Hitchcock Regatta - 8/16/8

Team Superstition competed in the Hitchcock Regatta on Saturday, August 16th. For races in Hingham Bay, the Mass Bay A and B Fleets are combined, and scored together for the event but separately in terms of the Mass Bay Championship. So while Superstition was in the nine-boat A Fleet, we would really be racing against the six other B Fleet boats for the 91.2 points for Mass Bay. Yes, a pickle dish for first place in the regatta would be nice, but the points are the thing!

Sponsored by the Hingham Yacht Club, this regatta features one race using government marks, and is usually 12 to 20 nautical miles, depending upon wind conditions. This year, those conditions were VERY light, with perhaps four knots of breeze at the start. We got out to the course area early, so we could tune up with our Light #1 (which we rarely use) and figure out what spinnaker we would be using. During the tune-up, we found more pressure closer to the harbor islands than the shore, and filed that bit of knowledge away for the race.

As the race time of noon approached, we checked in with the committee boat, and found our posted course was "32-O-S". This meant we would be sailing a triangle course, leaving all marks to starboard. The start line was between the RC and the G3 at Allerton Point (which is the Hingham Bay 13 mark). We would then beat upwind to Hingham Bay 32, which is the Green and Red ATON off Hospital Shoals. Leaving that mark to starboard (as we would all of them) we would then have a reach (more or less) out to Mass Bay Mark O, which is the R2 at Three and One-Half Fathoms Ledge. We would then head down to Mass Bay S (G1 QG Thieves Ledge Whistle), before completing the course by returning to the start/finish at Allerton Point.

By the time we had the course plugged into the chart plotter, we found the sequence was just beginning, and Superstition was VERY far away from the line with VERY little breeze. We popped the Genoa out, but by the time the gun went off we were still about a minute away from the line. No problem though, as the fleet all headed over towards the shore to the left we wanted to get right, over to the islands where we had seen more pressure. So we let the fleet all start on starboard, and as soon as we could tack we went over to port and headed right.

This paid out very well, and in the 4-5 knots of true we found ourselves making out very well on the other eight boats in our fleet. By half way up the leg we had only Scherherazade ahead of us, and we were gaining on them. Then...

...the breeze just shut off. I mean NOTHING. Boat speed plummeted from the previous high of about 4.2 knots to less than 1 knot through the water. Luckily the current was still flooding, so Superstition was being pushed towards the mark. But in a few minutes we were supposed to go slack, and then the ebbing tide would push us AWAY from the first mark.

For the next hour or so, little 2 knot puffs would come along, and we would ghost along in the apparent that was left over. As we came abeam of the mark, we had a little bit of boat speed from one of these puffs, so we tacked over, figuring that at least we would be heading towards the mark. Scherherazade headed far into the left corner, so they would have a great angle coming into the mark, if they could tack over. We headed towards the mark, figuring that we were not on the layline, but once we got over there we could tack on to the starboard layline and as there seemed to be a little bit of wind over there we would be in good shape.

Well, once we got over to the mark we tacked to starboard on the layline, about 4 boat lengths from the mark. Scherherazade came in on the port layline and left the mark to starboard and hoisting their kite. Once we were well above the port layline, we tacked over to port and headed towards the mark at about 1 knot through the water. All was looking good, but about a half boat length away from the mark a powerboat came by and killed out speed. With the ebbing currant now pulling us towards the mark, things were not looking good. We were about halfway past the mark when it became obvious were were going to touch. Kevin asked my what my plan was here, and I said my plan was to  "FEND." So the crew gave the mark a little shove as it passed our transom, so we would not put a ding in the boat.

Well, now that we had touched the mark, we had to do a 360, but as we had 0.00 knots of boat speed, I was not sure how we would do that. There were a couple of boats below us trying to get to the mark, so we could not gybe. So, I put the helm over hard to the left, and started to turn the boat to tack. Somehow the rudder caught the current and the boat began to spin, first tacking and then gybing until we came back to our original course.

Still going 0.00 through the water (but about 1.2 knots over ground towards the next mark due to the currant) we put up the reacher spinnaker, and Jim started to try to work his magic to get it filled and drawing us forward. There was some breeze over to our right, so I worked the helm to get her headed in that direction. Eventually we got a little puff and started to move, and were  actually starting  to close the gap on Scherherazade. However, at that moment, the breeze once again shut off, and looking ahead of us we could see why. About a half-mile ahead you could see the sea breeze filling in, and we were in the dead zone, between the land and the sea breeze. So I just pointed to bow at the next mark, and let the currant push us in that direction as we waited for the breeze to fill in. We pulled down the kite and got the Genoa ready for the new wind direction. We then say Scherherazade take off as they got the new breeze, and about 4-5 minute later, it got to us, and off we went. Next thing you know, we are close-reaching in about 12-14 knots of breeze at about 7.5 knots. Nice!!!

