Jun 06 2007

Race #3: Half-Handed Sailing

Published by admin at 9:42 pm under Sailboat Races

San Juan 21 Race preperation 

Either I was dragging an anchor in this race which no one told me about, or I officially have the slowest boat in the fleet. 

 Still I will take a solid dead last finish over a day of yard work anytime.  I did have some slight revenge as the fleet had to circle for an extra 10+ minutes just waiting for me to finally get across the line. I was all excited that I had finally added tell tales (a present from my dad) to my sails, and they were working great.  I was reading the puffs with ease and sailing as well as I have at any event to date. I had always planned on using my

San Juan 21 as a chance for the whole family to enjoy time on the water together.  So when my normal crew could not make the race I decided I would attempt to have a 4 year old as crew.  This turned out to be an organizational task which would challenge an marine core drill sergeant.  Have heard the old sailor phrase one hand for yourself, and one for the boat?  Well, this was one hand for the child, four fingers for me, and a pinky for the boat. 

I did manage to get one race (during a nap from the little one) where I could focus on wind and water.  This race I managed to catch a big right hand shift on the upwind leg and rounded the windward mark ahead of Rascal which is always a good sign for me.  On the downwind he ran me down from behind to go ahead.  However at the downwind mark Rascal ran a little wide on rounding while I came in with a puff and passed Rascal again.  I stuck to the right side hoping for the same luck I had on the first upwind leg, and I caught another shift.  I finished ahead of two boats including Rascal.

 At this point I know the only way to be competitive is to sail away from the fleet and get lucky.  I have some work cut out for me to get Limpet competitive with the likes of Wooglin.

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