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Day 1: Port Mansfield to Camp 1
The first day of any event is always exciting - there's still hope and innocence. I'd slept in an air-conditioned condo and was well rested. We were up before dawn (having agreed to launch at 6am every morning) and we were raring to go.
Promptly at 6:45, we sailed out of our slip and began our adventure. Like kids on the last day of school, we headed out with smiles on our faces and glee in our hearts. Someone, I forget who, said the prophetic words "I'm glad all the Loaner Boats were built at the same time by the same people, that way, they will all fail at the same time and we'll be able to fix them as a team." Oh, dark words, uttered in ignorance, foul be thy prediction.
Winds were high - very high - up in the teens already, you can see Bill has a reef in his sail (as we all did) already. We'd hoped to sail together as much as possible, but ended up scattering quickly.
Gordo sailing with his family on Tropic of Texas, a Caprice designed by Jim Michalak. Gordo got his start 'Ducking the Texas 200.
Remember the prophecy mentioned earlier? It came true when 5 of the 6 rudders of the loaner boats tore off. Josh (left) Chuck L (center) and I (right) were out in the lead of the 'Duckers when I saw Josh round up. Thinking he was waiting for the rest of the group, I sailed over to join him. As I got closer, I saw he was missing his rudder. About 10 seconds later, mine tore off, too. I tried to radio him and tell him I was disabled, but my radio was not receiving, so I held my broken rudder over my head to show him my problem - Josh thought I was showing him a replacement rudder and thought he'd been saved. Chuck saw us and rounded up, Josh floated down to him and tied up on the port side. I broke out my paddle (the winds were in the high teens by now and I wasn't about to blow past them) and rafted up on the starboard side. The wind was blowing us on the right course, and Chuck (who had the only functioning rudder) had some directional control, so we decided to run Josh's sail across all three boats and create the first ever 'Duck trimaran.
This was my view. Chuck has a lovely hat, don't he?
As we sailed along, we heard reports from the rest of the fleet. Rick, Paul, and Bill had also had rudder failures. Bill (seen here) was towed by Noel in Blue Bayou, and Bill refused to join Noel in the bigger, nicer boat "I'm doing this in a 'Duck!" Paul got rescued by Brian G who was sailing a red Mayfly 14 and Paul had none of the conviction of his father, Bill. Paul quickly joined Brian in the comfort of the Mayfly. Poor Rick. He had originally been rescued by Chuck P (sailing a 'Duck) and then Chuck capsized, turned turtle, and snapped his mast. The rescue of Rick was taken over by Sean in the Paradox, Scout, which had no room for passengers. With all the jerking and bouncing, Rick got violently ill for the hour or two he was towed. Here is Sean's video of Day 1 carnage. Chuck P got rescued by Travis in the B&B Yacht Designs Princess 22, Pilgrim.
Our 'Duck trimaran drew a lot of attention as we got passed by the rest of the fleet - this is Brian's dad, Gene, sailing a Mayfly 16.
Wade was not in a Loaner Boat, so his 'Duck was still functional. Look at the wake he's kicking!
This couple was in a Welsford designed Sweet Pea, which, like all John Welsford designs, sailed like a dream.
Kevin G came roaring by in his tricked out McGreggor. That thing has a 50hp outboard on it.
I kept getting this boat (a Compac 19) confused with Noel's Blue Bayou, but you can clearly see it is a different boat because it is not towing Bill.
Papa Swain comes a sailing by with his son. This was their first Texas 200 and they did quite well, except they did suffer a broken stay at some point.
John G in Chevy Duck, double reefed and looking fine.
Ryan and Peter in the Caledonian Yawl
Josh taking pictures of the Core Sound - that's another sweet ride by B&B Yacht Designs.
Another shot of Blue Bayou towing Bill.
These were a couple of neat old codgers, out on their first Texas 200.
I estimate we sailed 5 or 6 miles before we got to a beach suitable for making repairs. It was fun, trying to decide how to land a boat made of 3 boats in winds that were gusting into the 30s. From the left, we have Brian G and Paul in Brian's Mayfly 14, Sean and Rick with Scout, Bill being released from Blue Bayou, and Kellen's green 'Duck.
The rudders had failed because the pintles were attached with screws instead of bolts. We attempted repairs with rivets, but the rivets were too short. Between all the boats on the beach, we were able to scrounge up enough bolts to do everything up right and continue on our way.
The Three Men in a Trimaran crew sailed by, gleeful they had not suffered a failure.
The final 'Duck to arrive was Chuck P with a visibly shortened mast - he had capsized and turtled, trying to rescue Rick.
For fund raising, Chuck had people write their names and names of cancer victims on his boat. While Chuck was whittling the stump of his mast so it would fit in the other mast step, he was asked if he wanted to drop out of the event - he replied "No way, what I am going through is nothing compared to what these people went through." Chuck, a cancer survivor himself, is a gorram hero, folks.
Kellen and Josh during repairs.
And finally, we made Camp 1 - just a barren patch of sand and mud with prickly scrub growing off in the distance. That's Jim and Ben's yawl there to the left, and I can't remember the name of the gentleman in the foreground, but he was doing the event in a 12' sailing kayak. Hard as nails.
Martin in his AF3 That's a damn fine boat.
Another shot of the heaven that was Camp 1.
There was a fishing shack that had a wee bit of shade, but the more people that sat at the picnic table, the further it sank into the mud. Still, the shade was worth the risk.
The Moffetts as we got ready to bed down for the evening.
Pretty short day, but also our best moving average - and that INCLUDES the 2 hours we spent rafted up. The winds were HOWLING that day.
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