Windsor Wednesday Race

Unfortunately we had only 5 of our crew to do this race. Merlin was kind enough to lend us Lara Scheibner and another crew member for the race. This start was in about 5 to 6 knots of air to weather with the committee boat side favored. I decided to start on starboard. Because we were a little early I did have to do a couple of s turns and slow downs to not be early. I tacked to port just before the gun to clear the anchor line and Night Moves almost rolled us to weather. Working with Lara Scheibner we managed to work up a couple of lanes to squeeze them out. We stayed on port and sailed right up to the layline because I thought there would be more wind by shore and then tacked. We managed to round first of the J120's. Since it was a short leg I had us put up the .6 oz which was a mistake. Merlin kept their headsail and almost caught us because it was close reach. We still managed to round in first with Merlin close behind. I chose to jibe and Night Moves almost caught us and then jibed away. Merlin who had stayed on the right side of the course crossed and consolidated in front of us. We managed to stay in second on a short 1 mile windward leg. On the next downwind leg Jayhawker managed to come up on our starboard side. They passed us a little in the river and it was an real battle to stay clear of them because I could not see them. We put up our headsail when we were headed but did not get enough distance to beat them. The main lesson of this race is I should of covered Merlin on the first downwind leg and I should of dumped the spinnaker when I saw that we were not going fast enough.

Result: 3 out of 5 J120's
Link: http://www.wyc.info/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Fall%20Race%201.pdf