LEAGUE CITY — Every Wednesday, Bob Hunkins thanks his lucky stars he spent one weekend back in 1993 doing absolutely nothing.
Sitting at work one Monday 13 years ago, Hunkins’ co-worker Joe Cavallero asked him about his weekend. Hunkins told Cavallero it was boring because he didn’t do anything. Cavallero suggested Hunkins come sailing with him.
That was the last time Hunkins didn’t have anything to do.
After learning the basics and how fun the sport could be, Hunkins bought his own boat. Before long he was going to national regattas.
“I pretty much got bit by the bug,” Hunkins said. “It has led to a real love for the sport, and it’s one of the best things that has happened to me.”
Seven years ago, Hunkins discovered the Clear Lake Racing Association and quickly decided it was a group he needed to join to be with other avid sailors. The CLRA is an informal group of sailing enthusiasts from sailing clubs around the Houston and Galveston Bay area. Each Wednesday from April through October, the group gathers on Clear Lake behind the Seabrook Beach Club for a race.
Hunkins said it didn’t take long for him to get hooked. He met race director Buddy Brown and the rest of the race committee and immediately felt welcome.
“There’s not a better group of people to help you out,” committee member Jim Crate said. “There are no strangers in sailboat racing.”
That is apparent from the camaraderie shared by everyone once the race is over and they gather at Seabrook for awards. Racers go from table to table sharing stories from the day, talking strategy or not talking about sailing at all. The entry fee each week is $5 and the prizes are food and drink coupons to the Seabrook Beach Club or the Classic Café, which is owned by By Boldridge, a member of the U.S. team that won the 1996 America’s Cup.
The most recent Wednesday, Hunkins said, provided a perfect example of the kind of conversation that might occur. One regular was concerned with his slow time from that night, and he and several others backtracked through all that happened. After much discussion, however, they came to no conclusions.
“So far we haven’t been able to do anything but buy him beer,” Hunkins said.
Wednesday’s race began a little unconventionally as the wind changed from an east wind to a south-southwest wind, forcing Brown to change the course moments before the race was to begin. Brown and six other committee members drove a pontoon boat one mile up the lake to move the marks.
The race draws 50 to 70 boats from eight classes each week and is one of the more popular events of all the sailboat races that take place Wednesday nights throughout the country. It is unique because it doesn’t take place far from land. Clear Lake’s populated northern shore combines with the southeast breeze to allow the races to be held in front of large audiences.
Fans can watch the crews work and hear their conversations rather than having to hear about it when they finally return to the dock.
One thing spectators will not hear when they watch Capt. Bill and The Reality Chicks is yelling. Bill Olson owns a company that offers sailing lessons, charters and deliveries, and he started a group for women two years ago that competes in the CLRA.
The group includes 15 women who may or may not show up on a given Wednesday depending on their work schedules. Olson typically fields two or three boats each week. They are Catalina 25s named Nota Lotta Yachta, Whine Cooler and Vuja De. There are two rules in the group — no yelling and wearing pink.
“That’s a rule, and it’s a privilege,” group member Dixie Stange said.
Other members present Wednesday night were Debra Rueb, Sharon Staton, Roz Evans, Alana Pope and Leanne Henry. They said they participate because they get a sense of achievement, and they learn confidence in how to handle a boat without taking orders.
“Being anywhere on the water is great,” Olson said. “If they could be out there all the time without having to work, they’d do it.”
In addition to Wednesdays, Tom Meeh and Uzi Ozeri race several weekends throughout the year and do well. They have won races together on the weekends, but they split up on Wednesdays. Meeh has attended the Wednesday races on a regular basis since 1985 and always because of the atmosphere.
“You come out here and race your tail off for an hour and a half, then you come out here (to Seabrook), hang out and still get home in plenty of time,” he said while taking a bite of a saltine cracker dressed with an oyster. “This is a great way to break up the week.”
It’s not just one type of person who shows up, either. There are surgeons, stockbrokers, school psychologists, Web developers, NASA engineers and nurses. Sometimes kids will sail with their fathers against world-class racers.
This is Brown’s 11th year heading the group that began in the late 1970s. The one thing that keeps him coming back, he said, is his passion for the sport — and nothing more.
“You want to see it improve, you want to see it grow with something for everyone,” Brown said. “You never want to see it die.”
