Saturday was a blast competing white sail against Coyote and others with just two of us on board in big winds. Â Squirrel and I worked hard to bring the boat around a long windward-leeward course six times (three races, two laps each) in big winds. Â By the third race, we figured out where the biggest wind was, and pushed ourselves to stay in that “nasty stuff” as long as possible, earning the gun on Coyote: a first ever for PERSPECTIVE. Â (They still beat us by a long ways based on PHRF).
So how much wind was there? Â Most of the course was 15 knots gusting to 20, but in the nasty slot it was 20 knots gusting to 30!!!
We sailed without a reef in the mainsail for most of the afternoon….just choosing to shorten sail for the first upwind leg of the second race — and when we did, we were second around the first windward mark (just a few boatlengths behind Sabotage, and ahead of Top Gun). Â We are learning how to get speed and point high with reduced canvas in heavy air.
Back on shore, we had had so much wind, sun and fun that we wished for a couple of hammocks…