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Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) #273025
06/04/14 11:28 AM
06/04/14 11:28 AM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Steve_Piche Offline OP
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Steve_Piche  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Follow it next week at www.gt300.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greattexas300 We will also be putting some posts up here!

We expect another wild ride up the Texas coast. The action starts at 10 am central on June 11th with a 100 mile spin ride from South Padre to Galveston. Day 2 will take us to Matagorda, typically a 100 mile reach/spin reach. We follow up Day 3 with a 75 mile reach into Surfside and then the final day is a 50 miler into Galveston.

We got 8 brave teams that are ready to take on the Texas coast. Should be fun!

Steve

-- Have You Seen This? --
Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273029
06/04/14 01:23 PM
06/04/14 01:23 PM
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,066
Wellington, FL-Singer Island, ...
cyberspeed Offline
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cyberspeed  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,066
Wellington, FL-Singer Island, ...
Great Texas 300 offered a free entry to Key Sailing for winning the Florida 300. In a strategic move not to be outdone, we are offering up a free entry for next years event to the overall corrected time winner. We will definitely be following the race and wish the race committee and competitors another great race.


craig van eaton
Supercat 20
TEAM CYBERSPEED
www.TeamCyberspeed.com
Endurance Series
www.SailSeries.com
Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273032
06/04/14 05:05 PM
06/04/14 05:05 PM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,118
Northfield Mn
Karl_Brogger Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Karl_Brogger  Offline
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,118
Northfield Mn
Very cool, and great idea guys!


I'm boatless.
Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273046
06/05/14 06:51 AM
06/05/14 06:51 AM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,906
Clermont, FL, USA
David Ingram Offline
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David Ingram  Offline
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Clermont, FL, USA
Looking forward to following the action.


David Ingram
F18 USA 242
http://www.solarwind.solar

"Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
"Excuses are the tools of the weak and incompetent" - Two sista's I overheard in the hall
"You don't have to be a brain surgeon to be a complete idiot, but it helps"
Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273049
06/05/14 09:07 AM
06/05/14 09:07 AM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,969
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brucat Offline
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brucat  Offline
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We need a triple crown-like trophy if they can win this one too...

Mike

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273128
06/10/14 07:27 AM
06/10/14 07:27 AM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Steve_Piche Offline OP
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Steve_Piche  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
We have eight boats getting ready in South Padre. Forecast looks good for a ride up the coast starting tomorrow! The best way to follow the Great Texas is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greattexas300 or at www.gt300.com

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273130
06/10/14 07:36 AM
06/10/14 07:36 AM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Steve_Piche Offline OP
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Steve_Piche  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Three of the boats will be carrying Spot devices. You can track them at http://www.gt300.com/Home/Spot Since the Texas coast is so remote, we can only use Satellite based tracking. Services like Kattack use cell phones based technology and do not work along the remote Texas coast.

