Day 6: Racing against PDRs
In which we are all surprised by the outcome
Gene, Kenny, Rick and I got a room in the Best Western in
Port Lavaca - I can't even tell you how nice it is to take a hot
shower, sit in a soft chair, and sleep on a soft bed after an event
like the Texas 200 - you really renew your appreciation for the
simple things in life.
We even had waffles shaped like the state of Texas for breakfast.
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Back a the beach the next day, I saw Jason impressing some visitors
with tales of the Texas 200.
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Rick and I saw David S, PDR captain extraordinaire and owner of
PDR 287. He was getting ready for the PDR World Championships to
be held at noon.
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David Gray of Polysail International.
If you want to build a good sail for an excellent price, you can't
go wrong with Polysails.
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The Houston PDR group had won the right to host the World Championships
and they chose to have them at the end of the Texas 200. There's
quite a bit of history in the PDR world, which includes a schism
commonly referred to as "the Kerfuffle." I am a pre-kerfuffle
PDR man and while I don't agree with the post-kerfuffle mentality,
I do support the idea of getting people on the water.
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Boats lining up for the races.
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Whoo hoo! The start. There were 3 competitors from the Texas 200:
Rick and Gordo in Loaner boats and John G in Chevy Duck.
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We even drew spectators from the residents of Magnolia Beach. It
was a lot of action for Maggy Beach.
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John was fantastically good! I thought Chevy Duck would
be heavy and have a lot of windage, but man, John was sailing that
thing like he stole it.
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The results after the first heat had John in Chevy Duck in first
place. I left the beach and headed back to Houston after the first
heat, but heard that Dave S in 287 made a fantastic comeback (from
2nd place) and earned the championship. John placed a very respectable
2nd.
And that's it - that's my 2014 Texas 200 adventure.
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