Our GPS Track...This is how Winning is DONE!

So after a hiatus from sailing, we went back out on the water.  It had been a while since we last raced Speedy.  We had some new crew on the boat, and some seasoned.  Bryan is back from Kuwait and he stepped on to race.  This was Lisa’s first time on Speedy, so she was learning how everything worked.

So Saturday night, we (JoJo, Bryan, and I) were out a bit late at the Dubliner.  We did win some cool ass hats though from the Jameson Girls.  WoooHooooo…..I love me some free Shwag!  We did a whole “Team Hat” thing…the girls wore the newly acquired Jameson hats, while Bryan and I took on the military hats he brought back from Kuwait.  We looked good.  But how were we going to sail?

We loaded up Speedy and headed north to play with the Bayview kids.  Did I mention that there was some talk between my crew and Swale’s?  Well…there was a wager made, and there was a round of beers at stake.

The race started and Swale had about a 10 minute head start…we were going to have to work hard to get that boat back in our sights.  The hangover was not helping.  The wind was neither.  We broke off the fleet and headed to the west side of the lake looking to catch a wind-line. We had to get the binoculars out to see Swale…that’s how far ahead of us they were.   There was some real light southern wind.  At times, we were having a dance Party on the deck.  I might have even Moooooned Swale….I can’t say for sure!

They were ahead.  We were trying hard to catch them and the wind-line we thought we saw on the west shore.  Luckily for us, we got a hold of the wind line and headed towards the mark.  And we were going FAST!  By the time we got to the mark, we could see the whole fleet in out proverbial rear view mirror.  we had given every boat but one time….and now we were up front.  Hell YA!  We still have it.  We can rock out a boat race even hung over.

We round the mark.  We hoist the spinnaker.  We now have a spinnaker in the water.  All of a sudden the wind has DIED!  The fleet is slowly making up ground.  We can almost make out faces on Swale.  We take down the chute…we put up the Ginny.  What do you know, we are moving again.  That was a 180 degree wind shift right at the mark.  WOW.  So we are headed toward the finish when the wind shifts again.  It forces us to change sails once again,  Spinnaker is back up and now we are on a tight reach…but we are hauling ass.

We finish.  In First.  Time to collect our winnings, but first we take the boat back to RCYC and put her up.  Then we head to Flying Saucer.  I love nothing more than a nice cold FREE Guinness…Good Try Swale, Better Luck Next Time.

I read the Race Instructions at least three times, I knew our start time was at 7:05….I JUST KNEW IT.  We were a bit late leaving the dock, but I though we would have plenty of time to get to the start.  We had a hiccup in setting up the boat and it became apparent as soon as we started tacking.  Not a big deal but we did have to hang out for a couple of minutes before heading towards the start.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the other boats starting…I called for the time and it was 7:00…Surely they were just getting ready…when the other boats did not turn around after a minute, I knew something was wrong.  We turned the boat and BOOOKED it for the start…we got there at 7:04:56, crossed at 7:05…and we played catchup for the rest of the night.  The Breeze was good and we did pretty good.  No foul-ups, and plenty of cold beer.  NICE

We finished, put the boat aways and read the Race Instructions for the 7th time…our start was at 7:05…the other boats jumped the GUN!  Can you say WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER?  So what that it was by default.  It is still a Numero UNO!  NICE!

Chris, Dwight, Mandy and Scott were a great crew….I am not sure how we didn’t get any pics….

The first adventure with Speedster came as the Southwest Olson 30 Championship. I was very lucky to have a crew of experienced sailors helping me out that weekend. Brian had actually raced the boat with the previous owner, so he knew what to do…the rest of us pretty much ran around trying to figure out how the boat was rigged. Actually, I sat at the back of the boat and didn’t do SQUAT. I watched and had cold beers. That is what the boat owner is supposed to do, right?

Well, the winds were very light early on, but picked up in the afternoon. Luckily we did get 5 races in that weekend and we ended up on top of the podium. Since I did nothing but bring beer to the crew, all the credit for this race obviously belongs to the crew. Thanks Guys and Gals….

Check out the pics on the Speedster Photo Album…