C series day 2 (can't win em all)

C Series 3 and 4 this weekend, under strange and occasionally terrifying conditions.  The good news is we clinched the season (up until the end of the first race there was the unlikely chance that CYC would get 3 races per day for the rest of the year, and if we DNF'd all we could lose first) The bad news is I almost had a perfect season driving, and we got two 2nd places to a very well sailed 196.

The weather was pretty sketchy, not in terms of wind but due to storms.  On the way out to the course we saw lightning to the west, north and south, as well as multiple waterspouts (!) several miles away.  Wind was around 5kts, but with considerable chop.

Day got off to a bad start waiting around for the storms to stay or go, and it made things a bit tense on the boat.  We had some trouble getting tuned up, as we made the call to not change from our beercan main before sailing, as well as having had the clew of the jib recut (heard e coast boats do this to get keep the 2:1 from 2 blocking)  Never did get the main feeling right, and I think we messed up the jib by making the change. Oops.

First start was almost great, as we'd won the pin on port tack, and looked good until I asked to make sure we were crossing and heard "yes" "no" and "yes..no!" all at the same time so crash tacked only to realize we tacked directly in front of the boat we were concerned about.  One thing I need to get better at is coming back from tough spots, and even though we were leading the race at this point I have to say I was pretty rattled and had visions of fiberglass repair in my head from that point on.  We regained the lead briefly, but lost it again to 196 who sailed incredibly fast and didn't do anything dumb.

Second race we started poorly, and pretty much followed 196 around to watch them win by a very comfy margin.  They did great, and really moved up and downwind.

Learned a couple things.  Most relate to preparation/planning and attitude.  We have the most fun when we push ourselves the hardest.  Doing things like slacking on the bottom (hasn't been cleaned since July) and racing with the wrong main and an untested recut are out of character for us, and it made the day kind of frustrating.  Some people seem to do best when they stop caring and race "for fun", ie not to win, but I don't think that works for our group.  Lesson learned there!  One more race day and one more beercan, so can go out again to close off the season properly.