About a year ago I began a project to build a way of transiting faster after a race like the Newport-En senada. My crew and I all have day jobs, and taking extra days to pound into the wind isn't as much fun as racing. My idea was to take an old beach cat, put a big outboard (Suzuki 175) and tanks on it (110 gallons), trailer it to a finish, then strap it onto Afterburner and get home fast. I acquired an old Supercat 19 early in 2007. Design and tank fabrication crawled. A new trailer took months. Hull modifications & pod fabrication (from an old Waverunner) took more months. Finally, we put a motor on her and had initial sea trials in March of 2008, only weeks before the Newport-Ensenada Race. We called her "Baby 'Burner." Late in 2007, my wife informed me that my goddaughter and her boyfriend of 7 years had finally set a wedding date of Saturday, April 26, in Calabasas, CA. "I guess you'll have to miss the 2008 Ensenada Race," she said. I replied, "What time is the wedding?" The 2008 Newport Ensenada Race had Loe Real, the ORMA 60 Waterworld trimaran, and the canting keeler Magnitude 80, both rated faster than Afterburner, and both were undefeated by Afterburner; 2005 & 2006 had demonstrated the speed superiority of monohulls over Afterburner in light wind. In 2007 we broke our main halyard and DNFd; 2008 was a new year and another chance to challenge these boats.
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