Perfect weather – clear, warm and windy. Surprisingly only 5 showed up. Sailed Gray Jay with HM. At the dock we worried that because of Whidbey Islnd RaceWk there might be no race so we agreed a practice course in advance – but when we got out we found that there was a race! It was a very good evening. The race was very fast – we finished in 1h8m on a 7+ mile course which means we were at maximum theoretical hull speed the whole time, and given the two mishaps and the long upwind we must have been beyond that. Was dragged up to Anthonys afterwards – don’t enjoy the restaurant scene but liked the mahimahi and the race video. Got a huge sticker for 1st (like the old trophies better).
It was very good day. Thanks A, HM and all.
Port tack start but was 11 sec too early. Still good though. LONG upwind leg just SW of Champaign. Did great except for the damn Etchell. They went E into Juanita Bay behind us and came out 100 boat lengths ahead. Weird. Stayed with them on the downwind (hourglass set and then DDW like Laser/J24). Only 2 big ones passed us.
🙁 4th man overboard though – lost my only crew on the gybe at the leeward mark. All on me. He stayed attached to the boat and was laughing but not a good moment for me. Did not declare intentions loud enough, pushed the gybe, did not wait for clear.
Upwind the wind picked up. Stayed high and it paid BIG. Most boats had to tack to clear the line because of a E within 500yds from the finish. We cruised in, though it seemed close at the end.
Lessons
– warm clothes
– underestimate crew skill
– bythelee has worked in 10+ twice this year
– throw out the spin, guy first
– with an hourglass, pull the sheet all the way back, then the guy (keep the jib up)
– Waverly Beach Park is still the turn, despite what the Etchell did
– always an evening E, even with strong NNW
– stupid egoCam failed again, better that I did not record my errors though. Battery issue now.