Just got back from the Carlisle Classic at: http:/
Gorgeous weather, great venue. Small turnout for the Cat fleet. Nine boats total, 2 Blades.
Tback was 2-up with Tina Pastoor providing brains and beauty. Tina is a great crew and has experience on a number of boats. I was Uni (no brains or beauty). As it turned out, we had our own match race within the fleet and it was great fun!! Tina and Terry swithched off duties with Tina driving (I think) three of the five races. We each
won
at least one race and sometimes it was close and exciting. The third race was probably the best. Very close on the first upwind; some bow to transom spinnaker work with several lead changes the first time down; and close again until they finally wore me out at the second A mark and pulled away on the downwind.
As I said, the weather was great! Not everyone will agree, however. The last race was bizarre! The strangest weather I've ever seen. Flukey was an understatement. I made a clever guess at the start and pulled well away. . . until 100 yards of the A mark. Then I feel into the
Twilight Zone
it just shouldn't be possible for the wind to shift that much! Swirling, back and forth, clockwise, counter-clockwise. All at an astounding 1 knot and sometimes much less. Suffice it to say they caught me and the race was back on! It was fairly straight forward downwind: they would get a puff and pull ahead, I would get a puff and pull ahead. It was virtually a dead heat at C mark. I was able to get the weather side and again pulled away, only to drop back into the
Twilight Zone
as they steadily crept up. And now, a side note, the bigger boats had gotten away from us and began finishing while we were still struggling downwind. That only gave us 45 minutes! After an eternity of floundering I was able to sneak around the second A mark and get back to the finish with 2 minutes still on the clock. T & T didn't think I had a prayer so they watched me race the clock and drew a dnf. I think Terry said they sailed three complete circles without touching the tiller or the sheets; the wind was that strange.
But, I guess you had to be there. <img src=
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Pete took hardware, Tina and I didn't .... 'nough said <img src=
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Now that you mention it, that's gotta rankle the people who literally, beat me by a mile!
I spoke with Clark briefly and I think next years trophy structure will be portsmouth with divisions for Spinnaker, non-spinnaker and overall portstmouth.
In any case, Carlisle is on my
must
list. It was worth my time and money just to watch the Access Dingy kids get their trophies.
btw- how good was the sail back in from the course? It doesn't get any better!
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