05-15-2006, 06:14 PM
Well, I did it! I flew to Houston, Tx last tuesday, built a PD racer in two days, drove out to Magnolia beach, and participated in the 2006 PD racer world championship. For those of you not familiar with this boat it is basically a 4X8' box with some curve to the bottom (http://www.pdracer.com/). I was very surprised by how well this box on the water sailed in the 15mph + winds we had. It was very stable and was very fast on the water.
Anyway, a bit of bragging is in order because I placed third out of nine boats despite being the least experienced in sailing these types of boats and this being my first sailboat race. I was also surprised I did so well flying a sprit rig as opposed to a field of leg-o-mutton, lateen, and marconi rigs all of which are all supposed to sail closer to the wind. Anyway, I had a lot of fun sailing this boat for two wonderful days and then making a father and son's day by giving the boat to them at the event.
Anyway, a bit of bragging is in order because I placed third out of nine boats despite being the least experienced in sailing these types of boats and this being my first sailboat race. I was also surprised I did so well flying a sprit rig as opposed to a field of leg-o-mutton, lateen, and marconi rigs all of which are all supposed to sail closer to the wind. Anyway, I had a lot of fun sailing this boat for two wonderful days and then making a father and son's day by giving the boat to them at the event.