Looks like I have neglected blogging for a while. Let’s catch up. There were 4 more races in the Snowbird series.
Race 2:
Finally some nice breeze. Since we don’t have wind instruments, I would guesstimate 15-20kts with gusts to 25. We went on the first upwind leg with a reef in the main and a partially furled genoa. We had a much easier time keeping the boat flat than Breeze who had their #2 up and the main in the first reef. We ended up rounding the upwind mark in front of Breeze and Akari II who had overstood. On the downwind we poled the full genoa out and were able to run very deep. Akari II kept their bow up and ended up beating us in corrected time. All in all a good race for us.
Race 3:
Somewhat of a drifter, similar to the first race. Ended up 3rd behind Breeze and Kittiwake. Let’s call this taking points home for showing up.
Race 4:
Can skippered the boat since I was in Germany for Christmas vacation. I hear it was another drifter. Looking at these pictures, I have no trouble believing it.
Race 5:
This is my favorite race of the series. Conditions were very light and the Race Committee decided to postpone. The race was kicked off when we saw a light patch of wind which turned out to be just enough to finish a race on the shortest course possible. We raced a really solid race. Sails were set up all powered up and we did a good job playing the shifts. We were able to keep Frog Prints behind us and take about a minute from them in the first upwind leg.
On the downwind leg we put in two extra gybes in order to stay in better pressure and more favorable breeze. This allowed us to put some distance between us and Backslider (our strongest competitor in this race) who parked in a lull. The final upwind leg went ‘just ok’, we made it over the line first with Backslider hot on our heels who beat us in corrected time.
Since Breeze did not show up, we actually ended up winning the Snowbird series. Showing up was a big part, but I would like to say we did some decent sailing as well.