Well, as it was now about 3:30 PM, we figured the course was going to be shortened, and sure enough we could see the RC out on station at 3 and 1/2 Fathoms Ledge. We saw Scherherazade cross the finish line, and about six and a half minute later, Superstition did the same. We were not close enough to beat the (about 2 minutes behind on corrected) but we were the first of the Mass Bay B Fleet boats to finish, so we knew would would get a first place in the Championship scoring!

Once we finished, we gybed over, set the kite and flew it almost all the way home. A nice job was done by all on Team Superstition to keep their heads in the race, even through the hour or so of "drifting".

Flip Flop Regatta - 8/9/8

On Saturday, August 9, Superstition competed in the 6th annual Flip Flop Regatta, held just outside of Boston Harbor in Broad Sound. This is a benefit regatta for The Ally Foundation, founded in the memory of Alexandra Zapp. The ALLY Foundation's mission is to prevent opportunities for violent sex offenses, to educate the public and advocate for necessary changes in culture, attitude and policy. This is the fifth year Superstition has competed, and this race is very near and dear to our hearts. This was the third race we ever entered with Superstition back in 2004. It was also the first race we won, taking home a very nice Chelsea clock for winning Class B that first year.

For 2008, there were a total of 71 boats entered, split across three spinnaker divisions and three cruising divisions. As an added incentive, the first spinnaker boat and the first cruising boat to finish, regardless of their Class, would receive custom gear from Atlantis Weather Gear, which was being donated by Vineyard Vines.

The Flip Flop is a pursuit race, starting just outside of the North Channel off of Winthrop, and then following one of two possible courses around government marks in Broad Sound. If the breeze holds the race finishes deep in Boston Harbor, off the Courageous Sailing Center pier in Charlestown. If not, it can be shortened at one of several “gates” built into the course. The first boat to start at 12:05 PM would be Cassiopeia, Evan McCormick’s Islander Bahama 30 with a PHRF of 210. The last boat would start about an hour later, an enormous Maxi 80 called Nirvana with a PHRF of -72.

This year the fleet splits were a bit different than in past years, and Superstition found herself bumped up from Class B (where we were the fastest boat last year) to Class A, where we were just about the slowest boat. Along with having to contend with a couple of other J/109s, Heatwave and Undaunted, we would also have our hands filled with boats with pretty long waterlines.

While the day was clear, sunny and warm, there was not very much breeze at all as the clock approached the noon hour when the first boat would start. We headed out to the course area early, tuning up the rig for the light conditions forecast (6-8 knots) and sailing the different angles that would take us from mark to mark over the 16 mile course. With different marks left to port or starboard, and a variety of upwind, downwind and reaching angles, it is vital to be able to plan out which sails you will need for which leg, and to work out your drops, hoists and spinnaker changes before the race starts. The breeze was quite different than forecast, as the very light gradient had been replaced with a building sea breeze, which was coming initially from the SSW. Even during our tuning we could see it was slowly backing, and would likely be going left all day.

So our plan was this: with our start time of 12:43:36 we would head for the line on starboard tack with just the mainsail with about 30 seconds to go and hoist the “reacher” spinnaker, a special sail our local Doyle guy Chris Howe’s came up with for us that let’s us sail VERY close angles to the wind. The first short leg would have the wind right off our beam, and that mark would be left to starboard. We would come into the mark on port, and do a reverse Mexican, so the kite was set up to be hoisted from the starboard side of the boat at the third mark. We would then sail on a very close reach to the second mark (to be left to starboard), and then beat upwind to the third mark, which was also to be left to starboard. With the spinnaker set up on the starboard side we could do a starboard bearaway without needing to re-rig the spinnaker. We would then work downwind to the fourth mark, which was to be left to port, and if the wind had in fact gone a little more to the left we could likely hold the kite on a very tight angle all the way down to the R4 mark for President’s Road. From there, if the wind held it would be a run dead downwind into Boston Harbor towards the finish, so we would need to do a spinnaker peel and change from our “reacher” to our “runner” for the final leg.

