So this past weekend we had the last two races of the Party Circuit. We went into the weekend tied for first place in our division and just a point in front of second place. To cut to the chase, it was a disappointing weekend in terms of results. We had good crew work and decent tactics, but both days we had to deal with massive windholes for hours which tends to compress and shuffle the fleet. We could only muster a 6 and 7 place results, this after consistently finishing on the top 3.
Mark and Nima came out on Saturday, with Mike and Andrew filling up the crew spots on Sunday.
Things were looking great both days, with us well in front in our division before we encountered the holes. Our strategy around the holes was pretty standard and consistent with the rest of the fleet but we didn't have the boat speed or the sail inventory to be efficient in the zephyrs.... It might be time for a light kite... As long as there was any wind we stayed competitive but faltered in the frustrating ultra light conditions.
Sunday we ended up with two mistakes that didn't improve our chances. Even though there was consensus from all aboard about the direction to take, it proved to be the wrong one. On top of that, during the start we ended up 'over early' in our efforts not to hit a boat that had fouled us. That resulted on a 15 minute penalty.
So not the kind of finish that we would have like for an otherwise very successful and fun season.
I think the best part of the weekend was seeing Mikes face at the tiller on the delivery back on Sunday crossing the central bay in 20 - 25 knots on a screaming reach.
Oh, and the 'bucket' works, if you know what I mean.... best with the boat level... :)
Mark and Nima came out on Saturday, with Mike and Andrew filling up the crew spots on Sunday.
Things were looking great both days, with us well in front in our division before we encountered the holes. Our strategy around the holes was pretty standard and consistent with the rest of the fleet but we didn't have the boat speed or the sail inventory to be efficient in the zephyrs.... It might be time for a light kite... As long as there was any wind we stayed competitive but faltered in the frustrating ultra light conditions.
Sunday we ended up with two mistakes that didn't improve our chances. Even though there was consensus from all aboard about the direction to take, it proved to be the wrong one. On top of that, during the start we ended up 'over early' in our efforts not to hit a boat that had fouled us. That resulted on a 15 minute penalty.
So not the kind of finish that we would have like for an otherwise very successful and fun season.
I think the best part of the weekend was seeing Mikes face at the tiller on the delivery back on Sunday crossing the central bay in 20 - 25 knots on a screaming reach.
Oh, and the 'bucket' works, if you know what I mean.... best with the boat level... :)
