5-26-12 RACING

by Pam

Photo by Skip Rhodes

It was a windy weekend.  The Butterflys had a good turnout despite several Flyers bailing and sailing in the 76th Snipe Southwestern.  Cam, Cathy, Luigi, Doug and I all sailed in the Snipe regatta and watched some of the Butterfly racing from the docks as we prepared to go out.  It looked like a wet and wild day with at least 3 tippings and one dismasting.

Scott Young once advised me to get on a double handed boat with a good skipper and no spinnaker so I could learn tactics.  It was good advice and I was glad to see other Butterflyers doing the same thing and learning from different sources.  We'll all get better together.

The traveling Snipe fleet brings extra boats to the regattas which are available for charter.  It would have been a shame not to take advantage of the opportunity.  However, our first time out on the boat was Friday afternoon and we tipped it almost immediately.  No tippings on Saturday or Sunday but our heads were in the boat in survival mode most of the time with winds gusting to 30.   I guess that means we'll have to try it again so I can learn tactics, instead of how unexpectedly physical the boat is.  I only thought I'd been hiking on other boats.

Cam and Cathy did well and even went flying past us on one reach like we were sitting still.  They handled some pretty challenging winds and ended up in 10th place.  Luigi and his skipper ended up in 7th and Doug and I somehow managed a 4th.  It was good competition with lots of opportunities to learn more.

One more weekend before the Butterfly Nationals and we have 34 sailors registered!!