Day 6, Race Day 3 It's Over! The Lintons WIN!!

Our view at the Taj, we never could positively identify the substance on the window

We woke up this morning a little on the late-ish side along with many others. You could tell it was the last race day, everyone is a little sore, little tired, lots of bruises, hands have the permanent sting from the lines , etc. Some may even have had a couple too many cocktails… I don’t know anything about that.

It has been a little hard to try to stop thinking about all the boats we let get away the first day. We had hoped to try to crack the top ten, but really did not know how realistic that goal was, since this is our first North Americans in the Scot class (and, did we mention there are a few rock stars here?). Following the first 2 days of racing we can see that it was a realistic goal, but the hole we dug was likely too deep. The forecast of 15 to 20 knot winds would not help, we could only hope the forecast would be wrong or at least the breeze would stay southwest and not go southeast with the huge fetch across Chesapeake Bay.

The tractor guys are still not used to our slothful ways, and we received ridicule, once again, for being later than expected, they are a forgiving group, lucky for us. The water wells were dry (they have spigots at the end of every row of boats parked) and we had planned to wash the bottom this am prior to racing, hmmm, what to do now? Finished the more permanent repairs on the vang and while Dave was computing, the tractor was ready, and Kim launched the boat (with a little help). We tied up to a floating dock near the beach, and Kim went swimming and removed some texture from its bottom. We chatted with friends Henry and George Picco, and soon it was time to hit it.

The wind was nice, but we were not discussing it, so as not to rile the wind gods. It was still early, about 0915, so plenty of time for it to fill in stronger. Around 1015, we’re checking and adjusting and tuning and getting some pointers and doing some speed testing with Jeff and Amy. Greg Fisher and Marc Eagan (are THEY really talking to US??!!) approached to give a few bits of tuning advice, which we appreciated. Kim was eager for the races to start, thinking it would be great to get them done, before more wind came.

Finally, racing starts, we have a short discussion with Kelly Gough (past NAC Champion) with about 30 seconds to the gun, we leave Kelly a nice hole but we have an even nicer hole so we both charge off the line at the start. It doesn’t take long before we begin to fall back from both Kelly and the boats below us, we have no speed for some reason. Funny because we were going good a half hour before when testing with Jeff and Amy now we find ourselves getting spit out in the big fleet and struggling to find speed and clear air. We decide to undo the last round of tweaks we made and tried to dig out. This first race is only 3 legs (the others had been mostly 5, but we understand the race committee wants to make sure to get 2 races in today) so early position and clear air are important, we have neither. As with the previous 2 days the right side has the advantage and despite a poor start we pick off a few boats. We get a couple more on the run and manage to recover enough to finish in the top 10. Jeff and Amy entered the day with the overall lead, they put the hammer down and won this race and likely cemented the Championship. Wooooooo! Our shot to catch up to the boats just ahead of us in the standings is looking fairly good. The wind is cooperating so far, although we continue to avoid the topic so as not to jinx ourselves.

The second race was 5 legs, we’re having a hard time remembering details but we were 4 th at the top mark. The right side is still working and we spend alot of time over there protecting it. There are not many position changes in the top 7 or 8 but we do pick up 1 boat to finish third, our best of the week. It was really a thrill to be in the mix with, or ahead of some really good sailors, most who are professionals.

The first Spinnaker run of the last race, we like this one! We are yellow and green.

We are pretty psyched on the sail back to the club after the third place finish. We put a lot of boats between us and some of the boats we were shooting for so we are fairly certain we will crack the top 10. As a little bonus it breezes up a bit and we get up on a plane on the way back to the club, and more importantly, the pool. It was a great day on top of a really good week. Thoughts of the boats we lost on the first day continue to linger.

Back at the Taj, we soak up some A/C and get ready for the awards banquet. It has been hazy and hot, probably mid 90's and we have had enough sun. We even close the curtains to get the full A/C effect, you know; that cool dark feeling. We bump into Ron Pletsch who just returned from the club and the Prelinary results; we moved up to 9th!! Hugs and high fives!!! Ron is 4th and of course Jeff and Amy are the new Champions. A nice showing form the Florida District, life is good! We are off to the banquet.

Oh yeah, tonight is our night to Bartend, should be very interesting.