Team Seacats

We certainly had some breeze yesterday. It was generally about 15knots but with occasional and sustained gusts to 25. We had a high point with a 7 place finish when we were almost alone in choosing the right side to go upwind. Then, with a decent race going, we pitchpoled on the last rounding of A mark. David was on the trampoline getting the boat setup for the spinnaker hoist and I was on the trapeze trying to keep it fast. A ‘Gonzo Blast’ of wind drove the bows in deep and I went flying landing 20′ in front of the boat as it suddenly decelerated. We righted the boat quicky and finished. Later while sorting out the trapeze rigging David slipped and bruised his knee on the beam of the boat. He worked through it and we continued the day with some high points and low points including an OCS in the third race. Our boat speed is good, but our pointing ability is not quite up to par with the other boats (including some of the similar Nacra Catamarans like ours). If we foot off, we go faster and get to A mark at the same or better time – but tactically, not being able to point high into the wind is pretty cripling with such a large fleet. We’re also not picking up on the shifts very well yet. The pointing problem probably has more to do with the age of the sails we have on the boat, but the picking up the shifts is something we can certainly work on – and we’ll continue to do so.

The wind today is going to be very light – NOAA says the peak will be about 5knots. Currently there is a mist on the lake that is slowly meandering around. It’s pretty … but not a good sign for sailing.

I haven’t been able to find any results online but was able to secure a copy of the preliminary results through yesterday. You can see it HERE.