and I'm feeling blown away..
2004-06-01

We left around 1:30 in the pouring rain, M.E., Bob, Mike and Claudette and I. The water was as flat as glass and it was cold. I was glad I had my lined cold weater foulies on and wished I had brought my winter gloves.

We were making good time and the rain was starting to fade away. We were approaching to Newp0rt, almost there really, when the bridge began to disappear. The closer we got, the less of it there was. By the time we hit the center span, we couldn't see either side or the deck above us, all we could see was a think white blanket of nothing. I hate fog.

We slowed down and fired up the both GPS's. Between the traffic, rocks, and one island we needed to keep track of, it was all pretty tense. We crept into the harbor, riding right along side of the mooring field, going from boat to boat until the docks of the opposite shore came into sight. We followed these to the club and were finally able to relax.

We got the boat squared away and less then 10 minutes later the sun came out and the fog was gone, like magic. A test just for us? Perhaps it was somebodies idea of a cosmic joke. I didn't laugh.

We hit the YC deck for a well needed grapes and had Mexican food for dinner at the place next door. Everybody went to bed early, we were all beat and tomorrow was going to be a busy and trying day.

I woke up to halyards clanging, not so much a good sign. The forecast was 20 to 25 knots of wind from the NNW. That's a lot of wind, but it should have been off the stern so it would be a comfortable and fast ride. They lied. We headed to the starting area and the wind was just shreiking. It also had a lot more west in it than predicted meaning no sleigh ride, just a lot of work.

There were six boats in our class, all who had the potential to give us fits in these conditions. Except for a stripped out race boat that was 38' long, were were the next smallest and the third slowest. When it was our turn to start, we did a 360 turn (chicken jibe) under main alone and didn't pop the jib until we were right on the line. We headed out at 8+ knots to catch the rest of the fleet that had left earlier.

It really was windy, but the waves weren't too bad. We picked off one boat when he ended up in a massive round up caused by a 30 knot gust. Before we hit Castle Hill light we had passed the second and were now in the lead trying to catch the other classes that had left a hour or so before and that showed up as just little dots on the horizon.

Outside the bay, it started to get lumpy and I figured there must be waves for Amy to surf on someplace. The visibility was super and we could see the Pt Judith Light from miles away. The crew did a super job keeping the boat on her feet and moving and the speed on the GPS ranged any where from 8s to mid 9s. We were in for a fast trip.

The area off the light was the worst. There, the water gets shallow and there were huge holes. I was trying to keep the boat attached to the water and sailing in the troughs, but sometimes you just couldn't. We took green water over the decks a few times and it was a good thing that the folks up forward were in thier foulies. The boat was getting pounded, but performed as well as could be expected. I waved to the shore, my one indulgance of non-concentration and we headed off to 1BI.

The island popped into view on the left and the boats in the other classes were getting close enough that we could tell who was who. The custom 44 was gaining on us and I knew he was going to be a problem. He's beaten me several races in a row at Figaw1 and I figured I had gotten rid of him by doing this race. No such luck.

Less than 2 hours in we passed one BI and the 44 passed us. Blah... We just couldn't match his waterline or his speed. The finish was in the channel leading to new harbor, and almost dead down wind run. This channel is tight under most conditions and with a bunch of sailboats under full sail moving at close to 10 knots plus all the assorted other folk heading to block for the long weekend, it was dangerous.

We looked behind us, saw nobody close and rolled up the jib. Even with that major reduction of sail, we almost ran over a powerboat who was sight seeing and a guy in and inflatable who decided to stop right in front of us. A yell got his attention really quickly and he zoomed out of the way. We don't have brakes you know. We got the horn from a guy sitting in a lawn chair on the beach. Weird.... We figured we had a solid second, but you never know. The awards ceremony was Sunday. We'd find out then.

We quickly got the mainsail down and tried to get into the pattern to dock at the marina where we were scheduled to go. It was a zoo! Paynes doesn't have a radio, and it was still blowing 25 right across the anchorage. After running aground once and watching several really ugly situations we decided to go to a calmer situation. It cost me a ton more money and created lots of stress trying to back between the pilings, but we finally made it, tied up and cleaned off. We were in Block... To be continued....

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