Fireball and Friends Midwinters

Matt Braun on Monday March 29, 2010 08:09AM

The annual Fireball & Friends Regatta was held at the Davis Island Yacht Club, Tampa, Fl March 12-14. Classes in attendance included Fireball, Interlake, Front Runner, Windmill, and A Cat classes. The Front Runner class fielded a fleet of 10 boats to make the 14th annual trek to DIYC one of largest fleets at this much long standing mid-winter regatta. Fueled by the thought of sunny Florida skies, warm weather and cold beer the participants made arrangements, fixed trailers and boats to make the journey. Watching the wavering forecast with eager enthusiasm and overcoming several flat tires on the 12 hour trip, the group was welcomed by torrential rain, tornado watches and sustained winds of 25 knots. The poor weather persisted for the first 2 days, someone commented during the delay that “ a rum front is coming” some else commented “at least it is warm”. Fortunately the rum front did not cause much damage as the tornados. On the third day 9 of the 10 registered Front Runner crews rigged their boats and prepared to get in a day of racing. After leaving the safety of the DIYC harbor 4 of the skippers opted to spare their crew and rigs and immediately returned to port. The remaining 5 started the first race in a sustained 20 knot breeze with gusts to 30 knots, in the end 3 boats where able to finish 3 races. The final day of the event proved to be the most productive with cooperative weather, crew and race committee, the entire fleet was able to get in 4 races in sunny conditions. On the last day wind started out of the west at 12 knots building to 18 knots by the 4th race.

As this was the first trip for many of the participants, I solicited their feedback and offer this collection of 10 very insightful observations:

  • Tylenol is a great way to start off a very productive day.
  • Carry a spare for your spare.
  • Trailer lights have a mind of their own
  • Light beer is not an ideal substitute for water.
  • Those old guys are fast ….. at turning turtle!
  • It takes about 20 minutes for a frontrunner hull to fill up after turtling and 2 hours to drain.
  • A mast is not the best tool to measure depth.
  • Mardi Gra beads are not legal tender
  • A-Cats are the lawn darts of sailing.
  • Read all labels before ingesting
  • View the Results here

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