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First Person Account: Family Regatta a Success for New Mexico Hobie Fleet
New Mexico Hobie Fleet 48 puts together a perfect family sailing & skill
Regatta.
Hobie Fleet 48’s Second Annual Memorial Day Pirate Treasure Race Treasure maps will be given out at the Saturday morning Skippers meeting. Wearing a life jacket is required while on the water. You may carry as many pirate crew on your boat as safety allows. Water balloons, squirt guns, and hand paddling allowed. The treasure hunt race will start at 1PM and continue until 4PM, at that time all boats will return to Hobie Central and exchange their gold doubloons for prizes.
Saturday morning began with setting up Hobie Central & helping everyone get their boats off the trailer and set up. Three club members headed out on the water in search of four different locations & skill level areas to plant their flags & place the doubloons. That afternoon the wind was calm & a few of the pre registered families did not have their boats ready, so the board decided to reschedule the Pirate Captains meeting until Sunday morning at 10 AM. Then about 3PM the wind came up to 5-8 mph steady, & we decided to fly hulls until dinner.
The Saturday evening dinner, Frito Pie, with 4 different chili recipes to choose from, and the potluck side dishes brought by the members, made a delicious buffet spread. The silent auction gifts, graciously donated by the Hobie Cat Company USA, and several fleet members, were displayed after the meal was finished. The auction to officially take place during the Captain & Crew meeting Sunday morning. The evening camp fire is lit early enough for little campers to toast marshmallows before bed time, then old tales of sailing past are embellished by those taking advantage a captive audience.
Sunday morning, the wind was starting to clock the lake, and it was time for the Pirate Captain’s meeting. A map of the 4 treasure locations was posted, and each boat would need to draw their own map. Flag 1 was located in a hidden narrow cove just behind the sunken red mast, Flag 2 was on the dreaded Bones Island, at top of the mountain, and the base of the silver spear. Natives of the island believed the spear touched the gods, so they made sacrifices of strangers who ventured on their beaches. Flag 3 was in the old tree trunk on the beach behind the infamous tumbleweed reef. This reef had taken many a good boat and swallowed her crew & all. Flag 4 was on sword islands. The only way to reach that treasure safely, would be to cross shark shallows & enter from the back side beach. Many a hull & sailors were crushed & cut by the jagged rocks that guard the blade of sword island, and their wreckage patrolled by Hammerhead sharks.
After the maps were drawn, and the captains received their weapons, balloons, Hobie catalogs, calendars & assorted fun stuff, the silent auction was officially underway. When the sign up & bid sheet time was over, Mars started the actual auction. Starting with the highest bid, and one last chance for the item. Many went for the silent bid, however, the Hobie trap harness & rolling duffle became a bid war between a few members, and the fleet activity fund did very well.
After the meeting & auction were finished, captains & crew set sail in search of this afternoons treasures.
The next part of this adventure is from the log of Tortuga II, her crew, Ben, D’anna & first mate Donna led by the cunning Captain TrtlDave.
We set sail for the narrow cove flag 1, wanting to get in and out of before other ships would be able to bear their guns on us. Knowing the wind would be behind us on our entry, we would need to multi tack to get out & we would be an easy target for any ship attacking as we tried to leave the cove.
Heading close hauled over to bone island I decided to beach on the windward side of the island. I could see other pirates beaching on the sheltered side, and decided we would have a substantial speed and control advantage as we met them trying to leave the sheltered area. Holding the boat while one of my crew went up the mountain for the treasure & having the other crew members load balloons. Leaving the windward side of the island, we were able gain speed & control to cut across the bow of captain Jay’s craft as he tried to go for open water, and broadside her with a barrage of balloon & water canon fire.
Broad reach for the tumble weed reef & adjusting my sail to broad side Captain Rich & crew as we pass within range of our port guns. Leaving that exchange of canon & balloon fire we continued our heading to tumbleweed reef. I noticed a boat was caught by the reef, and another boat crew was trying to free her from the sticky soft wood muddy muck that held her. I furled our jib, and let the sail out so we would slow down loading ammo, and moving ourselves into an advantage position for our next encounter.
As we approached the reef, two boats were trying to get underway & make it to the safety of open water. Unfurling the jib, I bled off my main moving Tortuga II in position to put Captain Swari in my port gun sights, sheeting in tight we sped toward our next battle. As they came into range we fired balloons & canon, only to find out they had a gunner with a rocket arm and she nailed Ben in the shoulder & put numerous balloon hits on our craft. As the battle raged for 30 seconds or more, both boats were hit with a barrage of balloons.. In less than two minutes, we would pass within range of Captain Jeff & crew, so we needed to get guns & crew ready. Lobbing a few choice hits on them as we sped past I set our sights on the tumble weed reef flag. Holding the boat outside the reef, D’Anna thrashed through the muck and picked up our doubloon With no other ships in the area, we headed up to the shallow side of Sabor islands. Hitting shore on the windward beach, Donna picked up our last doubloon
Pushing off from shore, I backed Tortuga up about 50 yards to get past the marker buoy, and saw the bright white sails of Captain Mars leaving Bones island and heading for tumbleweed reef. I knew with the wind direction they would have trouble leaving the reef & decided to plan another attack. Speeding toward the reef and planning to intercept Mars after they stopped to get the doubloon I pulled up one dagger board & rudder, then brought the other board up ½ to allow us to side slip down wind past the treasure location. When Mars was busy walking through the reef, we sheeted in and close hauled briskly past them. As they were trying to turn their ship and get underway, we did a quick tack and were speeding to the battle. With Mars on our port side, my crew bombarded them with water balloons as they came into our range and tried to gain maneuvering speed. With the heavy broadside balloon attack and being covered by my sails, the wet vessel tried to fall off and disengage , but we kept with them until they turned back to shore.
The wind was 7 to 14 MPH so we decided to rip a few screaming reaches & fly a few hulls before dinner. As usual I sail until my hands are tired and cramped, or my crew is to cold. When the wind started to die down, we headed to camp, for another great potluck & evening with friends..
This is but the adventure of one Pirate vessel & crew, look for other stories posted from the 2007 Memorial Day Pirate Treasure Race. Join us next year,
TrtlDave
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