ORGANIZED CHAOS - That’s what best described the start of Saturday’s second Eagles Cup race on Tawas Bay as the sailboats jockeyed for position in tight quarters at the starting line. - Photo by John Morris

Defending champs repeat in Eagles Cup
by John Morris

EAST TAWAS - The Eagles Cup will have familiar names added when the 2008 winners are engraved onto it.

Egress and Archimedes successfully defended their 2007 Eagles Cup championship Saturday in their respective classes during the third annual Eagles Cup races held on Tawas Bay.
In all, 15 sailboats - 11 jib and mains and four spinnakers - took part in the races, the sixth in the Tawas Bay Yacht Club’s eight-race Ladd McKay summer racing series.

The theme for the annual Eagles Cup Race is “People Sailing to Help People.”

And the real winners Saturday were five charities - Hospice, Make A Wish Foundation, Special Olympics, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts - during the fundraising event sponsored by Tawas Bay Yacht Club, Tawas Bay Marina and Tawas Bay Eagles Aerie No. 2588.

Two races were held Saturday, a first for the Eagles Cup. The first race was set on a 6.2-mile triangular course and the second race was reduced to 2.9 miles.

They sailed under the handicap sailboat racing system, called Performance Handicap Racing Formula (PHRF). The PHRF is roughly based on the waterline length of a sailboat’s hull, its weight, depth of its keel and the size of its sails.

The sailboats are given a formula-based number. For example, one sailboat has a racing number of 72, while another is rated at 172 - the smaller the number, the faster the boat. The sailboat rated a 72 will have to give the sailboat rated a 172 a handicap of 100 seconds a mile. They keep time in seconds, which means, just because a boat crosses the finish line first, it is not necessarily the winner.

Sailing conditions were near ideal for Saturday’s first race. Winds were steady at about eight to 11 knots. Perfect sailing winds are at about 15 knots.

“It’s a beautiful day,” commented John Hess of Midland, skipper of the 38-foot jib and main Desperado.

The second race, however, proved to be quite different as a front blew in and wind gusts of up to 25 knots blew in, leaving the racing sailboats tilting at about 25 degrees at times.

“Nice lift here, a nice puff of air,” said Hess.

Sailing conditions were near ideal for Saturday’s first race. Winds were steady at about eight to 11 knots. Perfect sailing winds are at about 15 knots.

“It’s a beautiful day,” commented John Hess of Midland, skipper of the 38-foot jib and main Desperado.

The second race, however, proved to be quite different as a front blew in and wind gusts of up to 25 knots blew in, leaving the racing sailboats tilting at about 25 degrees at times.

“Nice lift here, a nice puff of air,” said Hess.

They speak their own language in the sailing world, using words such as helm and grind and jib and tack.

“Prepare to tack,” Hess would frequently tell his crew. And “good tack, guys” was his common response following the move.

In sailing, tacking is the act of changing the direction of the sailboat by bringing the bow into the wind. It is changing course, or getting the boat in the position which is directly upwind from its present spot. When the boat is positioned on one tack, the helmsman and crew pass the bow through the eye of the wind and the jib sail is on the other side.

And they watch the small “telltale” streamers connected to the sails. Streamers that are straight out are indicators that the sails are properly set for the wind conditions and you’re “sailing as fast as you can go,” Hess said.

My job aboard Desperado was primarily to stay of out the way. And that I did, especially during tacks, as crew members hurriedly tightened and loosened ropes connected to the sails. I quickly learned to shift to the “high side” of the sailboat every time it tacked.

And covering the annual sailboat race was a tough assignment, but someone had to do it. That was my exact thought Saturday afternoon as my feet and legs hung over the port side of the 38-foot sailing vessel.

However, the strong wind gusts forced Desperado out of the second race, despite having the lead at the start, as the sailboat had its 12-knot rated “light wind” sails up, rather than its “heavy wind” sails. With the winds gusting at 25 knots, the fear was having the strong winds tearing the lighter rated sails

Finishing second overall in the Eagles Cup jib and main fleet was Looney Bin. Third place went to Sirena and fourth place went to Sayles.

Rounding out the jib and main fleet, Journey finished fifth, Esmerelda was sixth, Whirlwind was seventh, Desperado was eighth, Debonair was ninth, Northern Cross was 10th and My Song was 11th.

Hog Tide finished second in the spinnaker fleet, Whiplash was third and Abby Normal was fourth.