A Love 4 Sailing

Day one had high 60 to low 70 temperatures with 8 to 11 knot winds.  Race 1-we started in the middle of the line and headed left.  Current was coming in so we felt the best spot was to be close to shore.  As the boats tacked to the right we tacked up on their left hip.  With good speed we led from the left.  A slight right shift came in allowing the fleet to catch up as we approached the weather mark.  We rounded the weather mark in first with just a two boat lenght lead.  We set the kite and jibed.  Our downwind speed seemed to be slightly off the pace as we were passed by two boats by the leeward mark.  They must of put 10-15 boatlenghts on us.  On the next beat we played the middle.  We were somewhat fast upwind but barely held on to third by the next weather mark.  We rounded the weather mark the second time and again lost distance to the leader and were passed by the 4th place boat.  As we approached the leeward the leeward mark, three boats took the right gate while we took the left.  We headed right as the lead pack headed left.  We gained quite a bit up that beat as now we were only three boat lenghts behind first and battling second.  Heading down the last run our downwind speed allowed the first two boats to separate again.  We played the middle down wind which seemed to be the right move but we just lacked the speed.  Coming to the finish the first two boats finished within 5 seconds of each other as we held on to third.

In between races we made some adjustments. 

Race two-Started one boat up from the leeward end and headed left.  As the fleet tacked to the right we again tacked up on their left hip.  This time the wind stayed left as we led to the first mark.  With a ten boat lenght lead we set the spinaker and extended down the right side of the run.  The second boat jibed and headed off to the left side.  We jibed to cover as our downwind speed seemed to be much better in this race.  We jibed back to the middle to stay in the incoming current.  We then jibed back towards the leeward mark but slightly overstood.  As we rounded the leeward mark the second place boat was only a boat lenght behind us.  We protected the right side up the next beat as the fog started to roll in.  With very little wind shifts we maintained our lead up to the next weather mark where the race committee decided to shorten the course due to the fog.  We finished 3 boat lengths ahead placing first.

We ended our day with a 3 and a 1.  Which currently puts us in the lead.  Tied with Scott and Julie.  The winner of the first race finished 4th and now is 1 point behind.   We felt good about our day once we made the proper adjustments.  We still have 14 races to go and the prediction is for the weather to cool off over the next few days.  All in all a pretty good first day.  We look forward to more races.  Maureen did an excellent job and Dan and Mike where there for the support.

Tomorrow we heard the race course will be north of the Jamestown bridge in an area called Potter’s Cove.  Check back for more updates tomorrow.  Thanks for everyone’s support. See the results at http://208.106.141.167/npt/m/_general/pararesults.aspÂ