This was a really fun race with a "variety" of conditions. It was my second time going, last year being the first. It's a really cool set up with the camping right by the boats on the beach.
When we were setting up on the beach Saturday there was some good wind. By the time every one was on the course the wind started doing some funny things. (For me anyway). There was a period of very light wind during one race, but the wind built up throughout the day. I remember one race where I started up wind, got to A mark, and the wind clocked around enough that I was almost sailing upwind to C mark. The wind was shifting around so much that the marks were changed practically every race. Several races were abandoned due to gustsy/changing winds prior to starts. We got in I believe a total of four-five races and got to sail in a variety of wind speeds throughout the day. I had a blast.

Sunday was the interesting day. This was my experience:

The forecast was calling for showers in the early afternoon. When we were setting up on the beach there was a nice breeze coming right down the shore, but there also was a questionable line of clouds off in the distance. I was one of the last 16's to leave the beach. As I was shoving off the wind clocked around 45 degrees and started blowing directly on shore. I headed off the beach on starboard tack. I was getting ready to tack and looked over my shoulder up where the course was when I saw a few boats capsized in the distance. Then, it was like dominoes. A huge gust that never quit came through and before you knew it almost everyone was over. That front was vicious and the sea state got rather choppy with very low visibility. I was lucky enough to see it coming, i.e. boats flipping over everywhere, so I somehow managed to sail back to the beach, albeit quite a distance from where we left the beach. I sailed in with my jib completely luffing in front of the forestay, and the main pushed up against the shroud on a “deep” broad reach. The wind + waves were making the boat slip quite a bit toward the shore. In reality I just let everything out and tried not to flip. It was quite a wild ride. All I could think of right before I hit the beach was, “this is going to completely suck if I pitch pole right here”.
Once I was on the beach I started wrestling my sails down and began to lash them to the tramp. Two other boats managed to beach by where I was. Once I had my boat secured I began to help them. I looked back to the bay and you couldn’t see any of the boats. I looked down the beach and could make out a few sails coming back to shore. It took a while to finally get everyone accounted for. The race committee did a great job of handling this situation and the local Fire and Rescue were very prompt in arriving to make sure everyone was OK. Fortunately there were only a few broken boat parts and no broken bodies that resulted from this.
I feel certain that everyone that was there has a story. It was a fun weekend and I am very glad that everyone was OK by the end of it. Can’t wait for next year’s regatta.