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273155
06/11/14 09:08 PM
06/11/14 09:08 PM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Steve_Piche Offline OP
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Steve_Piche  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Here is a top 10 list for the first day of the Great Texas by Steve Piche (skipper of Team Great Texas 300):
1. Quiksilver Loves the Beach: The first day of the Great Texas is always the most strategic. Do you go off shore or hang close to the beach? The boat that makes the right call can have a big day and Team Quiksilver (Philippe Bettler and Michael Beuerlein) made the right call. They hung closer to the beach and reaped big benefits coming in a half hour ahead of the rest of the fleet.
2. What a Great Ride! What an unbelievable fun downwind ride we had today. I have a speed puck on the boat and we were running 15-18 knots most of the day (a little lighter the first hour). I work the sails hard trying to stay above 18 knots as much as possible. The wind was just really nice and it was another classic downwind high speed seven hour ride.
3. The Rookies: Team Blackburn Marin, Nick Maudlin and Casey Lambert, are doing the Great Texas for the first time. In a tough fleet, they did very well. They were all smiles when they came ashore. How can't you smile when you just had the greatest ride of you life.
4. 100 miles of sailing and two boats collide at the finish line: You want to talk about a tough fleet, how about sailing 100 miles and being so close that you collide in the surf - it happen to Teams 2 Wire Sailing, John Tomko and Ian Billings, and TCDYC, Chris Green and Aaron McCulley. Both boats were 30 feet from the finish with spins up and rudders up - yes, little control. John's boat got holed pretty bad. Fortunately, John is the C2 dealer and had a spare boat (hull) available. They will be back on the line tomorrow.
5. Triple Threat Q! Andrew and Stephanie served the holy trinity of Texas BBQ, brisket, ribs and sausage, to the hungry sailors on the beach at Mustang Island. They topped it off with some banana pudding. Man, it tasted soooo good!
6. Can Quiksilver hold on to Win? Thirty minutes is a pretty big lead but can they hold on. John Tomko has won this race 7 times - Philippe and Mike have taken a number of seconds. It may look like they have a big lead but big leads are hard to hold on to in this crazy race. They have a solid chance to win but can they? Time will tell.
7. Thanks to Billy and Terri: We at the Great Texas owe so much to the hard work of our PRO and Commodore. They do a great job and make it all possible.
8. Tomorrow: It always blows in Corpus (and we are just 10 miles east of Corpus - btw, where we are having F18 Nationals in October.) Every year, we all the lover the high speed beach launch and spin reach on the second day of the GT. The forecast looks good for another great run.
9. Numb Hand: Sorry for any typos but my left hand is numb from holding on to the tiller all day. Riding one of these boats downwind is like being on a bucking bronco for 7 hours. You hands go numb from the vibration and pull.
10. My Goals: My goals for the race are the following: 1) Finish, 2) Beat Quiksilver, and 3) Win the race. Hmm, losing 30 minutes to team Quiksilver was pretty tough. We have a very friendly rivalry. Team Quiksilver fell behind early. In fact, they were so far behind that we could barely see them when they headed back in to the beach. We decided to go with the fleet and not cover. It did not work. Good job to Team Quiksilver!

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273156
06/11/14 11:19 PM
06/11/14 11:19 PM
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 713
WA, ID, MT
davefarmer Offline
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davefarmer  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 713
WA, ID, MT
Nice Steve! Thanks!

Dave

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273157
06/11/14 11:19 PM
06/11/14 11:19 PM
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 713
WA, ID, MT
davefarmer Offline
old hand
davefarmer  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 713
WA, ID, MT
Nice Steve! Thanks!

Dave

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273187
06/12/14 08:50 PM
06/12/14 08:50 PM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Steve_Piche Offline OP
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Steve_Piche  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Top 10 List for Day 2 of the Great Texas

Here is a daily summary by Steve Piche, skipper of Team Great Texas 300. We hope you enjoy:

1. Down to 20 minutes: Team Quiksilver, Phillipe Bettler and Mike Beuerlein, jumped the fleet on Day 1 of the Great Texas and got a 35 minute lead. However, the old pros, 2 Wire Sailing, John Tomko and Ian Billings, chomped 15 minutes out of their lead today by winning leg 2 of the Great Texas. We now have a great battle for the next two days. Can the seven time winner come back from 20 minutes down and beat the boys who have a couple of seconds but no firsts? Will Team Quiksilver fold under the pressure or rise to the occassion? Stay tuned!
2. Who else had a good day! Hats off to teams Yo Baby, Shannon Galway and Jonathon Atwood, as well as Team Sailboat Shop, Mike Rohrer and Chris Holt. They scored the second and third in todays on and off again wind day!
3. Not such a good day! Nothing like lossing a protest hearing to start the day off but that is what happened to TCDYC. At the finish yesterday, they collided with Team 2 Wire Sailing in the surf line. 2 Wire was on starboard and TCDYC was on port so TCDYC was ruled at fault and given a 30 minute penalty. Not the best way to start off the day.
4. Man Over Board: Good news and bad news for my team. First, the bad news, we got DFL. Now for the good news, we finished with both of us on the boat! At one point today, it didn’t look like we would even do that. Juke was out on the wire with the spin up in big breeze and waves. A big wave punched us hard and he let go of the spin line. After he let go, he needed to come in to grab it again. He got out of his chicken line and started to come in and a big wave hit him and took him of the back of the boat. His safety line caught him at first but the force was so great it broke and he was Man Over Board. At this point, I was on the boat with the spin up in big breeze, big waves and my crew in the water. I was able to drop the chute, turn the boat around and get back to him. I almost flipped going back upwind towards. It was a bit sketchy but we got him back on and that is the really good news of the day for my team! I will take a DFL over a MOB any day!
5. Gumbo: Mike Beuerlein always cooks Gumbo for the fleet in Matagorda. Once again we had a great gumbo at the finish line and it tasted great after a long day of sailing.
6. Rhumb Lining It: The leaders took the rhumb line today. The wind softened up after a couple of hours of sailing and my team and TCDYC decided to take a flyer to the beach. After my MOB issue and TCDYC’s protest penalty, we were both willing to try the old hale Mary play that worked to Beuerlein the previous day. We jibbed to the beach and ran the beach. The rest of the fleet just powered over us and we both ate big time penalties. Oh well, sometimes you got to try to do something different rather than playing follow the leader!
7. Family Time: We have a number of families with young kids join us for this year’s race including the families of John Tomko, Ian Billing, Juke Ball, Shannon Galway and Chris Green. Thanks to their wives for taking care of the kids while dad sails. The kids all seem to be having a fantastic time on the beach!
8. Two Big Legs Done! We just sailed 200 miles - ⅔ of the Great Texas is now done. These are big legs and we have always been quite fortunate to get good wind for these big legs. The sea breeze has always been pretty consistent.
9. Andrew and Melissa: Thanks to Andrew and Melissa for keeping the scoring, web site and T-shirts going. Also, they are running the Dash on Saturday. They do a lot behind the scenes for the GT and Dash.
10. Two More Days: We head to Surfside (about 65 miles) tomorrow and Galveston (40 miles) on Saturday. Forecast is calling for 10-15 out of the south east. We have a real race on our hands here. Can Team Quiksilver hold on to the lead? We will see….