Well, the wind had come up to at least 6 knots as we got underway, and made out way to the first mark. Coming in hot on the heels of Heatwave we executed our reverse Mexican, and with Karen K. and Meredith guiding the spinnaker down below Dina, Kyrre trimmed in the Genoa and we started picking off boats on the second leg. At times we went into point mode to get up above a boat to pass them to windward, and other times when a boat was pointing really well (like the J105 It Wasn’t Me) we put the bow down, footed and passed to leeward. At the second mark we took a look at the water ahead, and as there seemed to be more breeze to the left, away from The Graves, we carried on starboard tack. About halfway up the leg we tacked over to cross a number of boats and consolidate our position. With the breeze still looking better to the left though, we tacked over and headed left again.

We had sent the breeze go about 10 degrees to the left, and as we thought it might go even further, we decided to tack for the mark about 20 boat lengths short of the layline. This worked out pretty well when the breeze ticked another 5 degrees to the left and lifted us right into the mark. Leaving the nun at 3 ½ Fathoms Ledge to starboard, we did a reverse bearaway set and started working back downwind to The Graves. The breeze had gone very soft, with maybe 4 knots true, so we heated our angles WAY up to generate some apparent breeze to work with. This allowed us to pass a number of the symmetrical spinnaker boats to windward, as we gybed back and forth towards the next mark.

As we approached G5 at The Graves, we gybed over to port and started to head up by about 30 degrees to make the next mark. The boat took off like a rocket, as the apparent wind angle moved WAY forward. Kathryn handed me the mainsheet to trim while she slid over and cranked the tack line all the way down, and with Karen S. grinding the spinnaker when needed, Big Jim started playing that chute for every tenth of a knot he could get. As out boatspeed built to over 7 knots (we were in about 8-9 knots true) our Navigator/Beveragemaster Mike said to Jim that “he bet him we couldn’t get the boat going over 8 knots.” As we watched the knotmeter work it’s way from 7.7, to 7.8 to 7.9 and eventually 8 knots and byond, a cheer went up from the crew, and Jim and won his first free drink of the night. The bet then moved to 8.5 knots, which we exceeded about 5 minutes later: another free drink for Jim.

As we passed the R10 QR mark in the South Channel, we headed down for the 3.5 mile leg to the R4 mark in President’s Road, and the boat speed came down a bit as the apparent moved aft. We were just about to discuss our “peel” at the next mark, when the call came over the radio. The course would be shortened (the breeze had shut off up by the next mark for the last 10 minutes or so) and we would be finishing at the next mark. With only a couple of boats left in front of us, and everyone else pretty well behind, we quickly realized that if we could keep this boat going, we had a great chance not only to win Class A, but also to get some great new Atlantis Weather Gear for the whole crew, hopefully in “Superstition Red.” So we continued to work hard, keeping the boat going fast and in the right direction.

It was at that point that Mike (in his navigator, not drinkmaster role) made the call of the day. He looked out at the mile of course left in front of us, and could see how Spectacle Island was blanketing the wind from the left side. It also looked like there was more breeze that was kicking up from the right. So even though we were only 20 degrees off the mark on port tack, he called for a gybe on to starboard. We gybed over, and found that not only was the pressure better, but the wind was going left in a big way, as the land breeze was now winning out over the sea breeze. In the next minute or so we were headed by a good 80 degrees, and now were pointed right at the finish gate. And while both the J80 Artemis (which won in Class B) and the RJ DiMattia’s Pearson Flyer Wharf Rat (which won Class C) were ahead of us by about a minute or so, we knew that with the shortened course that we were likely to correct over them for the overall win…if we could just make it to the line. A little lift at the end necessitated a gybe back to port, but we finished just a minute or so after the Pearson and 30 seconds after the J80, put us ahead of both boats.

Now all we had to do was sweat it out, and see if any of the faster boats behind us would correct out. We could see the big white chute of the Farr 40 Shout charging down the course, and as no one got a split time when we finished, we were not sure if they finished within the window of time we owed them. It wasn’t until at the party that night when they finally posted the results that we saw they were about five and a half minutes behind, and we had the win!

A great job was done by all the crew that day, with outstanding boat handling and really amazing boat speed. The J/109 performs very well on those odd angles, but you have to a crew that knows how to get every last ounce of speed out of her. That win not only got us a nice, new Chelsea clock and some great Atlantis Jackets, but also netted us 21 points in the Mass Bay Pursuit Race Series, giving us a 2 point lead over Lance Riley’s Elliott 770 Rockit. Jim collected his free drinks from Mike at the party (although with an open bar it turns out ALL the drinks are free), and a good time was had by all.

