Sailing the Great Texas by Ingrid Bakker

Sailing the Great Texas

By Ingrid Bakker

In my humble opinion, the Great Texas is one of the greatest races I have ever sailed, maybe the greatest, and I am going to be back next year for sure to kick some ass on another boat!  Let me tell you my adventure of sailing the Great Texas….

During the F18 World Championship 2012 in Long Beach, Steve Piche asked me: “Ingrid, would you like to sail 300 miles offshore in Texas next year and be the first female skipper in the GT300?“ I said “yes” of course and he was very surprised. Apparently he had asked that question to many more female sailors in the past few years and apparently I was the first one that was not scared at all.

Almost one year later, it was finally time to sail the race. On the 5th of June, I arrived in Houston. Aaron McCulley, my crew, picked me up at the airport. I stayed in Austin for a few days first. Then Aaron and I went to Corpus Christi where we stayed for another few days.

We decided to spend some time on the water on June 8th and sail the 40 miles up to the finish of leg 1 on our Nacra Infusion. Kate, our team manager, was helping us out with driving from town to town.

The sailing that day was great! It was the first time that I was sailing with Aaron but it felt like we had been sailing together for a few years. The weather that day was perfect, blue sky and a nice breeze of 20 knts. The sailing went so well that Kate was not expecting us to finish that early and she was still shopping a new bikini.

Two days later Aaron, Kate and I, aka Team Ki-Hara, drove to South Padre. Because the sailing went so well, Aaron and I decided not to have training anymore before the start of the race and to just have a great time. One day before the start of the GT300 we put the boat together and discovered that the rudders changed. The difference in the angle was 4 mm.

After spending some time fixing the rudders, we went on the water to see if the ruthers were working well. After being 15 minutes on the water we went back. The rudders were fine but one hull totally cracked! Aaron and I were both really disappointed.

In no time, everyone else who was involved in the race was trying to figure out if there was a boat that Aaron and I could use and the boat had to get there in time. Shannon, skipper of team Yo Baby !, said that we were allowed to use his Hobie Tiger! Kate had to drive that night for more than 8 hours.

That night others sailors were helping us with getting the mast down and putting the boat back on the trailer. We woke up the next day, race day, at 6 am. We got some help from team Yo Baby ! that morning as well.

Five minutes before the start we were ready to sail the race. I did not look a long time before we noticed that we had trouble with the rudder system. Every time we were sailing to fast, the rudders came up which is not very useful when you are both in the wire. At one point, we capsized and the boat turned completely upsidedown. 30 minutes later we were ready to sail again. We did not see the other teams anymore and our GPS stopped working. So I have to say, it was an interesting first leg for me on the Gulf. We did not see anything, no GPS and no one else.

Luckily Aaron was very experienced in the GT300 and had a pretty good feeling which way we had to go because of the TacTic. So we stayed really calm and actually we had a great day of sailing. The breeze was more than 20 knts and besides the popping rudders I realized what a lucky girl I was to sail on the Gulf that day. I must say I was pretty happy to see the finish.

After spending a few hours that evening on the rudders and some rest that night, we were ready to sail leg 2. I knew we could sail much better than we did the first day before because of the rudders. Leg 2 and leg 3 were both great days. We worked ourselves up to 3rd or 2nd position in the legs but we did not manage to keep it that way.

But at least we showed the others teams that it was possible to sail fast with a Hobie Tiger! Every leg we saw many dolphins, pelicans, flying fish and turtles. It was such a great venue to sail so I did not even mind to sail finish a little bit in the back sometimes.

The last day I woke up and I knew that it was going to be my day! There was not that much wind so it was gonna be a strategic racing day.  The sun was shining again and I went on the water without shoes on and was wearing a surf short.

I was standing up all leg looking at the gusts. That paid off and we were leading the whole fleet in no time!  Unfortunately, I did not manage it to keep it that way until the finish and in the last few miles two boats were passing us so we finished 3rd. But, at least I could say that I was the first female skipper of the GT300!

Besides that I had such a great time. The people were so nice, the venue was great and I fell in love with breakfast tacos and beerwetsuits. GT300 is one of the greatest races I have ever been sailing, maybe the greatest, and I am gonna be back next year for sure to kick some ass on another boat!

