After editing two newsletters and beginning an online traffic course so I don't get points on my license for running a red light on Easter Sunday (it had *just* turned red), I'm finally getting around to writing about our race on May 12. Sorry it's taken so long, I hope I can remember details - perhaps the crew can help me out?
Nancy had a great description for the day: "Keystone Cops go Sailing." For the first time in my short skipper career, we had a nice breeze of 5-10 knots out of the northeast instead of the usual 15 - 20. It was our first time out without our expert ex-skipper Sherry, but I thought we had it in the bag with the nice wind, experienced crew, and my trusty male observer and life companion Ralph on board to guide us along.
We decided to practice a spinnaker launch and a few jibes to get the bugs out of our system before the race. Jim motored over to inform us that the B-mark was gone and we were to use the Manatee zone sign that was parallel to shore, not the one perpendicular to shore. Being curious, we decided to round 102, launch the chute, and head down there to check it out. After a few jibes, our new crew member, Laurie McTavish, said "Hey Winnie - it's a quarter to one". We were all the way across the river from the start and had to drop the chute and run over there, and with relatively light winds we were concerned. It turned out that Sneaker was in the same position, so the race committee waited. We would soon find out that all of us were a little 'barnacle-brained' after not racing for two months.
There was nothing remarkable about the start. I attempted the 1-2-3 sequence and it worked fairly well except that I was too early and had to slow the boat before the start. I'll work on that. After that, things get fuzzy. I remember tacking way before the cockpit crew was ready and losing several boat lengths. After that bad decision, I think my mind stopped recording so I would not have any bad memories. Ralph was oddly silent during most of the race, offering advice only when we asked. I think he was operating on the principle that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything. When the day was over, he said he had holes in his tongue from biting it so hard.
I think we did okay on the first downwind run. Usually, our mark roundings and wind directions have us launching the chute on port with a starboard pole, which puts us in a pretty good position without having to jibe quickly. In my last 6 years of racing with the crew, jibe-sets have been necessary two, maybe three, times a year. On May 12, every rounding required a jibe-set. Cheryl is one of the best bow-women around, but she does not like to do jibe-sets on Bad Penny because the pole is longer than on Fast Lane. Perhaps she can comment on this more since I have nil experience on foredeck. Anyway, our modus operandi was to launch normally, get everything set, then jibe. I suppose it did hurt our time, but not as much as the other foibles done by me and everyone else. It was an equal-opportunity screw-up day. I think we did the sideways spinnaker on the second downwind - by then we were just laughing at ourselves. No one got a picture of our sideways set, but apparently everyone else was having their own set of problems. Mouse, Sneaker, and we all crossed the finish line within a minute or two of each other and in that order. Sleighride came in shortly thereafter and blew us all out of the water on corrected time. We were dead last.
The second race was much better. Either we shook off all the barnacles and did really well, or we just made fewer mistakes than everyone else. I was still too early on the start and had to bleed off energy, and we had the jibe-set issue. Mouse got out ahead of us again, but the tide turned at the rounding of the first downwind mark - the parallel Manatee zone sign. I remember this well because I actually made a good decision. We got there the same time as Mouse and they were overlapped on the inside, so we gave them room. They rounded first, but our bow was right at their transom. Common racing knowledge said that we had to get above them, which is what Ralph and others on crew were telling me to do. However, to do that, I had to pinch like a maniac and lose speed. I decided to do what the telltales were telling me and fall off. Apparently we squirted past Mouse and got the lead in short order. We rounded the windward mark ahead of them and had a stupendous chute launch and run. Dick Tillman was on his sail-board by the Manatee sign as we rounded and said "Nice rounding". What a nice compliment from such a legend! We came in spot-on first physically and in corrected time.
Our next race is on the ocean on June 16, and we decided not to have a male observer this time. I don't think poor Ralph's tongue could take it again.
