Race Weekend and Anchors Away!

Our first official race was this weekend (Saturday) and we almost missed it.  My brother Bruce joined Judy and I thankfully on very little notice!

First, I mis-read the email announcing the start of the season.  I have to thank Kim for correcting me!  Then, on race day, we got to the start line 5 minutes late.

To refer to the conditions as changeable would be an understatement. We actually drifted across the start line and really struggled on the first leg which was a down wind run (we have no spinnaker).  When we reached the first mark, we knew the conditions were about to change! The wind started to pick up and reached 28 knots in the gusts.

Prospector bent a whisker pole and Wings broke a shroud.  We didn't break anything or lose anyone thankfully. We resorted to using a 4 foot long boat hook for a whisker pole, so we really were a low budget, low tech racer! We finished tho and didn't do too bad considering we rigged a full main and 150 genoa. When we finished you couldn't walk through the cabin of the boat. Stuff was flung around pretty good.

Prospector finished first, Abigale second (on corrected time), Nut Case third.  Fly-Bye-Wire repeated our mistake from last week and almost had the boat in irons.  It was enough of a mistake to give us a forth place finish ahead of her.  Our sister boat Wings dropped out due to a problem with their shrouds rather than risk busting a mast.  Ever-After pulled committee boat duties.  Congrats to all boats.

On Sunday I cleaned things up in preparation for the Island trip and Jude and I went out for a easy sail. We dropped the anchor (for the first time) just off the tip of Malagash Point (at Kate and Tarjei's). We only stayed for a bit, which turned out to be a good thing since the tide was very low this weekend and we just made it back into the marina. The depth guage was reading 0.0 feet most of the way in the channel.  Lucky for us the new owners dredged the entrance to the marina or we'd likely still be sitting there.

We filled the water tanks and hosed everything down. Exploits is ready for our first really big adventure in a couple of days when we head out to Charlottetown, PEI for the long weekend!