We need a sailmaker!

After a few days of abnormally chilly weather, today was a return to normal Bahamas weather. We were treated to a beautiful day of racing with warm temperatures, sunny skies and a solid breeze of 8-12knots. The Race Committee made the decision to race two Silver races in the morning, followed by three Gold races, and ending with two more Silver races.

In the first race of the morning, we were able to recover from a mediocre start to get in the mix in the middle of the fleet. Unfortunately, at the final leeward mark we were fouled by a boat resulting in a tear in the bottom of our spinnaker. We were forced to retire from the race and unable to find a replacement in time for the second race of the morning.

After the disappointment of being unable to finish the first two races due to reasons beyond us, we were poised to have a good showing in the afternoon. In the first race, we had a decent start and headed out right with a good lane. A bit of misfortune struck us near the windward mark, as we were unable to stay in phase due to a couple of boats on our hip that were reluctant to tack and we lost big. Thankfully, we were able to pass a few boats on the final windward leg resulting in a decent finish.

In the final race of the afternoon, with the boat favored and the Black flag hoisted, we won the boat! It was of great relief that we finally had a good start. After several poor starts you forget how much easier it is to sail a beat when you actually have options! We rounded the top mark in the top 15, and on the downwind leg, near to the leeward mark, we had a race-ending incident with two other boats. Sailing on port gybe with another boat directly to leeward of us, we converged with a starboard boat, and not having enough room to gybe due to the leeward’s boat failure to provide ample room, we had a collision with the starboard gyber. The resulting damage was a tear in our main.

Today was probably the most tumultuous day of sailing the 49er yet. We had great moments between starting and straight-line speed, however, they were overshadowed by incidents forcing us not to finish races. One day down the road, today’s antics will provide comical relief, but for now, they are nothing short of sheer frustration. Tomorrows another day, and with forecasters predicting winds in the region of 20+ knots, we are ready to get in some good heavy air practice.

-Jesse