WYC Wednesday Night Race - Party at the end of the world

We knew that the thunderstorms were going to show but did not know when. The first leg was a broad reach on port. Again I got the boat to the line early. The crew was quick to point out that I was going to be early so I turned the boat back in time before the gun. We managed to get the boat to mark d in 3rd behind Merlin and Hot Ticket with the 3/4 oz. chute in 8 knots of wind. We made the turn gybing the spinnaker. Merlin and HT took each other up where we stayed on rumb. About a third the way down the leg the wind hit from behind at 30 knots. Immediately we rounded up so the first order was to get the spinnaker down. After a couple of attempts we managed to get it down. Then the wind picked up to the high 30's and I considered taking down the main and quitting. I had even started the engine. HT already had ripped their main in half. Merlin was just ahead. I decided that it would be better for the main if we continue going down wind rather than try to take it down. We rounded around mark b with just the main and the ap #1 rolled. Merlin took theirs down and put up their #3 on this reach leg. Since we had only 6 people without Brian and Sandy on board we decided to ride it through until the wind would die down to put up the #1. The wind went down to 18 knots on the leg to D so we unrolled the #1. We caught up considerably to Merlin and just before mark DP7 they did a bareheaded change of their headsail to the #1. This allowed us to catch up to their stern. At DP5 we put up our code 0 since the wind was at 80 degrees. Merlin put up their 3/4 spinnaker after us but not soon enough. We managed to roll them and finished 30 seconds ahead. This was an exciting evening with Night Moves, Hot Ticket, and Jay Hawker dropping out. Jay Hawker got their prop shaft wrapped around a line so it took a while for them to get back to BYC. As the storm hit and while they were flying their kite, the yacht "Risky Business" had a man overboard. Within 45 seconds, they got the boat around and sailed back and got the man back on. The yacht "Epic" clocked the wind at 48 knots true and we got to see a water spout travel up the fleet.

COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles
Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard
-then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard
-then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard
-then to D (296o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Result: 1st out of 5 J120s (only 2 finished)
Link: http://wyc.info/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%202.pdf