RACE REPORTS Gulf Ocean Racing Circuit, Biloxi, MS, April 5-7 By Tom Musselman Photos by Bill de Brul
Cherry Baby, a Melges 24 skippered by Wes Stanley of Biloxi Yacht Club, winner of the Sport Boat division. Photo by Bill de Bruler.
Commodore Barq presents the winning trophy to Lee Creekmore of Pal, winner of the Ship Island offshore race, a South Coast 22 skippered by Lee Creekmore of Mobile Yacht Club, who reported 10foot seas in the Gulfport Ship Channel while rounding the west tip of Ship Island. Photo by Bill de Bruler.
“Decades ago, the GORC was a series of races including a long distance race around the lightship out in the Gulf,” recalled Biloxi Yacht Club Regatta Chairman Winfield “Scotty” Scott. “We wanted to re-create those times by offering different styles of racing for this year’s GORC.” The Gulf Ocean Racing Circuit regatta is an annual offshore series sponsored by the Gulf Yachting Association, which added a Sport Boat category this year for the first time. A Cruising/Non-Spinnaker class was cancelled due to lack of participation Sailors from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana competed. Weather conditions varied significantly from day to day, providing challenging racing situations throughout the weekend. On Friday, April 5, the Offshore division was confronted with brisk winds in a 30-mile “Around-Ship-Island” race. Winds gusting to near 30 knots allowed for a lively start. Winner of the Ship Island race was Pal, a South Coast 22 skippered by Lee Creekmore of Mobile Yacht Club, who reported 10-foot seas in the Gulfport Ship Channel while rounding the west tip of Ship Island. The Sport Boat division sailed four windward/leeward races in the blustery winds. Boats awarded trophies on Friday for Boat of the Day were Pal, in the Offshore division, and Cherry Baby, a Melges 24 skippered by Wes Stanley of Biloxi Yacht Club, in the Sport Boat division. The winds disappeared on Saturday, offering crews the exact opposite in racing conditions from those encountered in Friday’s races. The Offshore division competed in a steeplechase event around fixed government marks inside the Gulf Islands. The race committee anticipated sending the 48 June 2013
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sport boats on a steeplechase-style event as well, but after consultation with the participants, PRO Clinton Edwards decided that due to lighter-than-anticipated winds, the sport boats would compete in additional windward/leeward races. Races of varying lengths were held for the sport boats on Saturday as the winds continued to abate. Once again, Pal took Boat of the Day honors for the Offshore division, although Chaos, skippered by Tim Lawton of Ocean Springs Yacht Club, offered a spirited contest to the finish line. Boat of the Day honors for the Sport Boat division went to Cherry Baby, although Piranha, a B-25 skippered by Ryan Bancroft, and Budgie Smuggler, a VX skippered by Donnie Brennan, were close in points at the end of the day. The racers were treated to a crawfish boil with live entertainment poolside at the Biloxi Yacht Club on Saturday night, which was also well attended by club members and guests of the participants. The club kitchen provided po’boys, sandwiches, salads and meals for those who preferred other menu options. For some reason, the Sunday morning breakfast was not as well attended as the Friday and Saturday servings, which might be attributed to the late night activities at the yacht club. On Sunday, the winds filled in to a steady 10- to 12-knot breeze under beautiful skies. Both the Offshore and Sport Boat divisions competed in a series of windward/leeward races to establish the final standings in the regatta. At the start of one race in the Sport Boat division, four boats attempted to possess the same spot of water immediately astern of the committee boat. Although this provided an exciting viewing opportunity for observers on the spectator boats in attendance, the owner of the wooden-hulled Grand Banks committee boat is said to have expressed some concern about the navigational decisions of the competitors. A stand-off buoy was deployed from the stern of the committee boat to allay his concerns and to prevent the race committee from being forced to walk the plank. Best Boat and First Place trophies were awarded to Pal in the Offshore division, and Cherry Baby in the Sport Boat division. Second place in the Offshore Division went to www.southwindsmagazine.com