Today was a wash Damon, other than the still that Eric fashioned, but
more on that later.
We took the signal boat out at 9:30 (it’s a 45 foot Leopard cruising
cat by the way, rough detail you know…) and were met with shifty wind
directions and variable speeds. The wind was clocking back and forth
between 210 degrees all the way to 300 degrees. At “A” mark the wind
was measured at 17-20 knots 1.4 nautical miles away from us, and at the
signal boat we sat in 0-2. The question wasn’t if we were going to get
some wind – it was how much and from which direction.
The race officials decided to set the course and they set it in the
right direction, and that’s when we saw the wall of wind coming at us.
It was a repeat of yesterday, but with swells at the up wind mark being
measured in the 8-10 foot range. After yesterdays carnage a cautious
race official decided to call the race for the time being and send the
competitors back to the beach. I think the coast guard cutter anchored
to the north of us may have influenced the decision also.
We waited out in the channel for a few hours to see if the wind would
subside to a manageable level for racing but it never did. We motored
back to the harbor to wait it out, but the wind and waves never did let
up and racing was called for the day.
An informal and unscientific poll taken by yours truly revealed that
about a quarter of the fleet would have liked to race today but the
rest were content to wait it out. I think today gave quite a few teams
time to repair bodies as well as boats. There were a few main sails
that blew out yesterday; with one team driving theirs to Ventura to
Morelli’s to be repaired. The sail was fixed as the competitor waited
and they were back on the water this morning. What great service.
Others weren’t so lucky with one team’s sail looking like Wiley Coyote
had blasted through it in a deranged Hobie Cat / Road Runner cartoon.
The wind is supposed to diminish somewhat tomorrow so hopefully we’ll
get some races off. Time is running out on this competition and we need
three for a regatta, and I am sure the fleet would like four so they
can all throw out that first race. The fleet has been divided up into
four groups with races being run in two flights of about 45 boats each.
Rumor on the street says they might all be run together for the next
two days so we get some results in. It will make for a very interesting
line with 90 plus Tigers on it – should be very exciting!
We are completely out of money and booze Damon. We tried pan handling
but got busted by the police. The dog bit me and I required 10
stitches. The doctor bill is in the mail. Eric came up with a brilliant
idea to take the coil out of the condenser of the refrigerator of the
motor home and fashion up a still. Corn is cheap here now, the shine is
a little rough on the throat but you get used to it pretty quick. Some
of the French team came over and we made a few bucks selling a few
quarts but they paid us in Euros and as you know the exchange rate
isn’t so good right now. I’m starting to get worried how we will get
home, the plane tickets are on their way, right?