Thursday July 14th, 2011

Trans Tahoe/ Harmonic Convergence - "A terrific event"

Corsair Marine asked whether we could reproduce Bill's post on this website - to which he replied, "Putting my comments on Corsair Marine's website would be good. I am happy to tell the world about this terrific event."

Read Bill's post below.

For Emma and Crew, the Harmonic Convergence/Trans Tahoe was once again a highlight of the season. The weather was perfect for the gathering of Corsairs at beautiful Emerald Bay and the turnout was good despite the economy and fuel costs. I counted 11 Corsairs.

On our arrival, Bill Cook lead Emma around behind a sand bar to an idyllic lagoon where Emma happily rested in the cool water. As always, there was great camaraderie among renegade multihullers in sharing tales and food in the spectacular setting of Emerald Bay.

The Trans Tahoe Race could not have been better planned - it followed the same course as last year (Tahoe City Start - Eagle Rock - R3 Buoy - Sugar - Pine Point - Dead Man Point - Sugar Pine Point - Finish). The wind was mostly steady and the fastest Corsair elapsed time was 4:48:12 which was achieved by Paul Martson who brought the awesome DREI (Corsair 31) from Southern California. Paul took first place in the multihull division and won the new Corsair Perpetual Award for the fastest corrected time among Corsairs in the Trans Tahoe. DREI finished over 38 minutes ahead of the rest of the Corsair fleet. Well done Paul.

While Emma only took third place int the multihull division, I felt that she had a great race (aside from a few costly skipper errors). The first error was to let Emma get caught behind two Melges racers who should not have been at the starting line but were, and blocked our start. We nearly caught up with the fleet by the first mark but, without spinnaker, lost position on the downwind leg to buoy R3. We gained position again on the way to Sugar Pine Point but lost big time on the leg to Dead Man's Point. Headed back to Sugar Pine Point, we overtook several other Corsairs and caught up with Origami and Gaijin at the Sugar Pine Mark. We were in position to round the mark ahead of both of them but I blew the tack and nearly went into irons. Once we recovered from my flub, we had a thrilling battle with Gaijin and Origami for the finish. The wind angle was good for our screacher and Emma gradually pulled ahead. Charging toward the finish line, I was filled with amateur excitement that Emma was going to win a battle against the mighty Origami and Gaijin. (I realize that Emma should be able to outrun the smaller 24's but the reality is that Ross and Pete are extraordinary sailors and generally push their 24's beyond their ratings so I would consider outrunning them as a worthy achievement). At any rate, I was wildly anticipating victory when about a mile from the finish line Emma fell into a wind hole while Origami had moved farther away from shore and had a bit of wind. We watched helplessly as Origami gradually pulled ahead and crossed the finish line ahead of us. Bummer!!! Gaijin was also caught in the wind hole and came in a bit behind Emma.

Congratulations to Ross, Pete and Bill for taking the first three positions in the Corsair 24 Class.

Second place in the multihull division was taken by Nate Cutler in Lo, a unique Newick design that Nate is refurbishing. Congratulations Nate.

Our thanks to Jim and Lynn Mullen for organizing this terrific racing event. Thanks also to Ross for including the Trans Tahoe in the BAMA Cup Competition. For those multihullers who did not not make the trip, you missed a good one.

Best regards
Bill Roberts
Emma - Corsair 31 UC

If you have a great story and photos involving your Corsair Marine trimaran, please email Phil Johns at Corsair Marine.