Winter Vashon: Battling all the way around the course

Nothing about this race was easy.  The delivery was against a big tide, and finished in the dark.  No parking for late arrivals at the yacht club, so we slept next to the ferry at the boat launch pier.  Got to the start a bit late as we didn't have tasks clearly assigned, were late getting the jib up, and got too far from the line at the start.

Had to battle through dirty air in chop and fight for skinny lanes.  Current and wind shifts are a bit difficult to detect in a washing machine.  Blew up a jib sheet.  Tacked.  Blew up the other.  Tacked again.  Swore.  Dodged a de-masted boat.  Felt really sorry.  Got nailed by a gust and a wave.  Swore again.

But battle we did.  John did a hell of a job keeping the boat on her feet.  Stu and Al fed us more of the shifts than most of the other boats caught, and kept us in the current lanes.  Tony called puffs, when they weren't continuous.  I had a frustrating battle at the helm, but snarled through the waves and grimaced through the round ups to keep us going.  Slowly we ground back, picking off one boat at a time on the long beat up Colvos passage.  Amazingly, as we reached across to the top mark we could see that we would round in first for our class.

Up went the green rainbow kite.  Down came the #3.  Out came the sun and dried up all the angst.

Off went the great white heron otherwise known as Kotuku.  Deep run down to Point Robinson followed by a tight reach to Commencement Bay.  Eventually the #1 went up, probably earlier that it needed to, but the spectacular broach that had been threatening us all the way up the Sound was averted.  And we crossed the line to the sound of the cannon.  First across the line.

We weren't quite fast enough to maintain our hold on first, as the Olson we passed at the top mark was hot on our heels and we owed them time.  The class winner, Wildflower, was with us tack for tack on the beat upwind.  And while we were able to extend our lead on the downwind leg, we couldn't save our time.

Still, 3rd place, 11th overall, with boats like Flash, Tantivity, Absolutely, and Neptune's Car behind us in the standings, we feel pretty good about the result.  89 boats including the cruising class and multi-hulls.  What a great race for this time of year in the Pacific Northwest!

The boat keeps us in the hunt.  The crew fought hard enough to get us on the podium in spite of our challenges.  And the neverending work, great attitude, and passion of this team continues to amaze me.

Thank you all for another great race!