Hold-on to your potatoes Dr. Jones.. 21-22 + knots winds flyin' every stich of cloth we had like Captain Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander..
We were riding the shirt tails of the snowstorms that afflicted the Northeast this past week and it was blowin' pretty hard if a little chilly (Temps in the mid - high 30's) https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1616/24752443070_8b908dfc07_b.jpg https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1444/24680397139_94dd86bd5f_b.jpg https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1459/24915446471_a8e3c790fd_b.jpg Video Montage (Our pictures are @ 1:51) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRr7Mm2_3sc&feature=share Yeah, the 150 was a bit much for that kind of wind, but the original forecast called for 12-14 and lessening.. That would have been perfect for that sail and it looked that way until about 5 minutes into the race.. Then it picked-up to 18 gusting to 21-22. Since it was Just Nicholas and I and we had a bad start, (tangled genoa sheet) furling / reefing was pretty labor intensive and too costly on time. Knowing that the course would mostly be reaching and running with a short leg hard on the wind I decided to trade pointing for raw speed and it worked! Instead of laboring at on the verge of rounding-up at 4.5 - 5 knots and heeling 20+ degrees closed haul at I beared-off to 58-65 degree true and we blasted off at 7.5 - 8 knots footing nicely for only 2 sailors with the 140 lbs one on the rail.. Even with the extended distance we ran that moved us from dead last to 2nd place where we stayed for most of the race but unfortunately had to concede because of a pretty bad genoa sheet override at the last marker.. Darn it. No matter, it was a glorious day and we had an absolute blast. It was a victory for us doing the job of 6-8 sailors not only surviving the 22 knots gusts with full main and the 150 but making it work to our advantage. As if that was not enough of a workout both of us had ran 5+ miles before the race.. we were totally beat at the end of the day. I'm still sore but also still snickering :-) Have a great week. Francois Rivard 1990 34+ "Take Five" Lake Lanier, GA
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