The 1999 northern Gulf sailing season kicked off April 9 in Biloxi, MS, with the Gulf Ocean Racing Circuit, (GORC). The GORC--a three-day/five-race series--draws the top boats from Louisiana to Florida and is considered one of the top two premiere regattas in the region. Sanctioned by the offshore council of the Gulf Yachting Association (GYA), the annual event was hosted by the Biloxi Yacht Club and offered four windward/ leeward courses and one modified gold cup course.
         The races began three miles off the Biloxi coast with a row of glittering casinos in the background. Racers were spotted at some of the casinos each night, but they couldn't stay out too late. Even though the starts were at noon each day, this was such a competitive series that everyone was up early tuning the boat and discussing strategy.
         Friday night became a work party of sorts at Biloxi's Pro Sails Loft. The winds had been so strong that spinnakers and head sails had been ripped, with several headsails requiring tough luff repair. There were sails spread out over the entire loft, with scissors and sewing machines at full speed. The mood changed the following night as the Biloxi Yacht Club put on a first class party around the swimming pool Saturday night with plenty of food and entertainment.

Class C rolls up the course at GORC in - Tammy Hall photo

         Rob Hart's Santa Cruz 27 BOB was the overall winner of the regatta, which places Hart's name on the Governor' s Trophy and crowns BOB the outstanding GYA yacht for 1999. Sharing the honors aboard BOB were skipper Rob Hart, helmsmen Donnie Brennan and Kevin Northrop, and crew Judd Chamberlain, Hunter Riddle, Charlie Payne, and Brandon Hall. BOB won every contest except for the third race when the boat was disqualified after a protest.
         "The disqualification was a big disappointment for all of us on the boat, but we just decided to make our point on the water and not the protest room," Hart said. Helmsman Brennan added, "We had a big advantage because of the strong winds. The boat started ‘planing' downwind once the breeze built to around 18 knots. This gets very exciting. The bow could have dove into four to six feet of waves, taken on a lot of water and thrown the crew off the boat. Combine the strong winds with new sails and a talented crew, we like our chances."
         Both Hart and Mark Lockhart, whose Evelyn 32 Enormity finished second in one of the toughest divisions, had traveled to Key West Race Week with their boats earlier in the year and credit much of their success at GORC to the early season racing against some great competition in Key West.
         This series brought in some heavy hitters, including the 1998 overall winner Huey Kliebert and his Black Magic crew from Pontchartrain Yacht Club. The heavy winds were favorable for their Taylor 40 on Friday, coming in fourth overall and first in Class C.
         Placing first in Class A and second overall was Ed Boos and crew on Encore. Boos said that this was a great competition with wonderful weather, and the hospitality was impeccable.
         Winfield "Scottie" Scott served double duty as the race committee chairman and as crew on Insight. He and crewmember John Burgess stated that this was a very tight and conditioned race. The handicap rating spread in some classes was as close as six seconds apart.
         Richard Harris' SR 33 Ragamuffin was involved in a collision with Hot Foot at the leeward mark Saturday following the second run of the race. Ragamuffin's bow hit Hot Foot about of two-thirds the way back on the side. Hot Foot suffered some damage and dropped out of Saturday's race but was able to race the next day with a borrowed spinnaker pole and some duct tape. Despite the incident, Ragamuffin still managed to win Class B.