After racing the line of sailboats was a couple miles long and pointed at Oak Harbor. Rounding the spit we saw the marina. It looked like the circus had come to town. All kinds of flags flapping. Brightly colored tents dotted the shore. Reggae music blared from the committee boat as they came in. The PA was turned up so they can announce to the marina that the party is starting. Then the band starts playing. It is Race Week.
Over all attendance this year was a little less than the organizers had hoped, but several SSSS boats were there. Flying Circus, Bodacious, and Sugar Magnolia were the ones I noticed. And a Tiger full of our Members on someone else’s boat. I may have missed some one; if I did I am sorry. I did not study the results. In fact I tended to avoid them as none of the SSSS boats were doing well.
Still it was fun racing. Most days we had three good races. Lots of well sailed boats. Close starting. For our boat it was a very good learning experience. By Wednesday half our crew had doubled the number of races they had sailed in their lives. All under sunny skies in wind up to about, maybe 15 kn. One race it got light enough we could not keep the chute full — so they abandoned it and we went in to drink rum.
Every night after racing there was a party on the lawn in front of Oak Harbor YC. A different band every night. Mount Gay Rum drinks and amber beer, free once you are inside. Jan Anderson had a booth displaying her photos. She had a large screen set up to show photos of that day’s racing. Ulman Sails gave away T-shirts. It ended after they gave out awards to the first three boats in class each day.
I first attended Race Week way back when it was Yachting Race Week and just getting started. But the basic plan has remained the same because it is a good one: race on the sea breeze in the afternoon and party for two hours after. That first year, way back, in the days before cell phones, the Mayor of Oak Harbor spoke to the racers at the first gathering. He gave us his home phone number, in case we had any trouble. This year there were three officers there to make sure there was not any trouble. The crowd was pretty mellow both years.
After two hours it was over. They shut off the booze and the band and everyone left. Well they left the party area. The party divided and moved. Pizza and BBQ were for sale right out side the gate. There was a Penn Cove mussel feed put on by OHYC one night. The Navy had a BBQ for us another. I heard something about a disco ball out on the end of the dock Monday night. Or the Bacconoff, with an international chef, over in the Navy parking lot the next night.
That first year there was not as much going on. That year we walked to town for dinner every night. It is a short walk along the water. There were enough choices we did not eat at the same place twice. We had a motel, as the boat may not sleep the racing crew. The others showered there to avoid the lines, before walking back.
Now lot of people camp. There are picnic areas on the break water dock. There people had pitched tents. The Navy has a parking lot across the street from he marina and they let people camp there this year. Alan Marrs brought his boat as a support boat for Bodacious. His was not the only support boat there.
When I think of this Race Week I will think of outboard motors. To get the boat there, I left Swantown bound for TYC. Just north of Boston Harbor the outboard quit. I had to sail back. We borrowed the delivery outboard form our sistership, or we would not have been there. They had a lighter racing outboard; it broke a shear pin. We had to make a new one to power out to one race. The borrowed outboard was not running quite right. We had to nurse it more and more as the week progressed.
Yes, when I think of this Race Week I will think of outboards. And the RC boat tossing us Mardi Gras beads. They liked Scott’s hat. And winning the pin end start in a race Tuesday.
Steve Worcester
Race Week photos by Jan Anderson