Buzzards Bay Regatta

Saturday August 2, 2008  The 9th day (4:00 am)

The first day of racing is complete.  So far the only trimaran butt we have kicked is our own. The sailing instructions designated a rendezvous point that was halfway between here and thar. We chased committee boats for about an hour before we found the right one and then chased the L flag on that boat for another hour. The weather was great, even though the wind was a little light in the morning. First race, windward leeward windward, we started in the second row, but with good speed, so I was fine with it. Our host, Bob Gleason, in the sprint  750 “Tri Me” got shut out at the start and had to tack around. Jon Alvord “Triceratops” started first and fast and pretty much stayed that way.  Racing was pretty tight. It may just be me but these boats are tough to get right. First I figured out that wishing to be a really good trimaran sailor isn’t quite enough. Randy Smyth really harps on those fundamentals, sometimes I can even find my fundamental. I figure we are sailing the Loose Cannon to the best of our potential maybe 20% of the time (being very generous here). I don’t think we ever sail the Loose Cannon to its potential. Damn, it is sure a blast to try.

 

The race committee could be addressed with an entire article all their own. Except for the fact that they were using channel 63 to communicate when the race instructions specified channel 73, I will say that I appreciated the RC a lot better after several rum drinks at the yacht club.

7:00 am
Large coffee with T&A (Tylenol and Advil) Somebody wrote Loose Cannon on my arm in permanent marker. It may have been me. We didn’t have the fore thought to get team t-shirts.
In social conditions I found that trying to use sailing a hot boat as a come on in New England is a joke. Everybody sails, “my daughter works at the yacht club”, “You should see my dad’s boat”, “I liked JFK’s boat better”, “Francois Peyon is my uncle”,  “Ellen McFarland was a B student in My sailing School”. “ I just got back from sailing to Jamaica on a Sunfish”. This is a tough audience. Got to find some garden hose to split and tape onto my new Dyneema shrouds. Spinnaker sheet is causing some serious chafe. Blew up the positive rotators yesterday. Completed one successful Mexican takedown, I guess here it would be a Canadian take down. Nothing prejudice here, it just means if we don’t get the chute down we are going to be in Canada. Today I am going to park next to the race committee to see if they really are talking on the radio, what channel was that?  Here comes the crew, dressed in every roll of sport tape, and every knee brace that Wal-Mart had in stock. Get a grip guys, this is just the beginning of day 2.

Writing this is fun and thanks to everyone that has enjoyed it. Now I have to go sail some so I have input for tomorrow.

-wb-

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