The 25th Nebraska Governor's Cup (1994)By Dan Brennan This year's Governor's Cup had a twist that worked. If you missed it, I'm sorry, you should put it down for next year! The Cup's sponsor for 25 years, The Ogallala Yacht Club (OYC) granted Hobie Fleet 61 the honor of co-sponsoring this event on their 25th anniversary. Sheltered in Arthur Bay (Lake McCounaghy, NE) the event was a unique blend of 26 offshore boats (greater than 20 feet), 19 one-design mono-hull boats (less than 20 feet), and 42 Catamarans (Hobie, Nacra, & Sol cats). Mother nature, who had given early arrivals a taste of a winter yet to come, turned it around Friday and set up a weekend of big wind on Lake McConaughy. The Trans-Mac regatta was held one week before this year's Cup, so, several offshore boats stayed in the bay all week. Early in the week, the regatta Race Chairman, Bryan Frahm, and I set up for the event and met with several friendly people in the offshore class. The wind was strong on Wednesday and the high temperature for the day was a mere 56 degrees with low, solid gray clouds. Thursday dawned much the same, but on this day six of us on the beach had plans. We sailed Bryan's 26 ft. Magregor out of Arthur Bay and headed west for Admirals Cove where we planned to enjoy a home cooked meal. The wind was strong coming off the dam near Kingsley Lodge and the water had 2-3 foot swells. We quickly covered the 3 to 4 mile trip and beached the Magregor at Admirals. When we reached the restaurant & bar, we could tell that it was closed, but a friendly lady, whose name slips my fingers, opened the door wide and invited us in. She and her husband served us Cheese Burgers with all the toppings, beer, & some of the best homemade blueberry pie ala mode. I noticed that the normal hours of business on Thursday were from 5p.m. to 9p.m. (it really had been closed for lunch). We thanked our gracious hosts, redressed in our foul weather gear, and headed toward the cove. I added this to the story because the food was sooooo good. Maybe the fleet should add this trip to the bar as part of the Pirates Race!!! Most of the Hobies arrived by Friday night and the bay handled it. Space was a concern after the July 4th high water beach shortage, but I believe there was room for all. Chaos began when I realized the Ogallala schedule didn't quite mesh with the Fleet's, and it continued because I had to put off Friday night's registration. But the beer & shirts made it thanks to Deb Betts & Vern, thanks guys. I kept a sharp eye out for "Vic's Old Dodge" which was due in by Midnight, but my comrade-in-arms was still on the road (I hoped!). Reports were in that the Police had set up shop at the entrance to Arthur Bay which was expected due to: 1) the governor showing up Saturday, 2) the chaos from the 4th. Anyway, the Police did me a big favor; my very sleepy wife, Kathy, was coming in at Midnight and was kinda lost. After missed turns on the beach, ready to pull off and sleep with Virgilia and James in the back, she asked one more time for directions from the Police. These guys then locked in her hubs and escorted her down to the fleet tent!!! Success! Saturday, Sept. 3rd, dawned. Race Day. I had twelve pre-registered Hobies, and I can see 30 to 40 boats, oh no! Bryan was up looking for marks & anchors, "any sign of Vic?" No Vic, OH NO! Hope he's ok. Should we ask OYC for marks? "Nah, they'll think we can't run a regatta, let's wait an hour. Good thing we postponed the Skipper's meeting from 10 till 11:30." 9:00 A>M> - OYC has additional marks - wait - we can see "Vic's Old Dodge"!!! (with the fleet trailer in tow). Registration blues occurred. Since this was an inaugural event for us, I thought it unwise to deter anyone from showing up, and I have always had a strong opinion against late fees in several board meetings. I was happy to see all the boats, but I'm not sure if I won or lost the late fee controversy. A big thanks goes out to all of you who pre-registered, another to Randy Neubauer who stepped in to help with registration. The RACE was on. At the skipper's meeting all boats were cautioned to wear life jackets, the wind was up, say 18-25 mph, and Arthur Bay had some traffic at white flag time. Starting sequence: 1) 20s, 18 A&B, 17s, Open cats; 2) 16 A, B &C; 3) Lasers & Day Sailors; 4) Open one design. First race was at 1PM while Vic and crew prepared the dinner on shore. By the second race, a Big Mac storm was coming from the west, and the second race was a shortened course. A Tornado Watch was on. The Marlboro Men skippering rubber dinghy chase boats (aka, Kyle Ackerman and Jan Davis) had the serious task of corralling up all of the small boats into the bay with big chop and serious wind. By dinner, a good crew had saved the tent and the food. Jan played some superb tunes and dinner was served. The fleet fed all registered catamarans, and we then opened it up for the one-design crews for free (we kinda planned for it - a little goodwill can go a long way). The Grog hour that ensued was a good party at that. A big thanks to Jan & Kyle for chase boats; the crew who saved the tent; Nancy Wiseman for the salad and trips to Safeway; food servers: Bryan Clark, Sally Seitz, Jo, Nicol & Lindsay Frahm, and several others!!! Beer runners: Bill & Carol Hadl (and they were just trying to pick up their pre-registration bag - ha!); OYC for the tables & keg, and all of you. Sunday: forecast is 5 to 