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Racing a MiniCup
Today, the local yacht club had a race for sailboats less than 14'
length so I took one of t MiniCups to the coast. I got there just as the 1st race started so I never got an idea of the course. Most of the other boats were Puffins although there was an Oday and a few other types. My MiniCup was definitely the ugly duckling of the bunch as I had never painted her after fixing leaks in her bottom. What remains if her old orange paint is peeling and mildewed and even my best sewn polytarp sail is a little too big for the spars. With very light and shifting wind and not knowing the course, I came in waaaaaaaaaaaaaay after last in the first two races. Finally, I got the course and start figured out although I never did figurre out what the start signal was. At the beginning of the 3rd race, the seabreeze picked up to about 10 kts, perfect for the MiniCup. I found I could almost twirl her in one spot by jibing and coming back around to keep a good starting position but still well behind he others since I didnt want to interfere with any of the serious racers. I figured they had started when I saw them cross the line so I started too, well behind the pack. Amazingly, I caught up with most of em and passed about half of them. When we approached the first mark, I was going to have the position nearest the mark but everybody was edging in on me so I decided to allow them to go round it first cuz I dont know the rules. This put me well behind again but soon i caught up with them again and passed some of them. The same thing happened at the second mark and I allowed them to go round it first. On the way to the thrird mark, I passed a couple boats and kept trying to get to windward of one boat but she wouldnt let me and we kept going with my bow about two inches from her stern for awhile before I decided to drop off and go downwind of her. I actually managed to come in in the middle of the pack. I think that if I knew some of the rules, I would have done much better. |
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