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273190
06/13/14 05:58 AM
06/13/14 05:58 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,355
Key Largo, FL and Put-in-Bay, ...
RickWhite Offline

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RickWhite  Offline

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Key Largo, FL and Put-in-Bay, ...
Great Reports, Steve.


Rick White
Catsailor Magazine & OnLineMarineStore.com
www.onlinemarinestore.com
Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273199
06/13/14 10:17 AM
06/13/14 10:17 AM
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 2,844
42.904444 N; 88.008586 W
Todd_Sails Offline
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Todd_Sails  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 2,844
42.904444 N; 88.008586 W
Thanks Steve, ill be sailing a Sunfish on Moon Lake way up in N. WI on vacation. Good luck to all


F-18 Infusion
#626- SOLD it!

'Long Live the Legend of Chris Kyle'
Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273207
06/13/14 07:44 PM
06/13/14 07:44 PM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Steve_Piche Offline OP
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Steve_Piche  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Top 10 List for Day 3 of the Great Texas: Here we go again, day 3 of the Great Texas (Matagorda to Surfside, 65 miles, won by 2 Wire Sailing). Let’s have fun! It’s Friday night and someone, who will remain unnamed, slipped me a very stiff rum and coke. So excuse, the typos, mistakes and everything else, here comes a stream of of thoughts about the day of sailing out of my brain into yours!

