| The second annual Challenge
more than lived up to its name. “The
toughest day sail in Nebraska” was an
understatement! Unexpected high winds and monster
waves tested our boats, equipment and our nerves.
Friday night several sailors met at North Shore
Marina to discuss the usual crew shortages and
new sails, etc. We then retired to Little Mexico
for dinner. The strong winds subsided for the
night allowing a peaceful nights sleep on the
boats. Saturday morning
began with the usual moderate winds and the
weather man calling for 15-25 like most
days this week. The sky was partly sunny when the
26 mile Harlan Challenge began at 11:15
with Tom Day serving as race committee. The
starting line was located in the center of the
lake with the first buoy to windward near High
Point shelter. Most of the fleet hit the starting
line together with a couple bows only inches to
spare from being over early. We started to
pull ahead of the fleet in the San Juan 24 and
settle in to a routine with John Gerber at
thehelm and Steve Rider tailing the jib. Some
boats were already reefed and all were using
jibs. We had our new mylar main up full with the
blade 100% jib.The wind was building with very
powerful gusts-15-20 at this point with flat
water yet at the upwind southeast shore.
We rounded the windward mark
first, but Todd Nichol and crew Bob Houlden were
only two hundred yards behind. Our San Juan
24’s Portsmouth is 90 and Todd’s
MacGregor 25 rating drops to 94 in this wind. On
the broad reach down the lake to the west and
into Prairie Dog Bay, Nichol passed us easily and
took the lead. That MacGregor really flies in
this wind. We needed a bigger headsail or
spinnaker but didn’t have the courage. The
gusts are so large and change direction so much.
Joel and Luke Mellman show their new asymmetrical
red and white spinnaker and get their O’Day
25 up to speed closing some behind us. Ray and
Judith Geiger and crew Bill Datolla also overtake
us in Prairie Dog and move into second
place. My knotmeter shows a steady 5.7 knots as
we run the length of the bay. We should be up in
the 6-7 knot range. The other MacGregor 25 of
John Stuchlik is closing up even with us at the
second mark. Before we get there I put a reef in
the new mylar mainsail and wish that the old
dacron one was up instead.
Nichol and Geiger led the fleet
upwind back up Prairie Dog Bay. The gusts are
ferocious and suddenly there is a huge noise and
thrashing of the mainsail as our reefing line has
pulled loose from the outboard end and the sail
is all over the place. I have regretted buying
this mylar sail; the noise this thing makes
is like someone shaking a box of broken glass.
Stuchlick has to avoid us as we get the main
corralled. 30 seconds later it happens again from
the inboard end of the boom. Finally we get going
and adjust to the difficulty of sailing when so
overpowered. The waves aren’t too bad in the
bay and I am wishing there was some way to change
the course. Out in the lake its going to be
worse. It was a struggle for the fleet to
fight upwind in the bay. Boats were heeling
severely. We regained second place somehow with
Geiger in third, Stuchlik in fourth, Mellman
fifth and Mike Kleppinger and helmsman Chuck
Hastings in sixth sailing their MacGregor 21.
They are not that far behind considering their
Portsmouth is 100.
Todd Nichol maintained his lead
as we turned the corner out into the lake. We cut
as close as we dared to the dead tree tops
showing up in about 12 feet of water. Our speed
increased as we reached and then ran out into the
main body of the lake. The action of the waves
and wind makes a San Juan 24 pretty squirrelly
down wind. We develop that side to side rocking
that soon becomes violent if the helmsman
doesn’t turn up more sideways to the wind.
Like usual we have to jibe back and forth at
quite and angle instead of running straight down
the lake. Helmsman John Gerber got initiated to
this flaw in the San Juan personality. Geiger
passes us reclaiming second place running down
toward Alma.
When racing a person’s
eyes are trained on the sails and instruments
most of the time. I glanced back at the fleet
behind and was shocked at the size of the waves
behind our stern! Scary, big, thrashing things
like I’ve never seen in my life! The stress
of knowing we are running farther and farther
down this lake in these conditions is immense.
Being
the regatta chairman I feel a responsibility.
Will our old boats hold up? Few of us have ever
sailed in these conditions. The wind is 25-35
with gusts in the 40’s and is blowing
straight down Harlan from the east-southeast.
