Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Sailboat racing...a true metaphor for life.

Rocket Pig sailed two races today in the first day of the championship division. John and I had our shining moments and sailed smart and hard, but in the end... an equipment failure (a broken outhaul) and being over the line early twice put a damper on the day's overall results. Such as life...John and I dug deep to find a greater meaning in today's destiny.

One must present his boat to nature....for nature will present itself to you...and one must listen to her...for she will speak...

No one wakes up in the morning and decides one's own fate...your only control is how you choose to participate in the experience we call life.

Another Great Day in Ephraim! Wish you all were here! "Blues that Heal...Baby"

Joe and Stacey's new waterfront property!


John posing in a Wisconsin style Corona Commercial


Egg Harbor Shore Line


Pigs do fly!

The Qualifying Series is over, and Rocket Pig is moving on to the Championship round.

Joe had a great write up of yesterdays 2 races that he lost when he posted….so I will try and relive the last 2 days and then add some of today’s details.

To start off it’s been great. This area is an awesome region of Wisconsin that you need to see to believe. Beautiful water, good weather conditions, good people and good food. Of course there is the downside that most everyone here is a Buckey Badger fan. Anyway…

Yesterday started off with lot’s of anticipation and thoughts about how we would do against the hotshots and how we would stack up against the white fleet. The first 3 races of the event is a qualifier where you round robin against the 3 other fleets (black, pink and green). To qualify, you have to be in the top half of the all competing sailors. Joe and I have our own personal goals and one of them is to be in the Championship fleet.

Monday started light with a shifting westerly wind. With the potential of a cluster with 75 boats all trying to get in the water at the same time, Joe and I were ready to go immediately after the skippers meeting. It paid off as we were the 2nd boat on the water and spent some time getting re-familiar with each other and making some minor rigging adjustments.

With a light shifting westerly wind, the Race Committee was struggling to setup a good course. By noon the wind had settled down to a South westerly 5-8mph. Not exactly what was predicated and not what the Carolina boyz were asking for. Once the 5 minute warning sounded we quickly determined that we wanted to be at the boat and with clear air. And we got it. A huge hole opened up right in front of us, we tacked into it, held our ground and were in great position with speed. We went left and came back late and rounded in the top 15. Downwind we stayed high, rolled about 2-3 boats and rounded with the idea of going right. Joe saw a building breeze coming in from the West, we got to it and it paid off. We picked off a couple boats and headed down wind. The Race Committee shortened the course to the downwind gate and we settled for a 9th place finish. Not a bad start.

The second race started with a building Westerly wind. We decided the pin is where we wanted to be and fought for a good spot had a decent start. With a lot of boats tacking out and going right, tactician Brake called for us to go left where it looked like more breeze was rolling in. He was right. We worked our way up the course and rounded fourth. We picked off a boat downwind and held that position for a couple legs. It was a good feeling to look up and see the only 2 boats ahead of us were Pro dudes. At the last leeward mark we had a bad rounding and a tactical mistake and lost 3 boats for a 6th place finish. We had a 9-6 and were 12th overall. Well within our goal.

Today with only one race scheduled, we were ready to complete our short term goal and move on. Forecast was for 10-15 from the NW. With rain coming thru about 5am and the sky clearing, everyone was predicting a dying breeze. They were wrong. Out on the course with a Northerly breeze and good chop rolling down Egg Harbor, the race committee setup a course for the 11:00am start. Joe wanted a pin start….and we won the pin by a lot. We scooted left and favored the left side of the course. Chop was vicious (for a inland lake sailor like me) and made driving difficult. We worked up the left and rounded in 15th. Downwind we picked up a boat or two and again rounded and went left. At this point it was breeze on with gusts hitting 15 and big chop. We rounded in probably 12th, and held our position downwind. On the last beat we went right and by this time I was starting to get a feel for the waves. We picked off several boats and finished in 9th. It felt like a 20th, so I was extremely happy with our finish.
So our line for the qualification series was 9-6-9 and 9th overall out of 74 boats. Joe and I are ecstatic and ready for the next 3 days. But with everyone starting with 0 points tomorrow, it’s game on starting at 11:00am.

Complete results and pictures are available on the EYC web site (www.eyc.org).

Tuesday, August 4, 2009