”We’re making progress and tomorrow will be better”, I wrote yesterday. Heh. Tomorrow was today, and it was windier (20+ knots) and stormier, a strong ebb tide across the strong wind made for survival conditions. There were two epic races and this day will enter the annals of 505 and indeed regatta history.
Wow. I know *exactly* how that feels 😮
What a beautiful shot … this truly captures the magic of this setting and regatta.
Mark roundings are pretty exciting if you get there with other boats. You don’t want to hit anyone at those speeds (10+ knots).
Yep cruising at 12-15 downwind *against* an ebbing tide. Whee!
Yikes! That pretty much sums up the day, including the fact that you can’t see the hulls because of the waves.
Not pictured: the noise! You can’t believe how loud wind in the 20+ range can be. It makes it hard to think 😳
Good friend Dave Edwards sadly lost his mast in the washing machine. There were four broken masts, ten+ boats which broke down (at least two were towed in), and as I heard about 25 boats didn’t finish the last race, nearly half the fleet.
So how did we do? Well … we survived. I can’t actually say we “made progress”, because it felt like the goal was just to get around the course intact, never mind racing other boats. All of the things we’ve done are working out: new sails, new rudder (excellent handling), new maincleat (makes a big difference), board controls (essential in breeze), and LBNL the spitters (so so nice not to have the launcher lines hanging below the boom like a noose).
We did break our vang – apparently even Dyneema line has a breaking point – but that can easily be repaired tomorrow morning.
For now it is time to relax, recover, and reload.
San Fran Five-Oh 