Jere Dennison
One very popular Junior event in the early 1970’s was Fun Day where racing techniques were de-emphasized in favor of hysterical antics on the water calculated to entertain participants, families and other members alike. In short, it was a spectator event. What follows is a delightful LOG account of the first such event held in 1973. Although the reporter is anonymous, the Logstreamer at the time was former member Rayond J. Munsch,, who now lives in Philadelphia and sails out of Oxford, Maryland in his C&C 36, Glory. He was probably the source of the article that follows.
Fun Day, 1973
If you weren’t there, you missed a good time! Sunday, the eighth of July, saw eleven one-designs, 22 skippers and crews, and about twice that many in the cheering section, turn out for a fun day at FBYC.
All races and events were started from the end of the pier. The courses were also kept close to the dock so everyone on shore could see what was going on.
Prizes were awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and Boobie. In keeping with the fun aspect of the day, the Boobie prize was by far the best trophy (a gold sailboat on a wooden base). The winners of the Boobie prizes were usually the last to finish or those who had some hard luck or showed an extra amount of spunk.
The first race was a windward-leeward around Mark A. The big difference was that the leeward leg had to be sailed backwards, that is, with the boat in reverse. Amazingly, all eleven boats completed the event, which was hampered by certain boats having to do 360s (backwards?). In 1st place was Joe Gander in his Sunfish, 2nd was Vicki Bell in a Laser and 3rd was Louise Blackwood in a Sunfish. Perry King was Boobie in a Kite.
The second event scheduled, after a break for lunch, was the war canoe syndrome race, where you can paddle, but the wind came up and made this impractical. So the committee switched to a blindfold race where the skipper was blindfolded and the crew told him how to sail the rectangular course. Vicki Bell came in 1st, Eileen Blackwood was 2nd in a Laser and Stuart Tyson was 3rd in a Sunfish while Berend Tyson was the Boobie.
Event three required all boats to chase a bunch of balloons floating across the bay and retrieve the balloon with its own boat number on it, sail to the beach and then run out to the end of the dock to give the race committee the balloon. Rock Bell won in his Hobie 14, Vicki Bell was 2nd and Matthew West in a Sunfish 3rd over Berend Tyson, Boobie.
The fourth race created the most spectator enthusiasm with the dock filled with a bloodthirsty crew cheering on their teams and booing the opponents. This was the ball tag musical boats event. All boats had to stay inside a small rectangle marked off by buoys. Boats were tagged by throwing a rubber football and any boat that was "it" when the horn blew had to drop out. This was really an exciting event and taught many how to better maneuver their boats. Also, picking up the floating ball was excellent practice for man-overboard drills. Eileen Blackwood in her Laser managed to stay ‘til the end for 1st prize, with Joe Gander 2nd and Vicki Bell 3rd. Perry King had some tough luck trying to retrieve the ball but made some spectacular maneuvers that had everyone holding his breath. He really worked for his Boobie prize.
The grand finale was the Greezer Race. Lorraine Woodley, daughter Claire and Chuck Raynor headed out in the Club launch with nine large watermelons which the girls liberally greased with Crisco. The melons were dumped overboard and the eleven boats went after the nine melons. It was quite a sight with more than one participant falling in the drink in an effort to grab on to the elusive melons. After a while, all of the watermelons were pulled aboard and a feast followed on the beach.
The Fun Day, which hopefully will become an annual affair, was conceived by Jimmy Reid and many of the race ideas came from David Taylor and his Albacore troops. Chuck Raynor, Bill Pierce, Alex Alexander and Peter Roughton also provided plenty of help.