1. Four minutes, four minutes, four minutes! In a day of light, flucky, bizarre, unpredictable, frustrating, light, (and any other adjective you can dream up for yuck) wind, Team 2 Wire Sailing showed why they have 7 wins and Team Quiksilver is still looking for their first. According to my unreliable sources on the beach (the same ones that gave me the rum and coke), Philippe and Mike now have a four minute lead. So, tomorrow we are set for an epic battle. Once upon a time, I had a five minute lead on John on the last day. He got me on a light, flucky, weedy day. I wish Team Quiksilver the best but it will be tough to hold off the champ!
2. Oh, oh, north wind? Welcome to Texas where the wind blows out of the southeast in the summer. A thunderstorm rolled through last night and upset the balance of the wind. When we hit the beach, the wind was out of the north. Oh, oh, it was going to switch and when it did, it was not going to be pretty. It waiting until about noon to make the switch. When it did, it did it in epic style. The wind went to zero and then very, very slowly filled in from the south east. For 20 minutes, we bobbed along point straight at our waypoint trying to do 1 knot off of wave action.
3. Dashers, we love you! I love arriving in Surfside! It is like a big family reunion! So many great friends on the beach. Everyone shows up (with sandwiches and stiff rum and cokes). Dennis Banks big old ARC 22 was on the beach. Andrew and Melissa were getting everyone registered. Lots of boats and lots of fun.
4. The Sweep: Today, Juke and I served as the sweep for the fleet . As gracious hosts, we felt it was our duty to make sure that everyone arrived safely ahead of us. It had nothing to do with that hole we got stuck in early in the day when the wind shifted. We hung in the hole a little too far offshore making sure everyone else got out of it just fine. We even were so nice as to spot them a couple mile lead. Then, we held back even more in the rain squall and made sure that everyone else popped out well in front of us. Nope, we did not finish in last because we did not sail well, no we did it out of generosity - that is our story and we are sticking to it!
5. Mikie Rohrer: As I was writing this list, Mike Rohrer popped in and said that he could empathize with my pain (for coming in last). Last year, he got caught in a hole off-shore on this leg and lost about 20 minutes. If y’all don’t know Mikie, he is one of the greatest guys on the earth - he is currently in third and won the GT a few years back. Also, he serves as the Treasurer for the fleet. Finally, he is Division Commodore. Yes, basically he is a kick a** good guy and I thank him for his kind words of encourage after our less than stellar results for the day!
6. Wind Today: Ok, back to the wind today. It was truly all over the place. Think of a point of sail and we did it. Upwind, downwind, reach, spin reach, jib reach, check, check, check. This was a day to test the gear changing abilities of any sailor. The wind gods gave us so many challenges that our heads were spinning. Hats off to 2 Wire Sailing for showing amazing talent on this challenging of a day.
7. Dolphins: The nature that we get to see on this race is just amazing. You have never really seen Texas until you have seen it from the inside out. The pure, raw feeling of being in a tiny boat on an awesome powerful ocean is unbelieveable. Magic moments just happen. Today, a school of 8 dolphins started to follow us. They trailed us for ten minutes checking us out the whole time. If you have the ability to do this race, you need to do it just for the experience of doing something few people ever get to do.
8. Speaking of fun! OK, so it was bit light today, but the last 10 miles was a put a smile on your face fun reach to the finish. Finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, the wind came on big time at the end giving us a big reach around the Freeport jetties. We were double trapped working the main and traveller flying at 18-20 knots. When we rounded the jetties, we dropped traveller and poured on the speed to the finish. We punched the hulls hard but Juke was chicken lined in and we just laughed at our near capsizes. Whew, it was just plain, old fun sailing.
9. TCDYC and Colin Casey: We are so grateful to Colin Casey and TCDYC for tonight’s party and dinner. They also do a great job at feeding all the Dashers and GTers. I am ready to join the party as so as I get this posted, but first…
10. Who gave me that stiff Rum and Coke? It was my very old friend Jamie Gaines who I had not seen for the past 13 years. Back in 2001, Jaimie did the Worrell 1000 with John Tomko. He then helped organize Nacra Nationals and then moved away. Today, on the beach he showed back up and gave me a friendly rum and coke. Life is all about good friends!

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273220
06/14/14 07:01 PM
06/14/14 07:01 PM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Steve_Piche Offline OP
member
Steve_Piche  Offline OP
member

