Harvey moved out, and the Rig Run moved back in. The 3rd Annual Bolivar Rig Run took place on Saturday, September 30th following its originally scheduled date of Labor Day weekend. Fortunately, the organizers were able to reschedule to ensure better water conditions and enough boats for a good turnout after recovering from Hurricane Harvey. Hosted by the Bolivar Yacht Club and organized by Jim Denys, the regatta promotes the sport of sailing as they race from the shore to the oil rig with a round trip of about 6 miles. Sponsored by Hardheads of Crystal Beach, nine catamaran teams signed up and set sail around noon.
As a large crowd gathered to watch the race, the morning temperatures were cool with a mild southerly wind. The good spirits of the cheering crowd brought on more excitement. As the start horn blew a little after noon, several boats had a difficult time breaking through the moderately rough surf. Once underway however, each crew set course for the rig. The spectators on shore, many with binoculars, settled in the shade to watch the progress of the race. Two of the larger, and faster, boats took advantage of the wind conditions and finished the race in under two hours. However, the mid-afternoon temperatures warmed up and the offshore wind virtually died, leaving the remaining seven sailing teams with a difficult task. Progress was slow but spirits remained high. One craft suffered what could have been a race-ending failure in the tiller linkage, but Captain Jim “MacGyver” Denys and crew Kenny Eaves repaired it with a beer pop-tab.
One by one the horn blew signifying each competitor’s completion of the race. After several hours of difficult sailing, two of the boats were towed to shore by members of the jet ski patrol. And then, 5 hours and 35 minutes after the starting horn, the last of the boats to finish was TipSea, crewed by Mike Doyle and Ray Simpson.
Ahoy Matey! Set your sails and sea you next year!
First Place: “Dallas Duo” – Tom & Tim: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Second Place: “Go Astros” – David & Karen: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Third Place: “Salty Paws” – Susan & Risa: 3 hours, 2 minutes
Fourth Place: “Hobie” – Richard & Carolyn: 4 hours, 43 minutes
Hard Luck Prize: “Team TipSea” – Mike & Ray: 5 hours, 35 minutes
Jim and Kenny are all smiles after winning First Place in the TOW Division…
…thanks to their emergency “MacGyver” repair to a broken tiller linkage
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Thanks for coming out Tom and covering the RIG RUN event. Great article and awesome pictures!