Jason's wife had even come up with what I believe to be the most
professional trophy in the PDR's two year history. When Julia and I
arrived, Jason Nabor's Sea Flea (PDR #33) was tied up near the ramp,
John H. Wright was out on the lake in his Q&D PDR (PDR #42), and Neil
Tipton was in the process of launching Myrtle the Turtle (PDR #29).
John came in off the lake, Neil parked his truck, introductions were
made all around, and we collectively assaulted the food Jason had
provided.
With the preliminaries out of the way, Jason, John, and Neil set
forth to do battle. It was interesting that, with only three boats,
we had illustrations of nearly the entire range of Puddle Duck Racers
that currently exist.
Neil's Myrtle is as close to a "standard" PDR
as exists, a basic plywood box with side air boxes and a leeboard;
its distinguishing feature is an offset mast, mounted in the
starboard air box.
Jason's Sea Flea is the most elaborate, and
prettiest, PDR to date, and the only one with a cabin that I know of.
John's Q&D is arguably the most technically advanced boat in the
fleet, with an more-or-less monocoque hull and sides extended down
into bilge keels. It looked to be an interesting race, though it was
acknowledged that Jason and the Flea had a significant weight
disadvantage.
It was agreed that the pair of buoys that marked the approach to the
launch ramp would serve as the start/finish line, and an unidentified
orange object floating in the middle of the lake would serve as the
turnaround point. The race was about to start when Myrtle was
dismasted; the foot of the mast had lifted off its step, allowing the
mast to topple sideways, punching a hole in the side of the boat in
the process. Neil gathered his mast and sail, shipped his oars, and
rowed back to the ramp.
That left Jason and John, who jockeyed to the start line and ad-
libbed an amazingly gentlemanly start:
The two boats were fairly close through the turnaround, with John
slightly ahead. Things started to go wrong on both boats with the
turn. John's sprit boom rig, scavenged from a 30 year old Italian
wind surfer, was rigged with a clew outhaul instead of a snotter, and
it came loose; John was able to secure it, and continued back upwind.
Jason had gudgeon problems; lateral forces caused the top gudgeon to
bend one way, and the bottom one the other, giving his rudder a cant
that reduced its effectiveness considerably. This, combined with the
weight disadvantage mentioned earlier (the Q&D had a gross weight of
something less than 225 pounds; the Sea Flea displaced more than
twice that), caused Jason to take about twice as long to run the
upwind leg as it did John.
| Copyright © 2005 David Routh, All Rights Reserved | Home |