Page 83 - ECA Yearbook 2023

to get them into the mix next year.

One Love, with what they like to call ‘The Crew’, came out strong in the June
Series with 5 bullets. The Fleet fought back in July and the top 4 boats were
st
separated by 2 points. Black Ice taking 1 with 9 points, followed by Odyssey
rd
beating One Love in a tie breaker for 2 . Brou Ha Ha finished 3 with 11 points.
nd

Foot Note – Tuesday Nights will be remembered as the stormiest day of the
week this past summer. I believe we had to cancel 3 Tuesday Night evenings,
and possibly 3 additional nights where spinnakers were not advisable.

The August Series switched it up again with Odyssey taking 1 , beating One
st
rd
Love by 1 point, and Black Ice taking 3 .

The overall winner for the Summer was One Love w/‘The Crew’.

On a personal note, I would like to share my experience sailing with a strong
make shift crew on our good friend’s Ensign, Hamburglar. After each Tuesday
Evening’s race, we all gather at a local watering hole and discuss the night’s
races and other stories over a few drinks.

On a few early June evenings, we would always talk about going to the
Regionals and/or Nationals, and on this particular evening I was speaking to
Meaghan Girouard and Jim Gallagher from One Love, and they wanted me to
take Odyssey down to the Regionals in Newport and sail with me, and I wanted
them to take One Love down and sail with them. So, we compromised, and
decided to ask Dennis McLaughlin to see if he would take Hamburglar down to
Newport and we would all sail together. And he thought it was a great idea. So, it
was settled. Time was short and seeing how we had never sailed with each
other, we thought it prudent to get in a practice sail. Well, our practice sail was a
short one. It was blowing. Yes, we have wind in Buzzards Bay. Blowing too hard
to even keep the boat level, and much too hard to practice with the chute. So, our
practice consisted of us talking about what we all would be doing while sitting
and having a beer.

Dennis thought it was better if he handled the Main. Perhaps so he could keep
an eye on the rest of us. He gave me the helm; Meaghan happens to be one of
the best at the Bow. And Jim was in the pit, handling the jib and spinnaker, as he
is on One Love. Great crew, we had just never sailed together.

Long story shorter- Calm and shifty conditions all weekend. The Race Committee
had a hard time trying to anticipate the wind shifts and conditions. We found
st
nd
ourselves in the right spots in the first 2 races with a 1 and 2 place finish. At
rd
the 3 race our tiller broke off during a tack to the first mark. I think I remember
Meaghan saying, ‘Shit we’re out’, but I grabbed the tiller and held it to the tiller
post with one hand and steered with the other. We tacked twice and got around
the windward mark and offset and Dennis got some line and started to tie it up.
Then he grabbed some tape and wrapped the sucker up tight. This is all when
Meaghan and Jim were hoisting and flying the spinnaker. (It’s a great crew when
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