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FBYC History....
Jere Dennison
Monday morning, September 20, 2004. I had returned the night before from a family reunion in Williamsburg. The phone rang and Gloria, Charlie Parrott's fiance, was on the other end. A hint of panic tinged her voice. Tatiana, Charlie's New York 40, had not been heard from since Saturday, and whom should she contact. In my obliviousness, I had to ask her to explain the situation. "You haven't heard?" she said. "No," I replied, "What?" The fleet racing to Wolftrap encountered a bad storm, many boats abandoned the race, one crew was airlifted from dange, several took refuge south near Mobjack Bay and stayed the night, Tatiana among them? The only help I could offer was to refer her to someone involved with running the race. I knew nothing about what had transpired on the water that weekend. I do remember that on Saturday night, the wind was howling in Williamsburg. A little strange since Hurricane Ivan had brushed Virginia on Friday night and was well on her way out to sea. Nonetheless, I recall thinking, I was glad not to be on the Bay that night!
Over the next several weekends, I talked with several race participants. All had war stories to tell: broken spars, destroyed sails, injuries (but none serious), a Coast Guard airlift, nightmarish wind and water conditions, fears and anxieties. Surely the October Log or the FBYC website would detail the facts of a race that would probably represent the most violent in club history. The only written words I could find came in the From the Quarterdeck column by Commodore Hazlehurst in the October Log that are excerpted below:
September is leaving many memories; A race to Wolftrap the next weekend (September 18) that saw at least two torn spinnakers on the way down the Bay and building wind for the return trip, with only 8 of 20 boats finishing and some boats electing to overnight in Mobjack Bay and other sheltered locales. While this activity was underway, just one of the cruisers chose to go across the Bay to Onancock, sailing one of the newest and biggest boats in the club.
Hmm? this short reference did not exactly raise the hairs on my head like the stories then circulating through the club grapevine. It was obvious that caution was being exercised to sidestep the gory details in an effort to avoid unwanted publicity and possible official recriminations for holding the race in potentially disastrous conditions. After all, the Coast Guard was involved in an airlift and search for the "missing" Tatiana. However in retrospect, since no one was seriously injured, the weather reports gave no hint of the gales that ensued during the race thereby absolving FBYC of criticism, and Tatiana was only missing because her communications gear was out of commission during her two days of refuge in the East River, I decided that the entire story should be told.
Accordingly, after a sufficient period of time had passed (6 months - enough time, I believed, to qualify the account as "History"), I distributed an email appeal to all of the race participants to send me some anecdotes that I might find useful in weaving an intriguing narrative for the edification of our membership. Frankly, I was flabbergasted with the response. Instead of a few short paragraphs, I was treated to pages and pages of riveting accounts recollecting vivid and sometimes electrifying memories of this race. All were well-written and accurately portrayed the challenges of the storm.
You would think I would be happy about the quantity and quality of the material received. Not so. I quickly discovered that it would be impossible to do their stories justice by distilling portions into a running commentary, no matter how hard I tried. So after some brief background to set the stage, we will reprint their stories verbatim in a series to extend of the next several months. (Contributors, fear not. I will endeavor to edit out any rare typos that may have crept into your prose.)
Wolftrap Light, an ancient red-brick structure, was named for its location south of Gwynns Island near where the HMS Wolfe was trapped on a sandbar and sank during colonial times. The Wolftrap Race is surely one of the longest-running events in FBYC history. It is also considered a long-distance race at close to 25 nautical miles and is traditionally held in the fall of each year. Because it is held in the fall, north winds associated with cold fronts can often be expected. In these conditions, the race is a spinnaker or downwind run to Wolftrap Light followed by a slog to windward to the finish off Gwynns Island. In high northerly winds, large waves can build in their long fetch down the bay which can be enhanced by an incoming or north-flowing tidal current opposing the wind. While the race can be rough going, it is not always so. Sometimes winds can be so light and currents so contrary that participants are unable to finish. The race, in my memory, has rarely been cancelled due to high wind conditions since heavy winds this time of year rarely attain gale conditions.
However, in September 2004, the weather forecasts for the Wolftrap Race received a closer scrutiny than usual by the Race Committee Chairman, Brooks Zerkel, and the race participants as well. In prior days, Hurricane Ivan had been meandering up the east coast, making the cancellation of the race a real possibility. However, by Saturday morning of the race, Ivan had moved well off the Eastern Shore and winds were predicted in the range of 15-20 knots from the SW going to 20-25 knots later in the day as a high-pressure system approached from the West. This was not a malignant forecast with Ivan out of the picture, and the race would be run. The Race Committee, nevertheless, reminded each skipper of his responsibility for the safety of boat and crew and that heavy air could be expected during the race with the approach of the cold front.
