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Vol 2 - Issue 7
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May/June 1998
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The Cachuma Challenge
A View From the Chase Boat
By Frank Pineau
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Well, I've never raced Hobies, but I will most likely attempt it this
Summer. In preparation of this endeavor, I decided to "attend" a regatta.
Since the OTW test facility has been dormant for awhile, I decided to grab
some of the cameras from the photography division and head out to Cachuma
Lake, California for the "Cachuma Challange" put on by Fleet 15 during the
May 15th weekend.
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I met Bill Mattson early on Sunday morning for a recap on the previous
day's activities. It seems there is a phenomenon called "Hobie Time" I was
not aware of. Hobie time is a way of scheduling events so if you say were
going to race at say 10:30, you might actually start at 11:30 or so. A
quick skippers meeting was held, and from my point of reference, actually
meant lots of people were going to receive bottles of wine as a raffle
prize. So far, so good.
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Bill was making arrangements for me to shoot some pictures, and got me a
primo seat on one of the chase boats. These guys were great. Ben and Paul
were very gracious hosts, and filled me in on what was going to take place.
After checking and adjusting the marks, Ben explained how the marks were
laid out and why they were placed the way they were. "A" mark was
windward, "B" was at a broad reach, "C" was a downwind leg. Things were
starting to make sense.
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The Hobie 20's were to start, followed by 18's, 17's, 16's and a couple of
14's. Paul took us to the starting line, and the 20's were off. There
were about 10-15 of them, all working to "A" mark. Each strategy played
it's part, and we quickly moved to "A" mark to watch the action. Even
though the wind was relatively light, the race was on! Many of the boats
rounded the mark crisply, and were doing there best to get to "C" mark.
Ben and Paul said they would get me to anywhere I wanted to be to get the
shots. We then positioned ourselves to catch some 16 action, and watched
the two 14's battle it out.
We shot some pics during the second set of races, and the wind was really
starting to come up. Even caught some boats doing the "Wild Thing" on the
downwind leg. Thats an impressive thing to see, and probably a scarry
thing to do.
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I was able to get some really good shots at the regatta, and an
appreciation for the sailing skills I witnessed. All the participants were
very gregarious and outgoing. This looks like something I could get
involved in. I'll try and make the Multihull regatta in San Diego, but the
pics will be scarce. I plan on being in the race!
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If you were there at the regatta, I may have pics of you. Contact either
Bill or myself at OTW and we'll be happy to send out whatever we have.
I captured the following boats (listed by sail number) in some good action shots:
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| 36 | 111 | 416 | 502 | 575 | 602 | 608 | 638 | | 642 | 700 | 826 | 6831 | 7642 | 49230 | 90796 | 102170
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