Top 10 List for the 2013 Great Texas

While I got you here, let me summarize the 2013 Great Texas in ten points.  Here we go…

1)       Tomko and Billings Back on Top!  Last year, John Casey and Dalton Tebo came to Texas and took home top honors by out sailing John Tomko and Ian Billings on a crazy, shifty final light wind day.  With JC starting up an Olympic campaign, we were denied a rematch this year.  However, Tomko and Billings took out their fury on the rest of the fleet easily winning the overall trophy for the Great Texas.  They managed to be first F-18 to finish every day and corrected over everyone for every leg.  Hats off to Tomko and Billings for yet another win on the Great Texas.

2)      Ingrid Bakker, first Woman Skipper:  Although we have had a few women crew on the Great Texas, we had never had a woman skipper even attempt to sail the race until this year.  Flying in all the way from the Netherlands, Ingrid Bakker put on a great show as our first woman skipper and finished the race in respectable fashion.  Her team was handicapped when their boat broke in practice the day before the race and a replacement boat showed up less than 8 hours before the race.  However, Ingrid and crew Aaron McCulley did a great job and moved up the rankings every day with a second F-18 to finish on the final day.  Congratulations to Ingrid for making history in the Great Texas.

3)      Wind Gods took it easy on the Fleet:  After some punishing wind the past few years, the wind gods laid off this year and gave us a great ride up the coast.  Wind conditions for the first day were ideal with a southeast breeze at 15-20 knots blowing the fleet on a fast downwind run from South Padre to Mustang Island.  With relatively flat seas, the fleet covered the 100 mile distance in just over 6 hours.  The wind backed down for the second and third days giving the fleet downwind and reaching conditions.  The final ride into Galveston was a lollipop ride downwind in 10 knots of breeze.  We had relatively good wind and flat seas making for a fun ride up the coast.

4)      Team Chums Impresses:  Lee Wicklund and David Cerdes of Team Chums were the only team not on an F-18 platform instead they rode on a Nacra 20.  It was a good year to be on the Nacra 20 as the winds were lighter and downwind.  They scored first to finishes on Legs 1 and 4 and walked away with third overall in the GT and first (and only) in the Open Class.

5)      Smaller Fleet:  Although we had great sailing conditions once again, we had a small fleet of boats competing this year.  We are not exactly sure why we attracted only 7 boats.  We did not get much of a presence from outside of Texas and some of our regular Texas sailors had to miss the regatta this year.  Two years ago, we had 16 boats so it is a drop off.  However, we already have commitments for at least 8 boats for next year so we expect a bigger crowd in the next running. 

6)      Money Keeps Flowing:  Despite the smaller fleet, we raised more money in sponsorship than any year so far.  We were able to create a $2,000 fund to support a woman’s team in the race.  We were also able to raise money for the general fund which allowed us to break even.  The race has plenty of money in the bank so we will be back strong next year.

7)      Dash:  On the final day of the Great Texas, we opened the race up to everyone!  Cat Sailors are allowed to participate in a race that we call the Dash.  We had great participation this year with 17 boats sailing with the GT boats to the finish line.   Congratulations to Mike and Janet Hardy on a Hobie 16 for their win in the non-spin class and Dennis Banks and Matt Parker on an ARC 22 for their win in the spin class.

8)      Media:  Once again, we had the pleasure of having John Williams and Jeremy Leonard along as commentators for our Live streaming.  We also saved all our live streaming and posted it on our YouTube site, www.youtube.com/greattexas300.  We continually sent posts to our Facebook page so that we could keep everyone up to date on the race!  We hope you had a chance to check everything out at www.gt300.com.

9)      Parties:  For the first time in the history of the race, we had a dinner party at every beach stop along the way.  We had dinner at Clayton’s Beach Bar in South Padre, BBQ on the beach in Mustang Island, Gumbo at Matagorda, Spaghetti in Surfside, and a Cajun shrimp boil in Galveston.  Nobody went hungry at the Great Texas this year.  Thanks to everyone that put on the parties!

10)   Organization:  After 11 years, the Great Texas organization is now a well-oiled machine that does a great job pulling off this rather complex race.  Thanks to Terri Reuwsaat and all the other officers who do such a great job organizing the race.

As always, we hope to see you at starting line for the Great Texas next year.  We start at 10 am sharp on June 11 from South Padre Island.  Please come join us as a skipper, crew, volunteer, or spectator for the 12^th running of the Great Texas Catamaran Race!

