The Corinthian Sailing Club on White Rock Lake is a Flying Scot oasis located in Dallas, TX. Four Midwest District racers made the long drive to attend Fleet 23's Open House Regatta this past weekend. Midwest District Governor Bronson Bowling and his amazing crew Rachel Bowling hauled Wreckless down while Gordy Roberts from Ephraim agreed to crew for me on Quicksilver. Upon our arrival on Friday, it was hard not to step back and admire the dozens and dozens of Flying Scots parked in their own dock spaces and raised up on their own individual davits. We appreciated the atmosphere because we were clearly in Flying Scot country and we looked forward to seeing where we stacked up against one of the most competitive fleets in the class.
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| Bill Drahiem from Gus sails rounds the mark in this Texas-themed sails. It was easy to spot him up on the front of the pack. More photos by Cathy O'Neil. From the CSC Website: The CSC Flying Scot Open House regatta was started 43 years ago with the notion that the CSC members open their homes to traveling attendees to offset housing costs. We still practice that tradition today and we have boats for charter as well. Held over three days, the schedule is based around a "get to know each other" party on Friday night, followed by racing on Saturday, followed by a blow out party with live music, followed by more racing Sunday!!!There is a single regatta fee that includes everything from meals, drinks, party passes to the actual regatta entry. Only regatta t-shirts are extra. This years theme is "Scots on the Rock." Come join Flying Scot Fleet 23 for our signature event. Bronson and Rachel stayed with Red Dog Jones while Kelly and Heidi Gough hosted Gordy and I. When I asked Kelly about Red Dog's story, he mentioned there are plenty of members in the club who don't know his real name. We immediately learned they don't do anything small in Texas. On the way in we drove by some of their high school football coliseums. OMG! I was told it's not uncommon for high school football stadiums to cost in the tens of millions of dollars and noted that one cost $60 million to build. My goodness, these things all had their own press boxes and all the stadiums I observed would be impressive for a college stadium. CSC reinforced this mentality by going big to host a great event. We helped unload six kegs of beer on Friday as Gordy and I rigged our boat. They had 5-star catered hot food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner both days and held nothing back. I couldn't decide if the brisket and egg tacos were my favorite, but that BBQ and jambalaya was equally amazing. The live band on Saturday created a fun backdrop on Saturday as we discussed the day's action with our new Texas friends. The biggest impression of the weekend was Texas-sized hospitality that was constant all weekend long as all of their members went out of their way to acknowledge and thank us for making the long trip. |
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| Even the dogs are big in Texas. Here I am photographed with Oscar. |
We raced a total of six races (3 Saturday - 3 Sunday) in tough wind conditions against 22 total boats in the Championship Division with an additional 8 boats racing the Challenger Division. You can review the results here. Unfortunately, Bronson and I finished towards the back of the standings, but we both adamantly agree it was exceptional racing and we are already looking forward to next year. Next time you see Bronson, ask him about the Texas-sized pinwheels at the leeward mark. When you have so many great sailors racing in such close proximity, it really made for a lot of close crossings and challenging mark roundings in high traffic. We both made some really good moves and we both appreciated that one bad decision can be very costly in this kind of fleet. Bronson stated, "This is what I imagine racing at the NACs is like." There were so many learning moments to process that it took me the entire 13-hour ride home to process everything. One thing I can say for sure is traveling to these competitive regattas is how racers get better and I hope we can talk a few more Midwest sailors into joining us next year.
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| A friendly reminder that everyone should come the NACs in Sandusky this June!More photos by Cathy O'Neil. |
Gordy Roberts and I with our hosts Kelly and Heidi Gough. All four Midwest District sailors received CSC burgees as Heidi Gough helps us promote the Glow Regatta with her new shirt.
Bronson and Rachel put their boat away in record time and took off before i got a chance to get a group photo. I hope to update this post with a picture of them soon. I'll close with a fitting musical tribute to an impressive event and amazing hosts.
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