This was a rare treat. There were light winds at the start but enough to sail. It was my first single handed spinnaker start - as it was ebbing I was very conservative and the last one to cross the line in my division. My competition was Taz so I decided to cover him to the extent that it was possible.
I caught up with Taz! a few minutes after the start - we went too far inside the Bay and found some flood still there. Gybed together and headed out. I sailed right by the South Tower and ended up parked before Mile Rock with the rest of the boats except for the first starts - caught by no wind as the wind was to rotate to NW.
Taz caught up - like all the other boats who caught up until they got to the no wind zone and bobbled up and down with the rest of us. Taz caught the new wind well before I did and started to develop a huge lead on Elise. He set the kite fast and was gone within minutes. I think that the teeny red kite on the left of the picture above is Taz...
As soon as the winds picked up I was gone too, staying high to head out offshore, worried about no wind near Montara. At the beginning of the day, the winds were still light and I was going nowhere fast but still moving nicely. I set the kite as early as I could and kept sailing at a hot angle, headstay reaching. I'd come back down and as soon as the wind dropped or boat speed was below 7.5 knots I'd head back up again, flirting with an invisible performance line.
Wearing shorts - and for most of the race a T Shirt I was a happy sailor with good conditions and a perfect day to welcome me back to the world of single handed racing.
Most of the day was reaching in 12 to 15 knots of wind. I focused on boat speed because I had only one goal in mind: catching up with Taz. I played the main a lot as it really gave a boost to boat speed and focused on the speedo and boat feel.
I finally caught up with Taz and invited a match race down to the finish, staying with him for a while off Pillar Point. By then the wind had really started to pick up and was oscillating between 17 and 20 knots. Taz didn't seem to want to gybe even though we were slowly sailing past layline so I didn't wait and gybed over.
Crap, a tiny little twist right at the top of the spinnaker around the forestay. Not a problem sailing but could become a problem taking the sail down. So I gybed the main back and the twist went away. Yet another spinnaker wrap I could get rid off by simply gybing back. Phew.
Off I went. Now surfing at 10+ knots and having the time of my life. Winds gusting to 22 or so knots gave Elise a fabulous little push and she was just loving it. Easy to steer and just taking off in the gusts and waves, her usual self.
Pumpkin wanting some love the evening before the race (like every evening really...)
Dawn of the race - stunningly clear day
As I got to the first green marker, heading up when the wind would be down to 17 knots and down with the gusts up to 22, I dropped the kite as the next mark which was the finish line was basically on a really really tight reach, nearly upwind from where I was and I couldn't carry the kite there.
I hadn't run my spinnaker halyard back to the cockpit so I had to do a douse standing near the mast which actually worked just fine, the spinnaker didn't even touch the water.
I finished under main only and docked under sail - a fishing boat fouled me so I fouled Erye on a last minute tack inside the channel. We all recovered so no harm no foul but still.
I spent several minutes watching a whale right by the entrance to the channel. It was mesmerizing.
Elise and Doomsday did well in the race
