As found on the Florida sailor forum.
Here is a copy paste of what was written there :
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Yep,
We got about a years worth of sailing (for us) in the last two weekends. Had a great time - met some nice people and realy had fun racing.
Taipan Nationals were in GulfPort near Tampa. Gulfport Yacht Club is a cool club on Boca Ciego Bay (or something like that) Cats pay something like $400-500 to be a member and keep their boat on the trailer year round. They have a rigging yard and it is a killer place. The wind was pretty fluky when we were there - but that happens everywhere.
Eight Taipans sailing sloop. We had good boat speed against everyone and if I could have hit less holes we would have been right up there. Holes and going downwind. Jennifer who has sailed Sunfish for 20 years or so kept working me downwind. By the second day I was atleast keeping up - but you couldn't rest a second. Anyways a nice group of people and very nice to race 1 design for a change. They have a couple other people thinking about buy a 4.9 and also say they will head to the east coast for a couple of races - so hopefully this will be the start of a trend.
The next weekend we added the spin and sailed F16hp down at Ricks. The first day was fluky as all get out again - but there was wind so that was okay. This was the first buoy race Mavis and I had done with the spin and if it was up to me, we would probably run spin all the time (except for set up time). Not only do you not have to worry about barberhaulers and the like but going upwind becomes the long part of the race - what a difference. Was really surprised how manageable everything was even when it was blowing - the boat definitely had some lift on the bows - I think it was easier to sail with the Spin than just main and jib. Of course I had lots of problems with sets and takedown - my bottom patch ended up getting stuck in the top patch - chute wouldn't go up or down. Midway through what ended up being the last day of racing (for the 16s) My jib halyard broke and the jib came down. That happened in the middle of the 5th race of the day so I figured I wouldn't be able to repair it and get back out there for the last race. Ended up they had 7 races that day (Rick really likes to keep them going) so we dropped from the lead. But we had a great time - Mavis did an awesome job - I sent her around the horn twice once driving the hauls down when bearing off fast with the spin loaded up and then getting caught on a crab pot. Both times she came back strong and ready to go.
I'm ready to go again this weekend! But think I had better get back to reality for a while and do some of the chores that have been piling up.
Chuck
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