Annual RuffRider Regatta ready to set sail

Participants in the RuffRider Regatta launch their catamarans into the Laguna Madre during last year’s race on South Padre Island. (Island Breeze)

Sailors from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and California will gather on Island shores to compete in the 32nd annual RuffRider Regatta.

Scott Kee, organizer of the event for 17 years, said this race is unusual because “it’s just a fun race.”

"It’s an opportunity for people to get together and have a good time,” Kee said. “It’s one heck of a party.”

Over the years, the course of the race has changed several times.

The race once started on the shores of the Island and ended in Corpus Christi, Kee said. But the course of the race was changed to an “around the Island format” a few years ago because of logistics, Kee added.

“Now, we get fewer boats but better quality of sailors,” Kee said.

This year, the course of the race will experience yet another alteration.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not been able to fund a dredge in the Mansfield Cut jetties, and therefore sailors will not be able to sail through them this year, Kee said.

“[Boats] will get silted in,” Kee said. “Instead, we will leave from the flats [north of] the Convention Centre, go south under the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway towards the Jetties, then north up to the Port Mansfield Jetties,” Kee said.

Once sailors reach the Port Mansfield Jetties, the first day of competition will be over, and the party will begin.

“We’ll have a big party on the beach and eat barbeque,” Kee said.

The course is about 90 miles round trip. In the two days of competition the racers could sail from 8 to 10 hours, but it depends on wind speeds, Kee said.

Ideal wind speeds would reach 15 miles per hour. Kee said winds are predicted to be from 7 to 10 miles an hour on the Island this weekend, “which could make for a slow day.”

To decrease the time of course completion, no boats over a USPN number of 76.1 will be allowed in the competition.

“The USPN number is related to speed,” Kee said. “Any boat that has a higher rating than 76.1 is slow. We don’t want to wait around.”

There are 35 boats registered for the race. And after 17 years of organizing the event, Kee said he can predict he winners.

Kee expects the top three finishers in the spinnaker-boats with an extra sail-category to be: 1st-John Tomko, 2nd-Michael Yost and 3rd-Steve Piche.

In the non-spinnaker category, Kee predicts Rolf Woods, Drew Riddle and Kirk McMullan will be the top finishers.

Kee said the main purpose for the race is to have fun and enjoy the camaraderie.

“Sailing is very relaxing, but it can also get your adrenaline going when you get high winds,” Kee said.

The top four finishers in each category will receive custom, handmade trophies, Kee said.
Check-in for competitors will be held today from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Louie’s Backyard.

Competitors will start the race from the flats at 11 a.m. Saturday. On Sunday, the race will start at 10 a.m. from the Port Mansfield jetties.