The 1996 Lightning Southern Circuit

By Jared Drake / Bill Faude / Brian Taboada

It's a custom in the Lighting Class that the Southern Circuit champion writes an article for Flashes. Since we sailed this event in a somewhat unique manner (i.e., we all sail in our own individual ways and now, having all sailed in each other's positions in the circuit, we have an increased appreciation for others' perspectives...), we decided to write the article the way we sail. So we each went away and wrote down our impressions of the best-attended Southern Circuit in Lightning History and here they are. We're pretty sure that what we say won't relate to what the other guys are saying, but that would actually pretty closely approximate how things go on the boat.

Perspective on 1996 Southern Circuit

Jared Drake
The Circuit started long before Savannah. February 9th, our heroes went to Buffalo to pick up the new boat. We bought a bare hull and had a lot to do to get the boat race ready. Needless to say, the next three weekends were booked. Going to the Circuit with a boat that has never been sailed is not a good idea. "we could be in for some surprises."
Surprises: It's time to leave. I feel sick. It's snowing. Bill is unemployed. Our hotel reservations in Savannah were for February. Brian is stuck in Atlanta. Our boat is not ready. Our windshield wipers don't work and it's cold and raining the whole way down . . .
Perhaps the biggest surprise, other than the temperature, was that we were all going switch positions in the boat and I would steer in Savannah. I had never sailed in Savannah before, nor steered a Lightning in a race. This was going to be quite a challenge for me. I expressed my lack of confidence to Bill and Brian and gave them permission to coach. "guys, don't assume that i know what i'm doing back here."
The first race, I was completely confused, and it is pretty much a blur. I do remember paddling against the current to stay behind the starting line before the 5 minute gun. I just went where Bill and Brian told me and tried to make some sense of the course configuration. Sunday was windy and cold, challenging conditions with big puffs and shifts. My lack of tiller time made me feel shaky, but Bill and Brian's only demand was that I not flip us over. Somehow, we survived.

Things learned in Savannah:
--- Sail near Larry MacDonald in Savannah
--- Jib and Main halyard are too long (maybe we should've gotten a new mast with the new boat . . .)
--- Vang needs more throw
--- Egor's Velvet Elvis ($4.00)

On to Miami. More driving rain. Tuesday, finally nice weather and a more familiar crew assignment. This is more like it. Biscaine Bay offers great Lightning sailing, that's why we keep coming back. We stayed at Brian's relatives and were treated way too nicely! We started a routine of launching the boat early, eating, getting dressed and ready to race. Our usual stops at the EasyQuick were unnecessary due to the wonderful homemade lunches provided by Brian's gracious Aunt.

Things learned in Miami:
--- Getting off the line is essential
--- Hitting the mark is probably ok, when the other option is getting back in line and trying to round again
--- Vang needs more purchase
--- Too much friction in jib wire control
--- Stay with Diaz family whenever possible
--- Knowing Ched and crew's whereabouts becomes more important

On to St. Pete, beautiful weather and sailing on Tampa Bay. Thursday we worked on the boat and went to the beach instead of practicing. The pressure was on the North American Champ Brian. We stayed with Colin and Karen Park. Our heroes agree that the Parks are swell. It was really cool to be right in the hunt for the regatta and the Circuit going into the last race and beating everyone you have to. Unbelievable!

Things learned in St. Pete:
--- Almost everything on the boat works now
--- Downwind in breeze don't go too deep, head up and plane when you can, especially in the puffs
--- Knowing close competitors' scores is important
--- Big waves require twisty sails for a wider groove
--- Stick with your program (i.e., launching the boat early to avoid the rush)

