STORIES OF ENDURANCE
By Buddy Hatch
                                   

Sometimes a man's dream becomes reality. Sometimes when it does, it's such a grand and beautiful thing that other men are inspired. Then reality sets in about the time you must compete against this leviathan. Ah yes, then it's time to crush this monster before it grows. Of course I'm speaking of the Diva. She arrived Saturday morning amidst the bustle of onlookers for the 2009 endurance Classic at Brand Lake Sailing Club. Racings top guns from both sides of the lake had arrived early. They all admired Diva, but then all had that driving desire to be David in this story of Goliath.

When the gun went off at the mouth of Honey Creek, the wind had piped up to a steady 5 mph or so. A few had a good start and in that pack was Trickster. The little boat was packed with it's typical talent, seeming to make all the right moves. But very soon the Diva overtook Trickster and started a battle of no less than a dozen lead changes before they reached the leeward mark. By all accounts this back and forth battle raged to about Goat Island on the return voyage. At that time Trickster opened a clear advantage. When the wind went super light it seemed the smaller boat just had that little bit extra to pull ahead. Between 6 & 7 o'clock the wind picked up and Diva began to rebound. By the time they reached Tera Miranda, Diva had closed the gap to about 20 seconds and was looking forward to a reach to Goat Island with there massive spinnaker. The Diva surely had this back under control. Somehow Trickster stayed out of the shadow all the way, and times were virtually unchanged by the end of this downwind leg. So came the two and a half hour upwind battle to salvage a winner from this fifteen hour war. A shifting 5 mph wind with more velocity in the veer was played to the hilt by Trickster's brain trust as they flew to victory at the main gate. Extending there slight lead to a massive 25 minutes on the last leg. Our hero, David (Trickster).

There were several epic battles played out through the race. Fleet A held a pair of j29's, Lafortune & Smith. After an excellent start, followed by a successful beat to Governor's Island, Smith's 29 seemed in control of there future. After a couple of lead changes though the doldrums of Duck Creek saw them with a 6 minute advantage rounding the Dam. From there, Lafortune scratched his way up the left to a 24 minute victory at Honey Creek.

Here's a story of some young upstarts tormenting an old master. Fleet B saw a Hunter 25, Cawthorn, (upstart), and a C&C 25 Beber, (master), in a race where a few feet separated the boats for a good portion of the race. When the wind got light on the way to the dam. Cawthorn played the right and squeezed a 7 Minute advantage at the mark. On the way back up the lake Cawthorn pointed in the middle while Beber footed to the let. When Cawthorn failed to cover near Goat Island Beber sailed to the lead then began a textbook loose cover on the youngsters all the way to Main gate.

Sometimes it's hard to pick a main event when more than one title is on the line. Such is the case when your trying to pick the meanest, the baddest, the fastest Catalina 30. Fleet A-2 saw Moore and Gardner filling the bill. Here's some background. Both have slick, clean bottoms. Moore has a roller jib but, has one of, if not the, top helmsman on the lake. Gardner has hanked head sails and a personal inner drive that goes a little Halloween at times. After a great start Moore puts it on Gardner, extending that separation to 200 yards by governor's Island. At this point the Moore boat is nipping at the heels of race boats in a faster fleet all the way to the dam. Meanwhile Gardner is too far away to cover and can only hope that a building breeze will bunch the fleet. This finally happens south of Duck Creek and headed for the dam. Closing fast, the Gardner boat comes to within 6 minutes of Moore by the rounding. Several reports have the Moore boat  extending there lead between the dam and Goat Island but that Gardner begins to close at Two Trees. As the wind starts it's veer late in the evening, Gardner is playing the right when, at Governor's Island, Moore goes to the left. Gardner stays right of center all the way to Woodward Hollow and finally passes at Shangri La. When the wind starts to back at the main gate Gardner is 200 ft in the lead on the port lay line to the finish. Moore is on starboard getting a persistent header that puts them on a fast port lay line after the tack. Fifty foot from the finish Gardner wind dies completely. He puts his helm to leeward and goes in irons trying to tack for the line. Moore's crew is astounded. After all was lost here is the window to gold. Moore shot the line while Gardner watches that brilliant beat to weather to claim the lead evaporate only feet from the finish.

I feel a little guilty having this much fun observing the races from shore. Hope everyone had as much fun as I did.