Great Texas Cat Race Information

Happy New Year! It is time to start planning your sailing schedule for the year. The 2005 Great Texas Catamaran Race will be held June 16-19 (Father’s Day weekend once again). Everyone is invited to join the longest catamaran race held in the Gulf of Mexico. The race starts on Thursday in South Padre and wraps up on Sunday in Galveston (Houston area). We expect even more boats at the race than last year.

I have a number of announcements concerning the race below:

1. Organization Conference Call: On Tuesday, January 18th at 7pm (central), we will hold an organizational meeting for the ’05 race via conference call. I encourage everyone that is interested in participating in the race to join the conference call. You may join the call by dialing 302-709-8433 and using the participant passcode 79928858#. Because we are charged by the number of people on the call, I encourage everyone to gather at someone’s house and use a speaker phone to keep the expenses down. In Austin, everyone is invited to come over to my house. I will get some pizza and beer.
2. New Organization: The Great Texas race will no longer be run by PI Sailing, instead a new organization known as the Great Texas Fleet is being organized to run the race. The fleet will operate in much the same manner as a Hobie Fleet. Members of the fleet will elect officials and they will be officially in charge of run the race. In this manner, I hope to open the race upon to greater participation and input in the future. This will be a topic of discussion at the conference call.
3. Notice of Race and Registration: We expect to open registration for the race in mid-February. We will send out information when registration is open.
4. Web Site: I am in the process of creating a new web site for the race. This web site will be independent of the PI Sailing web site. Look for an announcement on the new web site by the end of the month.
5. Volunteers: A race of this magnitude takes a lot of effort and we need a lot of volunteers. Here is a list of help we will be needing: race officials, beach coordinator, web reports, sponsorship coordinator and media coordinator. We also need teams to volunteer to put on those great parties.
6. Teams: I have heard lots of teams are in the formation stage. Here is what I have heard so far ….
a. California sending 2 teams. Lee Wicklund told me that him and another team will be coming. They have dumped the Hobie 21, probably will be on Tiger and Miracle. Team name is Chum I and II. (Spelling may not be right.)
b. Rohrer and Holt are back to defend their title on the H-20.
c. Tomko will be back to try to regain the title. Undecided on crew and boat last I heard.
d. Piche and McCulley will be back on the I-20.
e. Tommy Tyrone should make it unless he is off on an oil platform in the Indian ocean.
f. Rumor is that Ian Billings is hooking up with Dave Mimlitch on a Tiger. Will Robert Cummins sail or road crew? I beat he sails.
g. Michael Yost dumped the Nacra 6.0 and is looking to buy an I20. He’s looking for line honors on a faster boat.
h. Dave McDaniel is hooking up with Mr. Green on a new Tiger.
i. Webster and Foxall are itching to get back out on the course on their I20. Another good party at SPI this year?
j. Dennis Banks bought an I20 and finally gives up on the Super Cat line. I don’t think he bought the boat to sail only at Cat Alley.
k. Expect to see Beuerlein on the starting line. Will Yoder go with him or buy a chute for his own boat?
l. TKO (Team Kansas Oklahoma – Ian at least) sounds ready to make it this year.
m. Others from as California to the east coast have been talking of coming. Let me know if you are thinking of joining the fast growing long distance race in the country.