Bill Faude
. . . OK, it's St. Petersburg now, it's the middle of the last race. We're in 3rd place, Ched's in about 8th, if we finish the race like this, we win the regatta by 2 points and the Circuit by one. We're at the bottom mark, Tom Allen Jr. is right behind us. It's blowing 15-18 we're making a nice rounding, the chute is down and stuffed away, I'm pulling in the mainsheet for Brian, things are under control. There's just one small problem, I'm falling out of the boat.
Yep. You know that kind of car accident effect where fractions of seconds take about an hour and you know how everything's gonna end before it even happens and it's really not going to end that well? That's happening. In this case, neither of my feet are under the center hiking strap. I'm pulling really hard on the mainsheet but the physics of that are clearly not going to work. I'm going to take the sheet over the side, just like Lloyd Bridges on Sea Hunt, my feet are already higher than my shoulders. The regatta will be ending just about now. Yep, second in the Circuit, maybe third . . . then Brian stuck his arm out and hooked my right leg. Then, JD looked over and saw my left leg in the air and stuck his arm out and hooked it. Human hiking straps. I stayed in the boat. No one said anything. We just went up wind. Tommy caught us, Ched caught a boat. It was close. Peter Hall was getting too close to ignore. But Ched didn't pass Dave Starck. We kept two boats between us and we won. Now we get to put our names on the trophy near some amazing Lightning Gods. I'm gonna tell someone else's grandchildren some day.
The 1996 Southern Circuit started for me the afternoon of the last day of last summer's NAs. I got a call in the office from Karen Johnson: "guess who's winning the north american's?" How did I already know the answer? "brian". It wasn't even a little surprising. The next time the phone rings it's from the bar at the awards banquet. Everyone's yelling. Brian is pouring some beverage from the Trophy onto the phone so I can share it. Not your average night on the phone. Strange, felt like my kid just learned to walk again and then won the Stanley Cup. I can't really explain it. Did you ever have someone who had been sailing with you as middle crew get in his own boat and win the North Americans? What do you do now? You ask to crew for him.
You also remember that Jared Drake, the person who's been sailing with you and Brian up in the bow for a long time, one time finished second in the 470 North Americans sailing with his 60+ year-old father on the trapeze. And the idea comes to you. You'll crew for him too.
And then, since Fisk Hayden has a great idea and the circuit is now only going to be a week long, you can sail all three regattas!! Then those guys can crew for you in one regatta too. So you decide to all switch off and each steer one regatta.
This is theoretically one heck of an idea, "it'll be great, we'll all learn about how hard the other guys' jobs are on the boat . . ." In no time, you find yourself crewing in the bow of your brand new boat in Savannah. 57 boats sailing around in the river like kernels of popcorn in an airpopper. Visions of the scene in Ben Hur where the guy has knives on the wheels of the chariot when from the back of the boat you hear these heartening words, "wow, these boats certainly aren't very responsive." New boat, 57 boats, river, helmsman has been sailing Lightnings almost a decade, but has never steered before. He puts you in irons. Then you get hit by a wave.
Let me be serious for a minute though. You do learn a lot switching positions in the boat. Here's what I learned: I learned that crewing is actually much more fun than steering. You can look out of the boat the whole time and never have to worry about the boat stopping and you feeling lousy. You helmspeople should try it, it will help your sailing. I learned that I give much better input to the helmsman than my teammates do, I just don't know if anyone was listening. I learned that the bow person has the hardest job. I learned again: don't worry if you can't think up a good boat name. One will present itself. Our's is now known as "poodles by verna (all small breeds accepted)". I relearned that Larry MacDonald should open a church in Savannah. I learned at the end of the of the Circuit that it was Brian who flattened our one good trailer tire and not someone else in the parking lot in Miami. I learned the Diaz's house is the best place anywhere in sailing to stay during a regatta and I learned exactly how Carissa Harris looks from every conceivable angle.
One more thing: the last thing you want to happen is that when the smoke clears at the end of the Circuit, the regatta you steered will be the team's worst and you'll look like The Weak Link!! Look at the scores. I steered in Miami. It was our worst regatta. I'm working through how to deal with that . . . every time I start feeling a little bad, I just walk into the living room and look at that trophy (which I took). You see, those guys might be faster, but I'm still better at hiding stuff in the back of the truck! What do you guys say, wanna do it again next year?

