Sunday, August 10, 2008

Verve Cup Inshore

Superb race weekend. This weekend was Chicago Yacht Clubs Verve Cup, for one designs (now called the CYC Verve Cup Inshore Regatta), and for the Shields, it's historically been the most prized win, second to the season championship. For us, it marked our first big win, as we won not only the Shields class, but the overall Verve Cup Inshore!

Really exciting racing, and it's great to win stuff, but the crew made this one especially cool for me. Bam M came out from the east coast to sail with us, which meant we finally met in person! I spend like an hour a day on the phone with him, buying stuff and talking shop, but we've never met in person. Excellent sailor and it was just as pleasant to hang around in person as online and on the phone. Got John S out to sail with us, finally, which meant a lot to me, since he's one that got me started racing! Have learned a lot from him, and am hoping to continue to do so when he comes sailing with us again (nudge nudge). Brian Shaw was out again, which is fun for me since I'm getting to pass on stuff I've learned to the new(er) guy. Niki was going to sail 1 day with us, but it didn't quite work out. She still managed to win the regatta backpack prize somehow.

Racing: Tough!

Saturday was breezy from the west, and got in 3 looong races. Lots of attrition in our fleet brought the numbers down to 3 at the end of the day. Very rough to see Shields going in with broken booms, and in one case a shredded spinnaker hanging off the masthead. My starts continue to be a problem with this boat, but we were able to get speed and tactics on our side to win all 3, with 150 taking 2nds. We had a spectacular dial up in the 3rd race, where 150 took us head to (and beyond) the wind, and I consider us both shockingly lucky there was no contact. All still friends and the end of the day, but I think we both need some start line work this fall in dinghies!

Sunday was high teens from the northeast and some really big waves! I think there were a few 6' waves out there, and it was a challenge to keep the boat dry. We had a lousy start, and were 2nd to 63 for much of the beat. We engaged them in a tacking duel, and were able to grind away a a lot of their lead. Our boathandling all weekend was perfect, and it showed up mostly in our sets, but it was nice to see the crew work so elegantly highlighted. We called a better layline, and went on to lead the rest of the race. Downwind surfs were very exciting, and we had some nice sustained waves where I swear it was 15 seconds. The boat didn't break, and I was happy when the race committee called it a day after the first race.

Sailing was so great this weekend, as we had chemistry, attitude and skill on our side. I won't get gushy, but everyone sailed perfect on our boat. It was really cool to get the overall regatta prize, which I think we got since we had the lowest overall score, 4 points. The regatta itself was really well done. Very easy to enjoy the sailing with good RC and nice shoreside management.

This regatta marks our first overall win, and I'm really happy to be looking at a cool trophy, reflecting on a great weekend. Buying this boat was a great idea Niki!

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