Summer Camp for Adults

Well, we had our best Race Week ever! This was our third time around with basically the same crew, and we're finally getting our act together, more or less. The first year we raced, the only awards we won were for innovative sailing techniques (like crossing the upwind finish line with our spinnaker still flying) and for finishing DFL (you figure it out!). Last year we improved a bit. We weren't DFL, but we were awfully close. This year, thanks to the ninth boat in our class not showing up, and a new competitor from Kirkland, we were two full places away from the bottom. I had always thought that if we could put together a few races without major errors, we could end up in the bottom middle of the class. This year most of the races were completed without major incident, but in this recessionary year, most of our competitors were the hardcore types, and we were badly out-classed. Those guys are good!

Monday's races were cancelled due to lack of wind, and we ended up tied for first place, but unfortunately also last. The winds returned on Tuesday, and from then on, we had three races a day! Tuesday was disappointing for us because we completed three races without a major screw-up, and we still ended up next to last. Our saving grace throughout the week was Sea-Duced the new boat from Kirland. Sea-Duced is a boat owned and crewed by a bunch of Microsoft friends of our skipper Mike. They have a fast boat, but have only been racing for a year, so they've got a lot to learn. I guess it goes to show you that you don't have to be smart to be good. I'm sure the Microsoft boat beat everyone in the cumulative IQ department, but they never got out of last place. We had a thrill on Thursday when the posted results showed that we'd actually placed fourth in a race! Alas, those preliminary results didn't make it to the final results. We finished 7th out of nine in every race.

We had lots of fun and excitement throughout the week. At this level of racing, the skippers are very aggressive and competitive. The starts and mark roundings are the wildest. I don't know if I could ever be a racing skipper. I don't know if I have the cojones. These are big boats, going full speed, literally inches apart. At the starts and turns there are all sorts of maneuvers to cut off your competitors. The skipper has to know the rules inside-out and needs nerves (and other body parts) made of steel. We witnessed several collisions, including one where a boat trying to cut into the starting line was cut off and ending up ramming the committee boat. No major damage was done, but the next day the committee boat showed up covered in caution tape. During one race later in the week, we clipped a boat rounding a mark, but again, no major damage was done, we did our two penalty circles and carried on.

Megan came up for the last day of races and took a bunch of great pictures. You can see them here and here.