Day 4 Top Ten List for the 2013 Great Texas

Leg 4 Top Ten List by Steve Piche

1.     Woman Skppers Rule:  Ingrid Bakker gave the entire F18 fleet a run for its money yesterday.  It took John Tomko most of the day to finally catch her.  Ingrid had a great finishing leg and showed the talent she has for sailing in tricky conditions.  She was the first woman skipper to finish the Great Texas.

2.     Tomko/Billings Win:  Back to their old form, John Tomko collected his seventh Great Texas win!  The trophies are now back in Texas after spending a year in Florida where last years winner John Casey lives.

3.     Chums on Line Honors:  Lee Wicklund and David Cerdes took first to the beach honors in the Great Texas yesterday.  They managed to fight their way through the light and tricky winds.  They won the Open Class and took third overall in the regatta.

4.     Dashers:  We had an additional 18 boats join us for the Dash!  They started an hour early.  The Great Texas fleet then had the opportunity to catch up with the rest of the Dashers.  However, they never caught Dennis Banks on his ARC 22.  He was first to the beach and won the Spin class in the Dash.  Mike and Janet Hardey won the non-spin class sailing on a Hobie 16.

5.     Shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp:  We had a fantastic shrimp dinner last night put together by Joe Carlyle.  Joe cooked up 50 pounds of shrimp and nobody left hungry.

6.     Light and Tricky:  It was a fairly light spin run yesterday.  We all got pushed off-shore and did a fair amount of jibbing.  Seas were small so it made for a pleasant but somewhat long ride into the finish.

7.     Frog Dancing:  This year the Frog (Team Quicksilver who has a French skipper, Philippe Bettler) got the Monkey ( Team Monkey Business).  The two teams battle it out on the race course for second place but in the end it was the Frog that won  and according to tradition, Team Monkey Business had to do a Frog dance at the awards banquet. 

8.     Ground Crews:  We got to give a shout out to all the ground crews that helped get the teams up the coast.  They drove a lot of miles chasing the boats from one stop to the next.  We are blessed to have so many people that are will to spend a week of their vacation as ground crews.

9.     Thanks to our Commodore, Terri Reuwsaat:  Thanks so much to Terri Reuwsaat for running the Great Texas fleet and organizing the race.  She does a great job of working with all the officers and making sure everything gets done.

10. Next Year:  I hope to see you in South Padre on the Wednesday before the Father’s Day for the start of the Great Texas!

Day 3 Top Ten List for 2013 Great Texas

Top 10 List for Day 3 of the 2013 Great Texas

For everyone that had to work today, I’m sorry but you missed a gorgeous day out on the gulf!  Tomorrow is Saturday so I hope you are going sailing!  Here is my top 10 list for today!!!!

1.  I Love the Beach!  Like most people, I love the beach.  I love the beach because that is where the wind is!   Today, we started out in light slightly downwind conditions.  The fleet got pushed off shore.  The sailors that headed back to the beach early did OK.  Those that did not, got hung out to dry.

2.  Tomko, the master, Part II:  Ok, this is getting redundant.  He is killing the fleet.  We need someone to come play with him like John Casey did last year.  Hey, one of you top dogs needs to be here next year.  Let’s work a deal and get someone that can give the guy a challenge!  He is checking out on the rest of us!  We’re good sailors but he is just simply one another level.  (Team Chums on the I20 has been able to challenge him at times but the other F18’s are not keeping up.)

3)  Sailing with Ingrid:  We spent most of the day sailing within a few hundred yards of Team Ki-Hara.  Ingrid and Aaron did a great job of making a Tiger go fast!  (The Tiger was sailed by me 5 times in the GT and Shannon sailed it once so it has some miles on it.)    Ingrid and me yo-yoed back in forth throughout the day.  I finally got a good puff and got past her with 10 miles to go.  I was then able to hold them off to the finish line – I got them by about 1 minute.  She is a great sailor and we had fun playing with Team Ki-Hara today!

4)  Lollipop Day:  Yesterday was brutal.  Today was a lollipop ride.  Yesterday, when we got to the beach, I hurt and was seeing stars.  Today, I felt refreshed after laying on the tramp all day driving downwind in little seas.  As my old friend Phil Buck use to say, it was a lollipop ride.

