On a day where forecasts threatened placid conditions and the NFC Championship game threatened a low turn-out of race boats, sailors were treated to a full lake and a filling northerly 15 minutes before the scheduled start gun. This editions RC reverted racing back to 2012 instructions where only one start would be held so the line was notably busier and clear air was at a premium. One thing that never changes, the pin was so demonstrably favored that the ambient temperature was 35 degrees warmer and girls in bikinis were handing out jello shots within its vicinity.
On Cake or Death we had several issues time keeping and had to strategize on the fly. At 1 min out we began running down the line on starboard protecting a hole to tack into. We timed our tack well and crossed near mid line at the gun with clear air and speed until the behemoths who began legging off the pin-end-cluster footed down and into our lane. After being gassed out by the J30 Slingshot we took a prompt clearing tack back to the middle of the lake. A few more hitches and we rounded middle of the pack behind H31 Friday, some Cal 40, and the T-Bird Poco Mas.
We got a bit lost on sail trim fetching the Auroramark failing to keep powered up and allowed several boats over the top of us, including the Ranger 26 Rascal, while we switched spin gear over to gybe set. Our self esteem picked back up when we executed a textbook gybe set on the mark and drawing into clean air well off theWestlake shore, picking off 4 or 5 boats including the T-bird and closing quickly on Friday, sporting new downwind nylon.
Approaching the AGC mark we had closed the distance between us and Friday to a boat length and Rascal was just to leeward. As we doused the kite and readied to turn hard inside the mark we observed Friday struggling with their sails and maneuvering unpredictably creating a large zone of disturbed air to overcome. Beneath us, Rascal was fighting to drop their kite and generally making a mess of their rounding as well. Unable to pinch above the chaos our only fighting option was to tack away and sail underneath a steady source of spinnaker traffic from the boats at the back of the pack. Surprisingly, this hitch paid tremendously well (apparently also used with success by the Santana 525 Full Moon) as the lifted board even with the occasional gas from the flying sails. We tacked off the Westlake docks crossing well ahead of Friday and Rascal, and finished just behind big sister-ship SJ28 Zephyr on our final approach to the line.
It was a satisfying return to Goosebumps racing where we had our struggles but managed to finish strong and smart amid a substantially diverse fleet. Over 40 boats participated (some unfortunately were not checked in, such as Poco Mas), and Cake or Death managed 19th place for the day with plenty of time to make the Seahawks broadcast. Game-day crew included BK on the genoa trim, Nicole and Christine pulling kite strings, Becker drinking all the foredeck beer, Caleb cursing at the top batten, Calvin licking everything clean below decks, and Kyle on the extremely adjustable tiller extension…
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