Last Race, Now That's More Like It!

Rush Creek put on such a great regatta, but the one thing organizers (and racers) know; you can't control for wind, which is such an essential element to a good regatta. Well we had great wind all week at this event. It might have been a little too much wind some times for Ben and me to keep the boat flat, but it was never survival conditions.

Here are a few of the kids who helped us in and out of the water with our trailers every day

Yesterday for the last race of the last day of the NAC, the weather was just right! Not too much, not too little. I was sitting on the deck a lot but only hiking a little. We occasionally had the vang on but not all the time. The spinnaker was always full. Ben got a great start!! Ryan and Stacey had a great race and moved up in the standings, finishing just two points out of the trophies. Tyler and Bill took home second place. Because we shared a house with them, that was a thrill for us, too!
We've said all week what a talented field this regatta attracted, in both fleets. One indication of that is the numbers. Many different people finished in the top five places and then later had a deep finish. That means no one boat dominated. In the challenger fleet, the winner (hi Randy!) never won a race, but he was consistent, with all single digit finishes. My point is that this was some tough racing this week in a field with tons of outstanding sailors.
Ben and I, when we are encouraging other sailors to travel to regattas, tell them "we always learn something at a regatta." Often it is about how to make the boat go in certain conditions: at Rush Creek even with as much wind as we had, the water was quite flat, so we used tons of vang and even played the cunningham, which we rarely do. Note: make sure your mast track is lubed up (McLube works well) because otherwise the cunningham doesn't want to release when you uncleat it.
This week I also watched Zeke and Jay Horowitz unroll their mainsail every morning. Instead of one person unrolling it from the middle, with lots of crinkling sounds, each of them took and end and unrolled it very gently. It was a revelation! That's a big thing Ben and I learned.
Ryan and Stacey also talked a lot about the best way to roll a sail, especially considering that on Tuesday we rolled our sails three times and rolling (or unrolling) it roughly can take a toll on them. Hopefully when Ryan writes his article on sail care he'll include these tips too.
Bottom line:Ben and I came away really happy with our boat handling, his starts (especially on Wed and Thursday),

And some adult helpers. thank you everyone!

the fun we had on the boat and the fun we had visiting our friends and fellow sailors both at the club and at the house we rented. Rush Creek did a wonderful job and I'd go back there in a heartbeat. I know people were worried about the heat, but I really found it tolerable most of the time. I would argue the year we had the NAC at Carlyle it was hotter, am I right?