RACE DAY #2 – SATURDAY 28TH MARCH 2009
Another perfect sailing day here in the Caribbean with 15 knots out of the East North East. The race committee tweaked our handicap a bit as this course was supposed to be more reaching which would favor us so we lost a few minutes to some of our rivals.
We maneuvered for the start just behind Maltese Falcon but misjudged the distance and crossed the line about 20 seconds early. Unfortunately we had a big Perini Navi starting at the same time and he was just down to leeward of us so no room to bear away and kill some time. The rules say that if you are over the line early you get a 5 minute penalty and you are not allowed to turn around and recross the line for safety reasons.
We were soon settled down on the course which was more or less a figure eight through the islands and rocks. They call is the Wiggly Course for good reason and we passed pretty close to the rocks and shore line with swells crashing against them and lots of white water. Good for the photographers!
Gradually we hauled in the boats ahead until we rounded the last mark, Isle Fourche, where we only had three boats ahead of us. We kept a wary eye behind us as the faster boats were closing rapidly but in the end we managed to hold them off and we passed the boats ahead to finish in first place – very exhilarating.
Unfortunately the 5 minute penalty allowed 6 boats to finish within that window so we scored a 7th position overall and 6th in our class. This puts us in 8th position overall after two races.
We are looking forward to the final race tomorrow but fear that our handicap may get hammered after our performance today. We will see.
Until tomorrow. PHil
