Report from Dr. Sam's cousin, Paul

 RACE TO THE COAST
By Paul Horton, F-31 “Tribology”

June 28, 2003

We sailed in the "Race to the Coast" last weekend.  It was 61 miles, from New Orleans to Gulfport, and is billed as the oldest continuously run distance race in America.  The first event was in 1850, the year after Southern Yacht Club was founded.  They started us (the only multihull) last, 21 minutes behind "A Fleet" which included some J-130's, a Melges 30, and a Mumm 36.  Most had some or all pro crews.  The race was almost perfect for multihulls, with some upwind and down wind legs but mostly reaching.  We had light air (6-8 knots) for the first couple of hours, then mostly 12-18 knots.  We finished in six and a half hours, more than an hour before the first monohull.  Counting our later start, we beat the second place boat by an hour and thirty minutes.  It was really fun to blow their doors off, especially since we had to pass them in close quarters in a narrow stretch of the course.  I spoke with one of the crew on Java, the top J-130.  They were going 8.2 when we went by doing 20.  We don't have confirmation yet, but everyone is pretty sure that this was the fastest finish in the 150 year history of the race.

Another advantage of being fast was that the last 40% of the fleet got slammed with a vicious storm near the finish.  We finished on a 12 knot spinnaker run under sunny skies.  They finished beating into 30 - 40 knot wind in driving rain after dark.  There's that saying about fast boats being safe boats, because they get you into port and out of harm's way.  It was true in this case.