It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. We got a good start up by the Flag Ship Pier into a moderate west wind and a little foul current. We beat along the rumb line to Freeport, watching the J-35 "Leading Edge" pull out ahead. After Freeport and dark we took a hitch offshore and noticed a little lift as we went out. We tacked back to the rumb line and decided that the current and lift were more favorable off shore, so we tacked back out. The wind had built to 18 true, and was still on the nose. The seas were lumpy and we had a rough, wet ride. At midnight, the GPS predicted an ETA of midnight Saturday, if this held we would miss the deadline and more important, the party! As we sailed out, we found the lift again and this time it took us up almost to the mark. When the sun came up, the front finally came through and wind went north and then northeast and BUILT! We popped the big chute on starboard jibe sailing just above the mark. The boat planes nicely in 20 knots, doing up to 14 over the ground. A wild ride. The winds layed as we approached Port Aransas, but we were still moving well and finished around 2pm, just behind the Mumm 36. We were the sixth boat to finish. Lee Demerest, in his Tayana 52, finished a few minutes behind us, but then, he had ice cream aboard. We had a feeling we had done well. Only forty boats finished before the time limit. The party was great: Rum, Bar BQ, and live music by Key West (The Band). Later that night, we were forced to drink rum straight from the Bacardi Cup (first in PHRF Fleet). Which explains my slight case of rumnesia.

We left Port A Sunday morning and had a pleasant motor back up the ditch. The end of our trip was capped of by meeting the USS San Jacinto coming down the ship channel (Pictures).

Bruce Huckaba - Navigator

Note from the Skipper: My crew has raced my J/30 "Wild Turkey" offshore for 18 years. This was our first offshore race in my 3-week old J/105 "Rare Breed" #279. The Harvest Moon Regatta is a fun race from Galveston Texas to Aransas Pass 154 miles. It started at noon Friday October 22 with a finish deadline of Saturday October 23 @ 5:00pm. It is normally an off-the-wind race, and this year there were 255 starters.