Midwinters is done

Midwinters is complete. No racing for any fleets on Sunday. Curious decision in my opinion.

Lunch

Verdict is: lunch time. Decision on racing is supposed to be at 12:30.

Beach Pic

Water's flat and wind is strong. Only one sailor on the water and he's free sailing on a slalom board.

The waiting is the hardest part

10:45 and we're still waiting to race. At first we were waiting for direction to clock to the predicted direction, and it looks to me like the wind has been stable enough for the last hour. Not sure why we can't just race with the wind we have. It's 20-30 mph with some larger gusts. The water is dead flat by the launch (upwind shore), and doesn't look too rough elsewhere.

Not all wind is kona wind

Kona Fleet had three races earlier today and were on deck for a fourth race after the last Formula race this afternoon. The Formula fleet was eventually called back in when conditions were deemed too light for them. As Kona Fleet headed out the wind picked back up and we had good wind during our start sequence. But a couple of minutes into the sequence the powers that be aborted the sequence deeming it too windy.  L A M E  ! ! !


I sailed the course anyways, with my sail rigged for light winds no less, in 13 minutes. My opinion, again, is that the cancellation was completely, utterly, lame.


To cancel racing for one fleet (formula) due to light wind and then cancel racing for another fleet (kona) due to excessive wind within 30 minutes is perplexing. A bit of patience for the weather could go a long way...

R5

A bit more wind. Had a solid start planing off the pin with Joachim and we ran out front to the upwind mark. I caught him and passed on the leeward run when he seemed to get stuck in a lull a bit further outside than me. On the second upwind Joachim and I were close and worked over to the right again, but found lighter air. When we flopped back to starboard I went above the start/finish  boat (as the last reach was very broad/almost downwind), and Joachim went under the boat and I think went through the line. We'll have to talk and see if that is a penalty. We got upwind with Joachim in a couple second lead and ran down to the finish together. We ran into a lull with around 100 yards left, and Joachim made it across in front of me (not sure if that will count though). Nevin caught some puffs and used good speed to catch up to me as I was still accelerating. The boat said I beat Nevin in a photo finish.

Day 2, R4

I got 2nd following Nevin around the course. Good winds - sailing on fin (no centerboard) all the way around the course. Headed out for R5.