Bring in the New Year racing with the Seacats!

Together with the Columbia Sailing Club, the Seacats (www.seacats.org) will be hosting a two day New Year's event in Columbia, SC. There will be a distance race (course to be choosen based on presenting weather) on Saturday and bouy racing on Sunday together with the CSC dingy fleet. The distance race counts for 50% of your overall score. Fleets to be announced that morning but will likely consist of F18 and Open Class. Preliminary distance course map is available at www.seacats.org . Please send myself or David Mosley a note if you plan on attending through this forum, private message, or email so we can understand what to plan for. I can be reached at jake[at]teamseacats.com (substitue "@" for the "[at]")

The entry fee is minimal and includes a chilli lunch on Sunday ($5 for Sunday's racing ... Not sure about Saturday's racing fee yet as some details are still coming in about chase boats on Saturday...we may need to put some gas in a couple of boats). BYOF for use on provided grills Friday evening and there's a rumour about a hosted party Saturday night (or bonfire). Camping and RV parking available at the sailing club. The weather is currently calling for 66 to 68 degrees Saturday and Sunday with a chance of rain on Saturday. However, remember that the water is 54 degrees - please dress appropriately.

For those who want to bring in the “New Year” sailing and live near mid Florida there is always the Tampa Bay Catamaran Sailors Inc. “TBCSI Hangover Regatta”.
It’s a one day (Sunday this year) distance race held off the Dunedin Causeway going out Hurricane Pass around some Islands and back. See the NOR at http://www.tampabaycatsailors.com/nor's.htm click the first NOR on the list.

The weather prediction is calling for a cool 78 degree air temperature and 58 degree water temp and Partly Cloudy. We, thin bloods, will be bundled up real good for this cold weather.

Terry Fondrk

Cold Weather?? Sounds like sailing on Lake Michigan in July. I envy you during the winter months but I know I wouldn't take the heat in the summer.

I'm looking at a frozen pond, Ice is still to thin to go iceboating.

Anyone doing the Hangover regatta at Key Sailing in Pensacola? I might choose to make an AS- out of myself with the new spin

Hey! Start your own thread!

So who won? :P

With an elapsed time on the long course of 2hr 11min 15sec, Jake Kohl (me) and Trey Brown finished first on an F18 catamaran on the 20 mile course. We had dreamy sailing conditions with a partly cloudy sky and 12 to 15knot breeze with holes around the islands and occasionally higher gusts. With the tacks and jibes, we actually sailed 27.5 miles and averaged 12.57mph (statute). Everyone was seeing 18 to 21 mph speeds on the downwind spinnaker run and the chase skiff was having difficulty keeping pace in the choppy conditions. David Mosley/Allen Bruce and Bill and Kristin Croughwell arrived on the beach minutes later. Cary Palmer and his crew shortened their course due to being a bit chilly and did not finish the entire course. This was the first time we had sailed this course around lake Murray but it will probably be a while before someone has the conditions to better this time.

Jake,

Please tell me that that is your GPS overlay and not the actual course

That reminds me.......I only have a couple months left to prepare for Tybee Key Sailing hangovers.

Congratulations Jake and Trey. I'm glad your wind was better than what they had at the Lake Norman regatta that I almost raced.

That's the actual path sailed...here's the course. The long blue course is what we sailed for the day.

Hey Jake & Trey. Congrats.

Sounds like a great gig. As it turns out my girlfriend had her kids last weekend and I was free to move about the country. Unfortunately no time to pack up and drive by the time I saw your post. I had to make do with 40deg water and 45 deg air on Sunday. Actually a good day on the bay (brrrr).

Were they able to run the buoy races on Sunday?
Do you think you might run this thing again next year?

Happy New Year. Ed

They do this thing every year...although usually it's a one day bouy race. Because New Year's happened fall on a weekend this year, we made it a two day event. Unfortunately the wind did not make a return appearance for Sunday so we didn't even go out on the water for a bouy race.