I'm still pulling myself back together - haven't read through all the related posts yet or even tried to catch up with e-mail. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I had a blast, as I strongly suspected beforehand I would. I like my new boat alot - handled the both the big air and light stuff really well... no breakage to report even after two pretty impressive pitches, one on Tuesday and one on Friday, both just past the clearing mark at high speed and in big gusts... there are definitely some little rigging things I'll be tweaking after spending a week on the water. My downhaul wore against the gooseneck, and the single-line spin halyard sister-block caught on the spreaders a couple of times on it's way down the mast. Easy fixes for both.

I really enjoyed sailing with Tom Paoli - he was really fun on the boat and totally game. As the week went on, we got accustomed to each other and the boat and started turning in more consistent finishes. I drove the lighter stuff and he drove the big air, for which I was greatful - I need to work on my confidence as a skipper in double-trap conditions.

The "light and shifty" that some folks complain about is something I enjoy. There is skill in finding the breeze and positioning youself for breeze that may be a significant distance away from you. Driving for those races was really gratifying for me - Tom had his head completely out of the boat timing the puffs and shifts and putting us where we needed to be. It was hard for me to ignore his crew work sometimes and focus on driving - invariably, if I took my eye off the ball to check out what he was doing, the boat would stopperate and all the apparent wind we'd built up flitted away like a pleasant dream.

Race management was top shelf - some groused when a decision didn't go their way, but them's the breaks. I can say that with authority. The club's hospitality was also out of sight - great place, and I hope they know how lucky they are in their primary resource: warm-hearted volunteers.

Best memories for the week?

Number 3 - Having Greg Goodall ask if he could take a look at my boat to try and pin down a pesky minor leak. Next thing I knew, like a NASCAR pit crew, he was laying under my starboard hull with a fresh batch of epoxy, touching up a tiny hole in the back of the boardwell - while he's doing that, Jill walks up and gives the boat a once-over, grabs my outhaul and says "hey, look here." She'd found a bent 16mm block in the outhaul assy. that she said had been tied wrong at the factory. She replaced it. It made me feel pretty good to have that sort of support after the sale. That's not a Cap commercial - that's just the way it was.

Number 2 - After Number 1 (see below) I'm riding high and into the beer. CSA brought in one of the most rocking bands for the Wednesday night party - I can't do them justice. For the first few songs, we were all in awe - after that, we rode that wave all the way in until they quit playing, even though we were exhausted from all the racing. It was the highlight of the regatta for me as far as the social schedule, and I was truly greatful to have a cold beer in one hand, an awesome band turned up to 11, and a bunch of great sailing budies to share it with.

and Number 1 - Sailing Wednesday. It was my favorite day on the water. We finished one race in a pack with 10 other boats in some good wind, 'chutes flying (the on-board video captured it, too). We got through the line and Tom fell on the deck laughing and yelling it was so exciting - he said he spent his entire day's adrenaline in that one finish, and I had a perma-grin. I wrapped up the day with an 11th after a really exciting upwind leg, just edging out Olli and Kelly at the line. We had similar finishes all the next day in a lot more wind, but for me the excitement of Wednesday's racing was the on-the-water highlight.

Looking forward to the next one. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />