2015-03-05

Today’s races began at the 7AM meeting for us, but the actual race for the Gill Commodore’s Cup didn’t start until 10 AM. We motored out in strong winds, at times going over 30 knots constant with gusts going somewhat high. The waves were commensurately high and it was a sloppy and at times uncomfortable boat motion once we anchored in 30 feet of water. We soon had the start line set up and before we knew it the start sequence began with Theo calling out all of the sequence radio traffic. My task for the day was to be official scribe, a choice which they probably regretted once they saw what my handwriting looked like. But I did take copious notes and once someone finds the appropriate Zanshin-Stone to decipher my scrawl they will know what happened. On a positive note, the starts all went quite well with no tense or close situations that might require looking back at the written notes.

After starting our groups we proceeded to relocate to a new position in order to function as the finish line. This took a bit of hunting around but we were set up in good time and could relax with our (non-alcoholic) drinks and sandwiches and had enough time to digest our meals before the first finishers approached the line. It was a good start for us, as the finishers all came in at different times and there were no close calls or chances at messing up the times or finish order.

After pulling up the finish marker and returning to our mooring close to the Simpson Bay bridge we could finally pop open our cans of sponsor’s malty beverage and toast ourselves on a job well done. Once we put the boat away we repaired to the SMYC bar, and I vaguely remember talking to several people and the bridge opening and closing several times – I am not very good at drinking during the daytime and by the time I was back aboard and could practice at what I am good at (drinking during the nighttime) I was sated and ended up making a light dinner in the galley and calling it a very early evening indeed.