Thank you to the race committee for setting up courses is these difficult conditions. For the first two races the wind was light to non-existent with a strong down-river current. The first race especially was challenging with the wind becoming too weak to get back up river for the second leg. I got close to the committee boat then pushed back down river by the current. The only wind it seemed came from the jets making north landings on the run way. After twenty minutes of this the wind filled in enough to get around the leeward second mark and finish.
After the first race there was lots of talk of heading back in. I was definitely in favor of heading in but the race committee wisely waited five or so minutes to see what would happen. With some light wind from the south race two started. After a moderately botched the start near the boat end I tacked to port for clear air. I got lucky with a wind shift to make a long starboard tack all the way to the windward mark near the front of the fleet. The wind stayed light but consistent enough to to finish the race without any drifting.
The wind picked up greatly for the third and fourth races and I managed to come in first on the fourth race. That’s my first win in the frostbiting fleet so I was pretty pumped. I really enjoy sailing every Sunday with so many sailors and I especially like the debrief and hangout after racing. Thank you again to everyone who came out this weekend!
Tom Hutton