. The Second race was just the cats and the racing divisions, the weather had not changed and the lake was just as ruff. We started better this time, I think we were first across the line and plugged our way around the course. The up wind leg was the worst. With waves that big we tended to make very slow progress up wind. I think we covered at least three times the distance the others did because we had to go up and down as well as forward! I don’t think we have the hang of racing because as we finished the first of two laps as a guy in a 17 sailing solo finished the race! We were that last boat to cross the line at the end of the day. But we did finish and we had a blast. We are not afraid of the conditions and learned a lot about our boat. You have to time your tack for the top of the waves so your hull is around before the next wave can push you back, kind of like turning on the top of the moguls in skiing. I think that a small jib may help to get the boat around also.

Official results 3rd place.

Now we will look for the next race.

The Future?
- Maybe the hooter system and keeping up with the big boys?
- Wet suits – water temp of 68 F
- A watch – to see how log it’s been since we last saw another boat.

Ron, Richard & Katie
Wave sailors for life!