First Race of 2008 (Jan 13, 2008 Racing at MBYC)

Congrats to Keith and yvette on the white boat.  Report courtesy of runner up Bill Jenkins ....

The legendary Mark Kurzava joined me aboard Gary?s white boat for the day. In the morning there were some new faces in the parking lot, college buddies of Austin Diaz teaming up in Gary?s blue boat. Five teams managed to assemble, and everyone set up and launched early to be able to catch some of the first half Charger action before heading out.

Out on the water, the wind was light, and Mark and I set the rig up for 4 knots. After a decent start we looked upwind and saw Keith and Yvette fully hiked and trapped out in the 5knot breeze while Mark was still crouching inside the cockpit. That seemed like a bad sign. We did manage to get ahead of the other 3 boats and fell in behind Keith and Yvette around the weather mark. As the afternoon went on, that would become our accustomed spot, with more or less distance between the two white boats. However, on the first mark rounding we had our one brief moment of glory in which we were the only boat to gybe-set. This set us up for the favored side of the run and we actually rounded the next mark in first place. The universe regained its proper balance in short order, however, and Keith and Yvette were soon ahead once again. Kitty and TGIF had a fierce duel also in that race and finished very close together, though I don?t remember which came out on top.

To Mark?s credit, even though he was a bit rusty after being away from sailing for a year or so, he had retained the crucial crewing skill of handing his skipper a beer immediately after crossing the finish line. That may have contributed to the goings on during the first beat of the next race though?

The wind picked up for race two and we set the rig for 10 knots. The boat end of the starting line was heavily favored and we were second in line around the committee boat?s stern. We quickly tacked (not necessarily tacked quickly) off to the right for clear air. Fast forward to the top end of the beat, we found ourselves on port tack with two boats rapidly approaching on the starboard lay-line and one boat on our weather hip, too close for us to tack. So, following a rapid succession of contradictory commands, we just plowed on through. The starboard tack boats were nice enough to duck and avoid a collision. We sailed off to the side, did a circle, and rounded the weather mark in last place. We did manage to pass two boats at the leeward mark by getting the inside position, but could not pass Kitty before the finish. We attempted a tacking duel on the last beat, but the wire-to-wire tacks were a little too rusty to make that work. Third place.

During the last race the wind gradually dropped off a knot or two. After a mediocre start, we again tacked over to the right side, made it to the weather mark in second place behind Keith and Yvette, and spent the rest of the long (two lap) race admiring their transom. All in all it was a fun afternoon on the water, followed by a nice bbq on the deck. Thanks to Patrick for providing the meat and buns. Congratulations to Keith and Yvette on their string of bullets. I?m looking forward to making it more difficult for them next time.  (results have not been posted on the mbyc site yet)