We are already looking forward to the 2009 Flip Flop Regatta!

For all results see http://flipflopregatta.com/PDF/FFR2008Final

Patton Bowl - 6/21/8

A most excellent day of racing Saturday at the Patton Bowl, as Team Superstition took a bullet in each of the two races, for a convincing victory over a field of tough competitors. The team was able to recover from an over early in the first race and passed the other seven boats in the B fleet for a win in the first race, and then led wire-to-wire in the second race. Vigilante, a J105 was second for the day in Class B, and Red Wing, a new J100 was third overall. Even after the bad first start, the team stayed focused on boat speed and sailing the shifts, and did a tremendous job of "shifting gears" as the wind varied from 6 to 12 knots.

The Sailor of the Day award went to Kathryn Carlson, for an outstanding job on mast. These two first place finished helped to send us into first place overall for the Salem Sound Grand Slam (with two of the six events now in the books) and helped us to extend out lead in the Marblehead Cut Throat Shoals Series.

The Manchester Yacht Club put on a real nice event after the race, with excellent food and plenty of drink. A really great day to be on the water!

While there was a beautiful sunrise that morning (as you can see from the picture to the right) the conditions were very light, so we broke out the light #1 for the first time this year. There was NO BREEZE before the start, so we did not have much of an opportunity to tune that sail up. So, our first leg of our first race found us VERY slow. The good news is that by the time the second upwind leg started, we figured out the problem (we needed three more inches of halyard tension) and started to put some distance between us and the fleet. The bad news is that it was not enough, and even though we had line honors, Goldeneye was only a minute and a half behind us, so Superstition came in second on corrected.

In the second race, a 30 degree shift to the left gave a 50 boat length advantage the two boats that went left (Goldeneye and Heatwave) while the two boats that went right (Superstition and Chariad), well, they didn't make out so well. A third in this race gave us five points for the day, and a second place finish overall. Well, as Billy Bob Thornton said in Bad Santa, "They can't all be winners, can they?"

But, it was a beautiful day on the water, probably 20 degrees cooler than on land. And, at the end of the day there was music on the stereo and ice cold Corona's ready for the drinking, so I can't complain too much. A very nice job was done by Mike Hodgens on the spinnaker and Karen Stelle on mast, but at the end of the day the Sailor of the Day award went to David Velez (pictured to the left enjoying the fruit of his efforts), for his excellent effort on the bow. Good job David!

We decided we wanted to get out to the left side of the course, as there seemed to be better breeze, and went for a middle/pin start. We hit the start with good speed and a nice bit of space to leeward, as Sojourn and Sirocco were below us, and the rest of the fleet either behind or to windward of us. While we had good speed and point on the rest of the fleet, Sojourn had better speed and point on us, and after five minutes or so we found ourselves getting a bit of gas from them. As the breeze was pretty good in the middle and left, and we were in just a bit of a header, we decided to tack on to port, move back to the middle on the lifted tack and consolidate our lead against the rest of the fleet behind and to windward.

For the whole rest of the first leg, we sailed VERY WELL in phase, and seemed to always be in good pressure, free to sail on the lifts and clear to tack on the headers. As we were getting up the course on starboard once again, we recognized that the A Fleet boats ahead of us had a real big lift on port. So, we decided to tack over to port well before the layline, while the rest of our fleet continued out tot he far left corner. This turned out to be a great call, as the wind had a BIG shift (20-30 degrees) to the left, which put us right on the layline with the rest of our fleet over-standing by 20 or so boat lengths. We had a several minute lead on the second place boat (Sirocco) at the first windward mark, and were actually picking up distance on the A Fleet boats ahead of us.

Our second leg was downhill to the leeward mark, which was at a bearing of 40 degrees and 3.0 miles away. We stayed on starboard tack for a long time, as the big shift to the left made this the long leg. We sailed a little hot in the light air, heating up to build our apparent wind speed and then slowly working it down to make some good VMG. Jim did an excellent job on the spinnaker trim, and as we got to the first leeward mark, we had extended our lead over the boats behind us. We were just sailing away with the regatta!!! Which, is when the wheels came off, so to speak.

At the leeward mark we saw a course change, our new windward mark would be at 190 degrees, accounting for the big shift. As we hardened up around the mark on port tack, I saw our heading was about 250  degrees, which meant we were on the headed tack. So we tacked almost immediately, to get on the lifted tack and to get to the stronger breeze on the left side of the course. This meant that we started getting the disturbed air of the boats still coming downwind, and we were sailing a bit slower and lower than we would like to. The first couple of boats that rounded DIDN'T tack immediately, but pushed up 15-20 boat lengths before they tacked over to starboard.

