Updates

Here are a few of the photos taken at the 2010 Sun Cat Nationals. There are many more to come, but these are some of my favorites. Update! Charlie posted a photo album here.

I think this photo of Indy Anna really captures the essence of Sun Cat competition. Jib trimmer sprawled over the coaming, engine dragging along in the water, and having a great time!

Here is a shot of the Sun Cat Class gathering around the committee boat prior to the start of racing.

In keeping with my admonition to avoid scratching any boats, the fleet kept some distance apart during the intense jockeying for position along the starting line during the countdown sequence.

I sailed out to the edge of the racing area upwind of the line to get this picture back at the fleet prior to starting.

I got underneath Catnip at the start of the race and had to politely request room as the leeward boat. OK, so I just yelled, “Get out of my way!” at them because it was funny at the time.

Sonja took this picture of the entire fleet of 7 Sun Cats racing in the Nationals. Had to get out a ways to catch us all in one frame!

Hans got a great shot of my boat on a reach past the race committee boat!

This shot of our after-race raft-up around the committee boat shows the problem facing the boats finishing later, as the wind continued to die until the harbor was a glassy slick. You try to get a Sun Cat to go against a current in this much wind!

We had a nice lunch aboard Whimsy and the various boats rafted off as they finished, or tried to finish anyway. After a while it became apparent that the wind was not going to come back in time for us to do any more races, and was not even going to propel our last two competitors over the finish line. Maybe next year we’ll have better wind!

Contemplating the life-changing magnitude of my victory in the Sun Cat Nationals after the race.

Several of our competitors begged off for various reasons on day two of the Sun Cat Nationals, and we wound up being the only Sun Cat on the water! We brought along Libby the Junkyard Dog and Luke the Cowdog, who always enjoy boating with us. Charlie and Isy came out in their Horizon Cat and the crew of Sun Cat Sandpiper brought their Seaward 32 out to meet us. They were sailing with the jib furled as an honorary catboat. This picture was taken from Whimsy.

The 2010 Sun Cat Nationals achieved the primary purpose of entertaining me, and then some! We set a short course Saturday, which turned out to be a long course as the wind died. We only got in one race, and in a particularly embarrassing turn of events, I won my own joke regatta and am now the Sun Cat National Champion. Gawd, how tacky.

Anyway, further racing was called off due to lack of wind, but we had a nice dinner with all the Sun Cat sailors and supporting characters like Rich Hutchins from Com-Pac Yachts and Ed Benson from Gulf Island Sails, who came by and gave us some Com-Pac gear for prizes.

Several did not participate on Sunday due to travel plans, health problems, forecast lack of wind and general fatigue but we actually had a nice morning breeze and sailed around until it died, then had lunch at Harpoon Harry’s and called it a day.

A good time was had by all, and those were the results I wanted. I’ll post the actual race results later, as if anyone cares!

Special thanks to Race Committee Chairman and chief videographer Tom Scott for all his help and for the color commentary on Sun Cat Nationals videos he took. The seemingly endless start of the race is hilarious!

Today was a busy day, starting with launching our Sun Cat at Laishley Park to move it over to Joe’s dock for the weekend. It was still a little chilly when we got there, and not quite enough wind to suit our schedule, but enough to make for a nice motorsail over to Punta Gorda Isles. Sonja came along to tend jib…

The Horizon Cat Class arrived around midday, and we put them right to work, with Charlie carrying groceries in and Isy wielding a (badly needed) broom. Let this be a lesson to those who arrive at our parties early! They scurried off soon enough to launch their boat. Darnit, I forgot to take a pic of their boat in the driveway!

The first to arrive on the scene was Don N, who brought his Highland Lass along for our enjoyment. It took him a year to build her. Yes, he actually puts this thing in salt water and scratches it up! I saw the scratches myself, but tastefully avoided photographing them.

What a beauty! You can move the oarlock pegs and the jib leads are on rope toggles so they can be moved as well.

Boats like this one always set off an internal argument in my head, with some insane guy saying, “Build a boat, Tom!” and my inner jib trimmer coming back with: “There are plenty of them already built! I’d rather play with one of those!” Highland Lass is going to have that insane guy pumped up for a while.

We had various snacks and refreshments until about 6, then moved some of the party over to my neighbor’s restaurant for dinner. What a fun group of Sun Cat sailors! Really looking forward to sailing with them all tomorrow!

Come one, come all to the welcoming party tomorrow evening starting at 4 pm at the property of the Head Jib Trimmer In Charge. Please note: putting our address into your GPS will either get you to the general area of the driveway or to a neighborhood across the creek, several miles away, depending on your GPS map database. You might want to have a look at where we actually are and what to do once you find the driveway.

We’ll probably discuss Saturday’s races, so in that sense this is a Skippers’ Meeting.

We’ll have various drinks and snacks, but will not be serving dinner.

With just a couple of days to go, it looks like we will have at least 6 Sun Cats vying for that National Championship cup, as well as a couple of bigger catboats. The list as I know it, and apologies in advance if I forgot anyone or got this wrong. I’m just a jib trimmer!

Confirmed Sun Cats:
Wily Conch – our Sun Cat
Catnip – Butch and crew
Frisky – Don N and crew
Sandpiper – Larry & Bob
Odd Duck – Dennis and crew
Sanura – Paul S

Possible Sun Cats:
KrazyKat – Linda L, still uncertain
Joe’s Sun Cat, if we can find it crew, such as Craig & Betty Ann…

Other boats:
Good Juju – Charlie & Isy’s Horizon Cat
Whimsy – Our race committee Morgan 30
Sea Ya – Our 15′ Whaler

So we could have as many as 8 Sun Cats plus a future National Champion Horizon Cat on Charlotte Harbor this weekend! The weather looks like it will be great! Can’t wait! 😀