Smith Point Race

I was given the task of taking Dangerous on her first real trial after launch - running her in the Smith Point race. We sailed with a crew of three, so we all stayed busy all day. We started the race in light downwind conditions, and the breeze quickly became patchy, where it existed at all. We drifted for a bit and pressed as much as possible, ultimately dousing the spinnaker when the wind filled. After a failed attempt to cross Rakali's bow on port, we led them and Pursuit around the first mark, and held them off for the first half hour south. As conditions slowly built and we rounded the target on the channel side, I chose to play to the boat's strengths and stay out of the waves building in the center of the Bay. I went back in and favored the western shore for the remainder of the upwind leg, until I could lay the turning mark. 

By the time we rounded the mark breeze had built into the mid-teens, and continued to build on the downwind leg. I favoted the east side of the channel on the way back up, and we managed a pretty slick re-rigging solution to fix a spinsheet problem. Conditions built until the time came for a nerve-wracking gybe in 17kts of breeze and plenty of wave state. James and Randy pulled it off flawlessly, and we set off on a fire-breathing spinnaker reach, surfing the boat down waves and not seeing less than 8kts for an hour and a half. We finished the race on a tight reach in much less breeze, and ultimately managed to pull off a second place finish against some serious competition. Not bad for my first effort callling the shots on the Bay!

Counted as two days as permitted by Summer Sailstice rules