Thursday race was on Emanuel. Something about that boat that gets to me. This is the second time I crewed on her and the second time I either fell or got hurt. It happens after the racing while we are getting back to the marina. This time the wind was up and the heal of the boat go me off balance and I fell in the cockpit. Hit my knees. Got a bruise, but I get bruises easily since I am taking aspirin and plavix.

The race had an interesting start. The start line was wider than the finish line, but not by much. There were 12 boats starting in our class and they all bunched up at the mark end of the start line. One boat had to have is way and caused one boat to do a 360 to avoid a colision. Either that same boat or another got the mark tangled in between her rudder and keel and was immobile for quite a few minutes. We had started our run quite late and was not in the bunch of boats, which made both the skipper and her husband quite happy. We managed to come in third, again. The fleet seems to have sorted itself out. Steve on Dew Drop Inn kept trying to blanket our wind, but we managed to stay out of his dirty air for quite some time. Then we pulled ahead of him after the second mark.

About the boat bumping two weeks ago, I heard that one boat got a mangled bow pulpit out of the encounter. Racing can be fun and expensive.

This Thursday racing was a bust. I got caught in a meeting until 5:15 and had left my cell phone home so could not contact anyone (because their numbers are in the cell phone.) The trip to the marina normally takes 1 hour and since it was an hour later, probably add an additional 1/2 hour. That would put me there at 6:45. Start time for our division is 6:50. So, I drove home. Next week. . . .

This Thursday I switched boats because Scott of La Dolce Vida was out of town. Something about not trusting his crew to race his boat for him made me go over to my other neighbor who also races. Scott and Penny graciously let me crew for them. The race was in light airs and we did not finish last, which means it was a good race.

There was couple of incidents after the race that made the evening abnormal. After the race we were congratulating each other on staying aboard and not finishing last, when the skipper turned the boat back toward the marina. I was standing on the port cockpit seat when the boom. Remember the boom? Well it did what all booms do when you swing into the wind. It swung. Hit me right up by my left eye. Everything would have been cool except I wear glasses. The boom pushed the edge of the lense into the distal part of my left eye leaving a small gash. I am taking aspirin and when I bleed, I bleed profusely. It looked a lot worse than it really was. The skipper got all upset and had to get her first aid kit. She was so happy she could use it. We stemmed the bleeding. While she was doing this, she handed the wheel over to an inexperienced crew member who was diligently watching the depth meter and continuing on the course she was given. The sun in her eyes did not allow her to see the coffer dam at the east end of Hayden Island. Just a hundred yard off the dam, Scott noticed we were heading for it. He ran back to the wheel and spun us around gunning the little diesel so we cleared the dam just fine.

Meanwhile, the injured sat with ice on the eye and a bandaid on the wound and did not have to put away the boat. Kind of nice. Then they even fed me after the race. As I say: "It just doesn't get any better than this."

Finally got a good start on Thursday's race. We nailed it. We were the first boat over the line after the horn. We made it second to the first mark. Then the reach to the second mark. All the boats in our class were behind us. The wind was coming out of the southwest at about 10 to 15 knots. I was trimming the head sail. We were scooting along doing just fine. Then I trimmed the head sail for more power. About that time a gust hit us. The main sail handler did not let it go fast enough and we rounded up. This let the rest of the boats catch us. We all rounded the mark about the same time. We continued the the third mark, the starting line bouy. Instead of rounding tightly like the rest of the fleet, we continued downstream, as the forth mark had not come abeam even though we were already close hauled. We figured to continue on this tack and only have to do one tack to the mark while those that had rounded the mark tightly would have to do two. We made it to the mark first in our class again, only to be becalmed at the mark about two boat lengths away from the mark. The next 10 minutes we lost ground and gained it but never quit making the mark. We were in the wind shadow of the trees at the end of Tomahawk Island. By the time we rounded the mark, we were the last boat. So this year it is either a good start or a good finish, not both. At least we have something to work for. All we have to do now is to have both a good start and a good finish.