Sun Cat Nationals Agenda

When I think of the Sun Cat Nationals, I see myself trimming the jib, but with only ten days to go, I’m starting to think of other things. Practical things, like how and where we will race, what we will eat, where I left the stack of championship trophy cups, and which VHF channel we should take over for the weekend. Participants who have thoughts and suggestions, please share them here. I’ll start with how I see things going.

We will have at least a few out of town boaters, and for those and local participants and interested residents wishing to participate we will have a little gathering here Friday evening with refreshments and snacks. I will have a chart handy, and will show non-locals the various places I have run aground, complete with colorful stories. Everyone should be glad we have metal centerboards by the time I’m done. We will probably go eat at my neighbor’s restaurant after sundown, and any who wish to join us would of course be welcome.

On Saturday morning boats that are not already in the water will launch at the Port Charlotte Beach Complex. We will have Tom Scott’s Morgan 30 Whimsy coming out to serve as Race Committee boat and Sonja will bring our Boston Whaler as a mark set/photo boat. We can do upwind/downwind, reaching, triangular, or any other courses participants want to try. I think a series of short races would be more fun than a couple of long ones, but am open to suggestions.

For lunch on Saturday we could have a raft-up around Whimsy in a protected part of the harbor. Weather permitting, we could even do it near the US 41 bridge and send a photographer up to get the requisite overhead raft shot.

After lunch I think sailing in a pack around the northern harbor area would be fun. Butch has been trying to get me to herd catboats for a while now, so that would be a good time to do it! In the non-traditional spirit of Sun Cat racing, the idea of this event would be to stay as close as possible to all the other boats, not to leave them behind. We could all follow Whimsy around like a pack of ducklings and see if Tom can avoid leaving us behind.

We have to put the boats away in time to get everyone to our place and put on the feast Saturday night. We will eat well and will find out whether Charlie likes my version of a Bloody Mary. (Geez, I’m going to get scored on presentation, can’t just use a Sun Cat National Championship Cup!)

On Sunday we can do some more racing, more cruising, some of both, or anything else that sounds like fun. I think a bit of racing would be fun, just to see the improvement a previous day of racing has brought in fleet performance. If anyone wants to race or cruise under some low bridges just because we can, I would be up for it. Cruising around in a pack is always fun. At some point we will have to ask Tom Scott who won and award The Cup. If he has a bit of catboat jib trimmer in him as well, and has also not kept any result sheets or anything, I will designate a new Sun Cat National Champion based largely on the size of participants’ bribes.

We just have to avoid interfering in any way with the Punta Gorda Sailing Club race going on that day. Thoughts? Suggestions? Questions? Comment here!