After an 830 weather briefing and a quick swim to scrub the bottom of the boat, we left the dock sailing to the race course at 915 this morning. The five miles or so downwind to the course took all of an hour thanks to the current and we arrived in time to do a quick line up and check the line before the Race Committee got to work catching up from yesterday’s blowout. We sailed the first race relatively unscathed for a 5th. Waiting between races for the Finns to finish and for the RC to get reset took the majority of the afternoon. We did have a few general recalls thanks to a knot of upwind current (10+ boatlengths in a minute!). In the second race we managed both a 720 and blew out the tack grommet on the jib when I dipped the whisker pole in the water downwind. Usually dipping the pole means you either break the pole or break the mast, so we were lucky to rip that grommet out. But that incident adds to a growing list of equipment issues we’ve had this week. I guess when it rains it pours! All three races were sailed in phenomenal conditions 10-15 knots of steady westerly. The current aside, the conditions were spectacular. The third race finished about 530 in the afternoon, and the upwind tow took about an hour and we hit the dock again around 630pm just in time to head to the pub for a cheeseburger! Two races scheduled for tomorrow.
