The 2009 Western Hemisphere Spring Championship ended last Friday and as luck would have it Paul Cayard and I managed to hang on and win the title!

This was the 9th Silver Star title for Paul and my 2nd. I was really happy to win this championship- it feels great to win again!

Paul and I put in a few days of training before we headed to Miami to compete in the Barcardi Cup last month and I think it gave us a bit of an edge. It turns out that a few of the competitors showed up early to the springs this year, but the weather was so heinous they weren’t able to leave the dock. Paul arrived Saturday night, which allowed us to sail and measure Sunday and compete in the practice race Monday afternoon. Paul selected the bow number for us and he choose lucky number 13, in addition to the normally unlucky 13 bow number we chose, we also won the practice race – which is also supposed to be bad luck.

The first day of racing saw some potential for thunder showers but fortunately the Race Committee was able to fit in one race that we won! The second day of racing was much of the same overcast conditions. This time we sailed two races and had a great day with a finish of 1,2. So after 3 races and 2 days of sailing we had a 1,1,2 and were leading the series.

Thursday’s races were cancelled due to hurricane force winds and waves, so Paul and I opted to head to the gym to get in a workout and get out of the tornado that was heading our way.

Thursday night the gang came to my restaurant. It was quite fun to see the boys making food, taking orders and just having a good time! This regatta was special for me because currently I live in the area and it’s nice to see my friends and compete against them in my backyard! Rodney Hagebols (aka Coach or Roooooooodddnnneeeyyyy) was on fire. Simply put, he is one of the best guys on this planet. His crew Conrad Brown added to the 24hr comedy fest with Cayard leading the group with his one liners, honestly if we had movie cameras in the house it would be the #1 rated tv show in America.

Friday saw the last day of racing and the Race Committee got in 3 good ones. Thankfully we won the tie breaker over Johnny Mac and big Phil Trinter (the man I was a caddy for at the 2004 Athens Olympics). The Pass Christian Yacht Club held a great party Friday night with a proper awards ceremony. Lots of locals turned up for the event I think people really enjoyed themselves! We carried the party to a local bar where I taught a few new dance moves to some of the locals who seemed to be very impressed.

Saturday morning came way too early, my flight left at 1100 and I still needed to pack. The International Olympic Committee and Chicago 2016 flew me up to take part in the Evaluation Commission walk through of all the different venues. Chicago is one of four finalists to host the 2016 Olympic Summer Games (the other three possible cities are, Rio de Janeiro, Toyko and Madrid).

Sailing legend Buddy Melges (for sure top ten on my list of nicest people ever to meet, great guy and sharp as a tack) was my partner at Soldier Field along with 2008 Gold Medalist (soccer) Carli Lloyd we spoke in front of the EC for about 3 minutes. In my mind Chicago should be a shoe in to host the Games but that decision won’t be made until October this year, so keep your fingers crossed. There were lots of Olympians present at this event, some of them included Rulan Gardner (he is a massive guy who won the Gold in 2000-wrestling over the Russian who hadn’t be beaten) Nadia Comaneci, Bonnie Blair, Greg Louganis, Jackie Joyner Kersee to name a few were all there. We had a private dinner the night before so I got to spend time with all of them! Hey I even met the mayor of Chicago, just an all round cool experience!

Then it was time to travel home after my 24hr trip. All went well from Chicago to Atlanta, then it went pear shaped. As we pulled into the gate in Atlanta the Flight Attendant came over the PA and asked us for a moment of silence to remember our fallen war heroes. She then instructed the plane full of people to look out the right window. This image I might never forget. There were 6 Marines in dress blues standing at attention, they were there picking up their friend who came home in a box who was being off loaded from a plane. I have never seen anything like this before and there was not a dry eye on the plane. It makes you think that when everything seems heinous it really isn’t that bad.

After I sorted myself out and got it together, I caught my flight from Atlanta to Gulfport. This is where is gets interesting. After we took off, there was this noise that was just frightening, so I turned up my ipod but that would not muffle the sound of what I thought was the wing falling off.

After about 7 minutes the noise stopped and the captain came on the PA and said yes they heard the noise as well, the landing gear was not retracting and they were unsure if all the wheels went back down! He also told us it was unsafe to proceed to Gulfport and we were turning back to Atlanta for an emergency landing. So after another 50 minutes circling in the air we landed safely with flashing lights surrounding the runway. We made it back to the gate where the flight was cancelled, it was now midnight I tried to rent a car and drive home from Atlanta but all the rental agencies had nothing for rent, so I got a hotel and got home at noon the following day.

All in all, it was a great trip, some of it sad, some really scary but overall another fantastic experience!

What’s next? Hopefully more sailing with Paul, getting back to my business and trying to plan my next move I am not sure what it is yet but lots to consider! In the mean time Rodney will be flying back in a few weeks to sail a Finn regatta at the Gulfport Yacht Club) so looking forward to that!

Austin


Fregene’s Pizzeria
1116 Cowan Rd.
Gulfport, MS 39507
Phone -(228)604-2750
Fax -(228)604-2757
www.fregenes.com