FBYC History....
Jere Dennison
Back in the distant past, when men were men and crews actually bunked on their yachts during racing events, the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit (SORC) was the premier winter racing series in North America for offshore yachts. There were none of those wussy short closed courses such as at Key West Race Week where crews abandon their vessels each evening for the comfort of bars, restaurants, and plush resort accommodations. Nosiree - SORC participants battled the elements as well as their competition on lengthy overnight races to various Florida and Caribbean ports. And the challenges presented by the SORC never failed to attract the greatest dignitaries of the sailing world to showcase the latest in boat designs, sails, and assorted racing gear.
The Southern Ocean Racing Circuit was founded in 1941 by a loose-knit coalition of Florida yacht clubs and the Nassau Yacht Club. The original series of five races included the St. Petersburg-Havana Race, the Lipton Cup, the Miami-Nassau Race, the Governors Cup in Nassau, and the Havana-Key West Race. Suspended during the War years, the SORC resumed in 1947 when vicious gale-force winds dismasted the legendary Ticonderoga and several other entries in the Miami-Nassau Race. Over the years, the format was modified but remained a true test for boats and crews alike. Popularity of the SORC peaked in 1973 before changes in offshore designs and increasing demands on the leisure time of skippers and crews led to a waning interest in distance racing. With the old circuit at an all-time low, the format was changed in 1990 to a week of day-racing off Miami Beach, the series now a mere shadow of its former self.
In 1974 during the glory days of the SORC, the FBYC-flagged yacht Rappahannock entered the series to test the mettle of some of the finest competitors in the nation. Owned by Alan McCullough (Commodore 1951) and Bev Crump (Commodore 1982), the Carter 37 Rappahannock was one of a new breed of IOR rated boats designed by the office of naval architect Dick Carter who had the reputation of launching successful hulls exploiting the new rule.
In contrast to today when race boats arrive at winter venues via the Interstate, Rappahannock had to make it to Florida and return the old fashion way, on her own bottom. This was a time-consuming and costly effort for a few weeks of racing in the warmer climes. But by all accounts, as you shall read, it was worth the effort. We are very fortunate that the crew of Rappahannock detailed their SORC experiences in the pages of the Log and are pleased to reprint two articles that appeared in the February and March, 1974 issues of the Log respectively. The first covering the first three races appears below; the second covering the final three races will appear in next months Log.
SORC THE FIRST THREE
Bev Crump
The Southern Ocean Racing Conference--the Southern Circuit--consists of six races: Anclotte Keys, St. Petersburg to Ft. Lauderdale, the Ocean Triangle, the Lipton Cup, Miami-Nassau and the Nassau Cup. Rappahannock at 27.5 IOR was in Class E along with 24 other One Tonners and 4 smaller boats. One Ton Racing has seemed to catch on in a big way and from the early results in the SORC, seems to be where the action is. Our clan had no less than 10 new custom One Tonners, all equipped with name crews and the latest in equipment and sails. Not taking anything away from the other classes (Scaramouche in B seems to be the best in fleet) but E, because of the One Ton interest, seems to be the center of activity.
So here we are in Rappahannock, full of hope and anxiety before the Anclotte Race. We have new sails and gear but are somewhat awed by the talent and boats around us. Here's Lowell North, Ted Hood, Britton Chance, John Marshall, Gary Mull, Bill Lapworth, Charlie Morgan, Ted Irwin, Dick Carter, etc. And here we are from Fishing Bay: Alan & Mac McCullough, Charlie McDowell, Ben Ackerly, Rives Potts, and myself. We are overwhelmed by the magic of the moment, the hospitality, the frantic preparation, the Florida sunshine, the anxiety.
The Anclotte Race starts with a beat against the tide down the St. Pete Channel in 6-8 knots of breeze. We get a bad start and then can't get the boat going. At the first mark we are last! But we keep pushing the boat and get her going and by tacking out of the current, overtake 8-10 boats by the time we pass under the Sunshine Skyway Bridges. In fact, there's Ted Turner behind us! Things may not be so bad after all. As night falls, we are tacking into the light southwesterly out of Tampa Bay, and don't really know where we stand. However, it is clear that if we make a bad tack, we lose a boat next to us. You can't make mistakes in this crowd. Turner slips by us at midnight at the sea buoy as we pop chutes for Anclotte 25 miles to the north. Winds are light and variable so we seek the shore and for a while this seems to be paying off, however, a shift 5 miles from the buoy puts it dead downwind and those to seaward reach up past us. The downwind mark is a real traffic jam, a pattern we will find repeated throughout the Circuit. The One Tonners are so evenly matched that often the marks are rounded like one-design races.
