Crew: Brian, Scott, Nick, Glen
We got off on schedule and had good time to cruise behind the line to
watch things. The course was A3, one we hadn't sailed yet, and I'd
broken my own cardinal rule by not having race particulars on board!
Hmm, hope TC will steer us to the mark.
So we started on starboard, in the clear, about 15 seconds late to the
line. The nice 10kt breeze was steady but it took me a full minute to
find the groove and get her comfortable upwind. TC had us by 4 or 5
lengths but we were sailing with him, slightly to leeward.
As it turned out the upwind leg was a hugely skewed, two-tack affair.
Our false tack (we had the spin pole on top of the lazy jib sheet,
d'oh!) might have had TC wondering but didn't gain us anything .
Brian and Nick (Nick is learning the boat quickly!) did a good, clean
job on the tacks.
Our windward mark was the big boats' return leg rounding mark so our
upwind was a long, crowded gaggle of downwind boats. On the long
starboard tack run to the mark, I sailed poorly in the choppy water
and choppy wind and TC pulled away. Andante sailed well but went way
out to the left and lost a lot getting back to the mark.
The rounding was to starboard and could have been stressful had we not
lucked into a nice slot. Even on starboard, sticking our noses into
the swift-moving flood of big boats approaching the same mark on a
deep port-tack reach--so perpendicular to our course--, would have
made me nervous. We rounded and then took our time resetting the
chute and pole to the correct side before popping it and riding down
the hill. Scott did a great job flying and we made some time on the
Cal 25's in front of us.
Approaching the red nun we hoisted the jib nice and early,
transitioned Brian to trimming while Nick and Scott put in a nice
douse and we came up tight toward the harbor. Watching the lemming
herd of Cals pull away ever-so-slightly, pinching to get high of the
beautiful 139ft sailboat from Rhode Island anchored outside the
harbor, we chose to go low. Footing off, and getting lucky with the
wind holding steady, paid and we entered the harbor in front of the
whole group.
The pressure was nicely consistent in the harbor, and with relatively
few boats on moorings, we two-tacked to the line in 2nd a few minutes
behind TC.
Thanks for coming out guys! It's always a pleasure sailing with you.
-Glen
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