Race one was sailed in beautiful weather with a moderate southeast breeze, and the temperature varying between slightly cool under the clouds to downright warm in the sunshine. No one who was lying in bed looking out the window at 8:00 AM would have predicted that, given the massive downpour going on at the time.

A quick look at the radar loop showed a broad area of rain that had coalesced into a strong line, right over Houston. Soon after that, the whole thing charged off toward the northeast and left us a great day.

The first leg was a very lopsided beat from Q to H, a fetch for some boats, in a 10 to 12 knot southeast breeze. I think Na Zdrowie got there first. They were followed by Fresh Kill, Rope Yarn Sunday, and a J/22 rounding in a big pinwheel.

The second leg was a broad reach to E. After the rounding, the 22 and Fresh Kill were inside of Rope Yarn Sunday, and stuck there. Both boats eventually gave that up and slowed down to escape behind Rope Yarn and into clear air.

It proved to be a good move, as the bigger boats were coming up fast, and they were then both able to move past Rope Yarn. The J/22 and Fresh Kill were in the lead at the second mark, and again rounded in a pinwheel. Fresh Kill had managed to keep an inside overlap going into the mark, but immediately lost it to superior spinnaker handling on the 22.

Unfortunately for the J/22 the next leg turned out to be a jib reach, and the chutes had to come down. There was a foggy mist covering the shore, hiding the location of the last mark, and the compass on the J/22 was lying. This caused confusion on the 22 when the rest of the fleet turned up another 30 degrees higher, and Fresh Kill was able to capitalize on the delay and pull back ahead into the lead.

Fresh Kill was able to hold on to the lead all the way to the finish, despite a late challenge from the 22 when the wind died some, and then filled back in from farther aft. The 22 was able to get a chute up and drawing, and pulled to within a few boat lengths before Fresh Kill was able to get some air into their chute.

Contributed by Jeff Kitterman on As-If

It was decided a couple of days before the race that the husband "was" going to spend some quality time with his wife that weekend. So we entered into the non-spin class, going as mixed doubles. We figured we would go after Rope Yarn Sunday but he no-showed. Obviously he had heard of our plan and was scared. Just kidding, he was stuck working that weekend. Too bad for him, as it was another great day for sailing, with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 70's.

The first leg was a lop-sided beat with the pre-start winds building to 16-18 knots from a little south of east. We were debating on downsizing the headsail to a #3 but we figured legs 2 and 3 would be a beam reach. We decided to just fight the #1 for the first leg so we wouldn't have to do a sail change. That was the right call, as the wind died to 12-14 knots but had left a considerable chop to beat through. With our last tack to the first mark completed we ended up with a slight override around the jib winch. With a quick jib sheet replacement, we rounded on the outside of a 3 boat pinwheel. The Tripp 36,Andale, and the Evelyn 32, Simbal, were inside of us, but that was ok because that made us the windward boat in a no luffing race.

The 2nd leg was just a nice beam reach day sail. Andale & Simbal had some trouble getting the spinnakers going which gave us a little head start. At the 2nd mark rounding it was the same three boats again but with Andale just ahead of us and Simbal eating up our transom. I pinched it very close to the mark trying to get our nose above Andale so we could breathe after the gybe.

The 3rd leg was to tight for the spinnaker boats to carry a chute, advantage for us. The wind had died to around 10 knots and everyone was having a nice sail towards the finish. Yahoo and Cayuse were pretty close to each other but Yahoo pulled out the win in the spinnaker class. The Ultimate 20 (Unruly) came out of nowhere to cross our bow at the finish line for a 3rd place in the spinnaker class.

We won the non-spin class and waited for the second place boat to cross. Many boats didn't have flags on their backstay, so we weren't sure. But the next dark shape flag to finish was a Catalina 36 (Island Time). It was the first trophy of any kind for them, they were very happy. Well done Island Time!

As recalled by Bill Beatty on Rope Yarn Sunday:

This race was windy, with the wind blowing from the Southwest and gusting to 25 knots or so. It made for a very fast race - 1 hour 30 minutes for the winners. The weather was its usual 70 degrees, typical for Icicle racing!

