An interview with Chris Hancock on the 21st Annual Wild Turkey Classic Plastic

Chuck Manley's 1965 Del Rey 24, Spitdog © the Wild Turkey Classic Plastic

There's a lot to like about Southern California. For starters, while sailors in many northern climes are either tuning their skis or packing many extra layers of fleece and puffy jackets into their seabags, SoCal sailors are often still enjoying user-friendly sailing weather. Take, for example, this weekend's 21st Annual Wild Turkey Classic Plastic (Saturday, November 29), which is being hosted by the Ventura Sailing Club, in Ventura, California, and which is open to all boats.

According to the Wild Turkey Classic Plastic's NOR, the event splits the fleet into two monohull PHRF classes (read: spinnaker and non-spinnaker), and ORCA and beach cat multihull classes. Special prizes are awarded to boat's that were built more than 20 years ago.

While the starting and finishing lines are situated at the Mandalay Buoy, the RC will determine the course the night before, and sailing instructions will be emailed to each team.

I checked in with Chris Hancock, who serves as vice commodore of the Ventura Sailing Club, via email, to learn more about this classic-keelboat event.

Bret Swanson's 1967 islander 29, Velero - photo © the Wild Turkey Classic Plastic

Can you please start us off by telling us where the Wild Turkey Classic Plastic regatta gets its colorful name?

The Wild Turkey Classic Plastic is the celebration of older "classic" fiberglass boats. The idea was to have boats 20 years or older compete in a local race. Chuck Manley and William Yount both wanted to have a race where older boats like theirs could compete and have a chance to do well. The race calendar had an open spot the weekend after thanksgiving and that is where "Turkey" part came into play.

Can you please describe the culture of the Annual Wild Turkey Classic Plastic for sailors and readers who haven't competed in it before? Also, I see in the NOR that the event celebrates older boats—how does this play into the event's culture?

I would say the culture is evolving. As many of you know, you need to grow with the times and be flexible to get boats out to race these days, so we are adapting the race to fill the starting line.

We now have different classes for different eras of boats, not just sticking to the 20-year rule.

You can participate in the race with any age boat and we will class you accordingly. Also, you we have a multihull and beach cat class. Like it says on our website: "We just want to go sailing"

What kinds of sailors does the Annual Wild Turkey Classic Plastic tend to attract?

Racers and cruisers alike. Some are quite serious, and others are out to have a fun day on the water during a long holiday weekend.

Weather-wise, what kind of conditions can sailors expect to encounter off of Ventura in late November? What are the best-case and worst-case weather scenarios?

I have been in this race before when it is so glassy and calm that it looks like a swimming pool and feels like a summer day. On the other hand, I have also seen dark squalls and very high winds with icy temperatures. Your duffle should include shorts and foulies as well.

What kind of a role, if any, do you see local knowledge playing in the regatta's outcome? Also, if you could offer one piece of racecourse advice to visiting (and local) sailors, what would it be?

I can't say that local knowledge would play that much of a part in a race such as this one. As said before, the conditions this time of year are so unpredictable, that we all get what we get that particular day.

I realize that the course is determined the night before racing and that sailing instructions are emailed to competitors ahead of racing, but could you please describe the kinds of course shapes that the event has utilized in the past?

First off, the race is a pursuit (or reverse handicap) race, meaning rather than the classes starting all at once, each boat has its own start time. For instance, if my boat owes you 5 minutes for the course, you start 5 minutes before me. In theory, all boats should be finishing at the same time and the first to the finish line is the winner. There have been many close calls and photo finishes due to this format.

We have usually tried to keep a triangle type course using existing bouys and maybe a possible oil rig, trying to keep around 15 nautical miles, but that is not always the case.

In fact this year we may do something different, as one of our bouys may end up as a starting line rather than a rounding mark, because the bouy is halfway between Channel Islands Harbor and Ventura Harbor and might entice more Ventura boats to join the fun without trudging all the way to C.I. harbor for the start and finish, plus we may see more beach cats on the line that way (evolving).

What's the regatta's onshore scene like? Can you please give us some local color, based on your experience at previous editions of the Wild Turkey Classic Plastic?

Well, in prior races the scene did not really exist. We would race, and get an e-mail result list, and at our next meeting give out the prizes (Bottles of Wild Turkey) but once again, evolving. Chuck Manly, who is both a Ventura Sailing Club and Anacapa Yacht club member, has graciously offered up the use of Anacapa Yacht Club for an after party, including Chucks homemade Bison Chili, and the bar will be open as well. So, once again evolving.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add about this year's Wild Turkey Classic Plastic, for the record?

Please come out and enjoy a day on the water with the Ventura Sailing Club. The race is November 29th, and you can register on Regatta Network.

Ventura sailing Club is a sailing club, not a yacht club. We meet the second Tuesday of the month at the Victoria Pub in Ventura, California. Our club is very affordable and very welcoming to all. There is more about us, the race, and the meetings on our web site (www.venturasailingclub.org).