This race is the first of the Center Sound Series. When we got out on the water, we had a 10-12 knot breeze blowing from the North. The sea state was basically flat with an occasional 1-2 foot chop. We were in the second start with about 9 boats on the line. We started on starboard, but quickly found ourselves in the second tier and eating a lot of dirt. So we tacked to port almost immediately, weaving and dodging through the starboard starters (we were on the far left of the start line. We popped out the other side into clear air and headed to the right toward golden gardens along with a couple of other boats. This turned out to be the right move. We got better wind than the boats that went left and were lifted as well. We basically got lucky and rode that elevator all the way up to the windward mark near Richmond beach.
We were the third boat to round the windward mark. Pretty good for a tiny boat like ours. Blur was in her element. We put the chute up and dodged the monster TP-52s that were rampaging up the course behind us (reverse start). Once we were clear, we had a beautiful, clear sunny ride downwind. We had Bev on the chute, and she gave us all a clinic in great trimming technique. Our jibes were flawless, as she and Luka kept the chute flying through every single maneuver. Mark was keeping an eye on the boats coming up behind us, and he was able to keep us in a beautiful lane of clear air all the way down to Blakely Rock. Having speed instruments meant that we had a lot more feedback running downwind than in the past. We set a goal of staying above 6 knots and trimmed the boat accordingly. The maximum speed we hit on the ride down was 8 knots in about 12-14 knots of wind.
We ran deep, due south from Richmond beach until we hit West Point, then Jibed over to Starboard and crossed to the other side of the sound, then we jibed back and headed straight for the Rock. By the time we reached the rock the fleet had compressed and it seemed like the entire fleet rounded the mark at once. We were able to round the Rock in reasonable fashion, dousing the spinnaker and heading back upwind toward Magnolia bluff. I traded off driving with Mark on the last upwind leg. He did a fabulous job. The wind was reasonably stable, and we made it back up to West Point in a couple hours. We outsailed a lot of boats that were much larger than us upwind on this leg. Fighting a modest 1 knot of adverse current, we made it back to the finish line around 4:00. We took 3rd place in our class!
I can’t begin to express how tickled I am with this result. I really hadn’t expected it. The crew was fabulous and we had an absolutely perfect sailing day. What a terrific way to start our sailing season!
Blur Racing 