I've been waiting since this afternoon to post this to the morons like
Dungmaster Sloco who race handicap. Today I was in a REAL sailboat
race and here's how it went:

I had no plans to sail today. I went to the yard to wash Heart of Gold
down because we have a lot of folks sailing with us this weekend.
After about an hour my buddy shows up to mess around with his J29.
With a promise of "I just want to shake out the new #2", we set out
for a planned hour of sailing. As we left I saw a fellow on his J27 (I
recently sold him sails) pulling out. We ended up sailing together for
a bit when he offered a little race...to the turning buoy at the
Throgs Neck and under Stepping Stone back to City Island.
For those less than familiar with these boats, a J29 outboard model
with fractional risk is nearly dead even with a J27.

Air was flukey, but it picked up as we approached the bridge and we
grabbed a slightly crisper line of air and had a 3 or 4 boat lead.
Then the air died for about 30 minutes and we were absolutely
becalmed. We were close to firing up the Yamaha when we saw the J27
starting to move. In a few moments we were sailing near hull speed,
with a very short lead on the J27.

We "won" though it was clear how closely matched the boats are. I had
the helm for most of it. My buddy says I stay in the groove better
than he does and I should race. No interest for me, but we did have a
nice sail. This was a real race, boat for boat. No silly handicaps.
When the J29 rates 117 and the J27 rates 120, who even cares about gay
handicaps. The boat that crosses first wins.

Anyway....sailing tomorrow with Suzanne and Thomas, then doing a
weekend trip through Monday. We don't know where we're sailing to yet.
Perhaps back to Centreport to meet with friends.



RB
35s5
NY