Invitation to the Dance - Buccaneer 18 Class Association

HomeInvitation to the Dance

A crowd approaching the upwind mark.

Thank you to Nancy Oliver for this inspiring work of art!

2009-BNAC-13
The Buccaneer Class brings you a story of passion, dedication, and the thrill of competition. It’s a tale of a man who traded the comforts of a cruise ship or the allure of Broadway for a different kind of adventure—a journey that took him across the country, into the heart of a regatta, and into a dance with the elements. We invite you to step into the world of Rick Scarborough and the 2009 Buccaneer North American Championship, a story he aptly calls
"Invitation to the Dance."

Sanguine and Rick

The 2009 BNAC was a satisfying combination of solo and shared effort. Driving alone nearly 2000 miles to San Diego, racing sailboats for a week, and driving 2000 miles home cannot really be justified as a sane enterprise except in contrast to the crazy things other folks do for their vacations. The time and money spent could have put me in a cruise ship for about 10 days, or maybe a week visiting museums in Europe, or maybe a long weekend catching Broadway shows in New York.

There was something surreal about watching the landscape change through the windows that set the stage for the activities on Mission Bay. The drive proved a major punctuation mark, dividing my real life from the competition, and then provided the transition in the return.

Driving through the Lincoln Nat'l Forest up to Cloudcroft.

Dropping from 8500 feet to 4300 feet in 16 miles from Cloudcroft to Alamagordo. Probably should have use the brakes..

Pulling into the parking lot of the club with the double stacked boats drew the attention of the Buccaneers who were already working on their boats. Immediately, many hands were helping me unhook the trailer and push it over to the hoist. Besides my own beloved Sanguine, I also brought Justin Hull’s Madeleine for Johanna Curtiss and her crew Derek Lord. They were among the 5 boats from the Southeast that made

the trip, the other three being a triple stack from Western Carolina Sailing Club, last year’s host. Boats also arrived stacked by next year’s host, Jimmy Yurko, as well as a stacked pair from Colorado. It is amazing how many boats made the trip across the country. As the work continued, I made a quick trip to the airport to pick up my crew, Amy Domaratzki, who flew in from Ontario.

Southeast and Mid-Atlantic sailors— with Amy Domaratzki.

Chatting up the Competition

Sometimes, the first day is the one that sets the tone for the regatta. I’m glad this was not one of those times. My first three races brought a 7th, 9th, and 11th. It was obvious that I had not solved the puzzle. In a gesture of sportsmanship. David Spira provided the key. While I was tacking on the frequent wind shifts to stay on the lifted tack, I mentioned that I was making sure that each shift was real before tacking.

Being primarily a lake sailor, I would count to ten before tacking. David assured me that the shifts were real, so I was spending as much as a minute on each upwind leg sailing the wrong direction! The next race, we used our good start to get to the first shift quickly, and tacked immediately. We reversed our downward trend with a 5th. We were back in the front pack and began moving up the leaderboard.

Pre-race prairie dogging

The Start

One of the more engaging aspects of a regatta is the way that you will find yourselves frequently in close quarters with the same few boats, race after race. In this regatta, those boats were Lazy Bones, helmed by Tony Chapman, and the chartered Blur, sailed by Jeff Neurauter. Over and over, I would finish a race overlapped with one or the other of these boats, crossing tacks often as we dueled our way around the course. For the remaining 12 races of the regatta, Amy and I finished either just ahead of or just behind one of these two boats. The best part of all of this is that I have been racing

against these guys for years and we have a history of close finishes. Just a few years ago, Tony and I were one place and one point apart in Mississauga at the BNAC there. Jeff and I have not only finished one place apart several times over the last ten years or so, but were actually tied at the Springboard Regatta at Western Carolina last year. Thus, as the race leaders dueled in the front, our race among ourselves was just as heated and intense. Still, though, despite all of the close crossings and tight mark rounding's, there were very few penalty turns incurred.

Leading the pack upwind.

A crowd approaching the upwind mark.

Over the years, I have often compared sailing a double-handed boat to dancing. Moving in concert with the wind and water brings the boat through the various maneuvers with speed and grace. It is no coincidence that the top 4 teams at the BNAC this year have sailed together for years. Davie Spira and Dennis Martinelli won the BNAC together in 2008, Jim Daus and Sue Swisher won together in Mississauga in 2007, and Greg and Duane Cole have won eight times as a team.

Tony Chapman and Chris Robinson have been sailing together for years as well, although they have not won the BNAC, yet. My crew, Amy Domaratzki, and I were racing in our second regatta together, but she has honed her skills with her dad, Tony Wright. While it may have taken a few races to get our dance steps together, we did have a lot of really good tacks and jibes (along with some sloppy ones) and one moment of glory.

Look at that red boat go!

Getting ready to head downwind.

In the next to last race, we nailed the start and found ourselves in first at the top mark on the first lap. Sailing a little too deep under spinnaker, we were edged by the Coles at the downwind mark by virtue of an overlap. We followed close behind on the next lap and started the last upwind leg on Mandu Lu’s transom. As we tacked on the windshifts, the Coles kept Mandy Lu between us and the finish line. Our only hope was to get a little separation, so we started to tack on every shift, no matter how small a change in direction. After about 6 tacks, the Coles decided to sail their own race and allowed us work our way to

the right side of the course. There seemed to be no advantage in the number of shifts, and no difference of wind speed, as we both worked our way to the finish line. With the Coles approaching from the left, we had starboard advantage and, as we converged, they tacked beside us several boat lengths from the line. While their bow was just ahead of ours, we were sailing full speed and they had to reaccelerate after the tack. Hiking hard to flatten the boat, we were able to nip them at the line. The finish was so close that all four of us simultaneously looked back at the committee boat to see who won.

Jibing the spinnaker.

Approaching the upwind mark with the Coles, 8 time champions.

One lap later, still nearly side by side as we approach the finish line.

I think we're catching them!

It's going to be tight!

I think we did it!

Overall, the trip was a Matryoshka doll of journeys. There was the overall journey from Birmingham to San Diego and back. There are the individual journeys of each race from beginning to end, and the one from the first race to last of the regatta. And, finally, the building of a team, tack by tack, and jibe by jibe until the dance is instinctual and effortless. Sanguine loves such harmony.

Yes...we did it
Well? Which one crossed first?
Yes...we did it! FInally won a race at this year's Championships.