Already Wednesday? Have been dealing with some drama and did not want to add to it so, once again, I went to the Club thinking I might bail. Only 5 people showed so I raced.
Race Notes
Marine layer all day and ESE wind which was 100% opposite of what was predicted meant that the usual summerly northerly did not fill. Is this a climate change thing? Maybe a result of development in Snohomish County and a shift of the thermal convergence zone? The wind radar looked promising and there was a building N as we went out. By 7:05 it was dead. We started anyway from Houghton. JC and I on Moya with full batten, light winds and lots of motor boat wake. Our huge advantage. Bad start but recovered quickly. Lost the lead at the end of the windward on a N shift and Bullet went around almost 2 minutes ahead of us. DT on GJ was way back in the distance. Bad set but we caught up with early and quick gybes. Halfway down the course I started to notice a change and raised the jib. The lowered it, then raised it. Then we gybed and suddenly Bullet was coming straight at us, bow-to-bow both with spinnakers. As I dropped our spinnaker with the reversal of the wind to the South, Bullet was within 3 feet of us. Weird right of way issue. It took a while for Bullet to get sorted out and we thought we had the race, but GJ – who never gybed – were WSW of us. As the wind slowly clocked S more, they sailed right over us. In this race we went 2-1-2-1-2(almost 3). GJ(?) won!
DT and I now figure that boom weight is important. More traveler in light air and more back stay in heavy.
Beautiful sunset. It is crowded and noisy downtown, thank goodness for the scooter.