Century Club: Michael Nepini

Fantastic start put us out ahead of the entire fleet on the first upwind leg. Did some fast foredeck work to set up for a gybe set at the first mark and went into the first downwind leg. UV caught up to us about halfway through the leg but another strong rounding and upwind leg kept us out in front of the rest of the fleet. Careful positioning on the last downwind kept our position and we were second across the line. Always great to see the boat perform well. Rafted up to some other boats after the race to enjoy the sunset. 

Decent start into a challenging upwind leg with little wind and a lot of dead spots. Got to the first mark, rounded well and set the spin for a leisurely downwind leg. Rounded again and fought the same wind patterns going back up. Rounded the last mark and finished the race. 

Unique and challenging conditions for my first gov cup and the first gov cup in many years for Eighth Deadly Sin. Started off under the #3 and quickly changed to the spinnaker to take advantage of the downwind conditions, ran under that for about 30 minutes before deciding it was overpowering the boat so we put up the heavy #1 and pressed on. We were able to hold impressive boat speed all the way down to the calvert cliffs plant where we switched back to the #3 on account of increasing wind and sea state. We stuck close to the rhumb line until just south of the navy base but the wind started pushing us closer to the eastern shore. Took a slightly wide rounding of the point lookout light and then had a slightly quieter run up the Potomac and St. Mary's as conditions lightened. Crossed the finish line at 3:38 AM for the fastest finish ever on Sin. Overall a great race and great to see potential in the crew. 

Little bit of a slow start into a strong upwind leg, rounded put up the chute and ran back down. The wind backed off for the second round so we had a slow slog to the finish. Photo: Lynn Crosby