The winner of this year's race, Captain Jerry Canavit, will hold the trophy until next year, or until such time as another boat wins the race. This is the second year in a row that Jerry has won.
It was another good race. The boats were pretty evenly matched. The charts of the Los Anglels River that Nori sent me were very helpful - she should have studied them a little better (eh eh). The Delta Queen could have won except she was badly out of trim - she was running 5 buckets in the water and that really limited her rpm's. (Could all of those cases of German Beer in the engine room have been the problem?)
I will post this years' award right next to last years' award and keep the "Take 'em If You Can" sign posted on the pilothouse in anticipation of next years' race. Let me also say that I think the scuttlebutt about handicapping my boat with a governor on the paddlewheel for the next race is certainly not in keeping with the spirit of fair competition.
Jerry Canavit, ASN
Master, Steamer Delta King
San Antonio, Texas
P.S. I think the 15+ inches of rain I had in my back yard last week would have made for better racing than the Los Angeles River.*
* Jerry's acceptance speech was delayed - not because he was trapped in L.A. traffic - but because he had to attend to matters back in Texas, where his region experienced flooding and he was off line for several days. We're glad Jerry's out of harm's way now. We also had some "real world" incidents in Los Angeles over the holiday weekend, so we have to account for those things too (although steamboating is more fun). We take part in this race in a spirit of peace through international fellowship.
Nori, Franz and Carmen add that we hope Jerry Canavit can get Steamboats.net on line soon, so that he will do more than just sneak up and steal the antler trophy each year! "Take 'em If You Can," indeed!! All that German beer in the engineroom and a governor on your paddlewheel would seem like fine excuses for losing races, but you are not invincible! One of us will get that trophy next year!
So ends another year's steamboat race. No hard feelings were lost on this bunch . . .
Final Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our graphic artist Kyle C. Kyle for creating the steamboat race trophy in 2001.
Special thanks to our past steamboat race judge, Paul Motter, editor of Cruisemates.com, an independent online magazine for cruise enthusiasts.
We also thank our sponsors at Amazon.com. Click here to visit the steamboat bookstore.
