Well, I had to face the hard truth this past weekend...my cat is not a racer!

A local sailing club, Southwest Idaho Sailing Association (SISA), meets every other weekend for two days of informal racing. I've crewed several times on other people's boats, but this was the first time actually sailing my own boat. They had two starts, open catamarans and open multihulls. I finished dead last every time...I mean DEAD LAST! I trailed even the MacGregor 26's and Catalina 22's! I couldn't believe how much faster the other cats were. They were Hobie's, I guess 16's. I couldn't point near as close to the wind as they, and they had much more speed.

No one hooted and howled at me, and I gradually got over being so self-conscious about my slow going. It actually was good practice for me, learning at what point I should tack to make the next mark, coping with light winds, and learning a little bit about start strategy.

It turns out that the other cats have daggerboards...I didn't know that. I guess they make a huge difference in pointing. Plus, I noticed my hulls are much more "squattier" than the others.

You can tell that I haven't been around too many other cats. Anyway, I'm not sure I'll race again, but I'm glad for the experience. I'll poke around with my gentle Venture Cat this year and maybe next year I'll be able to add a race horse to the stable.

Anyone else learning that their boat is not really cut out for racing?

Also, here's a picture of one of the sunsets. I thought it turned out pretty nice.