CRAN FRASER FINISHES SECOND IN ORC CLASS C AND FIRST IN BENETEAU CLASS
The 150 mile race started on Thursday October 13, 2016 at 3:00 PM at the Pleasure Pier on Galveston Island and continued in a southerly direction leaving the Freeport outer buoy to starboard then past the Matagorda outer buoy thence to the Port Aranas Pass Ship Channel Buoy thence to the finish line past the rock jetties in the channel to the Channel View Condo. With a SSE wind from 8 knots at the start to between 14 to 20 knots during the race made it a rhumb line race for the Beneteau. Some of the lighter sprit boats such as the J - 105's were able to generate more speed with the following sea and 2 knots of favorable current by heading slightly below rhumb line and working back up to Port Aranas Pass Ship Channel Buoy early Friday morning. Whistler II, a First 38 Beneteau did better holding close to rhumb line as the boat did not generate significant additional speed by holding down below rhumb line due to the weight at nearly 18,000 lbs. That tactical approach worked well as Whistler performed well in conditions that were not ideal for the boat and resulted in a second place in ORC Class C along with a First Place in the Beneteau Class after finishing around 10:00 AM Friday. A Code Zero was used numerous times during the race along with the new Mardi Gras colored A Kite tacked to a short hybrid sprit pole. The big Genoa was also used for power reaching. Spot Position sensors were utilized for the race committee to track the boats. Another required safety feature was periodic radio check in and the wearing of life vests and harnesses with lock in tethers at dusk. Also finishing in 3rd place in ORC Class C sailing his Hallberg-Rassey 42 Happy Ending, was legendary OJ Young who was two time past winner of the regatta with crew of Robbie Young (now living in New Zealand) and Cal Herman from New Orleans among a host of other celebrity sailors. The big harvest moon was a beautiful sight to see along the way with a few clouds that blocked it on occasion. Those in the crew on Whistler were Cran Fraser; Deane and Allison Fraser; Jack Binger; Josh Mills; Gene Vandevoir from Texas and Josh Koch and Tommy Meric from New Orleans.