South Texas International Proa Championship Regatta 2007

Article By Shorty
The Magnolia Beach event is a combination event, and a big open & FREE beach, so we welcome any other type of like minded & spirited folks & activities. This year the International Proa Club held their championship regatta at the messabout. For those of you who don't know about proas, they are kind of an odd bird, they sail in both directions which is endless fun in trying to figure where to put the TX bow numbers & registration sticker, and also argue whether they are actually just sailing canoes. Regardless of that, they are great for messabouts, an endless platform for tinkering, and loads of fun.

John Wright showed up with his new proa, and look at how small that trailer is!!

Kevin O'Neill has been perfecting his proa over many years, and had a brand new sail configuration to try out.

Skip Johnson busted up his Proa at the Everglades Challenge and so was unable to enter the regatta, but vowed to return next year.

And in this photo I was trying to convince Kevin's wife that she needed to change into a bikini, because all of us sailors like to look at boats with hot bikini chicks standing next to them...

And that she could be our trophy girl, and had to present a trophy to the winner of the international championship & kiss him like they do at Nascar / Indy car races.

John discovered that one of his masts broke, he had a primary rig which is 2 roller furling sails on rigid poles.

Kevin saw John's misfortune, and was already gloating how he was going to sweep this year's competition & take home the trophy.

Then out of nowhere, John pulled out 2 windsurfer masts and mounted them in previously un-noticed mast sleeves ! He was configuring his proa to run with a biplane rig.

Seeing this, Kevin stirred frantically - not only would he most likely loose because John would be flying double the sail area, but his wife would end up smooching another guy.

Kevin didn't now this, but John said if he won, he would forfiet because his wife would kick is you-know-what if he was caught being kissed by another woman.

Skip is in the background there, noodling over ideas for next year's big race.

John's proa setup and ready for the KILL !!!

Only problem is that the wind was REALLLY blowing, and the pictures don't even come close to describing how bad. The direction of the wind would send them to the far side of the bay, and nobody wanted that long of a walk back.

So everyone made the right decision and refrained from launching.

According to US Sailing, rule number 4912.44.1b, if a regatta is held and none of the boats are able to compete, the boat which is the wettest, wins. Kevin's proa actually dipped down into the water, so he was declared the winner. Unaware of that rule, John was a bit discouraged but refused to file a protest - saying something like "us sailing's rule book can kiss my @#$%#$%, Kevin is a honorable sailor, we shall meet again next year".

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