This has certainly turned into one of the high points for beach cat sailing on the Chesapeake. Closest thing to the C-100 of days gone by.
The pic on the cover is John and John. John Peil has said he thought the picture boat was following them because they were sure they were going to capsize! The John's also have a great pic after the Hammond race back on Sunday, with John Peil's nice face wound. They had an interesting time of it that day...
After slogging out of the West River and dodging an unbelievable amount of crap in the Bay (logs, whole tree trunks, tires on rims, boards, buckets, and a 55 gallon plastic drum floating vertically just below the surface, just to name some of it) we got to the starting area on time, only to flub it by misreading where we were in the counts and heading off to the side to answer nature's call. Result - late to the start two years in a row! We ran the rum line along the marks down the Bay, shifting gears and playing the boat to drive up/head down on the course as needed. By the time we got into the Choptank only the 18HT (singlehand) was in front of us, and of course the Seacart. Upwind in the Choptank was a bit of challenge, and the two PHRF A0 boats that we had easily dispatched out in the Bay became upwind machines that ground us down got back by us, as the wind got a little up and down allowing only occasional trapping. The Seacart was first over the line, then the two A0 boats split by the 18HT, then us. Given that the two A0 boats started 10 minutes before us, and the Seacart started 5 minutes before us, it wasn't too bad of a finish. As the 18HT was singlehanded we corrected over for the win.
The cool thing about finishing up front in this race is that you get to watch the rest of the 100+ boats racing up the Choptank to the finish. Even if I didn't do the race I'd be tempted to drive there just to watch the finish.
Great party as usual at TAYC, and nice to walk the docks and check out the bigger multis, grab some drinks, shoot the breeze.
The Hammond race back the next day had more wind, as it picked up overnight still blowing from the Northeast. The Start of the Hammond is a fun affair, because once again the beach cats start in the back, but the first mark comes just as we start to really run down the bigger boats. A bit of pucker factor as you dodge some of the bigger stuff that may or may not feel like they need to watch the rules when you're around. A lot of wild reaching (spin and jib), a long upwind, then downwind spin run to get to the mouth of the Choptank to drive upwind in the Bay all the Way to the finish near Poplar Island. We had our usual cluster in the Choptank, starting out with our spinsheets getting fouled as went to launch the kite at the start - instant back of the pack at the start again... We were neck and neck with the Johns and Kris turning up the Bay, but we stretched out on that leg (upwind double trapped big waves looking for logs) to get line honors. Kris on his F-16 got us by 19 seconds corrected (about 12 seconds on the water) for the win. Second year in a row for us taking line honors and getting caught by an F-16...
