Last night I packed Fionnlagh up on the ASA trailer and sent him off to Kingston (via Halifax). I really felt sad that it would be two weeks before I could sail him again.
Fortunately, Wayne is on call this week and can't sail. He was kind enough to offer me his full-rig. I was pretty excited to see how I would do against the guys in the full rig, but it wasn't to be. Super gusts were rolling through and there were white caps everywhere. Kevin offered me his radial bottom section and I accepted - no sense in sailing horribly overpowered.
Wayne helped me rig and then we went up to make sure race committee had what they needed. By the time I launched, the wind had died down. And it continued to die. Bill sailed by and told me I had the wrong sail! I even thought through how to change it out as quickly as possible - but even that wouldn't be quick. I was stuck with it.
Billowing clouds loomed all around the lake - maybe the wind would be back. And back it was! By the time we started the first race I was glad for the Radial sail again! By the second race I was overpowered with the outhaul, vang, and cunningham cranked. It seemed to me that I wasn't able to get the vang very tight- the lines didn't look as they did on Fionnlagh. Approaching the windward mark, I tacked and my lifejacket was caught on the mainsheet under the boom. I couldn't sheet out fast enough to recover in the heavy wind and over she went. I became convinced that Kevin's bottom section was flawed. He mentioned that he thought the boom was lower on the Radial than on the full-rig. That shouldn't be, but maybe his gooseneck was mounted too low. I righted in a tangle and then flipped right back over. Eventually I got back up - after most people had passed me! I made up ground on the downwind. Lizie's vang was too loose and she was having trouble keeping control. A number of others capsized and I was able to pass them. At the leeward mark I gybed as I rounded. The gybe was late and I was reaching as the sail came across, resulting in another capsize. Lizie yelled encouraging words as she chicken gybed and then roared past. Back up and sheeting in as fast as possible, I knew I had to be good to win this race. I kept the boat flat, sheeting out instead of pinching but being careful not to foot, and tacking on the shifts (and keeping low when doing so!). We still had another lap around 6 and 3. It was close, but I edged her out in the end.
