Great Texas June 15-18

The Great Texas starts tomorrow at 10:00 am central. Follow the race at www.gt300.com. We will have live tracking on all the boats. You can get the latest news from Facebook at www.facebook.com/greattexas300!

Steve

Thank you and have a great race. Great to see two Florida 300 teams joining your race! Tell Larry I said hi...

Leg 1 of the Great Texas kicks off today at 10 am. Check it out at www.gt300.com or facebook.com/greattexas300. The forecast calls for a good, stiff breeze at 15-20 knots all day out of the south south east. Under these conditions, the fleet should be moving fast. The race starts at 10 am from South Padre. Expect boats to be arriving in Mustang Island between 4-6 pm today. Enjoy!

Steve Piche, skipper of Team Great Texas 300!

Good luck, Steve. I will be sharing your Facebook post to Catamaran Sailor Magazine Facebook Page as well, where we have nearly 3000 LIKES.
Should be some good exposure
Rick

It looks like Lee Wicklund and David Cerdas on the NACRA 20 are about to hit the beach first in front of the Tornado with Brian Lambert and Will Roddering

Nice! Way to go Lee and David

Good for Lee and David.... how does that orange boat look?

Wow, incredible first day of drama! Great aerial pics too.

Steve, thank you for the sportsmanship and awesome Top 10 list.

Results:
http://www.gt300.com/race_results_2016

Mike

I got the live tracking, where are the aerial pics?

Facebook site. They also have some great drone coverage of the Day 1 start.

https://m.facebook.com/greattexas300

Kudos to the OA for not locking this for FB-user-only fans.

Mike

And I have shared almost all of the stuff to Catamaran Sailor Magazine's Facebook page as well
Rick

Thanks for following us at gt300.com!

Another great day on the water as we did a 100 mile spin reach. Sailing at its ultimate best.

Congrats to Brian Lambert and Will Rottgering as they now are in first but Shannon and I are working on keeping them honest and looking for opportunites.

Follow live tracking tomorrow starting at 10 am central at gt300.com

Check out the day 2 video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP2DKoWLON4

Day 3 of the Great Texas covers 60 miles from Matagorda to Surfside. After excellent breeze the first two days, the forecast calls for lighter winds today (5-8 knots). The fleet should start out downwind and then shift to a spinnaker reach as the wind shifts to the southeast from the southwest. Once again, you can follow the fleet live with our tracking service at www.gt300.com

Good luck Steve!

Mike

How have the weeds been this year?

How are you doing with that boatless thing Karl?

How are you doing with that boatless thing Karl?

Day 2 with more breakdown drama, but no towing required by the sounds of it.

https://m.facebook.com/GreatTexas30...08551/?type=3&source=48&__tn__=E

I'm not a metallurgist, but that rust spot inside the break makes me think there was at least a hairline fracture there, ultimately leading to the failure of the component (albeit with disastrous timing for your quest for regatta glory).

Great job on the at-sea MacGyver-ing!

Mike

I'm not a metallurgist either...got some of it in school though; no question it was fatigue related...lots of factors there contributing. Weld looks like it was partial on both sides and was trapping moisture inside (more rust there). Then you have hardening of the material from the weld heat (making it more brittle). Hard to tell from the angle of the photo but the weld may have also undercut the structure of the shackle slightly and weakened it on the far side where the fatigue looks to have started. Introduce the repeat cycle stress of the downhaul, wind, and waves...snap.

Which reminds me that it's probably time to inspect all of mine!

Top Ten List for Day 3 of the Great Texas
Surfside to Matagorda, 60 miles
By Steve Piche, Skipper Team Great Texas 300

