A Beautiful Night on the Race Course

It was the best sailing weather on the course last night – great sailing conditions and as always the company of a great crew. I gave Susan the helm this time so that Martin and I could take a shot at the sails. It was a hectic start – we just made it on the course 10 minutes before our start. Susan was very cool under fire and we got a good start as Martin and I set the spinnaker just in time (our starting timer was off by 5 minutes so we had to guess the start). Martin was definitely back on his game and really had perfect control over the spinnaker. We lost a little ground up to the pin but we separated from the pack on the way to the G mark and ended up in the lead until Yes finally passed us. Hustle was caught behind us and Susan fended her off as the tried to pass. Defiant was a ways back.

The pack finally caught up to us at the last mark H and we lost our lead then but we sailed very competitively the whole night and the crew came back relaxed and ready for more. The Highlight of the night for me was martin and Susan pulling of the smoothest tack I have ever seen on Tsavo. The Genoa just seemed to float across the deck to the other tack and slid down the deck to the new position as if one of the crew carried it back. I think we actually gained speed on that tack. It was a little bit of heaven.

So with God’s blessing we had a beautiful and exhilarating night out on the race course!

Tsavo Strikes a Blow to Long Races

Tsavo was the race committee this week! Turns out it was a good thing not to be racing - 100 degrees and flakey wind. Quite a few boats called it a night but the judges (photo) remained sober and vigilant - for the most part.

We picked the shortest possible course avaialble and it was still too long! Most skippers thanked us for our smart choice - hopefully it will catch on even in good sailing weather. The start went smoothly although we did catch one boat over the line early and had to call her back - so she comes back to the line part way and then takes off again - we had to call her back a second time. That cost her a lot of time. Hope we never make that mistake.

The finish line got a bit hectic with everyone showing up more or less at the same time. Todd and Susan had to work fast to record all the finishes accurately but it would be great to have a recording system of some kind to keep track in real time. We are back racing next week!

Tsavo Sizzles

Tsavo made an amazing come from behind dash to the finish line on Wednesday. In light air we struggled a bit at the beginning to find the wind line but we did not lose much ground and made most of it up on the home stretch. Hustle had a good lead on us nearly all the way but we slowly closed the gap and and made a good call at the end to stay on the port side of the course where the wind was still fresh. That ended up giving us the narrowest of leads to the finish line with Hustle on the windward side trying to pass us - we won the match by less than half a boat length giving us third place - down one notch from last week.

Life is a lot like sail racing - one week you think the world is your cupcake the next you are the crumbs. The challenge for all of us is to get up in the morning and make each day unique and adventurous in some way. If we do then the winds will be favorable and we will find life worth celebrating!