MUG RACE 2013

Congrats to Dave Ingram for another stellar performance. Three minutes from victory.

If it hadn't been for that pesky Flying Dutchman...

At least the Roberts dynasty is on hold for another year!

The race was the opposite of most years. Wind was howling out of the northeast with gusts to 30.

That made a short spin reach to the first turn, then beat and tight reach for most of 30 miles, ending with another beat to the finish.

Ohh....and it rained almost the whole day!

Can't wait 'til next year.

Thanks Jack and doing that run in those conditions on Wave... respect brother! But the real stars of this show are the volunteers doing the on the water support. They were everywhere and every time I saw a boat down and started moving in their direction a support boat would show up or be clearly on the way. It had to be no fun sitting in a open powerboat last Saturday, every one of those folks deserve a huge thank you from all of us!

Friday's weather conidions were absolutly miserable but folks just kept coming! You just can't keep sailors away when the forecast says BREEZE ON! Saturday did not disappoint, what a great sail and well worth all the years of doing the big drift! The Rudder Club did it again, great job everyone and like Jack I can't freaking wait until next year!

That was a great day in hindsight. Our boat was not ready in time to make the race so I helped a little around the Club.
David you had to be really flying on that F18, hats off to you on a great effort. To beat the RC30 (which broke the record)is truely an accomplishment. Meaning you set an F18 record, ( actually, a record of anything short of 30 feet record elapsed time wise). I was stunned to see the Waves doing so well.

What surprised me the most was the reaction from all of the sailors finishing. Everyone I spoke to had a great time and a ride to remember. I would have never thought folks would be that upbeat given the weather. Real wind trumps all.

As proof of that, 115 registered. 82 boat chose to start and 70 finished the race. Only 12 broke down to the point they could not continue. We had numerous stories of broken tillers, booms, riped sails and yet they still finished.

Hats off to all that finished and those that tried. I also want to thank those that chose to not race. If you are questioning conditions and your boats capabilities and then choose to bow out, that is a tremendous help to all if the worst had happened. I would second guess no one who decided to sit that one out.

So another mono hull wins the Mug Race. As a cat sailor I think this is a great thing for sailing the Mug Race. The reason for the reverse handicap start was to allow other boats a chance to "win" (first to the finish line) the Mug Race, not just the big cats. A really great race this year, can't wait till next year.

Yes congrats to the FD team very cool! Couple of nice guys too even if they are Kiwi's :-)

The Wave is totally bullet-proof and survivable.

We will be back next year and if the wind is a little more East......

What was the time?

Eric Roberts/RC 30 - Elapsed 2:57:56

Quick but not the fastest. I think Randy has the record with a sub 2 hours on a P19 with spin..

Bill says the record is his: http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050204/spo_15500680.shtml

Wikipedia says Randy won it on a F25C not a P19 no times though

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mug_Race

Yes the record time was 2:58... set by Bill in 1989. I do not know where the F25C info is from?? I seem to remember Randy winning on something "like" a P19, I thought it was more like a 6.0 with big racks on the side that gave him big leverage.

David it looks like you where 3rd that year in that article you posted. I was on the Orange RC27 with Randy when we lost after a big lead....

I was there that year too - finished just a little behind Ding.

One year Randy (or someone) had a P19 lengthened to 20 ft and a bigger rig.

I always liked the name "Calculated Risk", especially since its owner is an actuary.