In a stunning reversal, instead of sailing zero races as we did on Thursday, on Friday we sailed three, to complete the regatta. The wind came in overnight and we had almost perfect conditions: 6-8 knot breeze out of the southwest. The races were long, with downwind finishes so the committee could get us off again as soon as possible.
We sailed from 9:30 til about 2 p.m. That's a long day of racing! Still, the wind conditions couldn't have been better. Sometimes we were even both on the high side! I might even have pulled the vang a time or two!
The first race we had a really good pin-end start and liked the left side. The boat felt good and we got to the first weather mark just in with a pack of six or eight of the top sailors. We held our own on the spinnaker leg and then I got greedy and suggested to Ben that we might try the right since so many boats made out up there. That was the wrong side to be on and we slide back to about mid fleet.
The second race Ben once again had an outstanding start. I think we mostly stayed on the left, but to be honest things started to blur at this point! I do remember that coming into the downwind finish Steve Shaw, from Lake Norman, protested us and we had to take down the spinnaker, do two circles and then put it back up. That is slow, let me tell you!
The third race we didn't realize the starting sequence had started until there were only two minutes left, so our start was a little wobbly. Still, Ben made a great recovery, tacked for clear air and we found good company. We were almost in contact with the leaders (Jeff and Amy Linton, primarily) and tried to follow them but they soon got so far ahead we went back to sailing our own race. We were doing pretty well, especially considering that the heat and exertion was starting to take its toll. We lost some boats at the top of the course the second time around, had a pretty strong spinnaker leg and then we were done.
Jeff and Amy Linton had a great day, finishing first in two of the three races to come from third to win the NAC. Allan and Katie Terhune took second and, competing in his first Flying Scot NAC, skipper Rob Whittemore, with crew John Wake, took third.
In the Challenger Division racing was fierce, with one point separating the first three places. Outgoing FSSA President Diane Kampf and her husband, Greg, won the Challenger Division and incoming FSSA President Frank Gerry and his wife, Marianne, came in third. Don Smith and Chris Kacinski lost a tie breaker for first place and earned second.
The final results can be found here:
Championship Division Results
Challenger Division Results
No comments:
Post a Comment