REGIONAL RACING female crew); Cuda Been Paris, Pam Rowell; 59:30 (all female crew); Non-Spinnaker, 4.5 Miles:Cannonball, Jane Brown; 48.55 (Virgin Skipper Award); Windy City, Donna Matthews; 1:12:32; Bikini Regatta, Navy Yacht Club; Spinnaker, 6.84 Miles:Gritz, Elaine Boos; 1:09:07 (all female crew); Soulshine II, Suzy Graf; 1:09:14; Phaedra, Cathryn Schuster; 1:10:28; Sirrocco, Lee Newkirk; 1:12:05 (all female crew); Fun Polish Navy, Kim Kaminski; 1:18:39 (all female crew); OuttaReach, Karen Kriegel; 1:19:18 (all female crew); Non-Spinnaker ; Cookie Monster, Julie Connerley; 49:21; Big Easy, Sharon Silk; 57:01; Go Bananas, Deborah Davidson; 1:10:57; Race for the Roses, Pensacola Beach Yacht Club(All-Female); Spinnaker, Class A: 1; Sirocco, Lee Newkirk, 2:28:44:2; Forerunner, Lee Thompson, 2:38:21; Class B; 1, Gritz, Elaine Boos, 2:25:40; 3, Fun Polish Navy, Kim Kaminski, 2:30:32; OuttaReach, Karen Kriegel, 2:46:55; Non-Spinnaker: 1, Soulshine II, Suzy Graff, 1:45:15: 2, Cookie Monster, Julie Connerley, 1:49:29; 3, Delphina, Denise Hare, 1:52:29; 4, Jes Be-N-Me, Belinda Gobeli, 2:01:10;
15th annual Juana Good Time Regatta, Navarre Beach, Florida Panhandle, Sept. 9-11 By Juana Rudzki With clear skies and 10-15 knots of wind, conditions were welcomed by the 50-plus boats that took part in the 15th Annual Juana Good Time Regatta on Navarre Beach on Santa Rosa Sound on Florida’s Panhandle. As perfect as the weekend was, this year’s race was touch and go from the start. With three major hurricanes within the past year, the normally idyllic setting for the regatta appeared to be far from perfect. Juana’s Pagodas, a thatch-roofed volleyball beach bar that sits just south of Navarre Beach Bridge, had just cleaned up from last September’s Hurricane Ivan when Hurricane Dennis, for the first time in Juana’s history, tore the entire roof, beams and all, off the 50-foot tall main structure. The smaller, original hut was left with broken beams and a heavy westerly list. The boat ramp was a mess, and debris littered the sound. But we worked hard cleaning up again, (We’re all getting good at this by now!) and with what we figured was the worst behind us, we made the decision to keep the annual multihull and windsurf regatta on the schedule. Fliers were sent and registrations were just beginning to flood in when the infamous Katrina crashed to shore just west of us. This was the final blow for our sad smaller pagoda. But we cleaned away the debris from our beloved original hut (tears and sniffles all around), re-tarped the big hut, put back the wooden walkways for the third time in a year, hosed down the flooded bathrooms, and waited a couple of days for electricity and water to be restored so we could once again be ready for business. The regatta was scheduled for the following week, and we figured we’d go on with the show...just to keep some sort of normalcy in an otherwise abnormal summer. Historically we have a large number of sailors trailer over from Louisiana and Mississippi. This year, obviously, they had more important worries. Many positive thoughts and hopeful stories were shared this weekend with them in mind. Many competitors were unable to attend due to fuel shortages and the temporary lack of island accommodations. However, the turnout was better than we’d hoped for, thanks to the support of our locals from the surrounding areas of Fort Walton, Destin, Pensacola, Niceville.... We did have 64
October 2005
SOUTHWINDS
Juana Good Time Regatta on Navarre Beach. Juana’s Pagodas on the beach, a volley ball beach bar. Notice the tarp over the main pagoda. Photo by Chris Vallina.
three racers from Mississippi attend, saying they needed refuge from the hurricane madness. And one racer traveled all the way from Minnesota just to join in the fun! It all started Friday evening with our “Smooth Sailing” party, and late registration. “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha,” our crazy 80s band, played under the tarp (Yes, we miss the thatch, but the tarp is better than nothing!) and the racers drank cheap Coronas, ate hot wings compliments of our own Sailors’ Grill, and danced in the sand. Saturday began calm, but by the time T.L. Lewis, our illustrious race committee of the past 10 years, finished the skippers meeting, the wind had picked up nicely from the southeast. The cruising class consisted of three Gemini catamarans. (This class was smaller than usual, as the bigger boats had more damage and a harder time navigating through the debris.) One of the Geminis, the “Chick Boat,” was an all women crew. It’s become an annual competition between the girls and the guys. And yes, the chicks were the first boat over the finish line both days! Give the men credit for showing good sportsmanship and acquiescing to the stronger sex. Three classes of beach cats, X,Y,Z, competed Saturday in a distance race and in triangle races on Sunday. Nine Hobie 16s were in the X class. Y and Z included a variety of larger beach cat designs, with Z carrying spinnakers. Everyone was warned of hurricane debris close to the island’s shore. Still, not everyone heeded that advice, and there was one broken rudder. Beautiful photo shots abounded with plenty of hull flying and nose-to-nose competition. The windsurfers did their thing both days just west of the Navarre Beach Bridge. They arrived on the beach tired, sun-streaked and smiling. The beach barbecue Sailors’ Grill put out was nothing short of mouth-watering, and with all the hungry racers, leftovers were hard to find. After the races Sunday, a carbon copy of Saturday’s weather, the racers filled themselves with subs, drank another Corona or two, and enjoyed the video footage. Beautiful, hand-crafted pottery trophies were presented Sunday afternoon, and for the 15th year in a row, we managed to pull out another truly Good Time Regatta! For more pictures and details, see www.juanaspagodas.com. www.southwindsmagazine.com