15 mph winds out of the west, sunny day, white flag at 11:00. The wind stayed strong till 3. We couldn't move the starting pin-end fast enough, something about Fleet 61's lead anchors - I'll get to this later. We had a course 7 on Race 1, and the first start had 20, 18 A&B, 17, and Open cats nailing a beautiful start. (I was now off shore duty and on the committee boat so I have some details). The one designs kept up with the course finished. Boats were over, but Jon Fowkes & Kyle in the dinghies and Eric from Rocky Mountain Boatworks were on the scene(s). The second race had a problem, we had said any general recall moves that group of boats to the back of the starting sequence, well the first start was a 'little' early. One must understand the competitive nature in the H-20 class, Glenn, Valdek, and Nathan (from Kansas) were real tight in the scoring, Valdek & Bryan are at the H-20 Nationals as I write this. Well the 20s were over early at 7 seconds to the flag, the rest of the boats in the sequence followed. We had our first General recall - those baaaad boys. Nobody would turn around till half way to A-mark. The 16s followed for a course 5 (or 4, I lost some notes) and these guys took note of the recall. When the flag went up, they were all back from the line next to the committee. The one designs kept nailing great starts especially the whole laser class, tightest class we had on the line. Those lasers repeated were within 2 feet of the line at the flag. On finishes, the lasers traded 1st and 2nd by as little as 3 seconds, at most 17 seconds. In the open one-class design, watch out for David Beitel sailing a FINN and nailing the starts. Remember the general recall, well after waiting for their second flag sequence they all stayed back some 10 feet. By the end of the second race on Sunday we still had strong, steady wind. A lone 17, Jim Brown, had flipped upwind of the committee boat and would have drifted into her except for a tug from Eric. We wanted 4 races for the day, so as boats finished they sailed for Theis Bay for a break. Bryan had a plan for Sunday, he had set up the committee boat just off Theis Bay with A-mark directly upwind (i.e., toward North Shore Marina). This allowed the boats to hit the beach between races. The first two races on Sunday had strong wind. The third and definitely the fourth races were to the advantage of light wind sailors. I do recall one finish in the H-20 fleet. Valdec and Nathan were on port to finish, Glenn thought the same and went for it, alas, on the tack he went into the drink, missing the win within 150 yards of the finish. It was a good effort!! Sunday night was trophy night. Jim Wiseman had a great idea to do the trophies during Sunday evening (trying to score 4 races - I didn't think so at the time - sorry Jim!). Race trophies, Junior Race Team trophies, & Division standings were handed out. Jim Wiseman had volunteered to produce the Regatta trophies. The cost on these things can get way out of hand for the nice ones, but Jim had a simple solution. A white 8"x8" ceramic tile with a multi-colored design printed on it. Excellent idea - thanks Jim! Monday was a day of travel. I believe the OYC ran another offshore race, but the small boats were done. They OYC was responsible for the one-design mono-hull, the offshore, & the Governor's Cup trophies. During the morning hours, a meeting was held to decide on the one-design & the offshore Governor's Cup recipients. The OYC asked Bryan and I for candidates within the one-designs (cats included) which raced. The criteria included: sportsmanship & fair play, raced well, and raced within a competitive fleet. While we had thought of our short list throughout the regatta, by Monday morning we were unanimous in our selection. They OYC agreed. The OYC held their trophy ceremony at 12:30 p.m. Monday and some very beautiful trophies were handed out. The two Governor's Cup trophies stole the show. They were 3ft long and 2ft high made with a wooden base, and three pieces of etched glass standing tall. Larry Arbuthnot from the Laser fleet was awarded the one-design Governor's Cup trophy. I'd like to thank a lot of people who helped pull this thing off. Fleet 61 Commodore, Vic Durbin, who co-chaired this event with me and was key in planning, dinner, beer runs, pulling the fleet trailer, and Monday's cleanup. He had to work until 8:00 p.m. Friday night and drove through the night. Thanks for the superb effort Vic! Also his son, Tyler, who wanted to race, but Dad was too busy. Race Chairman, Bryan Frahm, who never imagined he would be so busy (or I would be so disorganized). He ran a smart Committee boat and a good line! Bob Olson, Ken Spady, Jim, Lee & Bob Gerk from the Ogallala Yacht Club! Jim Hanson @ Kingsley Lodge, he gave us a deal on beer & ice. Steve Hooton @ Shirts Alive, another deal on shirts. Deb Betts for support. Denise from Ft. Collins/Loveland, she kept the finish times straight and me out of trouble! Last-call beer personnel - Max, Vic & Kyle. Roger Whyman for more of that great home brew. Rocky Mountain Boatworks & Eric for the chase boat. Tad & Barb Jones for bringing the dinghy! Jon Fowkes for manning a dinghy and letting me borrow your computer, RV, generator, and a great deal on a H17!!! All of those mentioned earlier, those I have missed, and everybody that came and had fun. Thanks again! Dan |
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