The forecasts was bad. Most forecasts showed 3-5 Southwest. On this lake that means no wind. But this morning at 3:30 I awoke to waves lapping the shore. By 8:00 there were white caps. At race time there was still a pretty good breeze.
Julie towed the boat over to the club. I registered and met the sailors. Let's say I feel thinner and younger now. This is not the young fit crowd.
On the way out to the start my vang shackle fails. I replace it with the crew hiking strap shackle.
Twenty boats on the line. I get a middle line start, clean and fast. In minutes I am looking back at the boats around me. Wow! Pretty cool! In fact with the exception of one boat, there is nobody near me. I cross that boat. Rob Seidelmann. I looked him up. He won the Midwinters, and always places high. He is the hotshot. I cross him but he's on a layline. After my tack he has the inside at the mark. But wow! We have maybe 200 feet on the rest of the fleet.
Downwind he walks away from me. We round the bottom mark still with quite a lead over the fleet but I am 6 or 7 lengths back. We start the long port tack to the West shore. I hold my own. He bails out early and I go deep West. When we reconverge he is 1 length ahead. Then he walks away from me on the layline to the mark.
Downwind he walks away from me. Around the bottom mark he is 8 or 9 lengths ahead. He covers, I cover Skip Moorehouse. Race over.
Race 2 I nail the start, third to the top mark.
Downwind they walk away from me. I lose 4 boats. (A theme is developing)
Upwind I regain them all and close the gap. Downwind they walk away from me. I regain them and close the gap picking off a few boats on the last leg to get fourth. Skip Moorehouse wins, Rob third.
At lunch Rob tells me I am very fast upwind, higher and faster than him. OK I can go home now. I got my $60 registration's worth.
Race 3 after lunch is in a LOT more boat chop and a LOT less wind. I nail the start, but so did Rob. Skip and I go left, Rob right. At one point I thought I had the leg won but Rob recovers and leads the fleet on a big right shift to the top mark. I am coming into the pack on port. Not goo. I flop early, bow down for speed to get left for maybe 30 seconds, then tack on a header to reapproach the pack. I made up 3 lengths, just enough to lee bow the lead boat. I rounded third.
The person who was in 4th or 5th just behind me unfortunately got hosed. He ended up hitting the mark and fouling a number of people eventually rounding near last. If I were 1/2 boat length farther back I too would have not been able to make the mark and lost the entire pack. As it was I cleared the mark by inches.
Downwind they walked away from me. I lost 4 or 6 boats.
Upwind I go right, make it all the way to shore, play the shore breeze (hiking out) and pick up enough boats to round 4th. I round the bottom mark 9th. I pick up three boats then break a board line. On the last tack to consolidate 6th I can't lose my speed and lose the place by inches.
Brent Gillette went from fatal deep at the first mark to second place in that race.
I an in fourth place, one point out of third and five points ahead of fifth.
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