This was a fun race for me and the main goal was to try a new autopilot and feel my way around the boat single-handed, as this is a new learning racing style for me.
Elise is waiting for me at the dock in the morning, with a big smile on her face. We are going out today. Nice foggy morning in the San Francisco Marina.
Leaving the dock in a 4-5 knot breeze, enough to sail to the start. The forecast is for 20+ knots in the afternoon. Should be a fantastic day on the Bay.
It was flooding to I opted for a fairly westerly course - by TI, I noticed adverse currents - and the well known 'Alcatraz cone' which extends out quite a bit in a very heavy flood. It was great to see the currents on my way to the start as it influenced my strategy for the race.
During that part of the day, I wanted to try Brian, Elise's new autopilot named for its creator. I hosted the main and I set up a genoa and started going at a nice clip toward the start line.
Brian was very opinionated. Even though I didn't tell him so, he decided to turn the boat. After waiting for a couple of thinking, it would just go for a hard turn. I since talked to Brian and it looks like I had an older version of the software.
The 'stop me now' button worked fine and I or the NKE autopilot would take over.
I used NKE with a gain of 1 to head to the start line and was fine.
I found myself fighting the ebb coming out of San Pablo bay (when it floods the rest of the way) and the wind dropped to 1 knot so I had to get the engine going.
I had to refuse a tow to some old woodies as I was already late to the start.
I started 10 minutes after my division start time! Ooops!
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