Results are at www.catsailor.com/Steeplechase/Steeple07Results.htm
Rick

WOW... first he gives you booze! then food! WITHOUT MONEY!!! Then gives you keys to his ride? Perhaps the "worlds coolest bartender"... (or dumbest - just kiddin')

or deserves a spot in the Hats off thread

The Steeplechase was truely awesome this year. The paddles weren't of much use and we finished both days really quick. Everytime I do this race I learn a little more about some of the tricks. Always a challenge.

The second day launching off Ann's beach was a pain because we ended up having to reach for about a mile with no boards or rudders. Lot's of teams had problems. I never heard why all the different teams ended up dropping out?

The second day was 15-20 knot beat up the inside. All I could do to keep the boat flat in those conditions.

Out of all the years I've done this race I think this was the best with the most consistent wind for both days. East 15-20 knots both days.

Many thanks to Rick for hosting up the race again this year. I'm looking forward to Tradewinds in a few weeks.

Mike Hill
stlouiscats.com

I don't know the reasons for ALL of the dropouts, but I do know about five of them.

The Hobie 16 sailors later admitted they were in way over their heads. They made it as far as Angelfish Creek, but they were not able to get through it. The current was going against them, and they were having a hard time tacking, and kept going back more than they went forward. So they very wisely decided to sail back to Gilbert's.

Carla Schiefer and Clive Mayo on a Marstrom 20 broke a rudder. They pulled ashore just north of the Card Sound Bridge on the first day to try to jury-rig something (I am told), and that explained their late finish the first day. They opted not to sail on Sunday.

Charles Thuman and Jon Britt did not sail on Sunday because Jon was sick.

Chris Runge and Terry Greene had to drop out on Sunday about 3 miles north of the Channel 5 Bridge, because their dolphin striker had let go, and, as a result, their main beam broke (well, cracked badly), and they were afraid they would lose the whole rig.

The Hobie 20 with Lenny and Saramy dropped out on Sunday because they did not feel comfortable with the conditions (too much wind).

The only ones I don't know about are Karl Langefeld/Ben Keener and Alex Lefur/Todd Berget.

Any additional information would be appreciated.

Everyone did a great job of calling in to the race committee. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

We (langefeld/keener) dropped out on day 2 due to a broken rudder casting.

We dropped out on the second day due to a few problems. On the way down to the bridge, we bounced off the bottom and ended up with a dagger that delammed. We had to beach and cut off part of it to get it out of the trunk. We decided to keep sailing and about 6 miles later, we noticed that the boat was taking on water and that everytime we plowed into a wave, the rudders would cavitate. Then, the jib car exploded. We opted to jury rig the jib and sail back to Anne's beach where we had a vehicle. Didn't seem like a good idea to try to keep limping along upwind for another 35 miles or so.

Despite the problems, it was still an incredible weekend of sailing. We had a blast and I'm already trying to figure out how to get down there again.