WEEDS, WINDS, AND EXQUISITE BRISKET AT THE “BATTLE OF THE BORDER” REGATTA

16 June 2007, Oil & Gas Park, Jennings, Louisiana, Victoria Class

Steady 6 to 10 mile per hour winds and partly cloudy skies provided perfect conditions for a close Victoria Class contest between teams from Louisiana’s ‘Mandeville – Bay Waveland Racing Club’ (Team Katrina) and Texas’ Clearpoint Model Yacht Club and Houston Model Yacht Club. Louisiana emerged victorious, and it was agreed all around that this will be a repetitive event. Four things made it really special: a very innovative and stimulating racing agenda; truly sportsmanlike conduct (only one lawyer attended); the closeness of the competition; and, most importantly, the best darned brisket and cookies ever to cross our palates!

Racing Agenda

After about a year of dedicated efforts, Chuck Porth and C.J. Brustowicz organized this fine Regatta. C.J. created the most interesting racing agenda we have ever seen: a first series of fleet racing, where 5 boats from each team all competed (six total heats); a second series of 25 flights of one-on-one match racing, a-la-America’s Cup (Appendix C of the Racing Rules of Sailing), in which each skipper of each team raced every other skipper of the opposing team; and, a third series of seeded match racing, in which the best scoring skipper of the LA team raced the best scoring skipper of the TX team, then the second best skippers raced each other, and so on.

Mark Cooper did his usual excellent job with the kayak he lugged from Houston, setting and resetting the race course and rescuing the occasionally hapless boat. What would we do without Mark? (self-effacing Mark didn’t want this in the report, but Phil insisted). At the end of the fleet racing series the Texas team was ahead. At the end of the first match racing series the Louisiana team was ahead. The Louisiana team proved its superiority by also taking the final match racing series, thus winning the Regatta! Congratulations to Team Katrina.

Sportsmanlike Conduct

Each team had driven about three hours, through cops thicker than mosquitoes, to meet near the LA/TX border in Jennings, LA, and the Jennings hospitality was terrific. The Parish Coroner was there to greet us, and he even provided a shuttle service back and forth to the rest room facilities a hundred yards away, by oversized golf cart! Oil and Gas Park management was there to make us welcome and to reiterate that they were at our service. The LA team had set up a large tent, and we felt very comfortable and at ease.

Nothing chills our fun like heated arguments on the race course. Well, we had none of that. Penalty turns were taken in gentlemanly fashion; opponents’ boats were rescued at personal risk to the rescuer (Chris Macaluso eagerly tippy-toed on moss-covered rocks to assist Chuck Porth with a rescue, and the boat fared better than Chris did – hilarious to watch Good Samaritan Macaluso flailing and slipping.) Boats were shared; in fact, it looked like a match between the Macaluso Yacht Club and the (Al) Ross Yacht Club, each furnishing multiple Victorias for others to use. At the lunch break the LA team shared some of their secrets for building truly the most beautiful boats in the Victoria Class. 12,000 grit sandpaper?? Awesome.

Close Competition

Competitors included some of the best skippers in both states, and each got the chance to test the skill of his counterpart. The second series of match racing paired skippers of equal standing in the previous racing, and it was just fabulous to watch such close competition.

Hydrilla and other species of underwater growth were abundant. At times, every skipper would catch a clump of weeds on his ballast bulb, keel, or rudder and lose his position. You could tell it was happening, because an affected boat would slow perceptibly, then in the next puff, it would just heel over without accelerating. Man, what frustration! However, it was the same risk for everyone, so there was no redress. It threw another element of risk and chance into the boatspeed/skill/luck mix, making the winning combination the best boatspeed+best sailing skill+the best luck+the least weeds! Susan Biggs did us a great favor by recording the scores, and, in spite of the weeds, we feel like the results accurately ranked the competitors.

Brisket and Chocolate Chip Cookies from Heaven

God bless Al Ross!

We had been led to believe that there would be hot dawgs for lunch, but soon after arriving at the Jennings park we learned differently. Al Ross had first smoked a rubbed Brisket in a special electrical smoking device, employing apple and hickory wood for the best smoke, and then he slow-cooked the smoked Brisket, we seem to remember for something like 8 hours, at just over 200 degrees F.   Wow!   The result was an array of perfect ¼” thick slices of the most incredible barbecued beef you could ever imagine. No sauce was needed, because this meat was so flavorful, and it just melted in your mouth. No teeth needed, either. A wonderful culinary experience was had by all. And, a double God bless goes to Susan Biggs! In addition to delicious cold watermelon cubes to clear your palate, Susan presented freshly baked, home made chocolate chip cookies!!! Ain’t nothin’ better for dessert than that! We speak for all when we say: “THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH AL AND SUSAN!!!

Here are the actual scores. In the aggregate, winning and losing scores differed by only one point!

Skipper Rankings in the Fleet Racing

Skipper Rankings in the Match Racing

Results of Seeded Match Racing

Team Results (derived points)

We are greatly looking forward to the next Battle of the Border, which is tentatively scheduled for September or October, date and venue subject to further notice.

Best regards,

Mark Cooper and Phil Geren