Finally! The rain lets up. We had a nice day on the water in decent conditions for a February. A strong front had moved through the night before with rain and 40 knot winds so it was all about the timing the next morning. The front had moved through fast so were left with a dying breeze of 5 – 10 knots but it was enough to get off a shortened course race under some chilly, cloudy skies. But it was dry, and that’s good enough.
We had a great start thanks to some nice crew work. We struggled a bit to get the big Nordic 44 moving in the light air and we’re still learning the trim on the new #1. It was a good day to let everyone work the boat and figure things out so that is what we did. There were two downwind legs so the foredeck crew got a work out. In hindsight I should have put the #1 up with the swivel so we could have roller furled it between legs. Lesson learned.
There just was’t quite enough wind for the boat to do well and the shorter courses are tough as we lose time in the tacks. However, it was fun and good practice. We even got to do a penalty turn after fouling a starboard tacker at a windward mark. Another lesson. Always something new and good experience for everyone I think. Here are a few snaps from the day.