Well, we gave up ALL of our lead and then some to these boats. They were in more pressure and a bigger lift, and they came screaming up the course while we struggled to make the boat go. We could not find a groove to save our lives, and in desperation we tacked over to port, only to find we were on the headed tack once again and to see Sirocco and Sojourn pass us by, and to now see Goldeneye making progress on us as well.

To be continues...got to go to the Celtics game now!!!

Memorial Day Regatta - 5/24/8

The first weekend regatta of the year for Team Superstition was the Memorial Day Regatta on Saturday, May 24. Hosted by the Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead, this is always the first event of the year, a chance to shake off the rust, tune up the sails, and get some live competition after a few weeks of practice. While there are always a number of the "usual suspects" missing from the fleet due to the fact the boats are not in the water, it seems that a couple of the best boats in Marblehead are usually signed up. In 2007 we finished second in this race, missing out on first place by a mere 18 seconds!

Given the wind forecast from Sailflow.com, it looked like it was going to be a fluky day. On the delivery up to Marblehead in the morning it was a consistent 12-15 knots out of the NW, perfect racing conditions. But you could tell by the cloud formation that we were at the trailing leading edge of a new front, and things were about to change. And sure enough, by the time we had picked up the crew and headed back out to the race course, the breeze was down to 6-8 knots. Fifteen minutes later the breeze was down to 0, as the gradient wind just shut off.

As we floated around, listening to tunes and watching the sea breeze clouds build over land, we considered the forecast. Sailflow had called for the NW breeze to shut off, and then to come out of the Southeast. While the race was postponed we could see the sea breeze trying to build, but it seemed more scewed to the South or even Southwest. Sailflow called for the breeze to keep going right, so we started to think about our first race.

Once we had a more or less steady 8 knots, the AP came down and the Warning was sounded for Class A. The course was a windward/leeward, twice around with legs of 1.3 miles. The bearing tot he mark was 190 degrees. Oddly, there was but one boat in Class A, Scherherazade, a Farr 395 and our slipmate at Lewis Wharf Marina in Boston. Having been the only boat in the fleet before ourselves, we recognized that they would have a nice day of practice, a couple of bullets and a trophy awaiting their return to shore.

Luckily, in B Fleet we had the majority of the boats out on the course. There was Heatwave, another J109 skippered by Gary Weisberg and Family Affair, Paul McMahon's Tartan 40 out of the Manchester Yacht Club. Then there were the two boats we would really have to keep our eye on, Vigilante, a J105 skippered by Vern Polidoro, and Sojourn, Joe Fallon's Beneteau 36.7. Vigilante  was the boat that beat us by 18 seconds to win this regatta last year, and he would be a tough opponent this year as well.

As we entered the sequence, we took a look at the course and considered our game plan. The wind was supposed to go right, the pressure looked better on the right, and the rule of thumb in Marblehead is that is the wind is from 180 degrees to 0 degrees, go right. The wind was also a little to the left at the moment, so right looked like the "right" call. We reached down the line on starboard past the pin, gybed to port with 2:15 to go and headed back towards the fleet. All the boats were a little late and slow as they headed back, so we tacked in front of them with about 40 seconds to go, and lead them back to the line. We hit the line with full speed, to leeward and ahead of everyone right at the gun. And quickly got into a good groove. Within a minute we were in position to be able to tack to port to get to the right, and so we...

...KEPT SAILING TO THE LEFT! As Sojourn and Heatwave tacked to port and went right, we kept going left. Why, you may ask. Well, we seemed to be on a little lift, we had Vigilante coming with us, behind and below, and the pressure SEEMED to look better to the left, although with hindsight only marginally so. So to the left we went, as the fleet spread out and Sojourn and Heatwave gained leverage on us.

When we finally decided it was time to head to the right and tacked to port, we saw that the boats that went right made out very well, especially Sojourn who was able to cross and then tack on us to give us dirty air. We followed them into the mark, and actually found we had overstood a bit (the current was helping lift us into the mark, and we had put too much in the bank. We were second around the mark behind Sojourn and had an excellent set while they struggled to get their kite hoisted. We worked low to try and get past them, but at the last moment they were able to fill their kite and now could blanket our sails, slowing us down. That entire leg we sailed a little too low and too slow, as Sojourn was able to extend their lead, and as Heatwave (sailing very high and fast) was able to catch us right at the leeward mark.

