After last week's success, I was enthused for the final race night of the summer series. But it was not to be...
Forecast: Wind from NE 10 knots around 5:00pm, dropping to about 5 knots by 8:00
Observed: Wind from N around 7 knots, dropping to 5 by the time the race started at 6:30 and 3 by 7:00
First of all, I wasn't feeling too confident in my boat. The traveller was a bit stretchy, the daggerboard was as smooth as 40 grit sandpaper painted over with a clogged brush, and the cunningham was incorrectly adjusted and didn't actually pull on the luff at all. But that's okay, right? I'll just win the race through tactics! Don't take 259.
There was some air at the start, and everyone was having a good time messing around in the boats. Mike T and Steve H were having fun covering each other and forcing each other around the middle of the line. I thought I could take advantage of their distraction, and went to the boat end.
The start whistle goes, and I'm definitely the first to start... wait... what's that? A second whistle? And why is RC holding up the individual recall flag? SHIT!
I bear off to go back down beneath the line. Oh no! Ken S is there, with right of way. SHIT! I turn back up, tack, bear off around the committee boat, and finally start. Everyone else is ahead by 10 boat lengths.
On the first upwind leg, most people seemed to be going right. I took a chance, and went left. Given the wind, right might have been slightly faster, but I'd never "catch up" with them by following, and figured if I go left, catch a lucky break and get a localized puff then I'm back in the race. Remember my post on not taking risks? Well, I didn't follow my own advice. I'm now 20+ boat lengths behind rounding the first mark.
It didn't get any better. I kept taking risks, justifying to myself that "I had to do something to get back into the race" and they never paid off. Race night sucks.
Steve won, followed by Ken E. I'm not sure where Carla, Ken S and Mike T finished. Tony and Rob were behind me in the H16, but I still feel like it was my worst performance of the year.
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