So we had our first race last night on my new-to-me J/105 Black Flag, and it was good, and then fucked. Got a good start near the pin, seemed to have decent speed despite one of the worst jibs imaginable – board flat entry, draft way too far aft. The sailmaker’s brand starts with a D and ends with a fuck you. I’d buy a powerboat before I’d buy sails from those twits.
Breeze was around 6-8 knots, we rounded the first weather mark in second place, and started gaining on the lead boat right away. Chuck Driscoll on Juiced was gaining on us, and in typical Beer Can fluky fashion, boats that were way back brought breeze, and we all ended up in a giant cluster fuck off the carrier dock. Some made it through, we got hosed, then had kelp and didn’t know it and by the time we got it off (I think), that was that, resulting in a very marginal 5th out of 9.
It is the first time a few of us – including me – have ever sailed a 105, so clearly there is a learning curve that we need to climb. The new sails will be here soon, we’ll get Jeff Thorpe to come out with us, start to figure it out, and perhaps start to find results better than 5th.
Of course I was furious that we lost that way, but I got over it and am quite looking forward to getting towards the pointy end of the fleet. Nice shot by Cynthia Sinclair.
