Puddle Duck Racer Sailboat Class - Newsletter 7

THATS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT

"Never pass up a chance to be eccentric and if you can't be eccentric at the PD Racer worlds then where can you be?" I heard info about it, but was just able to get my hands on the full story and pictures of his costume. Thomas Mauer came dressed in an awsome costume as a samurai, complete with bamboo hat and wooden practice swords. Also I wanted to point out Patrick Johnson's costume which appeared in the championship photos, it is hilariously funny too !!

Wearing theme costumes and other creative stuff adds an extra dimension to events. It started back in the first season at the 2nd race. Ken Abrahams came to the race with a hunter's duck call, and quacked it often during the course of the race. We all followed his lead and brought duck calls to the next event, quacking away as we were making our way around the buoys. We have had a lot of pirate type costumes over the years and marine type too.

We need to expand our costumes and try to get more participation in that area. I have a lot of experience racing in another boat class that usually has over 100 teams show up per event, and almost all of them wear costumes of varying themes. It is a surreal feeling to walk around the crowd and try to figure out what their theme is. Its like being at a huge halloween party

And don't mistake wearing a costume for an indication that we aren't serious about racing. If you look elsewhere in the sailing world, all the top sailboat racing classes have their competitors wear costumes, just that their costumes aren't as neat looking as ours, and theirs usually all look the same -- while we try to be individual.

Surprise of hull 600 "C'BAM!"

We all have celebrated passing the 600 hull mark, but in this month's articles, we get to hear the surprise story of how she joined our fleet. See the story "Lumber To Lake in 5 Days".

Capturing the rights to host future world championship

We have just a little bit of time left in the window to capture the championship hosting rights and submit bids. More info on the world championship page.

PDRacer Article in Sailing Magazine

Patrick Johnson 587 "Red Rum" was out puddle ducking, and helped create a big win for our class. Like happens when many duckers go sailing, we get a lot of looks at the lake because of our unique boats, but on this day, Patrick stopped to chat with Chris Caswell, who happens to be a writer with Sailing Magazine. Chris really "gets us" and what we are about, and wrote an article about us in the November/December 2011, Volume 46, Number 3 and also is available online at sailingmagazine.net. Thanks a bunch Patrick and Chris !!!

Everglades Challenge 2012

Scott has a 3D hull and is working on the details. Like all ducks, some of the original design concepts are coming along just like planned, while some other ideas are evolving. See the latest articles on the Everglades Challenge 2012 page.
To talk about the boat and effort, see Team EC Puddle Duck forum:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ECpuddleduck/

Dave Gray Monthly Column

Dave's monthly column explains some experience he has had and lists some motivations for his new Dangerous Duck design PDRacer. For more information see:
See: Dangerous Duck Workshop

Dave also has a new forum to get retirees with time on their hands to get involved in sailing and also help promote the pdracer. See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/60sailing/

2012 PolySail Notable PDRacer People and Boats Calendar

Dave Gray is finalizing the annual fundraiser calendar and needs a few more pictures to get it completed, so if you have some good picturs to share, then send them to Dave so he can include them. The proceeds from the calendar sales support the class and fund a lot of the advertising that I purchase to help promote our class. For more info about the calendar and to pre-order yours, see: calendar info page