The usual ride being still on the hard, got an invite on a new-to-the-club (and river) C&C 115. I'd been on one 20 years ago down at HHSA, one that was successfully campaigned by a great owner who did a ton of shorthanded racing. I was impressed then by the fit and finish of the boat and the elegant interior. C&C has built a huge invertory of designs in its somewhat tumultuous history as a brand, and the 115, certainly rates as one of the top, in my opinion.
We were out for two reasons: one - to race and two - to get acquainted with the dip-pole gybe process. Considering this was a team of seven that had never raced together before, that process went exceedingly well in our practice routines. I've seen (and been personally responible for) much much worse.
Imgaine then the horror of seeing the brand-new main begin to zipper a huge tear on one of the seams. In something I've never witnessed before on a laminate sail, there was one seam on the entire sail, just one, where they missed sewing the seam. It was glued but never threaded. Hence the tear.
We were bummed but used the down-time to practice more dip-pole gybes. And it was still a beautiful night on the river.