Chapter 3

There is a saying; Optimist prams are the slowest dinghy class. It's true. That might be why the dinghy race was from the gun at the dock south to the buoy and back ... all of a mile ... and three hours. The Snipes, Lightnings and the Stars raced from the gun at the dock, turn at the half mile buoy and east to the bridge and back ... three times ... while we lowly prammies were making one lap.

Eventually, some enterprising soul would eschew the sprit rig of the Optimist and rig Bermuda; a main and a jib with real standing rigging and innovate the second slowest dinghy class ... but that came Much later. By then I was surfing Lasers and Lightnings.

Be that as it may ... world wide, there are one hundred and fifty thousand Optimist prams with District, Regional, National and International events ... all going slow.

We learned that age made very little difference. It was as easy for the youngest prammie to hog the wind of the oldest and fiberglas hulls were no faster than plywood. Regardless... 77 pounds is 77 pounds ... and a sneaky eight year old beginner can take the wind off a 15 year old expert. We also learned that the boat we built when we were eight still sailed as fast when were were 15 ... fast being the term unused in class write-ups for the newspapers.

"This past Saturday, young Michael Havebucks, son of Chicago sportsman and President of Bucks Meat Packers, George Havebucks, shaved two minutes off last years Optimist pram record. Michael stormed home in two hours fifty-six minutes, beating Gordon Havebucks season record of two hours fifty-eight. Young Michael's victory was celebrated in fine style with the traditional toss off the Pentwater Yacht Club dock. Our hearty congratulations, Michael.

In other competition it was noted that Gordon Havebucks has moved up to 19 foot Lightnings."

wrote Miss Social Climber in her Pentwater column for the Ludington Daily Record.

We, the Optimists, learned to tack, gybe and reach with the rest of the class. By the end of summer and the final regatta we prammies, sported 26 hulls, the largest class in numbers. For a snails pace, the racing was highly competitive, with all 26 boats clustered in a gaggle covering an area no more than a hundred feet long by 60 feet wide. First place to last place took 8 minutes crossing the line.

Maps of Pentwater and Charts of the lake reveal that the Yacht Club dock is directly in line with the channel mouth and the gap between the north and south dunes. The lake breezes can be brisk and make for exciting starts. To the north of the start there is a circling pond where the boats jockey for position before the final gun. It is important that a boat does not cross the starting early; such an early jump exacts a penalty of a return to the line and recrossing. Then there is a little more than a half mile run south and the lake bends to trend eastish and is considerably longer ending in marsh and the Pentwater River. After the brisk breezes of the channel gap the dunes act as a barrier to the wind. Holding to the south shore, the fluky wind slows the boats until they round the buoy and spread spinnakers for the down wind sail to the bridge buoy, then it's tack and tack into the wind until the south shore dunes interfere with the breeze. The last hundred yards or so the channel gap plays an important part in many a skippers calculations in the rush to cross the line.