We caught up to the other Expresses though. A lot of them went a little South and we stayed North. Initially there was still some ebbing current which pushed us along nicely but it very quickly turn to a flood. We were happy with our choice of #1 given the light winds, and getting lighter and lighter...and lighter...and lighter...
We spent hours trying to go past the point, waving at friends as we were drifting past them. And again. And again. And again as we were periodically crossing the same boats' path...
After we finally managed to creep around the poin, still fighting a flood, we could only head North, to Point Reyes, because the minute we tried to tack to lay the island, we would get no wind. At 2PM, we did the math and realized that we would not finish the race before midnight...
And the buoy observations (Lightship) were still quoting 10 knots, so it looked like there wouldn't be a lot of wind for quite a while.
Turns out that after a big gap (1/3 of the way to the island), there was plenty of wind...how frustrating.
We were so much looking forward to the downwind leg. After mucho excitment during the Pac Cup surfing waves, zooming along under spinnaker, we take very possible opportunity to get but a glimpse of this!
Still - we were fortunate not to have any damage or drama. Remember, the sea can do anything it wants with your boat. Be humble and respectful and above all, prepared. This is what saved these two sailors' lives, and mine after XL got his by a whale.
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