| Vol 3 - Issue 3 | November 1998 |
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Hobie 20 Continental Championships Lake Texoma, Texas By William Wallick MONDAY It started raining last night and is continuing today. The first of the daily skipper’s meetings convenes at Pelican’s Landing, the marina’s full service restaurant. The meeting is well organized and efficient. The organizers and race officials are introduced and the racers are warned about known low spots in the lake. 
The boats arrived from all directions, and in all manners as this ingenious H-14 shows. This is one solution to how to pull your boat and your trailer at the same time. The postponement flag is up and everyone waits for the rain to abate and the wind to appear. The racers are very antsy after two days of prepping their boats and now having to wait around. You can feel the anxiousness in the air. 
Each morning the skipper’s meeting took place at Pelican’s Landing, the marina’s restaurant with spacious outdoor patio. About one-o’clock a light wind comes up and everyone is called off the beach. With the late start we only get in two races. As an added bonus around 3:45pm the sun comes out from behind the overcast sky. The end of the day finds Alex & Patsy Shafer in first place with a second and a sixth place finish. TUESDAY Today is the day we have all been waiting for. The weather is favorable and the wind has picked up. The wind is now strong enough to power up these highly efficient wind machines - and also strong enough to take over a few boats, which it does. Just before the last race of the day Valdek and Renata Kwasniewski hit something, possibly a submerged tree, and rip the hull open aft of the daggerboard trunk. The preceding Sunday, Clark Keysor and myself ran aground while double-trapped, right behind another H-20 that also hit bottom and ground to an abrupt halt. Fortunately neither boat suffered any damage in that incident. But Valdek was not so fortunate and was unable to race in the fourth, and last, race of the day. Closer examination reveals that his daggerboard trunk is cracked from top to bottom and there is about a six-inch split in the hull. With Moto- tool and flashlight in hand he works until 11pm to repair the damage. He and Renata are back racing the next day, and finish eighth overall in the Continentals. 
Eighth-place finisher Valdek Kwasniewski worked late into the night doing emergency repairs to the cracked hull of his H-20. He was back racing the next day. Jeff Newsome and Julia Thompson take over the leader’s position with a second, a bullet, a fourth and a second, and ease ahead of Shafer/Shafer by three points. The team of Dave Sparkuhl and Greg Thomas is making their presence felt with strong finishes of a bullet, a second, a sixth, and another bullet. Only their 29th place finish in yesterday’s second race is keeping them from leading the pack. WEDNESDAY The weather menu for today is mild wind followed up by a main course of rain. Unlike the previous drizzles, today it evolves into a heavy rain. It is one of the wettest sails of the week, and after two races the committee mercifully sends all the wet ducklings back into shore. Both Sparkuhl/Thomas and Shafer/Shafer remain very consistent posting a first and fifth, and a fourth and second respectively. Kevin Smith and Patrice Edwards followed up their disappointing twenty- seventh place finish in the first race with a bullet. That was their first double digit finish (and eventual throwout) on their way to claiming second place overall. Newsome/Thompson also suffer a bit as they pick up two double digit finishes with an eleventh and a thirty-seventh. Meanwhile, eventual fifth-place finishers Woodie Cope and Barbara Winternitz have their best day of the week garnering a fourth, a twelfth, a second and a third. In August Woodie won the 1998 H-17 Continentals at Pensacola Beach, Florida. THURSDAY Everyone arises hopeful today because there was no rain last night - for the first time. Unfortunately, again the wind refuses to cooperate and after the skipper’s meeting the postponement flag goes up the pole. The wind comes up and everyone is called off the beach. After rigging and leaving the beach the wind drops considerably and it takes a long time for everyone to inch out to the start line. A few languish in holes until they can work their way into the wind again. This phenomenon continues and the second race is called as a group of boats round “A” mark while another group is still inching away from the starting line. Naturally there are some very disappointed teams because of the cancellation. The race committee waits for the wind to come back, which it never does and eventually they send everyone back to the beach. Schafer/Schafer got the bullet, Newsome/Thompson finished third, Cope/ Winternitz took the fifth, Smith/Edwards were right behind in sixth and Sparkuhl/Thomas close behind in eighth place. 
One of the nightly dinners held under the tent. The entire event was well orchestrated by the race organizers. FRIDAY Entering the last day of racing the grouping of the upper echelon is very tight. Considering the throwout, Sparkuhl/Thomas have 27 points, Smith/Edwards have 30, Shafer/Shafer have 32, and Newsome/Thompson have 34. Everything is up for grabs at this point, and the tension builds as the postponement flag is raised and we all wait for the wind. And wait. And wait. As the day drags on I think most people (except for the top four) are worried now that they WILL send us out just so it looks like they really tried to get in another race. Fortunately the race committee did not do that, instead they called the race so everyone was able to begin de-rigging their boats prior to heading back home. I am sure it was disappointing for the top four teams, with everything still in contention to not be able to finish everything on the race course that final day, but mother nature just would not cooperate. |
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William Wallick wallick@concentric.net All text and photos copyright William Wallick Back to Features |