Team Seacats

Hells bells…I just realized that if I go around to the other end of the balcony that I can see the rest of the course in the distance. Sorry, but I’m just not going to be able to call finishes real time on eighteen boats.

First, I can’t write and binocularate simultaneously. Second, I’m a big time numbers dorkus. In any case, the first boats are just about to head back towards the finish. Then I’m definitely going to find some socks.

I couldn’t tell whether or not Alex and Nigel or Kirk and Glenn won the second race as they were duking it out until the end, but Trey and Chuck had a much better finish while Wick and Jake were mid-fleet(ish).

There’s been some seriously tight action around the marks and a few of the teams are continuing to struggle/straggle today. You can see the results page for details, if you like.

It’s not even gone Noon here on Pensacola time and they’re setting marks for the third race. The guys may have a quick and dirty race day, finish early, before heading back to Key Sailing for a shrimp boil tonight.

Oh, and by the way. I’m calling shots from this room for the rest of the day unless someone personally phones and asks me to go out and check for the position of a particular boat; which I will be glad to do…if you have my number.

Starting sequence for the first race Wednesday morning has begun just shortly after 10am. It’s even chillier than yesterday but the skies are beautiful so they will hopefully get in another four races today. I hope Jake doesn’t get too cold. He neglected to bring his drysuit, reasoning that we we going to Florida. There are still a couple of stragglers making their way out to the line as they pass by my hotel balcony again who are going to miss the start. Wick and Jake had another great start to the day, going through the gate and mixing it up with Nigel and Alex on the first spinnaker run.

Lordy, but this is a short course and/or the fleet is flying. The leaders already back and around for another downwind run. Nigel and Alex have a good lead this time around followed by the lone green chute (couldn’t see the number) and then Team Seacats. I think Charlie and Boog are just behind them, but it looks like they’ve further modified their sail number from (one) double-0-seven to just plain 0. Yeah, they’re all definitely flying. I mean, out of sight before I can even get back in here to post it. The upwind leg back was a change-up between Charlie, Nigel, and Wick at any given moment, with some hot contention with another boat. Mystery green chute? I wonder who they be?

It definitely looks like Nigel and Alex will enjoy a healthy win for the first race, with the boys and green chute team to follow, with Wick and Kirk to round out the top five. I kinda hate to call something I can’t actually see, but I suspect the line must be just out of sight over the next rooftop. If I can find some socks then I may go have a peek.

Ok…it was just the second day of racing, but we dug out of the deep well we were in. Coupled with some deep finishes of some of the other top teams and our steady performance today, we moved from 7th to 2nd place overall. There’s still a lot of sailing to be done in this regatta so we have to keep a steady mind and stay focused so we can’t be overly proud of our accomplishments today. I do need to give kudos to Jane, Wick’s wife as of a week ago, who gave Wick a TacTic compass as his wedding gift. That Tactic contributed to some really great tactical decisions on the water – Thanks Jane!

Wick again got some good starts and early today we had found that the left side had a persistent header so we could ride that into shore and tack back out riding a nice lift up to the mark. As the wind shifted a little more right later in the day, that header went away and we watched several teams make good by banging the corner on the right side. In the 1st race, we had a very tight race with Boog and just barely nicked them at the finish line by the tip of the spinnaker pole. The second race, we managed a good start, got clear, and had a solid race holding 2nd. In the 3rd race, we were fortunate to watch a couple other top teams make the same mistake we had made yesterday as they sailed past the gate heading for the finish line one lap early. That allowed us to dig out of a 5th or 6th place, catch a shift just right, and capture another 2nd behind Nigel and Alex. In the last race, after a tricky first beat, we found ourselves in 4th or 5th again but rounded the first leeward gate to head to the right, where we had seen Trey do well last time. We kept an eagle eye on the compass and when it came time to tack back, we were crossing the entire fleet by a pretty good margin. Not willing to feel comfortable with these guys, we continued to dig deep and try to cover. We finished the last lap with Nigel and Alex closing up a little but we finished cleanly in first place. That horn for first over sure felt well earned!

Tomorrow, we have to keep up the fight and work hard to study the wind and water. This thing is a loooong way from over and anything could happen. Hoping for another good night’s sleep and some more great wind tomorrow!

I didn’t want to say until I knew for sure about my guys having a better day today as I couldn’t actually see the finishes, but Jake just reported that they had a two, a two, a two, and a bullet. Yay Team Seacats!

It was prolly all that cheerleading I was doing up here in the stands, as it were.

They’ve just started the sequence for another (final?) race of the day. Again, excuse my hesitation to call boat orders as they passed. Jake can give you more information on how things seemed on the course later. Please check on the results page at the Nacra Class for the event standings.