WNR - Series II - Race 3

Crew: Brian P., Scott, Glen and Tim
Competitors: 550, 247, 484

What a great race! With no wind and overcast skies, we set out to pick up Glen from his downtown mooring. (His parents are in town, so they grabbed a mooring in the harbor to watch the end of the race.) Once on board, we hustled to the line, and with a t-storm blowing through and bring a strong wind out of the west, we quickly decided against putting the spinnaker up right at the start.

Towney and most of the Catalinas decided the pin was the place to be. We agreed with T.C. Williams and started on the pin third of the line, but a little bit away from the crowd. T.C. was over early, and after re-crossing the start, was never in the running. Towney was squeezed out at the pin by a Catalina, which held him up a bit.

Taking the lead to the first mark (course BA), we tacked on some shifts as the wind was all over the place after the storm. Shortly after rounding the mark, the wind died. Thankfully, we were around, and with whatever little air we could find, we did our best to use it to float toward the next mark.

Shortly outside the next mark, the wind started to pick up again. However, we had been drifting for quite some time. Would we make the 2040 deadline?

Scott flew the spinnaker for a bit, but the wind shifted forward and we put up the jib. Rounding the nun, and with less than 20 minutes to go, Brian said his GPS said we'd finish in 34 minutes. We found that hard to believe; we were cruising! But it did get us down.

Scott prepared to fly the chute in the harbor. We would do anything to get us across the line to get that gun!

While we couldn't put up the spinnaker, it started to look like we would make it! Brian informed us that he had programmed the route 50 bridge in the GPS and not the Spa Creek bridge. Doh!

With roughly four minutes left on the clock, we took the gun with a big cheer. Two guns, two weeks in a row. A great race. We now lead the series by 1 point. Here's to a great finish next week.

--Tim