A skippers meeting at 10am officially kicked off the 2004 Olson 30 Nationals event. Wind was already very nice across the Puget Sound, though nothing like the 20 knots the day before, and crews were eager to get on the course. Boats made their way to the starting area North of Meadow Point by the 1pm start time - no one wanted to be late to the line today!
The first race was course XUXU. The start was actually quite orderly, with several boats at the boat and most boats dispersed along the line to mid-line. Very few second row starters. Apacalpyso put the pedal to the metal and led the race from start to finish, though there was alot of pressure from other top boats War Canoe, MOF, Wild Turkey, Enigma. The weather leg was deceivingly long to the first mark, and although there was a large flood the outside wasnt particularly ill favored. Everyone flying a #1 in the pleasant and sunny 11 knots of Northerly. The first mark was uneventful, and boats generally went out or middle for the current on the leeward leg. By this time Enigma and Apacalyso were pretty far ahead and didnt look back. The leeward mark rounding and next beat were uneventful; we saw a spectacular bit of tactics on Lunchbox's part as they rounded in 13th(?) took a flyer all the way to the beach in one long tack, and banged the right corner. It paid off in spades, as they passed 5 or more boats on this weather leg by staying out of the flooding current the longest. The last downwind run had positions pretty locked in, as boats spread out along the course. Ironically, the two boats that had really tangled with each other at the windward mark the night before took 1-2: Apacalyso 1, sailing really fast and high, with Enigma in at 2, sailing not a whole lot slower. Very competetive.
The second race was started, and on Orcrist, having seen how well the Box did on the beach, the strategy was to win the boat end, and flop immediately onto port. We did, and did. Aliens got the short end of the stick on the start, as a second row starter and got dusted as Kokopelli and Orcrist went boat for boat for half the leg, in a pure drag race up the beat. Fantasic race! Aliens hanging tough to stay on the right, it would eventually pay off for them. We saw people tacking early trying to lay the line, but felt being conservative was better and scrambled with Kokopelli, Scoundrel, Aliens, and others to lay the mark and get a good top mark rounding. We rounded in 11th, and took a hitch in as we liked how Kokopelli had done the last run in the middle. Most of this race was a blur, as it was spent fending off very good sailing by Scoundrel and Aliens. At the second leeward mark it was MOF, Enigma and Apaco, and in our neck of the woods we had one boatlength separation between Bad Dog, Aliens, Orcrist, and Scoundrel. This was close racing! Defending against Scoundrel allowed Aliens and excellent rounding, and they made up 2 boats here to overtake us by a boatlength at the finish, but we were able to stay ahead of Scoundrel and Barnstormer all the way 'round. MOF took the bullet, with Enigma sailing very consistently and fast to take another 2, and Apacalypso right up in there with the 3.
Great weather, great competetive sailing!