When we first got out I was psyched to see the wind from the South at about 10-12 knots.  As someone on the taller/heavier side I like it when the wind is up and, in my experience on the river, Southerlies tend to be stable both in velocity and direction.  Apparently, though, that was not the Southerly we had today.  The first two races saw big shifts at the start and then the breeze died off for the second two.  The first race it went way right making a boat end start critical.  The second race it went way left.  The puffs, it seemed, were coming in predominately from the right and tended to be right shifts, so I gambled with a midline start and headed right.  Whatever I may have gained from being on the right, however, did not make up for missing the first big shift and not being at the pin.  As the wind dropped off for the last two races finding the breeze became the overriding consideration and it seemed almost as likely to be on the left as the right.  We had an ebb tide for most of the day, but the current seemed negligible.  Justin did a great job as RC finding us enough water to sail in and getting the races off.

Great to get out on Laser again and to see so many new faces.  Looking forward to next Sunday.

Jason Ipe

#175537