Came in second, went inshore in anticipation of a forecasted shift and the breeze went the opposite of what was forecast so I was picked off by a boat that stayed out.

I cleaned up downwind though (1st leg); I had a very nice lead after 12 miles of reaching and running with the breeze starting off in the low teens and dropping to about 8 before coming back up again to 10 -12.

The biggest problem was keeping the boat on course while trying to clip up the chute. My dummy auto-pilot worked well in practice, but during the race the performance was less than wonderful. I would round up almost every time I went forward. At the start, the wind was abeam and I reached with the 1. Once the breeze came a bit aft I wanted to pop the chute, but had a hard time keeping the boat on course while setting everything up. I eventually got it sorted and got the chute up.

I prefed the guy from the cockpit then ran to the mast and jumped the halyard very, very quickly. While this was happening, the boat started to turn to windward, so I ran back to the helm, grabbed the guy on the way, pulled the pole back a bit, cleated the guy, drove down, and sheeted the chute in. The only advice I can give you is move quickly.

At this point, course was a broad reach that eventually became a run. I was trimming with one hand and driving with the other. My arm wore out after a while, so I cleated the sheet off at about the end of where I was easing it to and was able to banjo the sheet between the cabin top cleat and the turning block to keep it flying with a curl.

To douse, I hoisted the 1 from the cockpit, blew the guy, ran forward and grabbed the sheet in one hand, blew that halyard with the other and frantically shoved the chute down the hatch. The boat rounded head to wind before I finished that maneuver. Also, I dropped a bit early to leave some runway between me and the large, concrete fixed mark. So, I lost some time there.

The upwind leg turned into a 12 mile beat. For the last couple of miles, I was overpowered with the 1, but a change to the 3 wasn't happening.

All in all, it was a blast and I'm looking forward to next year.

[Linked Image from tammanyyachtclub.org]

[Linked Image from tammanyyachtclub.org]

- Jason
Rambunctious #280