The first time I sailed a Flying Dutchman was three and a half years ago at the MBYC Mid Winters. I was asked to crew for an older Cuban sailor who had been sailing in and since the '68 olympics. I figured that I'd give it a try. Well, I had to give it more than a try. That weekend stormed heavily both days. Some of you may remember it. I certainly always will. I was hooked!
Two years ago it was decided that the '97 Flying Dutchman World were to be sailed in St. Petersburg Florida. At that time our fleet started discussing the possibility of competing but it was still a ways a way and nothing was set in stone. All I knew is that I would be there.
Well as fleets go, the Flying Dutchman fleet is pretty typical. It's hard to find good crews and the crews eventually develop to the point were they want to have their own crack at steering the boat. This is exactly where I was so I finally bit the bullet and drove to Montana to purchase an '86 Kevlar/Carbon Lindsay. The only problem was that now I only had a year to find and work with a new crew for the worlds. After working for about a two months at this task, I decided that it was best for our fleets potential at the worlds to redirect my efforts toward working with another FD skipper at our club who was looking for a crew who could commit to the worlds.
A good meaning for FD could very well be "Fix Daily" as it seems that a month before the worlds that was my nightly routine. But the hard work paid off and the now newly rigged boats were loaded up 2 weeks before the regatta on the largest stake bed truck you have ever seen.
A week later we arrived in St. Pete's by plane to find that our boats had suffered quite a journey. Several covers were shredded, one trailer was cracked, and one boats double bottom was FULL of water. After a day of minor repairs we were ready, or so we thought. The Open regatta which preceeded the Worlds served as a good ego-deflator. What we thought was fast did not quite measure up with some of the ex-olympic, Australian, Hungarian and German ideas of fast. However we weren't discouraged.
Finally the day arrived, the Worlds were about to start! Small boat advisories were out all over the bay. The wind was blowing a steady 25 knots with gust pegging the meter on top of the club house. Remarkably one of the first boats to leave the club was not an FD at all but a 49er. Not surprising to me it was the FIRST boat back to the club. That day howled. The start of 68 boats finished with only 31 boats ending the day without DNF's the first race. Regrettably one of which was our own. But after going over 3 times and being lapped we decided to regroup. We finished the second race in the late twenties but at least we finished.
The next five days proved to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Even with all the complications that had arisen, were arising and were expected to arise we managed to finish all of the remaining races save one when our Genoa blew apart. Not our spinaker but our so-called ALL PURPOSE genoa.
Perhaps the best part of going to a major regatta is the meeting of people with as intense an interest as yourself. Just like at MBYC, some of the best tactics I've learned to date came after the regatta in the bar at the club discussing what happened with other competitors and listening to their reports. All I can say is that MBYC's bar better stock up for the SNIPE worlds if the FD worlds were any indication of true sailors after a day of racing.
The most memorable event that happened to us at the regatta had to come when we took a gamble and decided to go out way to the right of the course following Michael Loeb an ex-olympic USA FD sailor. After about 20 minutes of completely watching the rest of the fleet sail to the other side of the course we tacked back on the layline. Much to our suprise we were 3rd in a fleet of 68 boats at the weather mark. My skipper and I were estatic and probably looked rather odd snapping photos at the rest of the fleet as we prepared for our spinaker set.
Overall MBYC FD fleet did well to represent the club. The flight home and work after the regatta was long but filled with more than enough great times to make it all seem worthwhile.
Don Mierzeski
US FD 143