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Jim Cook One Design Regatta 2023

Written by Richard Johnson: Fetch (W11336)

Remembrance has weight, a sadness, felt more than acknowledged, difficult to express. And yet it has the odd effect of making friends, fellow sailors, seem closer, more like family. And so it was for the 15 Wayfarers and 8 Scow that arrived for the Jim Cook One Design Regatta, an event unfathomable a year ago. Sailors drove from Ontario, Michigan, Maryland, and of course the Carolinas to honor Jim in the only way he would have found fitting, racing in his memory.

Jim joined the Wayfarer fleet in 2016. At the time I was leaving the Catawba Yacht Club. He let me know he was interested in the Wayfarer, but I had to admit that I would not be at the club to race with him. He decided to join the fleet anyway and bought an Abbot Mk III with a good racing history. Jim did well enough in the boat but it was obvious the boat was holding him back. In 2019 I sold Black Skimmer (W10139) to Jim, and that made all the difference. He was immediately at the front of the fleet, usually so far ahead that we the fleet were no competition. He and Mike Taylor were 4th at the Internationals at lake Eustis in 2022. This year at Mid-Winters, he won all 6 races, usually with no one within 10 boat lengths. He and Mike were perfect!

The art of racing, according to Uffa Fox, is not in wining, but in winning in such a manner that, ” The rest of the fleet are pleased you have won.” Jim was the nicest person you could ever lose to, in fact you really didn’t mind at all. More impressive was that if he had an off race or day, he would laugh at himself and his mistake. But he wouldn’t make the mistake again. He worked very hard at perfecting his sailing.

The Catawba Yacht Club was quick to respond this spring and announce that the event once know as the Old Brown Dog would become the Jim Cook One Design Regatta. Last Friday, November 3d, sailors began to arrive under perfect windless Carolina Blue skies. We had three lovely days of baffling wind.

It was baffling as in Shrodingers’s Cat or Cubism. Perception, perspective, sense of order, all thrown to what little wind graced the race. Saturday’s predicted North wind was wrestling with an upstart Southern breeze creating a dead zone over the start. Each wind would push into the starting area at times, illicit a start, then retreat to their end of the lake. The North wind finally took hold for the 4th race. The strategy for the day was to get clear of the start, clear your air, stay clear ahead. Its unfair to say the conditions created winners and losers unless one is willing the argue the wind played favorites. Executing the three C’s, clear start, clear air, clear ahead, put Covington (W11134) in first, Heffernan (W8705) in second, and Menzies (W11158) in third on Saturday afternoon.

The best sail of the day is the one to the dock. Tying up, tying down, and walking away to a cold beer puts all things right. Jim Cook had started the tradition of serving grilled pizzas. With the help of Michele Parish ( aka My good wife) Joanne Shields, Nancy Yates, and Ali Kishbaugh the tradition continued. The CYC house band fronted by Jim Higgins and Ron Wright gently rocked the evening to a close.

Sunday dawned warmer with a slight overcast. The forecast of 4 gusting to 7 had everyone excited, but the wind collapsed to a steady-ish 2-3 from the north with odd shifts to the east and west. The starts were a pile up due to the sudden shifts. It was more a matter of escape that executing, with a number of boats over early at each start. So being free and clear meant everything. At the end of the second race the cloud cover was being moved to the Southeast followed by clear cloudless blue sky. The wind shifted hard to the east. A boat could fly the spinnaker from the RC boat to the pin, resulting in a seething raft up on the line. After a few warm word, the race was abandoned. The winner of the day was Peggy Menzies and Maggie Helman (W11158) but it was not quite enough to wrest first place from AnnMarie Covington and Gareth Ferguson (W11134). Jim Heffernan and Jim Best BCE ( Best Crew Ever) maintained a stealthy but incredibly respectable 2nd place.

Nora Cook, Jim’s daughter, raced Black Skimmer (W10139) on Sunday with Jill Zakerski. I had the pleasure of sailing Black Skimmer with Nora on Friday afternoon. The purpose of the sail was to help orient her to the controls of the boat, but with the light wind, the showing turned to telling, which veered off to talking and we just had a nice sail on a quiet afternoon.

In honor of Jim Cook the Catawba Yacht Club has designated a part of the club as the Jim Cook One Design Center, a tribute to Jim’s fascination with racing dinghies. The One Design Center was dedicated during the awards ceremony by Ron Wright. Joanne Cook, Jim’s mother made the trophies for the Wayfarer Class; stained glass Wayfarers, mounted on lighted bases. They were beautifully finished, a lasting tribute to her son Jim, this regatta of remembrance, and to the sport of dinghy racing which Jim loved.