A large number of boats grouped for the start, with one boat - Cabaret - being so confident that he decided to race under main alone! The real story is that he only had a 155% genoa aboard, having left the other sails on the dock to lighten the boat. The high winds resulted in only a few spinnakers being flown, even on the down wind leg. Rowdy had no problems, but AS-IF blew her chute when she attempted a hoist during the first leg, and was left with only the tapes to take down.

The finish was exciting. Rope Yarn Sunday, on port tack, had Island Time almost overlapping from astern. Light Wave, on starboard tack, would have to pass Marker #2 and the tack to finish. This was happening with all three boats and the Channel Marker #2 all almost within a boat length of each other and one boat on Starboard!!! Rope Yarn Sunday was able to point up enough to let Lightwave round the mark to finish first for the Spinnaker fleet. Island Time figured that she needed to luff big time to stay out of the way but went too far and tacked. On Rope Yarn Sunday we never looked back - we were afraid of what we might see. Double Seahorse led all the fleet for two legs, showing that there are some new racers out there to be reckoned with.

There was plenty of good cheer and rum at the post-race social in the GBCA clubhouse.

As recalled by Bill Beatty on Rope Yarn Sunday:

The weather was cool and clear, a far cry from the week before. The light and varying winds from the east and a significant chop on the bay created an interesting race environment. There was a good turnout in both of the spinnaker and non-spinnaker fleets in spite of the low water that again prevented some boats from leaving their slips and competing.

The first leg was a beat but with the starboard tack heavily favored. The spinnaker fleet really showed their colors (spinnakers) on the second leg, which varied from a close reach to a run as the wind came and went. YaHoo really was cooking down the second leg, leading all the spinnaker boats at the second mark.

The third leg saw OBE go high and then set a chute to overhaul the other spinnaker boats and take a first. Rowdy carried her spinnaker up the last leg and finished 3rd. The other spinnaker boats tried both chutes and jibs with mixed results. Rope Yarn Sunday had to really concentrate on sail set and boat driving to just overhaul Paladin on the third leg and finish first in her fleet.

There was another good turnout for rum trophies and chips at the after-the-race party at the GBCA Clubhouse. The fair weather permitted the large crowd to use the office deck to watch the Clear Lake scenery and soak up the sun.

As recalled by Jeff Kitterman on As-If:

We made it to the last race of the series and it was just a beautiful day. Sunny and in the mid 70's. We arrived to the bay to find a 8-10 knot northwesterly wind. The forecast called for the wind to switch to the southeast by afternoon. The wind started to die to 4-6 knots and switch to the east, just before everyone's start. Yes that made the start look pretty ugly.

We started right behind Cheap Thrills (Hobie 33). With us getting gassed by the Hobie and the entire fleet going left, not wanting to tack. We decided it would be best to tack and take the right side of the course, hoping the sea breeze would fill in. Cheap Thrills tacked shortly afterwards and the race of the light boats was on. It was pretty much a gain in the puffs and lose in the holes. Each taking turns, gaining and losing.

About a 1000 yds from the first mark Cheap Thrills tacked towards the mark. They didn't have the lay line, so our plan was continue on until we were on it. After much

discussion it was thought that we were overstanding. So we tacked into this hole that was also a header (that's a bad thing) and we weren't even on the lay line (another bad thing). To make matters worse we look up and Lightwave (Laser 28) is right there.

Making a long story short, at the first mark Cheap Thrills had stretched out a good lead and Lightwave wasn't too far behind us. We set our reaching spinnaker and let our asymmetrical do it's work on the reaches. Now we were hoping the sea breeze wouldn't fill in and turn this leg into a run.

By the second mark we had reeled the the Hobie and had put some distance on the Lazer. Cheap Thrills had just enough trouble with their spinnaker jybe to allow us go above them. The A-kite worked it's charm again on the third leg, beam reach. It gave us the win and Cheap Thrills a sedond. Lightwave had a whole 42 seconds to spare for a third place before the cut off time of 3 pm would have eliminated them.