Thomas Carole Reverse Handicap

Results:  18th of 35

Crew:  Steve, Judy, Kim

OK — so I haven’t been keeping up with the recaps.  Today was the Reverse Handicap Race.  It’s usually the last race of the official season, but there was a make-up scheduled for today and two more make-ups scheduled for this week (see the schedule page for full details).   I don’t really have time for a full recap today.  It wasn’t supposed to rain either, but it was cold and rainy for the whole 3 1/2 hour, 4 mile race — Arrrrghghghgh.

The first leg was a slow upwind slog, then we rounded, popped the chute, started downwind and the wind started dying.  About a third of the way down the leg the wind died and we stuggled, floated til the next mark.  That’s when the wind really died.  35 boats arrived at the mark and promptly stopped.  See the “cluster” picture below (the mark is in the middle there somewhere — notice it looks like a raft up, but all the raised sails should give you a clue).  We finally rounded, started reaching and then the wind shifted and we were on another beating leg.  We finished 18th out of 35 boats — we were the median boat.

There are many other stories, including one boat that had a small fire onboard during the race.  But those stories are for the cold winter nights to come when there is no racing.

BTW — the second race was cancelled AGAIN due to lack of wind.  It won’t be made up.

Picture by Steve Yount.

Bluff Bar Race Start

We didn’t race in the Bluff Bar Race this year, though it is one of my favorites.  So Aussie (the dog) and I went down to the yacht club lighthouse to watch the start at 7AM.  The winds were south @ 10 knots.  Good reaching start.  Enjoy the start here.  You’ll see that Magic was over early, dropped their chute and restarted.

Tall Ships Erie

We motored over to get the water-eye view of the tall ships after two races today.

Oh, and yes, I’m a little behind again in my recaps.  I’ll try to get some recaps in this week sometime.