2007
Round Taal Volcano Regatta Report
- by Maligno101
PHBYC increased its participation in the RTV 100%!
From three sailboats last year to six this year.
Tatoski's Vagabond Angelica, Kapitan Inngo's Caravelle Arceli,
Maligno's Weekender B'lisss
Kuton's Summer Breeze Cristina, Electric Eric's Kalayaan
Mulan, Piper's Spindrift Ceol Beag; Maligno's Zip Pawprint
again served as safety boat.
Not
only Tatoski believes this was a good RTV; Walter himself
told us it was the best ever RTV. And the proof would be
in the fact that the Hobies clocked record times around
the volcano.
For the homebuilts and dinghies the Governor's Cup was
actually a Go-to-the-Volcano-and-Come-Back Race. The course
was shorter than last year which took the boats a third
of the way around the island. B'lisss wasn't ready for last
year's race so this was the first time she  has
gone into competition. As the same was true for her skipper
and crew, we played the whole event by ear and basically
just followed the pack. Trailed was the more accurate word
though. We were the last to start in all the courses and
made it through both days more by persistence and endurance
than equipment and skill.
We were advised time and again by Arvin and Peter and Joe,
racing is the best way to hone your sailing and know your
boat. Now we know this to be absolutely true. 
But of course being
the laid-back folk that we are we did not at all take the
event seriously and we figured that the long distance Governor's
Cup Race was going to separate the men from the boys anyway.
And so it did: only three of the PHBYC boats were able to
finish the race. Cristina broke her leeboard at the start,
Mulan had trouble with her stays and both retired. Arceli
damaged a her vang and drifted off course while repairing
it. All of these we didn't know til the end to the race--we
were too busy looking for the buoys at the start and when
we were on the way to the island had a great time in the
fresh breeze  with
our speed peaking at 5 to 6 knots. Angelica and Ceol Beag
were so far in front we could barely make them out from
the Streakers and the Toppers.
As we approached the island mark and after we lunched aboard
the GPS froze reading 6.3 knots in the weakening wind. And
we were surprised to see Angelica still near the mark. It
turned out she was babysitting a capsized Streaker and waiting
for the rescue boat. We rounded the mark like a pro with
our loose topping lift swinging by the buoy flag. We were
easily outdistanced by Angelica who was back in  the
race but we met Arceli heading for the island mark. A third
of the way back the Hobies that had gone all the way around
the island sliced by as if we were standing still in the
water, most of them with the weather hull airborne.
By mid-afernoon all the boats were back. We dropped in
on Totoski and Co. at Walter's for a can of our favorite
apres-sail beverage. Not wanting to waste the good wind,
we took Tatoski and Kuton out on B'lisss and had a leisurely
sail staying out of the way of the boats that were running
the first two courses of the Regatta. In the meantime we
found out that Pawprint was grounded the whole day because
of a faulty prop. Andrew said it ran for a full minute before
it stopped dead in its wake with the engine still running.
The prop hub had disengaged.
After a buffet dinner
that made up for the morning's light pack lunch, First Mate
and I were pleasantly surprised to find out that B'lisss
was the third in the Homebuilt Class to finish; Angelica
overtook Second Placer Ceol Beag in the homeward leg to
take First Place.
PHBYC skippers at the Round the Volcano Governor's Cup
Awards: Piper, Peter of TLYC, Tatoski, Kapitan Inggo, Maligno,
Electric Eric, and Kuton with apo
PHBYC & families
But the excitement of winning lost to advancing drowsiness
and we still had to rig up the quickie boom tent I made
the night before. We were hoping not to have to use it because
the day had been rainless and just before we turned in we
were thinking of folding over part of the tent because we
noticed that the sky had cleared and exposed the Milky Way.
We had to end the show and closed up the tent. Which was
a good thing. Because it rained later.
The boom tent survived the night
Sunday morning ,
seven o'clock looked like dawn because of the overcast skies.
But the wind was stirring and Eric launched Mulan with her
replaced stays and headed for the island. Piper was also
up and about, trying to start up Tato's 10hp with a jury-rigged
prop on the Pawprint but ended rowing her to Walter's.
Pawprint up and running with Kapitan Inggo's 5hp outboard
crewed by Allan and Andrew volunteered as safety boat. It
was unfortunate that I was not able to see how she would
have performed with Tatoski's 10hp.
After buffet breakfast the light wind still held out so
we struck the tent and sailed out. Coming back we stayed
clear off the Regatta course because we noticed all the
boats were out getting ready for the day's first race. We
were quite happy with our trophy in hand from the Governor's
Cup we were just going to enjoy ourselves the rest of Sunday.
Angelica had been hauled out and Cristina too. The other
PHBYC boats were circling the starting gate as we approached
TLYC. Then it struck us--this was a racing event so what
were we doing on the sidelines? Waddahey we both said and
decided to mess it up with the fleet. 
By the time we got
to the starting line, everybody had already gone across.
The committee boat shouted the course number as we passed
and Marte dug up our notes from the cabin (Kuton commented
the day before that it was a "cabinet" because
of the mess inside). We identified the course and ran it
as best we could. By the time we finished it was time for
the next course start. And so it went and we just lived
from one buoy to the next. In one course, we were wondering
where all the boats and gone because we were the only one
doing the last leg to windward and as we ran back to the
finish line we were met by a wall of flying Hobies that
had just started. Then we began to wonder what was happening,
having missed the briefing that morning. Were the courses
changed? So we decided to follow Piper who was always ahead
of the homebuilt pack--all the way back to TLYC for a very
late lunch.
And after the very late lunch were the Regatta Awards where
B'liss was awarded Second Place for all our efforts. Ceol
Beag was First and Arceli Third.
TLYC Regatta Awards, Homebuilt Class winning skippers
and crews
It was a blast; congratulations to Angelica, Ceol Beag
and Arceli and, being magnanimous, we commiserate with Mulan
and Cristina. For gunk-holing sailors, we have had enough
racing to last us a long time. We have decided to rest on
our laurels.
Now if there were only more of us....
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