GO PETE !

We got home last night around 9:30 pm after leaving Gport at 4am on the nose. Had a two hour delay on I-95 and had to detour in South Carolina.

WOW....What an event. Constantine, Kris and I WERE challenged, and then challenged again and again all week. We were looking forward to 5 days of racing and boy, did we get it. The breeze was 20 - 30 when we got here Saturday night and stayed that way till later on Monday and then stayed hefty (for us) through the week and was lighter on day 5. We were there on a Blade, a Falcon and a Taipan, all uni and we had plenty of time to try anything and everything to get the boats to hook up in the high winds going to weather. The two up teams were able to really work the boats and they had some great speed upwind, really smoking. Downwind was both a thrill ride and a horror flick as the gusts came on and on. By sailing in this event we have raised our servicable wind range and we can now scoff at the high wind days that we occasionally get around here. GYC was the best host we could of asked for. They were polite, super accommodating to the racers and ran the event as smooth as silk. All the details were thought out big and small. There were great teams and unis on the course most with a "we're gonna have some fun" attitude, some were more serious, we ignored them. Robbi Daniels was a great sport who always had a smile and a wave as he flashed by going somewhere like he's late for dinner. Gina McDonald was the effervescent ambassador for the sport and always had a smile and a wave even in trying times. Gulfport itself was a great host and venue for the event. The beach, plenty of bars/resturaunts to suite you whether you wanted beach food or upscale, B&Bs, small hotels and cottages all available within walking to the beach. Everytime I do an event there I say that I won't be making that long drive again, but then I'm back again the next year.

Breakage. Conni had very little if anything break on the Taipan. He does that kind of thing just to piss us off. His new sail that he has been complaining about being too flat was well suited for the conditions in this regatta and he sailed very well and got consistant finishes. What a credit to the builders/designers that this boat (2002 Taipan) is strong, light (104kg) and is a competative platform even today. Kris had a trap line part on day 5 and in the ususal attempt to stay connected to the boat via the tiller, that broke also which cost him a trip to the beach. A broken rudder on day one cost him two races and that was pretty frustrating for him as he missed two races. I was having good luck breakage wise with some small things fouling or giving up and being able to fix them during a race or between races. Then on day 4 the head of my main decided to stay attached to the top of the mast as the rest of it came down. DRAT! There was nothing for it except to secure the sail and then what? I was at the furthest point possible from the beach, about two miles as it was diagonal across the bay. I found that the Blade will do 2 -3 knots on the wing mast when it's blowing 15 - 20 on the beam. I had a great sail back and enjoyed the first Florida post card day that we had all week as the sun made it's reluctant appearance. I was now a tourist. Jill finally spotted me by the time I was about to tack for the beach and gave a tow, many thanks. I had bought new sails a while ago but was too busy to mess with them and had decided to sail with what I had on the boat i.e. what I was familiar with. It would also involve some work to reset the mast to the new sail and I'm alergic to work so that was that. So I missed day 4 and sailed day 5 with the new main, approved by the committee of course.

Again, many thanks to the racers and organisers that let us be part of the scene on Boca Ciega bay during the F-16 Global Challenge. Ed