This morning in the skipper’s meeting the race committee laid out the emergency plan incase of a storm on the lake: “If you are strong, sail in. If you are not flip your boat, and wait for assistance”… Fortunately this afternoon when disaster struck, we were one of the “strong” teams. We made it to the dock just as a wall of clouds made it to the first race course, and just got the cover on the boat before the torrential downpour started. Most other teams weren’t as lucky, which made for a great GoPro opportunity…
(Video of epic thunder storm tomorrow)
In terms of racing… The first start of the regatta set up with a hugely pin favored line. Realizing that the fleet was late to line up, we T’d up a port tack start, and 10 seconds after the start were CRUSHING!
Unfortunately the race was abandoned shortly after this picture was taken… On the second start, we had a descent start, but good speed and smart strategy got us to the windward mark around 5th. After narrowly avoiding the mark by gybing out and re-rounding in 7th or 8th, we made a smart decision to break from the pack to sail towards breeze that we saw in the distance, and rounded the leeward mark in 4th. From there we picked off one more boat on another smart pressure call, but as we approached the finish line after 40 minutes of racing, the committee abandoned the race for lack of pressure… At the end of the day we didn’t get any races.
Overall, we sailed very well despite the fact that we ended up with nothing to show for it, and we’re looking forward to an 8am start tomorrow! Wish us luck!
The suspense is killing me. How did you do today, Tuesday? Any races? Any t-storms? And where is the video of the drowned-rat scramble? Can’t wait for more. Most important, stay safe on (and off) the water. I hope the racing gets better. A plus tarde! Maman McB.
By: Karen McBride on July 20, 2011
at 7:00 am