Wednesday Night Races

Clear Lake’s Finest Spectator  Event

Buddy Brown

Every Wednesday Clear Lake visitors and residents can participate in one of the best kept, secret-attractions in Houston’s Bay Area. It’s the Wednesday Night Sailboat Races on Clear Lake, an event that mixes a beautiful, waterfront view with the warm colors of a sunset, cool drinks, friendly people, and one of the most majestic sports in the world. A fleet of sailboats, dressed in their finest downwind splendor, is second only to a rainbow when it comes to outdoor color. Rainbows occur as chance happenings. Sailboat races happen every Wednesday throughout the summer on Clear Lake.
Thanks to the wonder of Daylight Savings Time which buys an extra hour of daylight (April through October), Galveston Bay sailors leave their jobs, rig their boats, and race for an hour and a half before the precious sun dips below the horizon. To the most casual observer, the affair is at once curious, beautiful, and mystical. How does a sailboat make it’s way upwind? An explanation requires more mental effort than seems worthwhile.  Most people are just content to keep a loose eye on the action while enjoying an after-work drink and a chat with their friends.
 Only when a boat’s crew drags their spinnaker in the water, or several boats seem to get too close for comfort is attention focused seaward.  Then the racing sailors, well within earshot, are pelted with Ooooos and Aaaaahhhs, all sorts of friendly, unsolicited advice, heckling and laughter galore; every verbal morsel you can think of spawned by the delight of watching someone else perform under pressure. Racing sailors have a knack for sailing themselves into pickles only to realize their greed for winning has left them with no reasonable, dignified avenue of retreat. Sailboats have no reverse. Only after the floating boondoggle remedies itself, do the conversations pick back up, usually on a totally different subject.
To the experienced, the race is an interesting event in its own accord. Yacht racing combines a strategy of positioning with constant, small scale, weather changes. It includes the precise science of aerodynamics, and the coordination of a fine tuned team. Throw in a handful of rules and countless attacking and defending maneuvers, and you’ve got a sport capable of sending anyone into perceptual overload! A spectator standing on the dock has a pretty good view of the whole course, and can watch the different strategies and tactics of the competitors as they battle upwind and down. Accompanying the action is an ongoing commentary provided by experienced yachtsmen over a PA.
Then, just about the time you figure you’ve seen it all, here comes a catamaran with one of its two hulls flying through the air! The crew of two is standing on the side of the flying hull, their bodies suspended over the water’s surface by thin wires anchored at the top of the mast. The boat is moving at remarkable speed, and it’s submerged, knife-like bow is slicing a continuous sheet of spray from the unfortunate waves in its path. The boat and it’s crew blasts past the spectator dock so close that the wind rushing off the back of the sail astonishes you with its power. The cat continues past the dock to the next mark, and you watch as they round up and sail away toward the channel. The boat is gone as quickly as it appeared. Then another, and another, as the multihulls arrive back at the spectator dock to start their second lap around the lake.
The J80’s and J24’s, and the mixed handicap class are rounding the mark set furthest into the wind, and you watch, as one by one, the crews get their big, colorful sail, the spinnaker, up and drawing. When the last boat rounds and sets, the whole lake seems to be filled with color. Twenty to thirty spinnakers in a long parade can have a quieting effect on the crowd as people turn to look.
To the west, the sun is starting to set and the colors in the sky shift more toward orange. The Non-Spinnaker Class, consisting mostly of sailors who are beginners at the sport, are nearing the finish. An air horn heralds the finish of the competitors and the crowd responds with polite applause. Some of the boats stop over at the dock to drop off spectators they picked up as crew.
Wednesday Night Races are held all across America. Clear Lake’s version is simply the best. Most sailboat races are held in the middle of a large body of water, far from shore, and away from convenient, public viewing. In Clear Lake, the prevailing southeast breeze and the populated northern shore combine to provide the best possible viewing for spectators. Galveston Bay’s sailors are some of the best in the world. Combine a colorful sunset to the west, good company at your side, and the majestic sport of yacht racing, and you have a recipe for a wonderful mid-week break.
Buddy Brown is president of the Clear Lake Racing Association, the organizing authority for the Wednesday Night Sailboat Races on Clear Lake and will write a monthly column for The SCENE.

Publisher’s Note:
Starting this month is a monthly column written by Buddy Brown, president of the Clear Lake Racing Association, the organizing authority for the Wednesday Night Sailboat Races on Clear Lake. Buddy started sailing at the Houston Yacht Club at the age of 7, is a two-time winner of the Sears Cup, has won the Sunfish North American Championship, has been aboard numerous national and North American championship boats, and has extensive experience in ocean racing. He is currently a U. S. Sailing Judge and has passed the exam to become a U. S. Sailing Regional Race Officer. Upcoming topics for this column space will touch on handicap systems, one design racing, sportsmanship, the rules of yacht racing, the history of the sport on Galveston Bay and Clear Lake, racing strategies, tactics and weather. The web site for the Clear Lake Racing Association is www.clearlakeraces.com.

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