1 day, 7 races, 13 points

Father's Day. This is a day of rest and relaxation for the normal Dads. For me, it always lands on a Sunday, so that means sailing.

Yesterday was the first day both E-Scows and MC-Scows sailed this year. All I can say is that 7 races in a day is more than this body can handle.

It started with E-Scows and a 10:30 or so start in South wind. We won the start and were first to the windward mark only to find the spinnaker sheet set up under the bow sprit, which dropped us to second, a few hundred yards behind the eventual winner. Race 2 was delayed an hour while the Race Committee shifted the course for a West wind. It went just as swimmingly with an unexpected bow sprit retraction that led to a sea anchor set. We had enough time in this race to recover and win thanks to George's astute choices downwind.

I went home for a quick lunch and watched the wind die completely. So with energy to burn I shoveled dirt for 45 minutes or so until the wind came up. Sails went up at the club so it was time to sail out to the starting line.

MC-Scow race 1 had 6 boats, the largest fleet yet this year. We ended up with 7 for the following races. The boat end was heavily favored. There was quite a scramble for control there. I came out on top but in the mix let a couple boats down the line get ahead. Third at the top mark, but closed on a puff and gained the inside at the mark. From there I defended to the finish and won it.

In race 2 I made a big mistake. I tacked on top of second place on the layline to the windward mark. I hoped to roll him prior to the mark but didn't make it. On rounding he REACHED for at least 5 seconds, maybe 10. That straight sideways motion lost us both the race, and guaranteed we would not get anywhere near the inside at the bottom end. Another boat also caught up making me the outside of the pinwheel at the bottom mark. With no clear air and no lane and no real time to recover, I went from 1st to 4th with no control over my destiny for 3/4 of the race.

Race 3 was equally challenging. I picked the wrong side and rounded deep, maybe fourth. It took a lot of work to get back to second.

Race 4 was interesting. I had this one won coming around the bottom mark. I was second there but headed the right way and in phase on the shifts. I passed for the lead and was already adding up the points in my head. But I tacked 2 boat lengths too soon onto the Starboard layline. I ended up with a boat on my hip preventing my tack back to Port. When I could, I lost that boat and had to shoot the line and do a lot of avoiding. But 5 boats finished in 7 seconds. So pulling out a 2 from that race was a big save. I thought it might be a 5.

Race 5 was unusual. With the wind shifting NW all day, the boat was always favored. But this time it didn't seem right. The wind was picking up to 15 or so and veering SW. I decided on the pin end which ended up very favored. I quickly tacked to Port and layed the mark with traveller all the way down and vang on hard. The lead never evaporated and I finished on a strong win.

So finishes for the day were 2, 1, 1, 4, 2, 2, 1. I think that was pretty good. For the first time this year we had some real challenging MC sailing. Almost all the hot shots were out.

But this morning my old man body was really screaming at me. My hands wouldn't open up. My arms rebelled at being lifted to wash my hair. I have a big bruise on my head (again). Typing this is not comfortable. But on the plus side I lost 5 pounds!

The day finished with a nice hammock nap, a great steak dinner, a boat ride, and a very pleasant evening.

Happy Fathers Day.