Brian Taboada
Ah, it is always great to be at St. Pete in March. Great sailing. Great weather. And great ultimate Frisbee.
And Thank God for sea breezes. After a grueling match of ultimate on Friday morning, and a delicious lunch provided by St. Pete, we were ready for the afternoon of sailing. The wind filled in for a 1 o'clock start, and boy were the starts tough. There were 71 boats on a starting line that could have been used to start a fleet of maxis. Every race in the series would have its share of recalls and this race was no different. We took a conservative approach and decided that we were just going to be on the line close to the favored end. This approache left us in the teens around the first mark approximately 1.2 light years behind the leader, Steve Hayden. They really got out there. After battling the current and lanes we crossed the line in 11 and corrected up to 6. I guess others should have been a little more conservative at the start.
The second race was a much better race. With 71 boats competing for a spot at the hoist, it is imperative to do well. We were able to poke enough to keep the lead with smoking George Fisher right on our tail. At the day's end, George Fisher was tied for the lead with Dan Norton, who was the most consistent of the day with a pair of 3's. We were tied for second with Phil Grotheer.
Another serious night of frolicking followed, with a Rum party sponsored by the 1991 North American Champion, Jody Lutz. For those who say, Gee . . . I didn't see him there, well, he wasn't. However a personally autographed bottle of Mount Gay rum was bestowed upon Dave Starck a week before the Circuit by the former NA Champ, and it was delicious.
Playing ultimate is a good way to kill a hangover in the morning. So a game was fashioned to save those in dire need of remediation. It is amazing what motivation a little time and a good night of partying will do for you. Dave Starck was on a mission from God to completely reinvent the Lightning. Once again the sea breeze filled in for the 1 o'clock start and whatever Dave did to his boat worked. He crushed. We were in the low double digits working our way into the top ten but never saw the leaders. Lenny Krawcheck and Ched Proctor finished 2 and 3 respectively.
The next race though, wasn't so kind. We started near the pin and thought we were in good company. There was even this lefty that was taking us across the fleet on the right, or so we thought. Bill Shore made our travels difficult and we where required to make a clearing tack. I am not positive, because it was at this point were things became extremely complicated and ugly, but I think Bill Shore was the only one to make it out of the left. The right came in hard at the top of the beat and after fifty or so practice tacks we rounded the windward mark in the twenties or worse. The current had created a downwind run on the next leg and the fleet did some reshuffling before the jibe mark straightened them back out. We, as well as some others, were grateful for this. The finish of the race was extremely exciting. We were in the rear of a pack of five boats that were swapping positions right up to the finish line and managed to take the lead 2 boat lengths from the finish. Once again our conservative PHRF rating boosted our position over the line finish by an additional boat. Sorry Tim.
The landside festivities included a Mexican fiesta with margaritas. Those that didn't get drunk there went to the ever popular bar at the club, where if you stand there long enough, someone will buy you a drink. People were having a good time. After a night on the town we returned to Colin Park's house to find some major destruction had occurred to his neighbors house while we were away. Some kid test driving a car, capable of attaining high speeds but not so great at braking, had skidded about 100 yards across the street, through a large median, across another street, across the Parks' driveway and into the side of the neighbors' garage. What a hole! And people complain about my driving.
The last day of racing had Ched Proctor leading St. Pete by 2 and the Circuit by 1. All we needed was another race and maybe a little air. Bill Faude knew it was going to blow. He had such confidence that while we were drifting to who knows where, he threw our light air sheets overboard and watched them sink. I must admit at the time I thought he was a little crazy, but hey, that's Bill. And, well, wouldn't you know it, not more that 20 minutes after Bill made the supreme sacrifice of his 2mm spectra sheets, it started to blow. And blow! By the start of the race, we were as fully detuned as possible and still having a hell of a time holding down the boat. This was a hang on and hike race. As most of you know, when it blows the Healy's are the boat to beat. Well no one was going to do that today, but the top 7 finishers of the race all finished in spitting distance of one another. We were able to put 2 boats between us and Ched to finish what proved to be an exciting regatta and Circuit.
For those who did not attend this year's Circuit, it was both fun and exciting. It was definitely one of the best weeks that I ever spent sailing. The new regatta format mixes the right amount of sailing and fun. I hope to see you all there again next year.