But that’s about the only similarity the boats share. Disney and his crew know their boat. Weisman and crew are just becoming familiar with theirs.
Madden of Newport Beach usually drives Stark Raving Mad, but due to health issues he asked Weisman to be the skipper.
“[Madden] put a lot of energy in making sure it was ready for the regatta,” Weisman said. “He had surgery [recently] and asked if I could drive the boat. It was a bit daunting, but I said I would go out and take it easy because it had just been upgraded. But obviously when you’re out there you’re not prone to take it easy.
“I just wish [Madden] could be there with us.”
Madden would’ve been proud of Stark Raving Mad’s performance in the fourth race.
The boat didn’t seem like much during the upwind, but turned its fortunes during the downwind, and took advantage of the regatta’s best conditions yet.
Stark Raving Mad topped the eight-boat fleet in elapsed time (54 minutes, 35 seconds) and corrected time (59 minutes) for the 5.6-mile course set near Newport pier. No small feat, considering Pyewacket had won the first three races (two Friday) based on handicap corrected time.
Pyewacket came in fourth in the fourth race.
“We showed there was a chink in their armor,” Weisman said. “The second race was the most breeze of the race so far [reaching as high as 8 1/2 knots). We got closer to the condition we would like. The boat has a good mode when the knots pick up to eight.
“The main reason we seem like we do well is because we do so well on the downwind. If we were not having a good leg upwind, the downwind bailed us out of bad spots. It’s nice to have that in your hip pocket.”