Waves must be 4-5 feet.
As the fleet approaches the
turn around buoy near the Alma bridge we notice
Todd Nichol seems to be hanging with the mark a
long time. We later learn he has done an
accidental jibe when trying to reef the main
again and hit the buoy. As Geiger and I round him
he has dropped sails and Houlden has the buoy on
deck unwrapping the anchor line from their keel.
I am glad we have left our main reefed. We have
had enough trouble controlling the boat. The
several jibes we have done so far were quite
exciting and mostly controlled. Unfortunately for
Nichol he has relinquished his large lead to
Geiger for the long upwind leg back to the dam.
The fleet is quite close together at Alma and
with Mellman’s handicap of 94.3 and
Kleppinger’s rating of 100- I feel they are
surely in the lead in corrected time.
I took over the helm from
Gerber and as expected the conditions are bad.
These are the biggest waves I’ve ever sailed
in. We are seriously overpowered with the blade
jib and reefed main. I wish we could put on a
smaller headsail but the boat is bounding up and
down and its not safe up on the bow. The San Juan
hobby horses forward and back way too much in
these conditions. On the largest waves I
can’t see the lake in front of us the bow is
so high in the air. It’s like doing a wheely
and then plunging down into the trough. I
play the rudder keeping the angle of heel the
same as best I can. The jib is sheeted tight and
is allowed to partially fill and then luff as I
pinch or feather upwind in the gusts. When a
large wave would heel the boat over more and a 40
mph gust hit it was gut check time! The extra
heavy keel on the 24 is nice now though as we
never round up. Despite the difficulty we are
probably having an
easier time than the others. Luffing mainsails
and round-ups are visible as the fleet claws
upwind!
On our first tack we headed to
the south shoreline hoping to find smaller waves.
No luck-the wind is straight down the lake. We
are struggling to make 4 - 4.5 knots and drop
easily to 2 if a wave crashes us. Geiger is
beating up the middle to the left side of Harlan
and the Mellmans are working the leeward north
shoreline which would be the shortest route since
the lake curves some from east to west. We tack
several times along the south shore and note that
Nichol is working his way to the south as well.
Looking across the lake the Mellman’s red
O’Day is directly even with us. Stuchlik and
Hastings-Kleppinger are behind; Geiger is still
in the lead. When we reach the opening to
Prairie Dog Bay the winds are even stronger and
control is very nearly impossible. Spray is
blowing off the tops of waves and our bow spray
is landing 30 yards downwind of the boat. When
the huge gusts blast us it is now forcing the bow
off sideways. We have let off the main entirely
and then have to let off the jib due to severe
heeling. John suggest we take down the mainsail.
This proved to be very
difficult in these raging conditions. Steve
really had his hands full getting the mylar main
off the boom and inside. Simple tasks on a normal
day are daunting in 40 mph winds. Immediately we
noted how easy the boat was to control now and
the best part, our speed had improved from 4
knots to 5.5 or 5.7 knots upwind! It took a wider
steering movement on the tiller but things were
more peaceful now. We reached the bluffs just
east of Prairie Dog and flat water! We were on
the layline for the buoy 3 miles ahead. What a
relief. I have never sailed with only a jib and
appreciate John’s expertise. This was the
call of the day.
We speed up the south shoreline
and watch Geiger fight his way up to finish
first. A great job with that tall masted, fast
Santana 23. The course has been shortened
omitting the three windward leewards near the
dam-we have all had enough. We finish second in
elapsed time about 4 minutes later. Todd Nichol
finishes next, closely followed by the Mellmans.
Before the opening to Prairie Dog Bay
Kleppinger-Hastings had their rudder bearing
break forcing them to motor the rest of the way.
I’m surprised they can make it which is a
testament to the seaworthiness of their M-21.
John Stuchlik’s jib has torn so after
sailing part way on main only he starts the motor
when that huge black storm cloud appeared in the
south. Everyone else motor-sailed for shore as
fast as possible racing this dangerous cloud. On
shore we just got the sails put away before the
rain started. The radio reported hail to the
south and a twister south of Franklin. Talk about
luck!
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