Going Down
Earlier in the week we brought you the story of the keel falling off the J/80 Heat Wave during the double handed Farallones race in ‘Frisco. Here is part one the complete and exclusive story from crew David Servais. Wow.
Part 1: The Race: It was 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, March 28 2009. Dave (Wilhite) and I were both getting up, him from the bed and me from my folded over blanket on the floor.
We had time for Peter (the boat owner and our host) to make us some scrambled eggs and english muffins, then we set out for the boat, which was moored in Sausalito.
At about 6:45 we made it to the boat, the sun wasn’t up yet and there was a nip in the air; but the day promised to be a beautiful one, with clear skies and very little wind yet.
We set about preparing the boat for the race, I installed the new spinnaker halyard, and put the remote release shackle on the tack line. Dave was busy securing our emergency gear inside a dry bag, and making sure the watertight compartments were dry and closed.
Dave secured our half water bottle of Tequila, and two cigars (which was for our after the finish celebration) in a dry bag.
I gave the waterline one last quick scrub with a deck brush, Dave started the motor and we were off.
We motored across the bay, Dave smartly set us on a course well to the left of the starting line, as there was much current and that direction would actually get us right to where we wanted to go.
About half way to the starting area we stowed the motor and put up the main. We then unfurled the jib and began sailing in about 7 knots of wind to the starting area.