Here ya go, the top ten list for today:
1. Yo Baby! Who would have known but Yo Baby (Shannon Galway and Jonathon Atwood) all decked out in pink is back in the overall lead of the Great Texas. Starting in a light breeze that eventually filled in to a 10 knot breeze, Yo Baby was able to take a big slice of time out of Team Buoy 44 (Brian Lambert and Will Rottgering) lead - enough to push them into the lead. (Build breezes like today favor slower boats while dying breezes like yesterday favor faster boats.) They have roughly a 5 minute lead over Team Buoy 44. However, lurking in the shadows in third place is Team Great Texas (I, Steve Piche and Juke Ball) who cut into the lead of both Team Buoy 44 and Yo Baby today. Team Great Texas is only 3 seconds in elapsed time behind Team Buoy 44 which means the teams are virtually tied. So, can Yo Baby hold off Buoy 44 and Great Texas tomorrow? Who knows. Forecast is light and fluky, could be anyone’s race to win tomorrow!
2. Surf eats boats! Well, the surf won this morning as several boats had a tough time getting out in a light breeze. Team Buoy 44 jumped out right away and had no problems. We got pounded by three big waves that stopped us dead in our tracks. However, after they rolled through we found a soft spot in the waves and pushed our way through. For a while, only us and Buoy 44 were sailing while everyone else was floundering in the surf. We heard Lee yell something with great enthusiasm - he broke a rudder or something and got off the beach 20 minutes late. In the end, everyone eventually made it out for a fine day of sailing.
3. Dashers! It is so great to get into Surfside and see everyone from the Dash setting up their boats. (Everyone is welcome to sail the final leg of the Great Texas!) We have 12 boats signed up for the Dash which starts tomorrow at 9 am one hour before the Great Texas goes out at 10 am. The Dash is an excellent way to learn about the Great Texas. If you can’t make the Great Texas (or are not quite ready), you should try to join us for the Dash!
4. Light Puffs: After getting through the surf (and being buzzed by a drone), we went into light wind battle mode. There is nothing harder than getting the boat going in light, puffy conditions. Today, someone would get a puff and move forward through the fleet. Then, a few minutes later, another puff would push someone else forward. We ended up yo-yoing with Team Yo Baby all day!
5. Tomko: It was nice to see John Tomko at the finish line today. He is sailing on the European Flying Phantom circuit this year and did not have the time off work to join us at the Great Texas. John has won the Great Texas so many times that we no longer keep track! He is going to try to come play with us tomorrow on a Flying Phantom.
6. Surfside Party: I am now over at Collin Casey’s house in Surfside where the Texas City Dike Yacht Club people are preparing a dinner for us! What fun! I love how many people step up to support this event. In fact, here is shout out to Tripp Burd giving him thanks for buying the keg for our party tomorrow evening!
7. Cutting the Corner: After a 45 mile run down the beach today, you have to first round Point Bryan where the Brazos flows into the gulf and then the Freeport jetties. Since it has been flooding on the Brazos the last couple of weeks, we were all a bit concerned about the outflow. The first few boats choose to do a wide rounding around the point but we decided to cut the corner. We sailed through lots of logs and crap but did not hit anything too bad. We then headed straight for the end of the jetties while other teams went a bit further out. By cutting the corner, we were able to catch back up with Yo Baby and pass them.
8. Fire, Water, Burn: Line honors went to Buoy 44 but Team Fire, Water, Burn (Aaron McCulley and Drew Carlyle) corrected over them by finishing only a few minutes behind Buoy 44. They had an excellent sail - they squirted out in the light to medium conditions and then held on to their lead as the wind filled.
9. Team Managers! Hey, the team managers are the greatest people in the world! I have to throw a big shout out to my team manager who has put up with me and Juke all week with a wry smile! Thanks to the Greatest team manager ever on the Greatest race ever in Texas, Jorge Trevino. We love you Jorge!
10. Big Day: I am super psyched to have a chance at winning the race tomorrow. Shannon is in the driver’s seat with a 2 minute forty second lead (real time) but both me and Brian have a good shot. It will be an interesting day. I am just happy to have a shot and that is all anyone can ask for on the final day of the race! We go live with tracking once again at 10 am tomorrow at gt300.com. Wish me luck - I am going to need it!

A little cranky....

Wow, virtual 3-way tie for first going into the last day! Certainly can't ask for better than that (unless you're the lead boat, I suppose)!!!

Go get em, Steve!

Mike

Leg 4 of the Great Texas, Saturday, June 18th
Surfside to Galveston (60 miles)

The wind for leg 4 of the Great Texas is expected to be light and shifty with a (hopeful) shift to sea breeze in the afternoon. It could be a very interesting day on the race course as sailors will have to deal with very challenging conditions. Very difficult to predict finish times so look at the trackers. There is a tight race between Yo Baby!, Buoy 44 and Great Texas 300.

Live tracking starting at 10 am at www.gt300.com

Also, drone videos from legs 1-3 at www.youtube.com/greattexas300

Enjoy!

Wow, all boats are in, but not in the order you'd expect based on days 1-3. The final results should be interesting!

Mike

The results for the 2016 Great Texas Catamaran Race have been posted. Yes, Team Yo Baby, Shannon Galway and Jonathan Atwood, have won the 14th annual Great Texas! They also won the F18 class. Congratulations to Team Buoy 44, Brian Lambert and Will Rottgering, who won the Mike Worrell Memorial Trophy for faster elapsed time and also won the Open Class. Check out results at http://www.gt300.com/race_results_2016

Great job Steve. Unbelievably close corrected times after all four days!

Mike