Hagar’s Run is a recent addition to the Hagar weekend, Space Coast Catamaran Association’s Hagar Weekend. This weekend’s purpose is to initiate the multihulltude to a new year of sailing. The Hagar celebration is usually held the 1st or 2nd weekend in February with Hagar’s run, a more serious distance race, held on Saturday, the day before Hagar the Horrible arrives. It is a distance race from Kelly Park on Merritt Island north through the Banana River to the NASA Causeway and then back to the park. As distance races go, it’s not so long: only about 20 miles or so depending on if the race committee adds a leg or two. This occurs when the weather is good enough, and omitted when it’s not.
This year, the weather gods copped an attitude the whole Hagar weekend. It’s not that 20 knot winds are too much for our intrepid sailors. Twenty knot winds spontaneously gusting to 30 knots are a big challenging for racers. [Author’s Note to Self: Was that my camera blowing so as to hang perpendicular to my neck?] The winds dismasted a Nacra 5.5 dismasted with prejudice and that boat has not been able to rejoin fleet events since then. But it will be back soon. A couple of other cats rolled more than a coon hound on top of ripe road kill carcass. But five cats finished and had a great time doing that.
The race started a little late; they always do. The usual reason was waiting for it to warm up, but the warmth came on increasing southerly winds that veered to the southwest by the time most of the boats returned and crossed under the SR 520 bridge.
The race got off to a great start, just a great start. One racer, new to the area, turned back a few minutes into the race, for unexplained reasons. He’s from Michigan and perhaps the manatees in the Banana River seemed too threatening. The other races forged ahead and were out of sight in less than half an hour.