2, 3

Really fun day to be racing Shields in Chicago!

We had 9 boats out for A1 and A2. RC got off a couple good races quickly, and the courses were pretty fair. Conditions Started in the middle teens out of the south and ended the raceday at about 8kts.

We had a great team today: me, Brian Shaw, Jocelyn, Jacob and Niki. It was good to try out the new gear on the boat, and although the day didn't go as well as we'd like it was so much fun to be racing that I think it was one of the better days on the water.

We got out early, and did some upwind/downwind sailing to shake off the cobwebs and check in on breeze. The forecast was for SW veering to NW during the day, so we made a plan to get right after the start. Bit of a pin favor so we tried to end up left on the line.

Start was ok, and we got the pin end, but the favor wasn't as dramatic as we'd hoped, and we got pinned out left by 90, and got stuck going left for much of the beat. We watched a couple shifts go back and forth before we were able to head right, and when we did it seemed like the right side had profited pretty well, with Kevin nicely ahead. Our tune wasn't exactly great for upwind, as the boat was underpowered, but seemed quick down. Rest of the race was spent trying to chase him down, and ended with a win for 150 and us in second. Very good racing, but today was just one of those days where you seem to be on the wrong side of every shift.

Next start will live in infamy for quite a while with me, and is a great lesson in where not to be. We wanted the boat, which was a bit favored, and after the previous race we wanted freedon to tack. We pretty much tried a barging start, but were caught out by 150 and 63, and 63 luffed us right over the line, but being good sports at least went with us so we were both OCS. Had a REALLY tough time getting clear of other boats to return, and it was a pretty ugly restart, with all the other boats being quite far ahead.

Times like that you really appreciate level headed people, and everyone on the boat stayed cool and was focused on taking boats back. We had changed tune (-1 turn lower, -.5" headstay) and the boat was quick upwind. Rounded 2nd to last (ugh) but managed to get a really nice set, set up inside the pack ahead, and played the patient/low road game downwind to round the bottom mark in 3rd. Our bottom mark rounding was pretty sweet, and I'll remember the perfect crewwork long after I forget our results today! We had an ok upwind, but really kept going the wrong way on shifts, and overstood the top mark, which put us in 5th for the last run. Managed to have a cleaner set than the boats around, and did a little drag race and cover to eke out a 3rd. It was a pretty thrilling 3rd though, as we were fighting the whole way, and watching the duel between 90 and 150 up ahead was cool, especially when they took each other so far right it seemed like we would catch up! No such luck, but a 3rd was very satisfying given our pooched start.

Kevin is in first place right now with 3, we're tied for 2nd with 5. This was one of those days where the racing is so close and fun that results (almost) don't matter, and it was great to have our fleet all engaged and trading punches like that. Incredibly challenging but fun day, and good on our fleet for being so competitve. Fun people on 88 as well, which made this a learning day instead of a beat-yourself-up for me.

Great to be back!