Diane's Story  

By Joe Konecny

 

The adventures of That Damn Thang and Thunderbird skipper Diane Reid have been known to raise a curious eyebrow or two among her Fleet 10 colleagues in Toronto, Ontario. The intriguing style of Diane and her husband Paul – affectionately known around Ashbridges Bay Yacht Club as the Clampetts – was duly noted throughout their rise from rags to relative riches on the local racing scene.

 

So it wasn’t surprising to learn Diane recently asked her employer if she could start taking naps on the office floor in the middle of every work day. It was no joke. Diane is in training. She and local sailing stalwart Bill Russell have registered with the Double-Handed Spinnaker Fleet to compete in the 2006 Lake Ontario 300 Challenge, on July 20, 2006.

 

The Challenge is a 300 nautical-mile, straight-line distance race around Lake Ontario, an unpredictable inland sea by many standards. That Damn Thang (TDT) is the first-ever Thunderbird to attempt the Challenge since it was established in 1990.

 

“Prepared?  Ask me after the race what I would do next time to prepare,” Diane said recently. “I asked my boss if I could start taking naps on my office floor during the day to simulate the four-hour watches I’ll need to do during the Challenge. She said no.”

 

Diane’s self-deprecating humour is not to be mistaken for the laughable Clampett logic that popularized the 1960s television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. She’s a serious racer who has gone great lengths to ensure her Thunderbird is ready to weather any storm. Diane and Bill rarely missed an opportunity to practice their double-handed tactics. And upgrading TDT to comply with race requirements started in December, 2005.

 

“Repairs and upgrades are something that a wooden Thunderbird owner does every winter anyhow,” she said. “TDT, Looney Tunes and Who Knows have all celebrated their 40th birthdays in the past four years and each of the skippers will tell you that you won’t get past 40 without lots of hard labour.”

 

Most boat improvements, including the installation of a new Lewmar hatch, involved making the boat water tight. Plumbing and ventilation for the head were also installed, as was a manual bilge pump.

 

Reef points were added to TDT’s main sail and hand rails were crafted for use inside and outside the vessel. Diane bought a new VHF antenna, a steaming and deck light, a Windex light and a ST1000 tiller pilot. Solar panels were installed on the cabin top, with a backup generator in the cockpit.

 

 “You have never seen anything funnier until you have seen a Thunderbird with a man-overboard pole, 15 feet up the backstay, and a radar reflector at the shroud,” Diane mused. “Was it all expensive? Probably … I chose not to count the costs because it would be too discouraging.  We have been very fortunate to have had lots of support and loaner items from great friends.”

 

The Challenge was first organized by sailors from the Port Credit Yacht Club and the Oakville Harbour Yacht Club, which is now merged with the Oakville Yacht Squadron. At first, the Challenge was a double-handed event, but in 1998, fully crewed yachts were included in a separate class.

 

Diane will be racing PHRF against a variety of sailboats including: Bobby McGee, a C&C 99 from Bluffers Park Yacht Club; Chariot, a Killing 40, also from BPYC; Defiant II, a C&C 33 Mark II, from Port Credit Yacht Club; Dimitri, an Omega 36, from Ashbridges Bay Yacht Club; and Trimpus, a CS 30, also from ABYC.

 

“Many people have said they wouldn’t do the Challenge in a Thunderbird,” said Diane. “How can you blame them? There are no real accommodations.  Heck, you can’t even stand up down below, but for me, that’s just another facet of the challenge. I gravitate to challenges.

 

“Besides, I could never leave my kid behind.  That Damn Thang and I have gone through a lengthy resurrection. It’s a story like many other Thunderbird stories, starting with a wreck of a hull that slowly becomes a great racing boat.  You can’t go through that bonding process – epoxy and emotion – and then leave her behind on the big day.”

 

What does Paul think about Diane doing the race? “He thinks I am nuts.  He bought me a floater suit and some lake charts.” What have your Fleet 10 colleagues had to say? “It’s unanimous – everyone says I’m nuts.”

 

A Toronto-based Thunderbird builder and sailing prognosticator, Rick Bott is not among the naysayers. He believes the boat’s design suits long-distance hauls. In the past, many Thunderbirds excelled in long distance races, not only on Lake Ontario, but also on the east and west coasts of Canada. He recalled one West Coast Thunderbird that fared quite well in a race to Hawaii.

 

“When we had Stinger, we raced her in many long distance races,” said Rick. “Stinger won the Susan Hood overall. Annette B won the Freeman. And Thunderbirds from Whitby, Ontario, have competed in the Freeman and also placed well. 
 
“There is no reason why Diane can not complete the 300 and do quite well,” he added. “The more times the T-bird competes, the more exposure the class will get, proving that a 50-year-old design can still be very competitive.”