OCTOBER 17 - 23, 2001 ALVORD DRYLAKE, OREGON, USA   Article from Dennis Bassano US2000   Once again all of this is from memory and some of the facts may be slightly skewed, and I apologize for that. I think, overall, this is the general idea of what actually happened. It was going to be a long drive, not only for us but for the entire group. Mary and I left Santa Cruz at 5:00 in the morning to get a jump on it and to miss the morning traffic. During the 11-hour drive we would go from the Pacific Ocean, through the San Joaquin Valley, over the top of the Sierra Nevada, going down into the Great Basin and then finally turning north towards Oregon. The last "major" town is Winnemucca and then it's another 160 miles to Fields (pop. 10). Once you're in Fields, you grab a burger and shake, and then it's off for the last 20 miles on the dirt road to the playa. (It's best to drive slowly on this road, which is notorious for flat tires). When you drive over the last hill and finally see the playa and surrounding mountains you realize the drive was worth it. The playa surface is 8 miles wide and 19 miles long and, at this time, really smooth. To make it even nicer, a hot spring is located just a short drive from sail camp and it has a beautiful view of the Steen Mountain (elevation 9700ft). Thursday afternoon when we arrived at the playa we were greeted by a group of recreational sailors from Oregon, who told us that there had been no wind all day. While we were setting up camp, John Eisenlohr (US 277), who drove 13-hours from Montana, arrived with his son Brian. We were exchanging stories about our drive (and looking at his flat tire) when we noticed some feathers sticking out of the ropes holding the Mantas to the trailer. John said, "Oh yeah, that must have been that group of wild turkeys in Idaho..." followed by, "...at least it wasn't a deer or a cow." We then said a couple of nice words for the turkey and went about setting up camp in preparation for what seemed to be a cold night ahead. Friday morning brought Mary (US40) and Lester (US3) Robertson with their kids, Jack and Sam, from Carson City (6-hour drive). They said they had arrived the night before, but had missed us in the dark and spent the night a few miles from camp. While we were eating breakfast and setting up our boats, we noticed a camper up on the road that seemed to have been there quite some time. Another half-hour passed and the camper came driving down to the playa. It was my friend Mario and his friend, Paul. Paul is a newcomer to dirtboating, and usually sails Olympic 49's. They arrived from Santa Cruz late in the night and got a flat tire at the top of the last hill, which looks over the playa. At that, point they decided to stop and stay the night. They spent the morning changing the tire and having breakfast. Behind the truck was my old boat "The Gurge", the perfect two-seater for converting anybody to dirtboating. Ben (US 207) from Cedarville, which is only a 3-hour drive, but mostly on dirt roads, showed up in the early afternoon and quickly began to set up his solid wing boat. The wind came up in the afternoon, but it was a bit spotty. We had some good sailing, but we didn't venture far from camp. Our reason for coming to the Alvord was to get some tuning in with some of the other big boats that are hoping to be in contention when the World's come to the US next year. Friday was a nice day for sailing, but not a good day for tuning against other boats. The sun went down; the wind died just in time for cocktail hour. After a nice dinner, it was off to the hot springs for a dip. Along the way we saw Alan (US 25) and Melanie Wirtanen and son, Warren, who were just driving in from Santa Cruz. The Bogards drove onto the playa with their Manta Twin just in time to set up their tents before it got too late. (Their only complaint about the drive was the flat tire they received.) Saturday morning broke with bright sunshine and not a cloud in the sky (usually not a good omen for wind in the desert...) Phil (US92) and his winged boat came rolling in from Portland, a 12-hour drive, before noon, and were greeted by three uncles and other family members who were all ready there. Most of the day consisted of sitting around in the sun, watching Bocci, hitting golf balls and drinking some beer. Every now and then a little puff would come through and we went out and practiced light air sailing skills. Most of the wind was near the edge of the playa; this is where the smoothest surface was. I spent quite some time just chasing my apparent wind feather around and trying to get my battens to pop over. Alan was out perfecting his light air skills when he decided to take out his two bottom battens to see what would happen. What happened was - he went faster. He is now trying to find some more flexible batten material. The day ended like most others in the desert, cocktail hour followed by dinner and then a dip in the hot springs. This was also John's birthday and he was presented with the standard extravaganza of Happy Birthday and a Hostess cupcake with birthday candles, purchased in Fields. Sunday was looking better: a little colder in the morning and some clouds in the sky. The wind came up around 11:00 and it didn't take us long to get ready to sail. The wind was puffy to start with, but it was windy enough to sail. We had set out a couple of marks about 2 miles apart on Saturday so we started chasing each other around them. The wind started to build and Ben and Lester were showing good speed. Ben's has been developing his solid wing (...well sort of, it's made out of Styrofoam and drywall compound) which is Nalsa Class 3 for about 8 years. Lester bought his boat "Pterodycatl 2" a couple of years ago, and while it's almost 25 years old it is still plenty fast. Lester is