5)  Waterspout Spotted:  It got a little weird early in the day.  Shannon Galway and Mike Beuerlein reported that there was a waterspout out on the course.  Mike said it followed him but never got him!

6)  Dash, Dash, Dash!  Tomorrow, we will be joined by an additional 17 teams that will be sailing the final leg of the GT.  These teams will be participating in the Dash!  They will be starting at 9 am , one hour before the GT boats.  The beach was full of people setting up for the Dash.  We will have 24 boats heading out tomorrow!

7)  Quentin Ball:  The Great Texas has so many fantastic sponsor that make it possible to bring the race to you.  I want to give a special shout out to a sponsor that stepped up big to help out the race this year, Quentin Ball, who is the sister of my crew Juke Ball.  It is people like Quentin that makes it possible for us to keep this race going!  Thanks Q!

8)  TCDYC Feast:  We are now all gathering at Collin Casey’s beach house for a big feast that is sponsored by the Texas City Dike Yacht Club.  We have had a sponsored dinner every evening this year and it has been so much fun to feast and party with our friends!

9)  Juke Ball Rules:  OK, we got Quentin, why not Juke.  Juke is the best crew ever!  I said ever.  He rules!  I love sailing with Juke.  He is so damn tough and has the greatest gung-ho attitude always.  It is just fun being around people that are having fun and that is Juke Ball.  Juke is also a major sponsor!  Finally, his wife Jonna Rose also completely rules.  She is great and such a pleasure to have on the race.  She keeps us fed and going!

10)   The First Woman Skipper: One more leg and we will have had our first woman skipper finish the GT!    Ingrid may not be winning the race but she is a great inspiration to others.  We hope others follow in her footsteps.  Ingrid is having a great time and definitely wants to come back next year.  We hope she does and we hope you come to join us as a sailor, crew, ground crew, volunteer, dasher or spectator!

Day 2 of the Great Texas Top 10 List

Top 10 List for Leg 2 of Great Texas from Steve Piche

Another 100 mile leg from Mustang Island to Matagorda. Here is the top 10 list for the leg:

1) Brutal, long day on the wire: If you liked trapping out, this was a day for you. Both skipper and crew spent nearly the entire day on the wire. To add to the fun, it was constant work on the sails all day. We started out spin reaching, went to jib reaching and finished up with a little spin reaching. I have a damn good trap harness but seven hours will wear anyone out. (Sorry for the quality of the write up tonight, but I am basically wasted from 2 days of hard core sailing!)
2) Tomko, the Master: John Tomko loves this leg. He just takes off every year in these reachy conditions and no one can ever come close. He did it last year, and the year before that and the year before that. He is just the master of the reach and once again pretty much horizon jobbed the entire fleet. Oh, and Ian his crew deserves some credit too!
3) Gumbo on the Beach: When you are really hurting from being on the wire all day, knowing that Gumbo is waiting for you at the finish line just keeps you going. Thanks to Team Quiksilver for the best Gumbo ever!
4) Our first Woman Skipper Kicks Ass: Ingrid Bakker and Aaron McCulley are not in first place but they still are kicking ass! Ingrid started out strong today but got sucked to the beach and had to drop her spin. The other boats rode a bit longer and jump a bit of a lead. She hung in tough and came in with the group of final boats. For a rookie in this race on a different boat, she is kicking Ass.
5) Austin Cats: Monkey Business, Sailboat Shop and Quiksilver battled it out for most of the race within a short distance. All three boats are from Austin, the best city in Texas! In the end Monkey Business got stuck in the weeds 15 miles from the finish and then practice righting their boat after a massive pitchpole. Sailboat Shop nipped Quiksilver for first non-Tomko boat. Right now, Quicksilver is in second overall, followed by Monkey Business and Team Sailboat Shop!
6) Does anyone else go out on the Gulf? We have been sailing for 200 miles and we have not seen a single other boat (non-GT boat that is) out on the Gulf. No one and I mean no one goes out and plays on our massive playground. It is completely ours. Today, we sailed for 70 miles past some of the most remote coast line in the US. These are literally deserted islands. Yes, we love our playground and we love that it is all ours!
7) Three Round Texels in Two Days: Ingrid Bakker is the first Woman Skipper to ever finish the second leg of the Great Texas. She has now done the equivalent distance to three Round Texels in the past two days. We take it easy on her tomorrow with a leg that is only slightly longer than a Round Texel.  Jet Ski Finish: When we pulled in today, Stephen Cooley followed us in on a jet ski shooting video with a GoPro helmet cam. Jeremy Leonard told him to get some close ups so he was about 10 feet behind us as we jib reached into the finish. Jeremy should be posting some video from Stephen.
9) Flying Fish: Every year we run into schools of flying fish. They are simply the most cool beasts in the world. Once you see a flying fish, you think, yes, Darwin was right!
10) Andrew Burnard, uber webmaster: Behind the scenes, Andrew Burnard does such a great, great job at keeping the websites, facebook, scoring and everything humming for the Great Texas. We all are in debt to him for his superior work at bring this race to you.