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Top 10 List for Day 4 of the Great Texas by Steve Piche, skipper of the Team Great Texas 300:
1. Four minutes is not enough! It came down to the final leg and Team 2 Wire Sailing, John Tomko and Ian Billings, were able to overcome their four minute deficit to win over the team of Quiksilver, Mike Beuerlein and Philippe Bettler. Team Quiksilver had a 35 minute lead after the first day but the 7 time champ ground them down bit by bit and managed his 8th win in 12 Great Texas events. Team Quiksilver made a good run but came up short in the end.
2. Off the Horizon: How did Team 2 Wire Sailing do it? They got out front early and just kept building the lead. Pretty soon, they were a speck on the horizon as Team Quiksilver was left to battle it out with the rest of the fleet. The wind was light off the start but the sea breeze built. It started out downwind and shift to double trap reaching.
3. So fast they beat the Dashers: The Dash teams started at 9 am and hour before the GT boats. Despite the hour head start, 2 Wire Sailing still managed to beat the entire Dash fleet. They sliced through the entire Dash fleet like a hot knife through butter.
4. Good to see the Dashers: It really is fun for us GT sailors to be joined on the last day by the Dash sailors. Most of the GT sailors served as pushers for Dash boats. I pushed for Mike and Janet Hardy who won the non-spin division. It must have been my great push that helped them win!
5. Fleet Racing: We left the sweep duties to Chris Green and Aaron McCulley today and decided to join the fray with the rest of the fleet. We fought it out with Teams Yo Baby, Quiksilver, and Blackburn Marine. We were never more than 100 yards apart all day. (Chris and Aaron were in the mix too until their spin pole stay broke and they had to drop their spin.) In the end, Yo Baby got honors. Blackburn just nipped us out in the last quarter mile as we got hung in some weeds and had to do a quick clear. It was really fun fleet racing.
6. Thanks for the Dogs! When we finished at Galveston, the Bolivar Yacht Club served hot dogs to the fleet. After eating power bars for lunch the past few days, it was great to have some dogs for lunch!
7. Party, party, party tonight: We are off to Cat Alley for the awards banquet tonight. We will have shrimp dinner. I have a feeling John and Ian may be enjoying some rummies tonight.
8. Double Trapping Spin Reach: Most of the run today was a double trap spin reach in relatively flat seas. It is my favorite point of sail and was a really enjoyable day of sailing except for the weed patches which required frequent clearing by Juke.
9. Thanks to everyone that helps: There are so so many great people that help on this race. Thanks to the officers of the fleet: Billy, Terri, Mike Rohrer, Shannon, Ann, Kate, Trey, Andrew and Melissa. We could not do it with out their.
10. Next Year: We will be back next year with the 13th running of the
Great Texas starting in South Padre at 10 am on the Wednesday before Father's day. Hope to see you there!

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273221
06/14/14 07:30 PM
06/14/14 07:30 PM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,969
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brucat Offline
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brucat  Offline
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,969
Great job Steve! Awesome reports too!

Mike

Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: brucat] #273223
06/15/14 12:07 AM
06/15/14 12:07 AM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,118
Northfield Mn
Karl_Brogger Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Karl_Brogger  Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,118
Northfield Mn
Originally Posted by brucat
Great job Steve! Awesome reports too!

Mike


+1


I'm boatless.
Re: Great Texas start next Wed (June 11th) [Re: Steve_Piche] #273227
06/15/14 08:32 AM
06/15/14 08:32 AM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Steve_Piche Offline OP
member
Steve_Piche  Offline OP
member

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 144
Overall Top 10 List for the 2014 Great Texas. The Great Texas, gt300.com, is a 300 mile beach catamaran race run up the Texas coast in four legs which concluded on Saturday. This article is a summary of the race written by Steve Piche, founder of the race and also the skipper of Team Great Texas 300. If you enjoy this article, please like us at www.facebook.com/greattexas300 so that you can follow us in the future. Here is the final summary list for this year:

