I have a love-hate ambivalence towards this short-handed race due to its total unpredictability and its role as a waypoint marking the last legs of the season and the last CHESSS race of the year. Some year's races have been bitter cold with crazy winds, and other years a warm temperature drifter. Most years, its been a fun last short-handed romp around the buoys.
Watching the wind predictions this year, I had feared that there would be absolutely no wind. In fact, the forecaset on one site was something I have never seen, and can't even fathom. That site showed zero wind starting from the west at the start, then zero winds veering to the south and ultimately ending up with zero winds from the northeast. In theory that would have been a race consisting of dead runs in zero winds on each leg of the course.
As it turned out the Race Committee moved the start/finish line to shorten the course, took a short delay, and by the start decent winds filled in to allow satisfactury racing conditions. Paul Parks and crew on Sundog taught us all a master class in how to sail in those conditions, correcting to a half hour ahead of the second place boat. The second through fourth place boats finished within 66 seconds of each other on corrected time, with Synergy taking third, correcting only 7 seconds behind of John Zseleczky with his son, Paul oin his well sailed Pearson 30.
The day ended with a lovely sail back to Mill Creek. .