Hurry up and wait
by Bonnie on Oct.25, 2007, under Miscellaneous
Everyone was front and center for the 10am start this morning but they’re still tooling around in very light air around what will hopefully become course-worthy in due time. Not a peep over the radio to indicate progress towards being able to set marks as of 11:30am, Pensacola time.
The breeze patterns on the Santa Rosa Sound are incredible…all stripe-y and big holes everywhere. The sun has gone away and if it doesn’t come back to warm up the land on this side then the wind may stay really light; generally considered an advantage to lake sailors who often run races in extremely light air. Bad news for the big boys as well as those with less experience in fluke-y faint breezes. There’s also the chance of showers later on this afternoon.
If they don’t wait for the sea breeze that’s fighting to fill in later on this afternoon, then it will be an extremely challenging race. I think it’s fascinating that tactical decisions in catamaran regattas are so crucial despite the conditions. It’s just that, in heavy air, you pay for miscalculations much more quickly…say, with colossal pitchpoles from a heavy puff as opposed to the feeling of sailing forty days and forty nights to get through a hole as payment for a wrong call or when someone simply shuts off the fan. I don’t really know which is more annoying, and they can both cost you valuable time. At least in the latter, there’s only lots of time for regret, but no carnage.
I still don’t see that any marks have been plopped. So unless they’re moving the course further East then I believe they’re still waiting for a steady breeze at all points on the course.
Holy crapola. For reasons unknown, Nigel/Alex and Wick/Jake are getting a choo-choo tow back toward Key Sailing/home base. Now that I keep looking, though, the rest of the chase boats are bringing everyone else back as well. Whether Fairlie has decided to call off racing for the day or simply postponing for the alleged West shift pick-up between 1 and 2pm is unknown. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear.
They prolly just found out it was Jake’s birthday and planned an early lunch at Hooters, ’cause really…who doesn’t like boobies?
