Melissa, Chris, and I.
Severe thunderstorm warnings issued by environment Canada. Looked at the weather radar, and they were supposed to come through between 7:30pm and 8:00pm. Got the race committee to make sure they start right at 6:30pm and do a short course so we all could get off the water before they hit.
Winds were forecast for 12 knots from SW with gusts to 20. We went out with a reefed main and #3.
It was VERY wavy out there because it had been blowing from SW all day.
Melissa on tiller; course was set to 4 Short (4-6-8-9).
Going out to the race course, we could do between 3 and 4 knots close hauled, but the occasional wave would kill all our boat speed. We got out to the start and winds had died to less than 8 knots. We quickly swapped out the #3 for the #2.
With one minute left, we were at the pin end of the start line on port tack. We had to duck some starboard boats coming down the line. We turned to starboard to follow their layline, and the wind dropped significantly. We bobbed around with hardly any boat speed. Took us about 5 minutes to cross the line. So BAD START.
As we got closer to the first mark, the winds were picking up and Melissa was having trouble keep the boat on its feet, so I took over on the tiller until we rounded the windward mark. She did great on the downwind reaching legs, and excellent on the final upwind leg. This was the first time Melissa had helmed upwind in 20+ knots of breeze. With more time on the tiller, she will get better.
On the downwind legs, the Sharks pulled ahead as they always do. This having a reef in the main is a severe disadvantage.
We finished strongly in last place of 5 boats only a minute behind the competitors in corrected time.
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| Tiller Time |
We got a couple drops of rain, but the thunderstorms never really showed up.
Trip Odometer: 7.86 miles
Moving Average: 4.1 knots
Moving Time: 01:54:00
Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150528.kmz
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