Verve Pregame Wrapup

Around here you can tell the Verve Inshore is coming up when Chicago starts receiving some decent sailing conditions! Our one-design sailing season has consisted mostly of hot and light air, but once the tail end of August comes around the breeze usually picks up as the temps and humidity go down.

This year looks like no exception, as the last marine forecasts for both days are calling for a the pleasant upper 70's and 10-15kts out of the southwest. This is significantly nicer than the 3kts and 90degrees it seems like have showed up for all our other races. It would only be polite to have good breeze, as we have lots of guests from out of town in the J24 and Soling fleets. It's always fun sharing a course with unfamiliar boats, and every year we have some new or returning fleets.

The Rhodes 19 fleet is strong with 16boats who made the long and arduous journey from Montrose harbor. From more local waters we've got 11 Etchells, 6 Luders 16s and 6 Shields. Our aforementioned out of town friends are mostly in the J24s (6) and Solings (8).

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Shields 88 will be enjoying its 3rd Verve cup, hopefully repeating previous years... This is a fun regatta for us, as my friend Bam Miller comes in from Oyster Bay NY for this. We'll also have regulars Jacob and Katie aboard. The boat will be going to Shields Nationals next month, so we're thrilled to be getting in as many starts and races as possible, although our cherry sails have been given a break for the rest of the Chicago season.

We will be tracking the races on GPS, hopefully along with 196, and will have some data to share later!