SYSCO Twilight Summer Series, Race 4, August 18, 2016

Nice wind that night. Crew was Bill O. and David H. David was new to the boat, but experienced crew. Bill and he worked well together. We had a few ragged tacks but for the most part they did well. The course was #10, C-2-X-C.

We did as I wanted and did not get far away from the start line. We ran it twice to get an idea of how the boat went and to figure how the wind would be. We let out only about 50 per cent of the head sail. That balanced the boat quite well for the wind conditions at the start. We started about 15 seconds late, but was first across the starting line. Blew Streak (BS) was second with La Dolce Vita (LDV) way back. We were second around the windward mark right behind BS. We tacked to port right after the start and tried to keep in the channel for the current boost. The track shows I tacked soon, but I was worried by the northing of the wind and the shadow of the buildings on shore. So I tacked soon, but kept us in the channel. We were second around the windward mark. We set the whisker pole to port. and kept up with BS. LDV and the rest of the fleet was well behind us. We rounded the leeward mark with BS and followed her to the finish line.

One thing I am thinking of at the Friday morning quarterbacking is that instead of following BS to the finish line, we could have gambled and tacked at the same time she did and maybe would have gained a little on her. But that is moot, now.