Long Race Award Winners at the Sunrise Regatta Breakfast

Kachina's crew receives the award for winning the fifty-mile race of the Sunrise Regatta during the regatta's awards breakfast. Competitors woke up to a full breakfast served inside the Dam Site restaurant overlooking the south end of Elephant Butte Lake.

Sunrise Regatta 2009, 50-Mile Race Start

Two J/24's at the start of the 50-mile race during the Sunrise Regatta, October 3, 2009, at Elephant Butte Lake in southern New Mexico. Kachina is in the foreground; Red Shift in the background. A cruising sailboat having some problems at the starting line made for an interesting diversion during the start.

The J/24 Kachina powers through the chop to race through many miles of non-stop sailing.




J/24 Red Shift passing in front of Kettletop Mesa. The boat recently received decking repairs and a great paint job.

Beginning of the Sunrise Regatta 2009

C&C 29 Nessie, Hobie 16, and Laser show off very different kinds of sailing craft at the start of the Sunrise Regatta. The 10- and 25-mile boats started at 1:23 Saturday afternoon, with the 50-mile boats starting eleven minutes later.

Sailing in New Mexico; very brief update

by my standards, anyway. This Saturday we had about fifteen boats participate in the Race to the Elephant, plus support from powerboats helping with race committee and photography. I wound up single-handing Carol Anne's Etchells "Black Magic". After finishing the race behind Kachina I docked, rolled up the main and tidied up the boat, and went to the far end of the marina to watch other boats finish.

Kachina was not only first to finish, but also first on corrected time, both in the racing fleet and overall. Black Magic was second to finish and also second on corrected time (race fleet and overall). The winner of the cruising fleet and third overall was "Viento Bueno", a US 25, and the winner and "sole survivor" of the dinghies was a Capri 16.5. The racing was followed by a great steak dinner and awards banquet.

Lago Rico, the company that owns the local marinas and sponsored the regatta, also arranged for pictures of the boats racing to be printed out and on the tables for people to look and and take home, and for some really nice door prizes to be given out.

Spring Series 2 at Elephant Butte Lake, Day 2

The J/24 sailboat Kachina sails at Elephant Butte Lake on April 19th, the second day of the Spring Series 2, 2009, regatta hosted by the Rio Grande Sailing Club in southern New Mexico.



Starboard view, Kachina


J/24 Kachina


Kachina approaching


Hunter 240 Dado

Spring Series 2 at Elephant Butte Lake (I)

MC Scow 586 sailing before the start of the Spring Series 2 regatta at Elephant Butte Lake on April 18, 2009.

"Dumbledore" on stern of Windependent, which was the committee boat for the Rio Grande Sailing Club's spring series 2 regatta in southern New Mexico.

Stern view, MC Scw 586




"Dumbledore" transferring back to Kachina after helping check out engine trouble on Windependent. It turned out that Windpendent was out of diesel fuel. Fuel was transferred from a spare jug on board but too much air was in the fuel lines for the engine to start, and the battery wasn't sufficiently charged to help bleed the air out of the lines before it died. At the end of the day, Windependent had to be towed by a J/24 with a 2.5-horsepower engine. (The RGSC motorboat had been dismissed for the day.)

Spring Series 2 at Elephant Butte Lake (IV)

J/24 Kachina


Kachina, Windependent, and more pre-race activity

View astern


Pre-race panorama


J/24 sailboats 5003 White Vang and 4441 Kachina

Spring Series 2 at Elephant Butte Lake (V)

J/24 4441 Kachina and 5003 White Vang


bow views

J/24s 5003 and 4441

Kachina at left, White Vang at right

J/24 5003, White Vang

Stern view of White Vang

Kachina close view, before the start of Spring Series 2 races on April 18, 2009. Kachina and the performance fleet boats completed two races each on Saturday and Sunday, with a third race on Saturday abandoned when the wind died.

Frostbite Regatta, Elephant Butte Lake, Saturday, January 24, 2009

Three race boats move in light air before the first race of the Frostbite Regatta. The Hunter 28 Erebus, Etchells Caliente, and C&C 29 Nessie were among 13 boats racing in addition to the committee boat and a cruiser watching the races. The quiet conditions shown in these photos belied the winds that soon developed, with steady breezes reaching 18 knots before settling down to 14 knots for much of the racing, giving the boats plenty of power. The Etchells and J/24s did three buoy races while the cruising boats and scows set off on a long distance race that had them circling Rattlesnake Island and the central part of the lake.

MC scow and more

"Seymour" and his MC Scow.



Committee boat and five racers: Shonto, MC Scow 609, Hunter 28 Erebus, Etchells Caliente, J/24 Kachina, C&C 29 Nessie.

Two cruisers at left, probably 4774 27' Santa Cruz Warm N Fuzzy next to S2 34' Cultural Infidel. At right, MC Scow no. 609 and race committee boat (Ranger 31 Shonto).

Four boats on the water (probably Catalina 30 Salud, Etchells Caliente, C&C29 Nessie, and J/24 Kachina).

Kachina's big owie

Kachina back on land the evening after receiving her big hit. During Saturday's third race, a port-tack boat t-boned Kachina, which was the stand-on starboard tack boat. The port-tack skipper and crew were relatively new to the boat and perhaps didn't keep an adequate lookout or lacked coordination to turn the boat quickly. The sound of crunching fiberglass could be heard 400 feet away in spite of the noise of wind and waves in the brisk 14-knot conditions.

we were up the course when the incident happened and responded to a radio request to provide assistance by ferrying the boat owner/master boat wrangler from the committee boat to the marina. The crew of Kachina heeled the boat over and duct-taped the bottom of the hole to prevent the boat from taking on water and sinking before motoring back to the boat ramp, where the boat owner quickly prepared the trailer for retrieving Kachina.

Skippers and crews of port-tack or other give-way/burdened/no rights boats need to be extremely mindful of their position on the race course at all time and should take early, decisive action to avoid a collision and the attendant risk of liability for damage, sinking, injury, or other grave consequences. It's also important for skippers and crews to be very aware of how their boats perform under different conditions.

Commodore's Cup; A Quiet Day for Sailing at Elephant Butte Lake, New Mexico

International Etchells Black Magic (USA 125)

Colgate 26

Kachina in front of Kettletop

Black Magic crew

Commodore's Cup 2008 -- Yet even more of A Quiet Sailing Day on the Water at Elephant Butte Lake, New Mexico

Etchells Black Magic and part of the fleet make a slow parade during our attempt to host the Commodore's Cup Regatta on November 15, 2008. Very light winds tempted and teased us for a while, but ultimately disappeared.

Impressionistic view of Colgate 26 and J/24 Kachina

View from the backstay


Renovatio and Kachina

Boat symmetry

Soling, Etchells, and 3 MC Scows in front of Kettletop Mesa.