"Had the days of the Vikings been anything like this, there would surely have been no challenge to Columbus’ claim to discovery of the New World."

The Florida Today newspaper, describing the 5th annual Hagar the Horrible Regatta. The quote is 20 years old this year. Only the Henrys, Merritts, LeGrands and perhaps Hagar himself remember that old celebration. The situation apparently haven’t changed much, though. This year’s celebration and kickoff for the new sailing year was the perfect combination of the usual silliness, good weather, good food and good company. 30 boats participated this year, coming from as far as Orlando, Jacksonville, and West Palm Beach. And of course, Hagar was as resplendent as usual in his own special way. The Hagar weekend consists of two days of events.

Hagar’s Run is on Saturday. Hagar arrives on Sunday and so does the real party, a rite of spring. Hagar’s Run was, as usual, a race that started slow, but with a pace that picked up in the afternoon sea breeze. When it started, the breeze was less than 7 knots, from the east and then south east. A few catamarans got off to a good start. Brian Karr and Dave Foy, on Brian’s Nacra 6.0, were the first through the bridge, followed (but not closely) by most other boats. After Brian and Dave cleared the Bennett Causeway Bridge, the wind died back, leaving the rest trying to get through. On the other side, it seemed, for about 15 minutes, that the wind was gone for the day. But it came back as suddenly as it dropped and the catamarans were off for a great cruise. (Phantom Ed’s Note: Apparently something happened at the bridge, perhaps some minor contact with the bridge by one of the catamarans with a high mast. Seems the bridge spontaneously fell a couple of inches after Brian and Dave went through. The interested reader should check next month’s newsletter for the alleged details. These things happen. Really, it was nothing to go on about…)

The wind stayed mostly from the east for the next hour, making it a straight run up to the NASA causeway. Brian and Dave led the whole time, although Roy (Supercat 19), Pete Haley (Hobie 20) and the Loewens (Hobie 20) closed the gap a lot. In typical Hagar fashion, the wind changed back to the north east just as most of the fleet was closing in on the turn at the NASA causeway. It strengthened as well. The two or three boats that had made it around the channel marker and were headed back south were going downwind while those still trying to make the mark were now going nearly directly into the wind. But after the boats rounded the mark, the spinnaker catamarans, especially, had a chance to make up lost time. In the last mile, Rick & Terri Loewen, Louis Adiano and family (Nacra 6.0), and Pete Haley and his crew (all flying spinnakers) took the lead and made it to the beach first, followed closely by Brian and Dave, Roy, the 2K’s (Kris and Kris VanNostran) and Mike Martin (Hobie 17, not flying a spinnaker). On the basis of corrected times, winners of the 1999 Hagar’s Run were: Mike Martin (H 17), Chuck Harndon (Nacra 5.2) and Don Eldredge (H 17) in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Congratulations for a fine show!

Some cat sailors say the Saturday night trophy making party is the best part of the weekend. (It’s not the group effort so much as it is the refreshments served to the weary.) The Crudens hosted the trophy party this year. About 20 people came and went during the evening At least it seemed like that many were there, pharmacological effects of rum not withstanding (or maybe it was only 10–there seemed to be a lot of twins around by 9 or 10.). During 3 hours, and after consumption of several bottles of rum, the committee assisting Hagar made over 100 plaques (or maybe it was only about 50, with a whole set of duplicates.) Not a bad out under any circumstances. Ross, Sue and Jon, thanks for the hospitality.

The weather could not have been better for Hagar’s arrival. It was warm and sunny, with a southwest breeze. Hagar and Lucky Eddie appeared around noon on Sunday according to tradition. Hagar the Horrible was resplendent. He had new headgear this year and new sun glasses. The flea markets and garage sales have been good this past year, obviously. He had yet another scheme for the day’s contest. This time, it was a poker game on the water. Hagar divided participants into 4 teams, gave out booty, and told us to meet him on Ski Island to get cards. At the end, the teams were to pool cards to form a winning hand. He also promised additional cards to teams, depending on their standings. (As usual, the slower teams got more cards at the end of the race. (Was it the brew or is Hagar challenged by number theory?)

Sailing during the regatta was great. The wind was southwest,10-15 the whole time, with occasional higher gusts. Very cloudy water (from January’s only heavy rain the weekend prior) was the only real problem. Catamarans with dagger boards really had to watch the depth at times. The course was from shore to the Bombing Circle, north to Ski Island, south to the 520 bridge, north to Ski Island and then back to the shore and food. With the good breezes, the race was over by 3pm, not a bad day at all (Phantom Ed’s Note: No BAMs on Sunday).

Then it was off to the banquet. Elaine Henry and Sue Cruden, members of Hagar’s Harem, did a great job getting the food out and warm for the assembled multihulltude. Hagar gave out over 100 awards. No one escaped, I mean went without recognition. (Phantom Ed’s Note: If the adults had as much fun as the kids, we all had a great time.) Finally, the food was finished, (Phantom editor’s note: Even the deviled eggs and extra fudge brownies made of Ghiradelli chocolate morsels–how very satisfying . . .), all the plaques were given out, and Hagar ran out of cards. The Black Team won with four aces. Maybe they didn’t cheat, but who cares? Clinton got acquitted two days earlier, too. And so it was over for another year. Hagar faded into the sunset. We all expect Hagar to be back next year, on the first Sunday of February, regardless of the date indicated on any digital appliance. We expect no Y2K problems: It is hard to imagine that sand in Hagar’s hour glass is going to move up against gravity.