RC=Nick
A wild day tested the fleet’s mettle but wasn’t enough to scare anyone off for the first annual May Flower race commemorating Andrea Mrotz. With 10 or 11 boats participating in each of the three races, the starts were raucous and the roundings tense. Marcel and David knocked off some of the winter cobwebs with spectacular capsizes in the first race, but after that it was game on with the race committee calling two reaching courses that saw the entire fleet planing across the Strait. Battling the flood back upwind took everyone longer than expected since current relief was hard to come by on the more western course at the foot of First St. and the skippers were reluctant to risk the rocky bottom to escape the dying flood.
The courses were set long without a clear advantage to either side giving skippers lots of strategic options. Positions were swapped many times on the upwind legs and downwind saw the fleet compress at the each mark. With winds gusting up into the mid 20s, gybes were not taken for granted and pulses were pounding.
Many thanks to the Sutters for bringing a second crash boat which was put to good use early one. Kurt got some excellent shots that he will hopefully share with the fleet.
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