The day begins at 05:45. Yes, I know the race doesn't start until 09:30 and it doesn't take me THAT long to get rigged but I have no choice in this matter. My knees hurt. My fingers hurt. Something aches every time I move. The last thing I feel like doing today is sailing. But sail I must. Clearly sleeping all day isn't going to be any fun.
Based on the standings yesterday, I only need to beat Michael Leitch in 4 races today to not be last. I beat him twice yesterday. I beat him once because he capsized before the start and couldn't get his international canoe up again. The second time I beat him, he was actually in the race. To the uneducated observer, it would appear that he beat me; however, in X-class, times are corrected based on a handicapp system to account for the expected performance of the different boats in the wind conditions for that race.
The forecast is for winds at 20 km/h, dropping in the afternoon. It sounds so innocent. Some might imagine a steady wind from the west at the ideal velocity. Translate that forecast to Glenmore Reservoir and you have winds anywhere between zero and thirty kilometers per hour with persistently inconsistent shifts, mostly from the W-NW with the exception of certain spots on the lake where the wind will come from the E-SE. In fact, the winds on Glenmore are so fickle that they actually stop for an early lunch on sunny days and by the time the sailors have paddled in to the dock for their lunch, the winds are on the way back out.
I was hoping for lighter winds than forecast and it seemed to be picking up as we waited for the other classes to start. I got off an okay start this time, sailing slowly along the line and then heading up seconds before the gun. Of course, this meant that I wasn't quite at max speed over the line and I ended up leeward of the others. The wind was dropping. I sat with most of my weight forward of the cockpit, eased the main to gain some power, kept a bit of vang on to bend the mast, made sure the cunningham was off, and eased the outhaul (but not too much). I kept to the middle of the lake where the wind was usually strongest. I was losing ground on the tacks as the other radials were roll-tacking smoothly and I was making clumsy attempts at it. I gained some ground after rounding the windward mark. After rounding number 6 I set a wide course for the windward mark, noting that it was in the wind shadow of the shore and a sharp turn could stop me dead. I gained on the others approaching the mark as they lost speed before rounding. The wind was shifting and dying.
Race Results (Regattas 2006, Driftwood, X-Class)
Regatta Photos
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