Ready for Race week, June 18-25th

Our Race Crew

RACE WEEK
Monday, the boats left the harbor around 9:30 with an anticipated first start at 11AM. The wind forecast was for light winds for the next several days. Not good for a World Championship Regatta. I had checked the post at the Race office and most of the day just saw only results for Class A boats, race one. It appeared that no other classes got a start for the entire day due to diminishing winds and this would be a big disappointment to many boats.

When the boats returned there were many stories and complaints as to how the Committee boat handled the course changes and the delayed starts or recalls. In the end, only the Class A boats had a race results. No second races were even close to happening.


In the evening, we arranged a taxi to take us 5 km’s to the Bucaletta restaurant for the speciality of the Island, Roast Lamb. We had all looked forward to the dinner, with exception to Jerone (a Vegetarian), and did not leave hungry.

Tuesday, June 21st, the boats were ready to leave for their one Off-Shore, overnight race. Again light wind forecasts for the week so things looked bleak. From reports, all boats started and were on their way with the light winds. Around 3:30, I got a call from Ken informing me they were coming in back to the marina and would be there in 15 minutes. Their steering was out and they were using their manual tiller to guide the boat back. I jumped into the car and raced over to the marina to meet them. John walked to Shelly’s Apartment to let her know about the boat and they walked over to the marina.

Apparently, after about 2 hours, and after 2-360degree turns, they realized the boat was not responding to their steering. They thought the turns were due to the lack of wind, but soon realized it was much more serious than that. The manual tiller works well, but is awkward to use.

The rest of the day, the Grateful Red being the only boat on the pontoon, the crew worked on repairing the steering rod under the pedestal. The shipyard lent some assistance is some metal work, and after the repairs were complete, the crew took the boat out for a test. I returned to the apartment to fix a pasta dinner for the crew. Aside from the disappointment of not being able to race again, and the fact that it was blazing hot all day, the crew would need a good shower and a easy meal. It was a great evening with everyone at our apartment, eating outside and enjoying the cool evening.

Wednesday morning I took John to the bus station where he would travel to Zagreb and fly to Prague. Ken and I will meet up with him on Saturday for Maggie Touma’s Birthday celebration. The rest of the morning was slow and relaxing.

Charlie "deck-dancing"

Blender action on Thursday

A "local" friend at our apartment

Our Wednesday "fun-sail"

The rest of the crew will meet at 1pm at the boat to see if there is wind to take the boat out for a afternoon sail. Just for fun! We sailed across to Rabac (one of the few harbors directly across from Cres Island), we stopped there for cold drinks and icecream and then went on our way. It seemed to be a busy tourist town on the mainland and our big red boat was larger than life on the Quay. It is fun to watch from a distance as people would stop and stare at the boat. When we returned to the Cres Harbor, we watched the last of the Class B boats cross the finish. It was a long overnight race with light winds and in many ways we were glad not to compete. We gave the boat a salute and applaude for their efforts.


Boats returning to the Harbor

Thursday, again light winds and no start which would mean no finish for Class B racers. The boats stayed out until there was no chance of getting a race in for the day. Friday, finally some good wind and the boats all had good starts. Grateful Red could only race the first race as we had to then spend the remainder of the day turning the boat from racer to cruiser due to everyones having to leave early Saturday. Ken and I would drive to Zagreb Friday night so we could make our Saturday morning flight to Prague.

Leneke guarding the sails on Friday during our cleanup of the boat