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 This event was initiated by two brothers, Raymond & Kenneth Dziubek, who were both SSYC members, one being a sailor and the other a powerboater. Back in the late 80’s there was animosity between the power-boaters and sailors at the club. The brothers decided to try to come up with an event to bring these groups of boaters together to help break down this barrier and to help both captains to understand some of the limitations of handling the others craft. One of the key parts to this event is that during the power-boat part of the event the sailboat captain is at the helm of the powerboat and for the sailboat part of the event the powerboat captain is at the helm of the sailboat. The other captain is standing by to take control of the boat if need be for safety. This way each captain learns how the other craft handles.
In 1987 “The Great PS’R” took place for the first time. It started out as a fishing contest for the power-boat part in the morning and a triangle sailboat race in the afternoon. Pat Randa ran the race committee part of this event from his sailboat “Venus”. Pat calculated the handicaps and started the boats at different times allowing for the handicap at the start of the race so the first sailboat to cross the finish line was the winner. Pat has supported the running this event for many years since the beginning. Michael Dukes, a good friend to Ray & Ken was supportive and part of the brain storming of this event. His Sailboat “TARDIS” teamed with ‘RAYSJOY’ took 1st place a number of times in this event.
As time went on the powerboat evolved from fishing, primarily because the sailors did not enjoy getting up so early in the morning, to a photo contest with Polaroid camera’s, and then most recently to a poker run. Ray got the idea for the poker run watching cigarette boats while he was on vacation in Door County one year. The sailboat part evolved from a sail race to the balloon hunt, under sail the sailboat retrieves balloons from the water that have a weighted string to help keep them in place. The balloons have a piece of paper inside with a number on it. Three balloons are retrieved and the highest number point total wins the sailboat part of the event. The reason for the sailboat change was to make it fair so that anyone could win even if you are not the best racer.
The event has taken place for over twenty years with as many as ten teams, twenty boats. The average is about six teams, for a total of twelve boats. The trophy that is in the trophy case was constructed by our very own Jack Wooten, a powerboater and SSYC club member.
DOWNLOAD the 2013 Registration Form and Register for this year's Great PS'R on July 20th. |