More of the same... very shifty winds. The first start was a general recall, the second start was successful under the Z flag, but ten minutes after the start, the wind shifted 90 degrees and came in strong on the north side of the course, leaving the southern boats flopping in the swell. The race was abandonded and the course re-set to north/south. The racing photos are on another camera, so we will get those up tomorrow. Also,, we are going to try a video camera on the stern rail today, we'll see how that goes.
In the third start (first race of the day that counted), we started about 1/3 of the way down the line from the RC and tacked over to head to the beach after about a minute. Many of the boats around us went all the way to the layline, but we cut the corner a bit and rounded 14th. We managed to gain boats on each leg, but especially on the second weather leg when we stayed in clear air by sailing 20 lengths below the starboard layline and then tacking at the port layline and finding a hole at the weather mark to gain quite a bit on the boats behind us. Crossed the line in 8th, with our best finish of the regatta so far.
The RC moved the weather mark closer to the beach (further right) and started us again, under P flag (regular start) so we did our patented 'round the RC start and in fact did manage to get the pole position (right at the boat, with speed) and tacked as soon as we could clear the RC anchor chain, and once again headed to the beach. Everything was going about the same as the prior race until the finishing leg when the wind shut off again. We were probably in about 13 th or so at that time. We were too far off the beach to get the slight breeze that was coming from that direction and had to play the zephyrs to ghost in for a 23rd. Bummer...
The party last night was at the villa copa. After dinner each team was handed a large bag with cloth, poster board, glue, feathers, ballons, etc and given 30 minutes to "decorate" one of their crew for a dance contest. Fortunately we had Ginjer and her friend Jen who handled it with style, which was quite a bit more than I can say about the other team's men who were cross-dressed and/or minimally dressed.
In the third start (first race of the day that counted), we started about 1/3 of the way down the line from the RC and tacked over to head to the beach after about a minute. Many of the boats around us went all the way to the layline, but we cut the corner a bit and rounded 14th. We managed to gain boats on each leg, but especially on the second weather leg when we stayed in clear air by sailing 20 lengths below the starboard layline and then tacking at the port layline and finding a hole at the weather mark to gain quite a bit on the boats behind us. Crossed the line in 8th, with our best finish of the regatta so far.
The RC moved the weather mark closer to the beach (further right) and started us again, under P flag (regular start) so we did our patented 'round the RC start and in fact did manage to get the pole position (right at the boat, with speed) and tacked as soon as we could clear the RC anchor chain, and once again headed to the beach. Everything was going about the same as the prior race until the finishing leg when the wind shut off again. We were probably in about 13 th or so at that time. We were too far off the beach to get the slight breeze that was coming from that direction and had to play the zephyrs to ghost in for a 23rd. Bummer...
The party last night was at the villa copa. After dinner each team was handed a large bag with cloth, poster board, glue, feathers, ballons, etc and given 30 minutes to "decorate" one of their crew for a dance contest. Fortunately we had Ginjer and her friend Jen who handled it with style, which was quite a bit more than I can say about the other team's men who were cross-dressed and/or minimally dressed.
Thursday's forecast is more of the same, and possibily by Friday, we will have the more typical thermal breeze we are used to. Until then, it's anybody's guess as to the best strategy. A couple of things we do agree on is that we will 1) always head to the beach and 2) never tighten the rig down for stronger wind, and 3) never, ever, participate in a Mexican costume contest...
1 comments:
Great sailing B4G! Lots of Montana sailors are tracking your results, you guys are making it fun to follow. Mixing it up with the big talent - heck you guys are the big talent. Sail hard, have fun. Tim
Post a Comment