Hot Chocolate spent the last five weeks racing on the Gulf Coast participating in women regattas. The Trilogy trophy is awarded to the all-woman boat with the best combined performance in the Fast Women Regatta at Point Yacht Club, Bikini Regatta at Navy Yacht Club and the Race for the Roses at Pensacola Beach Yacht Club. The next 2 weekends were spent at Pass Christian YC participating in the GYA Women’s PHRF Championship and Knost.
First up was the Bikini Regatta. It was a single race, gold cup course. The weather was sunny and hot. With a slight delay waiting for the sea breeze, we were off in about 10-12kts of breeze. The 5 boat spinnaker fleet started first, and we were off the line between Atlantic Union and Pink Meanie. We had excellent teamwork and finished 3rd in fleet and 1st in the all-women division. We had a nice dip in Pensacola Bay before heading to Navy YC for BBQ and trophies. We finished the day with a team dinner on Pensacola Beach and a beautiful sunset.
Race for the Roses, hosted by Pensacola Beach YC, was the second event in the series and is the only one that requires that all entries be all female. We had another sunny and hot day. The first race started shortly after the scheduled 11am start time. We were sailing a W2. There was a light NE breeze, which completely shut down at the weather mark. We had a nice lead, but realized that the first boat to find the fresh breeze would most likely win. Fortunately, we saw some hints of breeze coming off Gulf Breeze, and gybed to get there. As soon as we reached that pressure, we were able to start heading down towards the finish. The race committee shortened that race to a W1. Then we lowered all the sails as a brief shower passed over the fleet. We continued to wait for the race committee to lower the “L” flag and get the second race started. They moved the race course further west, and sent us on a W2 in the fresh SW sea breeze of 10-12kts. Hot Chocolate was slightly late to the start, but the stellar crew work enabled us to pull back into the lead and hold on to first. There were four boats in the spinnaker fleet with a handicap spread of just 24s. A tremendous thunderstorm rolled through the bay, after we had returned to the dock, thankfully! PBYC provided a Cuban sandwich dinner and trophy presentations at their new property on Santa Rosa Sound.
Fast Women Regatta at Point YC near Pirate’s Cove, AL, was the last stop for the trilogy event. The race course was set in Perdido Bay. A rain shower passed over the racing area prior to the start to cool everyone off. The RC sent us on a double triangle followed by a W/L and a total of 6.6nm. Lots of crew work! Madcap, another J30, was over early. We took off to the right side of the course covering Helldiver. We decided to tack back to the center of the course, and lo and behold, Madcap was almost even with us coming out of the left corner after re-starting. Fortunately, we were able to work our way around the course, and finish first in the spinnaker fleet! This made for a perfect sweep of the Trilogy races! Point YC hosted a nice jambalaya dinner at their new clubhouse prior to the trophy presentations.
On the way home, Hot Chocolate stopped in Pass Christian to race in the GYA Women’s PHRF Championship. On Saturday, we had 2 W/L races in building breeze. The first race we had a good start and good crew work, but couldn’t catch Myasasaur, Viper 640, from Fort Walton YC skippered by Deborah Wilusz. The second race the breeze picked up to 18-20kts, and we switched to our #3. The race committee lengthened the course but made it a once around. At the windward mark, we were just behind Myasasaur, but couldn’t make our time as we went downwind. On Sunday, they sent us on a distance course out to the ICW for 10.5nm race. We started in a very light shore breeze, and then drifted for quite some time. The wind would come in very short bursts of pressure from different directions. One boat would be moving along while everyone else sat and watched. When the pressure finally stabilized, we found ourselves closer to the back of the pack than the front. We finished in 4th place, but it was enough to hold on to 2nd overall. Myasasaur won with all bullets.
Hot Chocolate entered the PHRF division of the Knost regatta. However, the heavy winds on Saturday caused the tiller to crack, so she motored in.
Racing for more than a month straight, on the coast, requires quite a bit of help. I need to thank my wonderful husband, Casey Grimm, for coordinating boat maintenance and deliveries. Hot Chocolate crew for those weekends included: Elaine Boos, Julie Bylsma, Anne David, Lynn Gildersleeve, Janice Griglack, Kaylor Grimm, Julie Groth, Fiona Inglis, Mamsie Manard, Nancy Marshall, Jena Melancon, and Forrest Richards.
Debby Grimm, skipper, Hot Chocolate
Pictured: L-R Anne David, Elaine Boos, Julie Groth, Kaylor Grimm, Janice Griglack, Debby Grimm, Julie Bylsma and Lynn Gildersleeve. Not Pictured: Mamsie Manard, Fiona Inglis, Forrest Richards, Nancy Marshall and Jena Melancon.
