Day 4 and more breeze!

day 4 racing in Bronze Fleet
12-17kt with BIG chop
Another great day of breeze practice.
Almost was not to be because the port main shroud popped out of the turnbuckle heading out, but we saved it before it went bad. Good thing it happened as we were leaving the beach!

We had great starts, good upwind speed in the breeze, but suffered with some boat handling issues in the waves. It was especially hard off the wind, where the boat would jump off waves and then land in the next set of waves, leaving you at risk to pitch poles...As the afternoon wore on, we seemed to slowly figure out how to stay upright. It is a case of getting real low and back on the wings and being smart with your spinnaker and main trim. More practice for sure is needed! It is quite a sight though, to see your boat cartwheel away from you on the run! Yep, these boats are light and don't like it when their bow is stuffed in the water! In fact, on one of the pitchpoles in the 1st race, the kite loaded up so much that the halyard cover ripped at the cleat, exposing the spectra core - not fun for handling! That made for fun hoists and doses for the rest of the day!

At the end of the day, we also realized why we were not pointing and going fast when the breeze dropped out a bit. It was our jib leads, too far outboard and depowered for that choppy 12-15kts. We needed them in, with an eased sheet to give us some twist. we had the opposite, it is amazing we still got an 8th in that last race with that setting! It was so frustrating in the race, but at least we diagnosed it and can move forward. We were winning that last race after a great start at the pin!

Learning a ton. still 2 more days of racing.
yes we are tired and exhausted, but this is what it is all about!

-Zander