HR4, 2011

For the final race of the 2011 hot rum series conditions could not have been better. Under sunny skies and Southerly winds of 10 knot the RC gave us a nice long varied course to race and lots of time to do it. They posted course SAPTXCAF and signaled the start of racing right on time. The start line was pretty square with possibly a slight left hand favoured end. Most people elected to approach on starboard near the pin but that quickly got congested leaving many in the back row eating dirt. We approached on port and tacked into a front row position just before the pin with only Woo Hoo on our left hip to windward of us. It was a much better angle to the windward mark on port tack with everyone flipping over as soon as a lane became available. We managed to keep our nose out in front for most of the beat and only Decision and Pinstripe beat us to the A mark rounding. We pulled off a respectable bear away set and had a great angle on starboard for the long run down to the pump house. It was a neck and neck drag race all the way down with Decision to port and the J29 (here by know as the untouchables) clear ahead. We watched the depth finder very closely on this leg and stayed as close to the shelf as we dared. We must have had less than 2 feet of clearance as Decision quickly found bottom to our port and spun around in a gracefully manner with spinnaker flailing in the wind. Seconds later Woo Hoo just behind us also hit the beach, although it must have been their lucky day as their progress was slowed but not stopped, and they plowed right through the soft bottom. Approaching the pump house the winds got really shifty as we doused the kite and had almost a close reach to the mark. Rounding P we followed the J29's lead and re hoisted the kite for the reaching leg up to TC. For most of the remainder of the race we were able to sail cleanly and almost hang in there with the untouchables but as the miles added up so did our distance astern. Some good gains were made by the likes of Pentameter and Woo Hoo who successfully picked the right shore and took advantage of whatever shifts came their way. We crossed the line a couple minutes behind J and scored a 3rd place on corrected time behind Henry H and his all star crew. With only one more Sunday with which to enjoy our sport it is sad to see the season winding down, however thanks to our Okanagan weather at least tune up 1, 2012 is only 4 months away. See you next week.