Austin Yacht Club TellTales Article for March issue

by Steve Piche

With low lake levels at Lake Travis, the multi-hull fleet was forced to take the show on the road in the month of February.

The weekend of February 11-12 found a group of AYC multi-hullers at the Houston Yacht Club for their Mid-Winter's regatta.  Making the trip were senior members Bo Kersey, Steve Piche and Michael Yost.

A cold front blew in the day before the race and we were all greeted with some chilly mid-Winter weather.  Despite the cold, on Saturday, the intrepid AYC members donned their cold weather gear and headed out for three invigorating races in good winds of 10-15 mph.  Good fun was had the race course but it was cold.  The warm showers following the race were well appreciated.

On Sunday, we were greeted by even chillier conditions and after the first postponement, we decided to pack it in and head home.  Steve Piche got the second, Bo Kersey was third, and Michael Yost took fourth in the F-18 fleet.  The regatta was won by a non-AYC member who wins all races so do we even need to mention his name (John Tomko).

Next up on the schedule was a trip to Matagorda Beach for the weekend of February 25-26.  However, when another cold front rolled through, the event was cancelled and we decided to head to Lake Canyon for a day practice racing.

Making the trip down to LCYC were senior members Bo Kersey, Steve Piche, Philippe Bettler and Jim Rehage.  Once again, the wind was great while the water was cold (especially for those that ended up doing some swimming).

We were able to pull off 4 races in 10-15 mph winds with some good gusts coming through at around 20.  It was very tight racing among the four boats.  No official results were recorded but if they had been it would have been Phillipe Bettler on top sailing on Clay Cassard's new C2.

We've had fun sailing at HYC and LCYC this past month, however, we would like to be back sailing on our home turf.  Right now, Lake Travis is just too low to allow good racing on many of the cats.  This is a big disappointment as we have one of the strongest multi-hull fleets in the state.  We need to pray for more rain so that we can get back on Lake Travis and off the road.

Steve