"The Crapshoot"
The fantasic summer-like weather was bound to result in classic Seattle summer-like wind: none. Friday morning was bright and sunny, and the Puget Sound Convergence Zone worked its magic. While S winds to 10 were predicted and indeed before the first start there was a little wind on the water, it quickly died to a S at 2 or 3 reality. So boats drifted around for hours waiting for the wind to make up its mind. On days like this, the sea breeze usually fills in in the afternoon from the N, but with a S predicted and a weak front coming in, that was in doubt. To compound things a little, the flooding current was slowly taking the waiting fleet back to Shilshole, away from the committee boat.
Finally, a little bit of wind made its way in from the South, past West Point, past Meadow Point, and all the way to the race course. It took a while! But it filled in and boats which had now been sitting the better part of 3 hours were eager to do something. The RC set marks, a line, and a short course hoping the breeze would stay long enough to complete a race. With the now strongly flooding current, the first start, which saw most boats squeeze the boat end of the line was a complete disaster and a general recall. The next start, just as aggressive as the fist, saw boats once again squeeze the boat end of the line. Kokopelli luffed Lunch Box into the committee boat on this start, and there were severl individual recalls. On Orcrist, knowing people would be over early again if not a complete general recall again, we had opted to be 10 seconds late to the line and actually got a nice clean start in a lane with clear air. The first beat was shifty, to say the least. Half way up the leg there was a 45+ degree shift, and while we saw it and did the right thing, we sailed into a huge hole in the center. We rounded the top mark with 5 boats behind us, but did a stupid bear-away instead of a gybe set and burned up some course needlessly. The key to this race was the middle. Boats that gybed immediately were rewarded with what was now a beam reach to the leeward mark. We rounded the leeward mark in last, having sailed too far, too slow. However the next leg was a single tack to the windward mark, as the shift had persisted all the way down the course, and we made up on several boats here that had gone too far out.
Ultimately, while some of the top boats sailed well, several boats got put through the wringer. War Canoe took an uncharacteristic 12, and Enigma a 10. Lunchbox who was sailing well, eventually got DSQed. Aliens sailed a perfect race to take 3rd, with MOF taking their second bullet away from Apacalyso by a quarter boat length.
The breeze died again after the race, and boats packed it in, not willing to wait for another flukey race.