An interesting event. There was over an hour before the first start and our start so we pulled into Tiburon and got an ice-cream
That was pretty awesome. We then did the event. It started well. 30 knot winds with the spinnaker up and Elise tracking at 15.5 knots sustained for about 30 minutes. Just fabulous Express 27 sailing with the entire crew at the back of the boat to keep the bow out of the water. The water still kept rushing in over the deck and we were all wet from the spray.
It never blew less than 20 on the way to the bridge and we were the 3rd boat to round there (and already 2nd Express) - on the way back we took a reef as it was blowing near 30 after we rounded the bridge and the swell was nasty in a late ebb. We shook it when the wind dropped to 20-25. We made on tactical mistake forcing us to cross a building flood deep channel twice so dropped quite a bit in the overall ranking despite really good upwind boat speed - and then there was the small matter of missing the finish line (well believing it was somewhere else) and having to turn around to round it - that put the final touch to a fairly poor finish but it was a day I loved! Winds in the 20-30 knot range, spinnaker up all the way to the bridge (sometimes head stay reaching in 20-22 knots) except for a brief moment and night sailing which I love. A real treat.
Elise offered us her hospitality for some of the night - we actually finished before midnight as the wind was so strong the entire time that it was a really fast run.
Wet and cold was probably what most people would describe their state when we got back to the dock.
and happy - it was a GREAT ride.
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