There were 20 entries in the race ranging in size from 40 feet to 26 feet. The warning gun was 1100 hours. Earlier that morning, winds were from the SE in the 20's. At approximately 0900, the barometer began a rapid and dramatic rise that continued throughout the day into the evening of the next day heralding the arrival of a strong cold front. Meanwhile the wind began to clock around S to SW to W to NW to N. As the boats headed south to Wolftrap and later turned north toward home, the wind steadily increased to gale conditions. One boat recorded a 54 knot gust. The boats that reached Wolftrap earlier in the afternoon before the wind and waves had maximized were lucky. They were hard on the wind but many managed to make it home. Later arrivals at Wolftrap confronted far worst conditions. Some retired to Mobjack Bay estuaries. One, Morningtide, tried to motor home but had to airlifted by a Coast Guard helicopter to safety later in the evening. Miraculously, the abandoned Morningtide managed to drift through an opening in the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and ground near Lynnhaven Inlet where she was later recovered with minimal damage. Only 8 yachts out of 20 finished the race.
Late into the night, the RC and volunteers attempted to account for the safety of every boat and crew. Fortunately no one was lost and all eventually were accounted for. That is, until Monday morning when the Coast Guard called RC Chairman Zerkel informing him that Tatiana was still being reported missing. After many anxious moments, Tatiana reappeared to the relief of the Race Committee, and all was well.
There will be a total of 7 stories of the storm that will appear in the History Column over the next few months, 6 from race participants and 1 from the single cruising boat that participated in the Onancock Cruise the same day. The first is written by the skipper of one of the two boats finishing the race that provided accounts.
Corryvreckan's Story
By David Clark
(Corryvreckan is a 34ï¿? 5ï¿? J-105)
There has been a lot of discussion about the decision to hold the race in the first place. This is my opinion and observations. Just before leaving the dock, the weather forecast was not predicting anything like what took place and in my opinion the final decision to race or not lies with each skipper and should not be shifted to the PRO (Principal Race Officer). Having said that, if I had known what the weather had in store, we would not have raced, none of us would have.
At 11:10 AM on the 18th of September we crossed the start line. I had six people on board for the race, most were experienced sailors. Everything was going well on the way downwind to Wolftrap Light. The wind was increasing; unfortunately the instruments on the boat were not functioning. They had gone down the week before. We were flying the chute and doused it just before rounding the Light. It was about that time the conditions started to get worse. Not only were we going straight into it now, but the wind increased and the sea state was producing 8-10 foot waves. One of my crew (this was her first season) got frightened. She felt more secure down below so she stayed below till we got back. This meant shouting a warning below every time we had to tack.
The other casualty was from seasickness. He got extremely sick and continued being sick until we got into Jackson Creek. This was obviously a concern because of dehydration and fatigue. I was worried about him having the strength and presence of mind to be able to stay on the boat as we tacked. Making his way from high sided to high side during tacks, he was diligently watched over by another member of the crew. The other four people on board were coping well with the situation and handling the boat.
Having a seasick crew on the windward side doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth, if you know what I mean, but the leeward side was out of the question. He did not choose to go down below, and he was able to get from one side of the boat to the other and it would have been more difficult to steady himself below. He would have been crashing around like a bean in a can.
Before tacking the boat, everyone was made aware, and we looked for a relatively flatter spot to perform the maneuver. After coming out of the tack the boat would be driven sideways till she started picking up way again. We just kept tacking our way up the Bay past Gwynns Island and back into Fishing Bay crossing the finish line in third place at 4:04 PM.
We then rendered assistance to another J105, Blade Runner, who was having difficulty starting their engine. We towed them into the creek where they were able to start their engine and pull into their slip. To understate it, it was an uncomfortable wet journey back but we made it without sustaining any damage to crew or equipment. Of course there was water in every corner of the boat and, in fact, a spare automatic inflatable life vest in the one of the lockers deployed. We were not in a position to see what was going on with the rest of the fleet behind us and did not learn of the carnage until we were back at the dock. The weather continued to deteriorate taking a further toll on the rest of the fleet.
Thanks to the following for recently contributing sailing memorabilia to FBYC:
- Barbara and Laurie Rennie for a Biscayne Bay Yacht Club burgee. BBYC is located in Coconut Grove, FL and was founded in 1887. The burgee now hangs now hangs in the main clubhouse.
- Brooks Zerkel for a Cruising Yacht Association of Victoria burgee given to him by his cousin, Karyn Zerkel, who moved to Australia in 1957. CYAV is located in Melbourne, Australia, and has 120 registered yachts, ranging from 20 to 50 feet. The burgee now hangs in the main clubhouse.
- The family of Carlton McKinney for a box of documents pertaining to the club during the 1960s when Carlton was a Board Member. The records have been added to our archives.
- Jane Wells for a large framed copy of a page from the building plans used by her father and founding member, Alan McCullough, to organize the effort to mass-produce a Penguin fleet in 1947 by a group of club members. The original owners and sail numbers of this homebuilt fleet have been inscribed on the mat surrounding the plan which bears a large Penguin logo. The framed piece now hangs in the main clubhouse.