Have you ever wondered what other SYC members do during the off-season? Well it’s obvious someone didn’t get the memo that the sailing season was over! Less than a week after hauling out the big boats, three SYC families were still out sailing (which naturally turned to racing). You know the old adage, one boat is sailing… but two boats on the water means racing!
Thanks to quick thinking and fast acting, Connie Buss captured this event with her cell phone. Evidence suggests that father and son, Jon and Bryan Buss, are indeed up to the challenge of determining who can get across the lake the fastest, and maybe the driest. Fortunately everyone’s sailing skills were finely honed after a season on Saylorville and no one went overboard. However, the water temperature was later described as being, “wet and danged cold!” If you’ve ever sailed a boat shorter than your compact car you probably already have a good appreciation for the thrills involved when racing these little boats in icy cold water during windy conditions! If not, grab a wetsuit and give one of us a call.
When asked, while launching their eleven foot long Snark on the waters at Ada Hayden just north of Ames last weekend, what prompted the Buss family to risk a cold soaking, Jon replied that they had been watching a Sunfish (that would be me) shooting back and forth across the lake that afternoon. It turns out they just couldn’t stand idly by and miss out on the action so Jon and Bryan dashed home and returned shortly with the craft Bryan has been sailing since he was seven years old.
As customary among all fine sailors it only took a few minutes before we introduced ourselves and were encouraging bystanders to cheer for their favorite competitor - albeit the audience was rather sparse that day. Regardless, Bryan’s children, Jack (4) and C.J. (7) soon got into the spirit of racing by yelling, “Go G’pa!” then as quickly as their interest took hold, they turned their attention back to picking Grandma a lovely bouquet of dead foxtails. Apparently sailing doesn’t appeal to everyone… at least not yet.
Sidebar:
From Wikipedia - The Snark is a lightweight lateen rigged sailboat. The early Snarks had hulls made of expanded polystyrene (EPS is most commonly known by the trade name Sytrofoam). Later versions have an EPS hull clad inside and out with a layer of ABS. At fifty pounds, eleven feet long with a thirty-eight inch beam, these boats are easy to transport, easy to sail, and unsinkable, a good choice for a beginner or day sailing.
Whereas the Sunfish is a popular one-design sailing dinghy developed in the 1950s. It can be sailed with one, two, or three persons, but is most often sailed singleh
anded (one person). At 13 feet 9 inches in length and 130 lbs in weight, the Sunfish is easily carried in a luggage rack or a light trailer. Because of its low cost and simplicity (it is often regarded as the simplest boat to sail, and is widely
ling) it is also perhaps the most popular sailboat class ever designed; over 500,000 Sunfish have been built.