Off to Surfside tomorrow!

Written by a physically wasted man! Flow of conscience with zero editing!

Top 10 List for Leg 2 of Great Texas

Another 100 mile leg from Mustang Island to Matagorda.  Here is the top 10 list for the leg:

1  Brutal, long day on the wire:  If you liked trapping out, this was a day for you.  Both skipper and crew spent nearly the entire day on the wire.  To add to the fun, it was constant work on the sails all day.  We started out spin reaching, went to jib reaching and finished up with a little spin reaching.  I have a damn good trap harness but seven hours will wear anyone out.  (Sorry for the quality of the write up tonight, but I am basically wasted from 2 days of hard core sailing!)

2     Tomko, the Master:  John Tomko loves this leg.  He just takes off every year in these reachy conditions and no one can ever come close.  He did it last year, and the year before that and the year before that.  He is just the master of the reach and once again pretty much horizon jobbed the entire fleet.  Oh, and Ian his crew deserves some credit too!

3)   Gumbo on the Beach:  When you are really hurting from being on the wire all day, knowing that Gumbo is waiting for you at the finish line just keeps you going.  Thanks to Team Quiksilver for the best Gumbo ever!

4)   Our first Woman Skipper Kicks Ass:  Ingrid Bakker and Aaron McCulley are not in first place but they still are kicking ass!  Ingrid started out strong today but got sucked to the beach and had to drop her spin.  The other boats rode a bit longer and jump a bit of a lead.  She hung in tough and came in with the group of final boats.  For a rookie in this race on a different boat, she is kicking Ass

5)   Austin Cats:  Monkey Business, Sailboat Shop and Quiksilver battled it out for most of the race within a short distance.  All three boats are from Austin, the best city in Texas!  In the end Monkey Business got stuck in the weeds 15 miles from the finish and then practice righting their boat after a massive pitchpole.  Sailboat Shop nipped Quiksilver for first non-Tomko boat.  Right now, Quicksilver is in second overall, followed by Monkey Business and Team Sailboat Shop!

6)   Does anyone else go out on the Gulf?  We have been sailing for 200 miles and we have not seen a single other boat (non-GT boat that is) out on the Gulf.  No one and I mean no one goes out and plays on our massive playground.  It is completely ours.   Today, we sailed for 70 miles past some of the most remote coast line in the US.  These are literally deserted islands.  Yes, we love our playground and we love that it is all ours!

7)   Three Round Texels in Two Days:  Ingrid Bakker is the first Woman Skipper to ever finish the second leg of the Great Texas.  She has now done the equivalent distance to three Round Texels in the past two days.  We take it easy on her tomorrow with a leg that is only slightly longer than a Round Texel.

8)   Jet Ski Finish:  When we pulled in today, Stephen Cooley followed us in on a jet ski shooting video with a GoPro helmet cam.  Jeremy Leonard told him to get some close ups so he was about 10 feet behind us as we jib reached into the finish.  Jeremy should be posting some video from Stephen.

9)   Flying Fish:  Every year we run into schools of flying fish.  They are simply the most cool beasts in the world.  Once you see a flying fish, you think, yes, Darwin was right!

10)                   Andrew Burnard, uber webmaster:  Behind the scenes, Andrew Burnard does such a great, great job at keeping the websites, facebook, scoring and everything humming for the Great Texas.  We all are in debt to him for his superior work at bring this race to you.

Off to Surfside tomorrow!

Written by a  physically wasted man!  Flow of conscience with zero editing!