Dumb and Dumber
2002-08-15

I blew it, plain and simple. It wasn't them, they sailed a crappy race. it wasn't the crew, they did the best job of the year. it wasn't the boat, we had good speed all night. It was me, I sailed 95% of a great race and blew it at the end. sigh... Oh well, here goes...

It was a beautiful night, lots of breeze, warm, good visability. A nice night to play. We were short lots of bodies, but for a change we had talent in all the right spots. We just didn't have enough weight on the rail to keep the boat flat... so.. I make my first executive decision, we go with the #2, a smaller head sail. We'll get killed if it gets light, but we realy have no choice. And so we go...

We had a great start. Hit the line at almost full speed right at the gun. Evil 42 had another crappy start and were trailing the pack. Dispite their old sails though, they are very fast up wind. We just don't have enough weight to keep the boat flat and eventully they pass us, but we hang in there. By the time we get to the top mark, we are maybe three lenghts behind. Still very doable. Our marm rounding was perfect and we get the pole set faster than them. We are off and running. We start to build a big lead and by the second mark, we are maybe 100 yeard ahead. We hold that lead until the third mark. back up wind. We know we want to go left and make a perfect turn and tack combination. The crew work was fantastic. We are on the favored side of the course, moving fast, we have this race in the bag. We tack back out, staying between evil and the mark. They tack back in. I should have done so too. To cover was the smart move. Keep us between the wind and them. I didn't. I thought I could reach the finish by just hanging on a little longer and then one more tack. Stupid, stupid, stupid. They were moving fast, we slowed down. I waffled and then to compound the mistake, I tacked too early. If I had hung on we might have still won. We had to tack twice more. About 3 lengths from the mark, evil 42 passes us, and finishes 22 seconds ahead. Enough to beat us by 9 seconds. We find out later that a boat that was so far back we never even saw them comes in first, beating evil by 19 seconds over 8 miles. I was just so mad at myself. God it was an easy decision and I blew it. I thanked the crew several times. They knew that they had done a great job but it never hurts to remind them. We had a few beers and sailed back. At the club I bought the guy who won a drink. Evil 42 made themselves scarce. Fine with me. I went home with that empty feeling that you get when you know you let something you had slip away. That happens in life as well as sailing. c'est la vie

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