C22 Whitby Singlehanded

We had three boats out for the first race of the fall singlehanded series.

Winds were blowing 20+ knots from the SW and major rain.

I found what the problem with the autohelm electrical connection was: the wire feeding the connector I guess is NOT tinned, so the copper wire has become brittle.  However it was raining too hard to fix it.

I rigged a double reef and #3, and could do 4-5 knots boat speed in the 3-4 foot waves.  Comfortable amount of heel.  Course was set as 3 short.

Kept with Cheeky Monkey and Iris to first mark, but alas, the winds were diminishing.  I had to shake out the reef(s).  Doing this without an autohelm in the waves was tough!

Yellow is where I shook out the reef(s)
That is NOT racing!

From the above picture, it looks like mark 3 has shifted slightly.  I was going directly towards according the GPS, but could not see it in the waves until I got closer.

Finished a couple of minutes behind the other two. 

I love sailing in conditions like that!

Trip Odometer: 7.55 miles
Moving Average: 4.1 knots
Moving Time: 01:51:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2013/20130911.kmz