12: Madcatter

Saturday: The first race was mostly single trapezing conditions and a drag race out to the left for more wind. We won the pin and had what I considered good speed but the speedy Puerto Ricans Francisco and Jolliam where grinding us down and eventually rolled us. The good news was that we had legged out on the fleet with two other boats, Enrique and Martin, also from PUR as well as locals Tom and Erika. We rounded third behind both PUR teams and had good down wind speed but not quite good enough to pass. We finished in third.

In the next race we had a terrible start and had to bail out to the right, the wrong side. We were deep in the fleet early and then the wind got really weird and shifted 180 deg. We struggled to finish in 12.

The low point of the regatta was in the third race. We were over early and heard the RC calling our number at about 30 seconds so we ducked below the line and sailed off to the right. About two minutes into the race we remembered that the "I" flag had been up and we were going to be scored OCS. What a bonehead move. Now we had to count the 12.

Saturday night, we win the party. Liza carried the team.

Sunday: It was about five knots at the start and we got off the line well. We dropped the rig way back and had good speed towards some left hand velocity. Francisco and Jolliam where first to the mark and we were second with Tom and Erika right behind, over standing the port layline. We all sailed off on starboard jibe for a while until I saw some breeze coming down the middle of the course. Liza and I were the first to jibe and got the puff first. Then the wind shifted way left and we jibed onto the header towards the mark. We moved into the lead and the wind shifted so much more that the rest of the race was a reach. Nice to be in front when the parade starts. We won the race.

We started another race but it was abandoned.

At the end of the weekend we were in a close third. A three way tie that we sneaked to the top of. Big congratulations to Tom and Erika who won the regatta. Results are here.
Pictures by Mike Walker are here.