currently developing this boat for Fisly Class 2 and Nalsa Classes 2 and 3. Phil tried out a new wing (both of Phil's wings are Nalsa Class 4) and he seemed to be having some control problems in the puffy conditions. Alan and John and I (in Nalsa Class 3) were set up for lighter conditions and were having directional stability problems with the reach- to-reach courses. We were just a little off the pace. With the puffy conditions, anybody could pass anybody at any time, keeping it interesting. After an hour or so of that, we came in to make some changes to our boats and to move the marks to an upwind downwind orientation. By the time we went back out it was blowing a steady 15 to 20. Ben kept the same set up and Phil went back to the wing he used at the '01 America's Cup. Lester went to his Class 3 sail and John put in his stiff battens, having broken his other battens in a puff. Just in case you didn't know, John's boat is built out of wood! Yes, wood body, axle, springer, mast and battens. Alan and I changed to stiff battens as well as adding 50lbs. of lead ballast. Once again we chased each other around and around. Lester, John and Alan all showed good speed downwind but were just a touch slower upwind. The "Green Machine" and the two wing boats were well matched going upwind. On one particular upwind leg, Phil, Ben and I were sailing right next to each other about as close as you can get and after four miles no one had gained an inch. After more than an hour of this, we all came in for some reflection on what had happened. The opinion was that ALL the boats are VERY fast and all are capable of beating each other. Some said. "Maybe the Green Machine is a little faster." I think they were just trying not to jinx themselves. I believe that the two winged boats are the fastest overall and if they can be consistent in the light air (and not breakdown) they are the boats to beat. Besides the big boats, there was quite a gathering of Manta Twins and Singles. They had their own sparring session and, as usual, Mary Robertson was fast. Brian, who just got tall enough to reach the pedals, is a third generation dirtboater (4th if you count iceboating). He was out sailing and doing great. So were Travis Bogard and Warren, while Jack was getting used to "Le Duc" or the "Bed Pan" as we call it. These kids are the future of dirtboating in America and it's good to see them out sailing. It started to get later in the day, some clouds started moving in, and it looked like it might rain. Most of us had to leave on Monday morning so we started to pack up in case it got wet. The wind came up and it was looking pretty stormy. Mario and Paul left in the early afternoon and Ben, along with the Bogards, left before dark. Alan, Lester and John planned to leave early in the morning and were completely packed up. Mary and I were mostly packed up before dark and this prompted Phil to do the same. Monday morning woke up with the sounds of big American V-8 motors warming up for the long haul home. Mary and I were only going to drive to Lester and Mary's house in Carson City so we started our day at a more leisurely pace. After sleeping in and finishing the packing job, we said goodbye to Phil and friends and took off for breakfast at the caf* in Fields. We talked to the locals and ate the biggest breakfast ever for $5.00! The drive to Carson City was smooth and uneventful and gave us time to drive through Winnemucca and Lovelock, a couple of towns right out of the old west with the history to prove it. We arrived in Carson City in the afternoon, and went on a tour of Lester's cabinet shop (quite an impressive facility) and toured the greater Moundhouse area. (It's a fascinating place if you like junkyards and cat houses.) We ate drive-thru Chinese food and turned in early, happy to be back in house that didn't blow around in the wind. Tuesday we had a winding, scenic drive home on Highway 88 through Kit Carson Pass (elev. 8650ft). We were home by 2:00 and had everything washed up and put away by dark. It was another successful trip: we got to sail, nothing broke, nobody got injured and our cat was still sleeping on the front porch. Looking back on the event, I know that the US will be well represented in the open classes at next year's World Championships at Ivanpah. I hope the other classes are gearing up as we are. The Big-Boat Coalition (BBC) includes: Lester Robertson (US3), Alan Wirtanen (US25), Phil Rothrock (US92), Laurie Mackenzie (US127), Ben Gooch (US207), John Eisenlohr (US277), Brett Gripenstraw (US337), myself, Dennis Bassano, (US2000) and Lincoln Baird (US7960). The goal of the BBC is to share all of our speed secrets with each other, to become faster as a whole group through collaboration. It is an effort to raise the level of competition in the US as well as bring the World Championship trophies to US soil. We hope that the best and most enthusiastic sailors on the planet will come to the World Championships - not only to have fun and race, but also to discover who the fastest dirtboaters in the world are! See you in the desert Dennis Bassano US 2000 DENNIS' IMAGES from ALVORD DRYLAKE Click on photo for larger image. Playing bocci while waiting for some wind. "The crowd"... everyone gathered around for a few apres sailing aperitifs. Dennis Bassano's pride and joy, US2000, at the end of a glorious day's sailing. Ben Gooch and US207. Alan Wirtanen and US25. Phil Rothrock with US92. Dennis Bassano in US2000 (left) heading Benn Gooch and US207. Alan Wirtanen (US25) and John Eisenlohr (US277). Lester Robertson (US3) and one of the Mantas out on a recce. [  t o p  ]  MAP of ALVORD DRYLAKE, OREGON, USA [  b a c k   t o   th e   t o p   o f   t h e   p a g e  ] BACK TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE LYC OPENING PAGE and CONTENTS