Submitted
by Michael Vogt:
2007 I-to-I recap from Michael Vogt (last place finisher)
With a NWS forecast of
E 15-20 I brought some smaller sails and a big slalom board just in
case the surf was real bad. I ended up rigging an old Windwing 6.7 race
sail on my 85cm Starboard F155 with a 54cm fin.
I picked the 6.7 for
several reasons: I could afford to trash it and it's mast. It's 220ish
clew would be easier to handle in the surf. A smaller lighter sail
would be better in heavy chop. I was out of shape and wanted just enough
to plane. I was competing against the course, not others.
I launched after the
fleet crossed the line because I was still futzing with the equipment. I
was lucky to pick a relative lull between sets and managed to outrun
and maneuver around some break on the way out. I could see most of the
fleet nearing the channel a half mile away while a medium size cargo
ship was barreling in pretty quickly. There were no other big boats and
only a couple of recreational boats on the water.
After rounding the
channel mark and testing my upwind capability I started getting lower
leg cramps. Last year I rounded the upwind mark but then was spent due
to semi schlogging off the wind heading north in swells and just
hobbled back to the start line. So, I decided to go to plan B and just sail
the unsanctioned si2i (slalom inlet to inlet). I sailed about
500 yards offshore planing almost all of the time going into the wind about 15
degrees, it seemed. There were only occasional small bunches of weeds
and I was able to free the few I caught by speeding up downwind.
I took a 10 minute rest stop offshore of John Loyd park to stretch
and massage my calf and try some outhaul adjustments. On the
way from here I started seeing the rest of the fleet heading south.
The first ones quite a ways offshore and SCREAMING. Later
someone passed inshore of me. I took another rest north of the hillsboro
pier. When I got near to the the 16th street sailing site (I only
saw kites) I tacked to go upwind to the Hillsboro marker. Here I started
to take more notice of the offshore breaking waves in that area.
They looked like 8'+. Here I decided to go to pla n C and just head back.
Once I headed downwind to be parallel to the shore I was screaming
fully powered. Sail was just right, but the chop was vicious at that
speed and there were swells and cross chop that often sent me
airborne. I was worried that another 1/2 hour of that beating would start to
tear apart my board. I only fell twice, getting catapulted over the
handlebars both times. No damage thanks to lots of goofy foam padding
glued to the nose of my board. Spotting the landmarks around south
beach was a relief and I was able to scream in at up to a 45 degree
angle to shore and easily time it to land on the back side of a wave
without catching a sandbar.
All in all I was very
happy with how much I completed. Combining last years and this years
races I have almost run the complete course. Maybe next year I can put it
all together.
Thanks to Ron and all
the sponsors and the other sailors for a great event.
\m/
Michael Vogt