Wow.

All I can say is "that's why I put Tradewinds on my list of must-do regattas".

I don't think you could have ordered a better weekend. Sun, decent wind, tons of competition, good times, good PRO and organizers.

No tradewinds would be complete without a reach to A mark, which we accomplished early on Friday after a huge right shift. Seems things always go "right" at Tradewinds, eh? Good work by RC getting things reset quickly.

The water was warm (don't ask me how I know), and it was nice to have such a well laid out F18 to play with. Cheryl, being the task-master that she is kept me busy and we managed to place well despite neither of us sailing this boat before.

The controls were always within reach allowing good control with a minimum of movement. Everything with the possible exception of spin hoist could be done from the wire, too (not that I had the opportunity to try).

Should I ever find myself as the proud owner of another cat, I'd pay extra to have all the little rigging tweaks on there. I think that really makes a boat faster.

Oh, and true to form, "Man-kini" did make an appearance on Friday for the third(?) year running. Only in the Keys.....

Can I pre-register for the next Tradewinds yet?