Racing started Tuesday with light winds and a delay. The RC tried to get the moderns off, but abandoned as the unexpected Northerly died and the sea breeze filled in. The classics first start was AP'd (abandoned) with about 10 seconds left as half the fleet was over the VERY skewed line. The second start saw a general recall and for the third start the committee went to the black flag, disqualifying any boat that went over the line within the last minute. We had a great nose out position, but for fear of a DQ I had us hold back, blowing our lane. After a clearing tack we wanted to get back to the left hand side of the course, but for some reason when the lane appeared we stayed on port and got pinned by the moderns rounding their leward mark. Unfortunately, as we had expected the left payed off and we were at the back of the pack with little opportunity to pass. We finished 2nd to last in a disappointing start to our regatta.
Day 2 saw high winds and a VERY wet tow out (see pic below). We had a decent start considering we were about 30 seconds late as their was a pile-up at the favored committee boat we got stuck behind. We went to our desired left hand side, but unfortunately the right payed off a little better (the good news is we had some rather talented company on the left with us. A great downwind leg pushed us to mid fleet, but when we went to round the leeward mark, the spinnaker wouldn't come down. 5 minutes later, the halyard finally came free, but by then it was too late and we headed home early. There were several other casualties, including booms and several spinaker poles as the wind was a steady 20 kts with gusts to 27. Spirits were high as we were sailing well and can't do much about equipment problems.
Today winds are slightly more moderate, but could build to similar conditions. Keep coming back for updates.
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