1. The 8 Time Champion Works his way of a big hole: On leg 1 of the Great Texas, Team Quiksilver, Mike Beuerlein and Philippe Bettler, took a flyer after getting behind off the start. It worked big time. They beat the rest of the fleet in by 35 minutes. The seven time champ (now 8 time champ), John Tomko with his crew Ian Billings, did not panic. They clawed their way back by winning the next three legs by 15 minutes each day. In the end, 2 Wire Sailing, John and Ian, took home the big trophies for overall win, fleet win and total elapsed time. It was exciting and a nail biter but they manage to get themselves out of a big hole.
2. Flying up the Texas Coast: Leg 1 of the Great Texas was a 100 mile downwind flyer from South Padre Island to Mustang Island. We sailed in a building sea breeze. As always, this leg was fun, fun, fun. There is nothing like just blasting downwind doing 20 knots for hours on end. I stuck with the fleet and we battled all day. In the end, four of us finished within a minute of each other.
3. The Big Bang: The finish on leg 1 was too close for 2 Wire Sailing and TCDYC, Chris Green and Aaron McCulley. Thirty feet from the finish in six inches of water (the Great Texas starts and finishes on the beach), 2 Wire Sailing and TCDYC collided. 2 Wire Sailing got the worst of it - a big hole in their starboard hull. The eventual winners got beat by 35 minutes and now had a broken boat. It looked pretty bad for them but they rallied. They had a spare boat along - John Tomko is the local C2 dealer. Within a few hours, their boat was fixed and they were ready to come back from disaster. Team TCDYC was determined to be at fault and given a 30 minute penalty. They never recovered from the penalty and end up at the bottom of the fleet.
4. Man Over Board: Leg 2 of the Great Texas ended up being a big time downwinder that turned into a reach over another 100 miles from Mustang Island to Matagorda. The main fleet ran the rhumb line while a couple of boats tried the beach without success. John Tomko fought his way back to win the leg by 15 miles. Meanwhile, my crew got washed off the boat as we flew downwind in big waves 10 miles off-shore. We wear safety lines but his safety line connector line broke and we suddenly found ourselves in a bad situation - man overboard, 10 miles off-shore, big air, big wind, one person on board flying the kite. I was able to get the kite down and work my way back to my crew without flipping the boat. Team TCDYC saw the incident and stopped to render assistance if needed. They were granted redress for the time they stopped. We all watch out for each other as there is no one else out there to help us.
5. Every Point of Wind: Good sailors can make boats go on every point of wind and John Tomko proved that on leg 3 of the Great Texas, a 60 mile run from Matagorda to Surfside. Thunderstorms had moved through the area the night before and left us with a north wind. In the summer in Texas, we hardly ever see a north wind. The sea breeze comes out of the south east and it dominates all summer long. We started the leg in a light downwinder that turned to a light up winder. Then it happened, the wind gods said this north wind cannot last and they turned off the wind. The fleet bobbed around for 20 minutes until the wind turned on from the south east ever so slowly. John Tomko, looked and saw ripples near the beach. He inched his way to the beach, caught the express lane and was gone. He sailed away to another 15 minute win in a building sea breeze.
6. Is Four Minutes Enough? After three days of sailing, only four minutes separated the top two boats. Was it enough for Quiksilver to hold of 2 Wire Sailing? No. In light downwind breeze, 2 Wire once again showed they were masters of working the slight breeze on the beach. Within the first hour, they had built a good lead on the last leg which is a 40 mile run from Surfside to Galveston. As the sea breeze kicked in, the wind shifted more off-shore and the fleet sailed in to the finish on a beautiful double trap spin reach. Once again, 2 Wire was 15 minutes ahead while Quiksilver battle it out with a group of four boats for second. Quiksilver put up a good fight but John and Ian are simply amazing at distance racing.
7. Chums wins Open Class: We all sail for the big overall prize of best correct time. We also have trophies for within class performance. We had two fleets, F18 and Open. 2 Wire won F18 and Quiksilver took second. Hats off to Team Sailboat Shop, Mike Rohrer and Chris Holt who took home a third in F18 fleet. Finally, not to be forgotten, Team Chums, Lee Wicklund and David Cerdes, took home the top prize in the open class sailing on an I20. (They were the only boat in the open class this year as all the other sailors were on F18s.)
8. The Streak Continues: Ok, time to toot my own horn (which I am often unfairly accused of doing). My streak of consecutive Great Texas finishes remains intact. I have now managed to finish every leg of every Great Texas race - a feat no one else has managed. (John Tomko broke a mast in one race and had to retire. It worked out quite well for him because his son Dillon was born on the last day of the Great Texas that year.) We have had many close calls over the years. This year I lost my crew overboard. Other years I have had equipment problems including a few consecutive years where the rudders kept falling off. One way of another, I have managed to make it to the beach each year and keep the consecutive finishes streak going.
9. Great Texas Organization: The Great Texas is an association with elected officers. Our commodore, Terri Reuwsaat, does an amazing job of running the race. We have an awesome PRO, Billy Richnow, and great safety officer in Trey Garrison. Andrew Burnard does a great job with the web site, social media, and all other internet postings. Thanks to all the organizers.
10. See you in South Padre: The 2015 Great Texas will start at 10 am on the Wednesday before Father's Day. Please come sail, volunteer, or follow us up the beach. Everyone is invited to join us. There is no better way to see the beautiful Texas coast. You can find out more about the race at gt300.com. We will see you in South Padre next year!

Once again, if you enjoy this article, please like us at www.facebook.com/greattexas300 so that you can follow us in the future. Do it now!


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