So, back upwind for the second leg, and as we saw the right paid off so well for both Sojourn and Heatwave, we obviously decided TO HEAD LEFT AGAIN! That would be another oops moment. Granted, we stayed more to the middle then the left, and we actually made out well on Heatwave, but Sojourn continued with their lead. Another run down to the finish line, and while we could not catch Sojourn we were able to keep our lead over all the other boats. A dip to finish, and we were second in the first race, with Sojourn in first, Heatwave in second, Vigilante in fourth and Family Affair in fifth.

The second race followed within moments of the finish of the first, as the Race Committee tried to get another one in before the breeze shut off. This time the course was again course C (windward/leeward twice around) with legs of 1.3 miles and the first mark now at 200 degrees, as the wind had gone a bit to the right. They dramatically shortened up the line, but as the wind was in a slight righty at the start that was a non-issue. Again we came in on port with about 45 seconds to go, tacking on to starboard. This time the fleet was a little lower, so we got a middle-right start, had great speed at the line and took off like a rocket.

Trying to learn from our previous mistake, we waited until both Sojourn and Heatwave tacked on to port and then tacked to port as well, to follow them to the right side. As we got further to the right in a little lift, Sojourn tacked to starboard and crossed behind us. When the lift turned to a little header we turned back to the middle. Sojourn had made out pretty well and ducked, passing just behind us. However, we were on a lift that was turning into a better lift with a little puff we were in, so we extended out for another 20 boat lengths or so until we tacked. This worked out very well, as we picked up at least 8 boatlengths on Sojourn, and rounded ahead of them at the mark.

Another excellent set, and we were headed downhill. We suddenly sailed into a HUGE lift, and gybed about 10 seconds later, allowing us to sail well in front of Sojourn as we were now on the headed tack. As we went further to the right, however, the header disappeared. That was the point we should have gybed back to Starboard, to be inside of Sojourn and on the same tack, but we didn't and Sojourn passed us again. As we approached the leeward mark it was obvious a big wind change was happening, as our angle got tighter and tighter. We saw the "C" flag signifying a course change, and saw Scherherazade in the A Fleet ahead of us was close hauled with their spin down. So, we did a quick drop and headed for the leeward Mark.

At this point, Greg (who had been trimming the spinnaker) recognized that given the wind change, when we got to the leeward mark we should be able to do a bearaway set, then gybe and pretty much be headed to the next mark (which had shifted 70 degrees to the right at 270 true). So we did exactly that. In the meantime, Sojourn was still under white sails only, with their spinnaker set up ont he wrong side of the boat. As they struggled to relauch, we caught up with them and just as we were about to pass them...

...THE WIND SHUT OFF. I mean NOTHING! And what little apparent wind anyone had was wildly different. We had the spin up on Starboard, Sojourn now had theirs up on port, and Family Affair was close hauled a few hundred yards away on port. As we bobbed in the water for a few minutes going 0.00 knots through the water, however, we could see new breeze ahead of us, and it was radically different. Greg once again made the call, as there was a two masted boat cruising along with it's sails on a close reach about a half mile up the course. He suggested we drop the chute and got tot he Genoa, and just as we started the leeward takedown the breeze came in.

In a moment we turned the leeward into a Mexican, and as Karen, Dina, Karen and Greg zipped the kite down the hatch, we were suddenly in 12 knots of breeze coming from about 210 degrees. Next to us Sojourn was not so lucky, as they still had their kite up, and it was streaming abaft from the top of their mast. Superstition took off like a rocket, with Kyrre and Steve working hard trimming the headsail, and Mike working the main to keep the boat on her feet during the puffs. We pointed the boat toward the next mark, and saw there was a small chase boat on station to the right of the mark with an "S" flag up, so the course would be shortened and we would finish at the next mark. While Sojourn was now moving with their kite finally down, it would be Family Affair we would have to contend with at the finish, as they were hard on the breeze and charging fast. As we shot the finish line, Steve started his watch to count down how far ahead we had finished. While we did not know exactly what Family Affair's rating was, we knew it could be no more than 30 seconds a mile, and the course had been about 4 miles. So when two minutes had passed and she was still not across the line, we knew we had a first place with our first bullet of the year.

A great job by everyone, quick scrambling to different conditions and good concentration led to our win for the day. Here is hoping for many more to come!

If we had sponsors, this is who we would want them to be (cause we use their stuff a lot!!!)