A Tale of Two Regattas

Have you ever attempted to race in two regattas at once? That was the case with me over the Columbus Day weekend (Oct. 11-12). First, that's the same weekend that Yaquina Bay Yacht Club hosts their annual Columbus Day Regatta. Quite a coincidence, eh! Relative to last year, the weather was beautiful and the wind was rather mild but never shut off...

There were a few strange (but not necessarily bad) things about this years event. We never went "up river" around 14, we went "out" to 7 five times, we never touched bottom once (no "touch and tack" this year), there were only 4 Santana 20s (in fact the overall fleet was down a bit compared to years past) and finally we had a total of 9 races over two days. Going around 7 (while not quite as big a deal as going around #1 aka the "Whistler") involves leaving the protection of the bay and dealing with the fluky wind and current under the bay bridge.

At any rate, the Columbus Day Regatta is always fun (a favorite of ours), the BBQ Tuna is great and we usually do pretty well. Unfortunately, it also typically marks the end of the racing season for us. Except this year, I was supposed to be in another regatta at the same time...

It's impossible to be in two places at once. Thinking ahead, I set things up for the other regatta before leaving for Newport. After I got back, I checked on my status and found several interesting things in contrast to the Columbus Day Regatta. A single leg was going to take weeks, there were over 24,000 boats entered and more were registering every day... even after the start. I was in 23,492th place and had run aground... and that was 9 days ago... two days after the start of the Volvo Ocean Race Game.

Today, there are over 37,800 registered boats in the race (late comers automatically started somewhere in the back 20% of the virtual fleet). The first leg of the race (mirroring the actual Volvo Ocean Race) goes from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town, SA. I'm currently in 8187th place and about 6°N of the equator. As I make my way slowly through the doldrums, I'm wondering if King Neptune's realm includes the virtual one...

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