Favorite saying:

"You can teach a person how to sail, but you can't teach them why."

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Race to the Straits - Update

Two days of sailing; what a great way to spend a weekend.  There were 98 boats registered for this race from Shilshole Bay to Port Townsend and back (about 30 nm one way).  This was their 10th anniversary race.  They are all double-handed classes (only 2 crew allowed), and also a single-handed class.  Saturday was great sailing with S/SW winds and we reached a mark at Double Bluff Point around 3 hours after our start (about 18 nm).  So did about half of the other boats at the same time and it was a swirling mess/washtub with lots of boats trying to get through, quite interesting, but no one hit anyone (that we heard of) and soon we were off to finish the 2nd half.  It had been sunny and dry for that first half, but it started raining and continued for the rest of the race and into the night, darn. We finished after 6 hours and then got the boat, Mariah, settled in at Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend. There was a party around 8pm and the first day awards.
Sunday the race started again at 8:30:46 for us and we headed out in light N winds, more downwind sailing.  We were happy that there was wind, the reports were for very light wind.  We weren't flying a spinnaker though.  Most of the boats were flying spinnakers, so we watched them pull away from us...........  It was a slower wind day, but the winds were always present and there was sun most of the day, and most important, no rain!  We certainly didn't win, but weren't last either.  Great fun!  Thanks John.

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