Venice Windjammer Adventure

First Boat to Venice

The start of this annual event was hampered by thin water going out New Pass and several boats bumped along the bottom.  A three horsepower motor jumped off one boat just before the start but was safely rescued, rinsed off at the Venice Yacht Club and heard chirping away shortly thereafter.

Out of 16 registered Captains for the 2010 Winjammer-Sarasota to Venice race, twelve vessels safely made it inside the Venice jetty.  The 19.6nm course was completed in just under two hours by the speedy J-Boat Claire, with Randy St. James on the helm.  This would mean that with their chute up on the long broad reach, they were easily going nearly 18-20 miles per hour.  Bill Johnson finished second and VYC member Jim Liston aboard Cat’s Meow rounded out the spinnaker class.

Charlie & Crew arriving Venice Jetty

Remember, Red Right Return!

The newly restored MOAIR, captained by Dave Ettinger was the only boat to finish in the Non-Spin class and the crew spent just about three hours out in the high seas.  His favorite competitor, Dave Wilson, sailing Solitude broke off a rudder just five miles from the finish line and his “unlimited” SeaTow card would not convince them to come to their rescue.   SeaTow “Summertime” a 36’ C & C owned by John Lynch ventured out later in the day with our Regatta Director Gregg Knighton at the wheel along with several other volunteers and after three attempts to tow them back to safety they had to part ways as the towline separated once again.  SeaTow arrived Sunday morning around 8:30am and towed Solitude back up the inter-coastal to the Squadron.   All crew made it ok but it was a rough night looking at the lights of Venice while the ship rocked and rolled.

The cruising class had six out of nine entries finish with Ron Greenburg and crew aboard Forever Young finishing first with Pat Roberts on his Catalina 34 close on his heels.  Bob Neff and the crew of the only multi-hull entered took just under two and half hours to completed the course and win their division.

Unlucky 007!

Big Ben had a difficult time holding anchor but our new 150hp power plant worked flawlessly and eventually Ben got back home with some tired and woozy crew. It was reported that our new motor was completely dunked under the water several times when huge breakers broke over Big Ben.

At the Tuesday Board meeting, a number of recommendations were approved and will be added to BB during the coming weeks. These include a portable GPS, depth finder, fuel gauges, attached boarding ladder, knife, safety bars, a windlass along with new roller and anchoring gear.  Three additional buoys were approved to replace two that are gone and the third will be a spare.

Skimmer makes Venice!

My respect and admiration for all who ventured out and safely returned to port.  The complete race results are posted here