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Milt Ingram 2001

Posted By: Tornado

Milt Ingram 2001 - 07/25/01 10:54 PM

Just a quick recap of the Milt Ingram 'round Anacapa race held Sat. 21st of July.
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<br>Results for the beach cats are posted in the Results forum of this site. Afterburner, the 52', 30' beam, 80' carbon mast racing cat blew by everyone, despite staring 30 min. behind the first start keel boats. They also set a course record by more than 15 min., finishing the ~45 mile run in less than 3 hours, 45 minutes. Winds were 5-10 knots at the start. 8 beach cats started the race (3 H20's, 1 Prindle 19, one Prindle 18, one H21, one SolCat18, one Tornado (yours truly)). Windward leg to oil platform Grace was about 12-15 miles and took the better part of 1.5 hours for me & my crew aboard a 1980 SailCraft of Canada Tornado with ~1973 vintage sails frown
<br>This was the first race for this resurrected boat since restoring it in March and my first ocean event. We had trouble pointing to windward on this leg and despite having a good start (second across the line by 5 seconds) we could not point with one of the H20's. Afterburner, who started 5 minutes ahead of us in the ORCA class, was at the oil rig as we approached the 3/4 distance to it. We rounded about 1.5 minutes behind the lead H20 and about 4 minutes ahead of the next cat (another H20. No sign of the other cats. Next leg was a broad reach to the island and it started out with 10 knots of wind. We were rapidly passing the keelboats and moving fine but as we approached the lee of the islands (there's another bigger one called Santa Cruz to the west & windward), everything slowed way down. At the island ismuth, we hadn't gained on the lead hobie but seemed to stretch out on everyone else. On the far side ofthe island, it was a downwind in even lighter air (perhaps 5 knots). Lots of short jibing into shore and back out...the back out direction was more than 90 degrees away from the southern tip of the island we were aiming for. It was a frustratingly long leg for us...but the scenary more than made up for it smile
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<br>As we rounded the south end, we had some trouble getting the GPS to switch to the final waypoint outside
<br>ventura harbor and since we're beyond visiual range on the mark, it was tough to know where to aim for. After a few minutes the GPS was sorted out and we were underway. As we got out from the Island's lee, the wind piped up and we found ourselves on a screaming reach in 15 knots of blow. Keelboats were falling past us every few moments. We could not see the lead h20, but the following h20 rounded the island more than 8 minutes back. The boat was getting hit broadside by fairly large waves while doing 15-20 knots steady. My mainsheet arm was going into seizure after 20 minutes, so I passed the line to my trapezing crew. Was a bit of a gamble, since he's a rookie but we were fine...at least for a few minutes. After several good gusts hit without issue, another causeda near capsize, with crewman failing from the trap into the boom. With only steerage control I brought the boat down again and kept her moving while the crew regained his composure. Turns out he was just putting away a camera after snapping a few shots of the excitment beofre the gust hit.TOURISTS!! Should be some great shots!
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<br>After what seemed like anoth 30 min., we crossed the finish line some 9 min. behind the lead H20. The trailing H20 was 7 min. back...not enough to get him on handicap though. We settled for a 3rd overall. Interestingly, I re-computed the handicaps using the standard rig Tornado rating of 63.6 instead of the double-trapezed 62.4 rating I gave the RC...we'd have been 2nd with the standard rating...and since we didn't use the double trap....:)
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<br>Will try to post any pics that come out at a later time.
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<br>I also had my Tornado Tracker running during the entire event. Made an announcement on the old forum of this site the day before the race. Did anybody watch us going around?
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<br>Mike.
<br>Tornado KC 112 "Double Mint"<br><br>

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