The beat back to Tampa Bay Channel is accompanied by increasing winds and we find our sail changes somewhat lacking. We have a long tacking duel with Dingo, a Ranger from Maine and with Ted Irwins La Pantera, losing to the former by 100 yards and beating the latter by 600 yards. At the finish we are dejected. We have found that when we get the boat going we can compete with most of our class; but our sail changes are too slow, our sail selection inexperienced (several recuttings have changed our sails from those we had this summer) and our knowledge of local waters and wind lacking. On the bright side, our helmsmanship and boat trim seem OK if we concentrate. We are surprised to find that we are 16th in class (out of 29) and 38th in fleet (out of 104). We cheer up somewhat. The new Ganbares and American Jane sweep it all in our class and fleet.
For St. Pete to Ft. Lauderdale we add to our crew Al Gundry, our friendly boat broker from Annapolis, and Yves-Marie Tanton, the young naval architect formerly of Dick Carter's office who was responsible for much of our design. Our Wednesday morning start again sees a light-air beat against the tide, but this time despite much bad air at the line, we do much better. Going out of Tampa Bay we are in the middle of the fleet. The wind increases out of the SSE to 18-20 knots and we round the sea buoy and head 200 degrees on port. Because a shift to the SW has been predicted, we continue on port well west of the rhumb line of 178 degrees and by Thursday night, find ourselves as much as 50 miles west of it as the wind backed slightly to the east. Because of Loran we know our position at all times and because of the other boats around us, we still are confident of our strategy. However, the westerlies never come and we beat back to Rebecca Shoal on starboard, round Friday morning many hours after the first few E boats that stayed to the east.
Our choice now is how far out do we go? We opt for a middle route which seems to have been about right. We pick up the Gulf Streams 2+ knot current off Key West and with spinnakers flying, around the Keys we go as the westerlies arrive a day late.
Saturday morning greets us with a true SORC treat---wind from the north at 35-40 knots against the Stream. It is bumpy but Rappahannock under #4 and reefed main loves it and we overtake several boats with an hour or so. We are particularly happy to overtake Windquest, the new C&C 37 of which we have not seen much. But the wind moderates as we pass Miami and we pull out of the Stream too soon, afraid of missing the Lauderdale buoy, Windquest and Muniquita, who we have been dueling, both edges us out at the end. We feel better about our sailing after the race but less confident of our ability to go the right way. We had better boat speed, but the boats that stayed on the rhumb line beat us by several hours. We are again 16th in but this time we are 55th in fleet.
The Ocean Triangle is a new race to the SORC. It leads from Miami across the Gulf Stream, around Great Issac Light off Bimini, back across the Stream to Ft. Lauderdale and then down against the Stream to Miami. Our crew for this one is Mac, myself, Yves-Marie, Matt Hulcher, George Anderson, Paul Middleton, and Jere Dennison, all of whom are exhausted as we arrive at the starting line under tow having spent a sleepless night flying to Miami and then fighting a broken hydraulic transmission.
We start under spinnaker in clear air and for the first time in the series are up with the leaders. Our position is soon scrambled by the Gulf Stream and wind shift that puts us on a beat and as night approaches, we know only that boats are well to the north and south as well as ahead and behind. We see the A boats roaring back past us on a close reach: Equation, Running Tide, La Forza, Namis, War Baby (ex-American Eagle), Sorcery, Sassy. But it is dark as we approach Great Issac. The Streams northwardly current stops suddenly and we now can reach off; but for the fear of the sharp coral bottom and the unfamiliar waters, we do not set the starcut. It is a mistake. Four boats pass us rounding Issacs. We recognize Ted Irwin and American Jane.
Going back across to Lauderdale, we roar along under starcut and gain back lost places. But again we screw up at the buoy by taking the chute down as we are being overpowered only to find that the current has stopped and we must bear off 30 degrees. Because we are only a mile from the buoy, we don't put the chute up again---a mistake that costs us several places. We beat back to Miami in 10-15 knot winds and bumpy seas. Ted Irwin goes offshore and to our surprise, beats us to the line. We have been hugging the beach to avoid the current but have not fared particularly well in the seas with only moderate winds. But we are doing better ---12th in class. We made two errors in sail choice, both of which were very costly, but otherwise sailed a fairly good race.
We came back to Miami with a positive attitude for the future. Our sail changes are down to a matter of seconds. Our helmsmanship is good and our sail trim better. We are beating some very good boats and we are eager for more racing. We have also had fantastic weather and a beautiful time in the Florida sun.
Next Month-The Last Three: Lipton Cup, Miami-Nassau and Nassau Cup by Matt Hulcher