Friendships Built on Catsailor.com

If you know me, you know my stories go back beyond the event that influenced the story. It must be the Cajun in me. I was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana.

In 2005, Hurricane Wilma destroyed my Supercat 20 the same weekend I got married which is another story. The next weekend I was suposed to race in Hiram's Haul. I needed the points to keep in the hunt for the Endurance Series but had no boat.

I have raced against Eric Arbogast on his ARC 21 a few times but never met him in person. The ARC 21 is basically a Supercat 20 but 3 1/2 feet narrower and 1 foot longer. Ohh...It also uses shared lift (daggerboard in front of front beam). Out of desparation, I knew Eric (arbo06 ) followed the forum so I found one of his posts and sent him a PM. I asked if he was doing the race or if he would chartering his boat, . He could not do the race but because I was a fellow Supercat/ARC (Bill Roberts designed boat) owner, he would loan me his boat if I would fix a small hole that resulted from the hurricane. Eric's generosity allowed me to finish 3rd in the championship.

Since then, we have raced against each other and with each other on many occasions. We have had many adventures and some have been shared on this forum. We have sent each other many PM's planning events racing together or against each other.

Saturday I was able to have a belated birthday present from my wife, a day of sailing without the family. I called Eric and asked if he wanted to come out for a sail to help me sort out my screacher setup. The main reason was to have a casual day on the water with a fellow sailor and to say THANKS!!!

It was a great day. We launched and headed north for a mile then headed off shore so we could do a screacher run to the Palm Beach inlet. Once through the inlet, Eric took the reigns and I pulled out a thermos of frozen margaritas from the cooler I built into one of the hulls. Then we rounded Peanut Island to the North then headed South to downtown West Palm Beach. Once we reached the first bridge, we headed back and crossed over to the Palm Beach side and checked out the mansions and yachts. It was back out through the inlet and we pulled up to Palm Beach Shores Resort for a dip in the pool (for Eric), lunch, drinks, and live music. After a "Cheese Burgers in Paradise", it was back on the boat again for a run North to Juno Beach then back home.

The wind was a consistent 8-10 mph, we covered 24.1 miles, a top speed of 11.7 mph and had good wind (and current) at all points of sail. It was great introducing Eric to a little slice of sailing in Palm Beach and hopefully he will be back with his boat.

In this post, I just wanted to say thanks to Eric and thanks to Catsailor.com. Eric has been a great competitor, teammate and friend and Catsailor.com has been the catalyst for many of my sailing friendships. At the races we are usually so busy preparing and competing that it is hard to connect with fellow sailors. This forum gives sailors a chance to make plans for the events and follow up after the events.

Man you suck! I spent the day doing yard work.
Oh, Happy Birthday, glad you had a good day.

Besides the friendships, this forum also gave birth to two cat classes already, the F16 and the F12. I think they were the first -and probably the only- sailboat classes ever created through an internet discussion group. Thanks for that too!

Chin, chin brother!
Craig knows how to cruise.

What a great day, sailing and talkin' snot. There is alot that I miss about just crusin around in chill mode, no hurry, go where you want and no watching the start timer.

Thanx Craig for the tour of your neighborhood, now it is my turn....

See you at Gilligans!

Sounds like a good time.

I was working in the yard, putting brakes on my wife's car, and looking at a fellow sailors broken A-cat Carbon Fiber mast.

So tell me about those frozen drinks you serve on the boat!

OOOOOh! Unbeleivable! 2 hours into the cruise, Craig pulls out premade frozen (still frozen) margaritas out of the hull cooler. What a thrill! Then a little later he produces another one, still frozen. Amazing planning and creativity on Craigs part, he really has it going on!

Sounds like some credit should go to the cooler builder!

I think I'd like a ride on a cat with amenities like that. Glad you guys had such a fine day!

Is that Mark's?

I had such a great time and the sailing area was really perfect for cats. I would love to see some organized sailing around Singer Island.(?)

The real trick to the cooler is storing and trailing the cord to the cooler in the water and not getting fouled by a prop of passing yacht.

Yeah I'm looking at Mark's mast....

Here is the beer cooler:

http://www.themanshed.net/archived-projects/supercat-20/?g2_itemId=101

Most of it was Craig's idea from the hull storage in my G-Cat. He actually built the cooler, out of this racecar engineering experience - I just guided him in the “art” of fiberglass.

I fabricated the porthole and missing desk structure. I taped off the other side, then waxed it, and made a mold. I had to spin it around 180 degrees because of the angle on the hull. Then I faired it into the hull. It is thick enough that the crew can open it under stress while sailing - grog for the crew! The beer stays cold and may add frozen drinks.

It was a team effort. So if you ever end up with a hole in your deck or want to make one…………
..Mike

Yeah, plenty of props to the Mike!!! Without him, my boat would still be without a cooler and still have the Roberts stripes on it.

Mike has a little area under one of his deck lids of his G-Cat that can hold a few beers. After looking at the hole in the top of my boat and the small foam storage Mike had, it had to be...

The cooler could probably hold two cases of beer and ice if you needed although usually only carry a 12 pack, water (that no one drinks), and the margaritas. The water is good for rinsing down blocks when they get salty and sandy though. Two holes in the bottom of the ice chest let the water drain into the main hull so when you pull the plugs, you also empty the water from the cooler.

The new winch, marine battery and solar charger built into my sail box make the end of the day a lot less of a chore. Also saves on the end of the day beer I used to carry to entice passers by to help.

After many years of refining, I think I finally have it down to a science.

what did people actually do before the internet anyway? I wouldn't know ANYTHING about these boats without the forum. But maybe that would be another reason why regatta numbers are down...
Rick.... you bastard!!!!!!

not science, it is art!