By Greg Gilmartin

It was a most dramatic night as far as Wednesday Night races go for the Mystic River Mudheads. A rare course change, a rain squall in 18 knots of breeze and a timely demonstration of seamanship as three Mudhead boats worked together to rescue two sailors who were thrown overboard during the race. In all, three sailors went into the water, one of them twice and in the end, all are accounted for and none the worse for wear.

Kudos go to the skippers and crew of Ursa Minor, Dark N' Stormy and One More Time. And special mention to Peb Bergendahl, who knows the answer to why a perfectly sane sailor would leave a perfectly dry boat for the cold waters of Fishers Island Sound. Not once, but twice!

I've pieced together the story from some of the principals and what I saw from my vantage point on the Race Committee boat and here is what happened.

The race started in light air from the Southeast and the course was set as 4 I, a 4 legged windward leeward race about 4 miles long with Intrepid Rock as the Windward Mark. Unfortunately, as Class Five was starting, the wind made a dramatic shift to the South turning the event into a potential reacharama. The Race Committee pulled anchor and moved to the leeward mark and realized there had to be a course change. It was simple enough and the wind had shifted putting North Hill bell in ideal position as the Windward mark for the second leg.

With all signals in proper order and radio announcements notifying the fleet, everyone came roaring around the leeward mark and headed back up wind on the new course in a freshening breeze. The downwind run was pretty square and that was the RC's goal.

But, as the boats started to finish, RedLine, a Viper 640 skippered by Art Shaw, with two other crew on board, ran into trouble about 150 yards from the finish. In a gybe maneuver their big red chute filled in a puff and they rounded up, sending Art and crew Nancy into the 55 degree water. The Viper kept on going with dispatch, heeled over with no one at the helm and the red chute filling and flopping, threatening to capsize.

Still on board was a rookie sailor who was hanging on for dear life and unable to get into the steeply tilted cockpit to control the boat.

The crew on One More Time, having just finished the race, were watching the events with mild amusement. Everyone turns to see a boat rounding up, anticipating what the crew will do to get it back under control. (There but for happenstance go I.) Suddenly, when the bodies went into the water, the situation changed and One More Time, along with other boats, converged on the scene, the amusement replaced by focus on getting their fellow Mudheads out of the water.

On Ursa Minor, Lee Reichert's crew was closest to Art Shaw and deftly picked him up. Dark N' Stormy was also heading for Art when they saw Nancy in the water about 50 yards away and they swooped in to pick her up on the first pass. Meanwhile, One More Time radioed the RC about sailors in the water, and when I looked up from calling finishers, I watched co-skipper Peb Bergendahl jump into the water grabbing for the rudder of the runaway Viper. Unfortunately, a puff filled the spinnaker and the boat skittered out of his grasp. Peb's brother Woody maneuvered One More Time to get Peb back on board and they went chasing the runaway again. This time Peb successfully jumped right onto the boat and worked his way into the cockpit and quickly released the spinnaker halyard, which brought the boat back to level and under some semblence of control.

Moments later, Ursa Minor pulled up and Art Shaw returned to his boat and resumed command. One More Time attached a towline and Peb jumped back into the water, using the towline to get back on board his boat. "We had cold beer on board, so I wasn't riding in with RedLine!" joked Peb Thursday morning talking with me about the events. On board the Eddie Maxwell, after all the finishers were recorded, we passed close by RedLine trailing behind One More Time and tossed a couple of greenies to Art and his crew. They were smiling.

The wet, but happy result of recovering two overboard sailors allows us to joke and downplay the events of last night, but clearly a few things should be noted. Everyone in the water was wearing a life jacket. If the incident had been a half mile back up the course, there may not have been as many boats around to help and it could have turned ugly in a hurry. Be thankful we have experienced boat handlers who were able to perform the rescues. They were faced with a situation that no one ever wants to see, and handled it with aplumb. Is your crew ready if you should face a similar situation?

As my mom used to say, "It's all a barrel of laughs until someone gets their eye poked out!" Sail fast, Mudheads. Pass boats. Be ready.

Ironic or fitting, you decide. One More Time corrected out first in Class Five and first in fleet. Just another Wednesday Night of Mudhead racing.

As more information becomes available, we will pass it on.