See you crazy seacats homeys in a bit.

Make sure the margaritas are waiting when we get there.

I guess its to late to ask what the local weather reports are saying there, ahh well.

cheers

Hey Tad, I expect a full report when you get back! Between the weather and my work schedule, I am an armchair sailor these days, so give me some good reading to keep my spirits up! Have a great time! Wish I was going! Give my regards to the Seacats. Brian

Tad,

I only wish I was going to be there...with Performance Nationals looming so close, we decided to head to Tybee on Saturday and get warmed up in the swells and bypass this year's Outback cup. It's a hell of a time - I will thouroughly miss it. You racing on a 6.0?

Just walked in 30 seconds ago.

What a fustrating weekend. The regatta was great. Excellent facillities, extraordinarily nice and pleasant people, and a beautiful lake. Only one thing. No wind! The first day we got 4 or 5 race in with wind ~5 knots. Not enough to let the 6.0 stretch her legs. We would do great to the windward mark, usually out in front, but with our full shouldered chute, we would get waxed going downwind by the F18's and the I20. Damn those boats would skim across the water like they were floating on air. We tried everything to go faster, even the "hey Trey, pull my finger" routine, but we just couldn't. All the tricks didn't work, so we're consigned to the fact that we're piss-poor downwind sailors and/or the 400+ sqft chute on the 6.0 is just too deep to carry. Its luff is to loose to heat up, and it can't carry deep, theres no in between with it. Ahh well.
Today the wind was even lighter. When heading to the course it was blowing about 7-8knots, but as soon as the open fleet boats reached the A mark, the wind completely dropped out. We couldn't fly out 1/3oz spin, it was so dead. The RC did the wise thing and shortened the course and we headed for the hamburgers.
Still a great day to be on the water. Lake Murray is so nice and clear, we were able to see to the bottom of it when we were still 20 feet deep. Couldn't resist taking a swim in it, did my best cannon ball routine.
The steak dinner was beyond words. It was delicious. The outback people did a good job of keeping tons of hungry sailors away from the steaks until they were good and ready. I was so hungry, I made off with two of those beauties.
All in all a great event. Highly recommended.

Tad,
you guys sailed well in the light stuff today, but when it completely quit, we all sucked. I cant wait to see that 6.0 in its own element(15-20) That chute will perform nicely in that.
Thanks for the encouraging words about the regatta, its hard to see things going right when you are behind the scenes trying to correct all the problems. I did let loose saturday night though, hope you guys had as much fun as we did.

David Mosley
NACRA F18

Dave, you guys did great.

That was our first regatta sailing together. After the first race, Trey told me to steer. Worked out better that way. He's much more of a hoss than I am, pulling that chute up is pretty rough the way its rigged. No snuffer and two separate tack/halyard lines. Sprained my wrist the first day doing a takedown. Made a splint of out popsicle sticks for today :P

We need to get an NE chute for the tybee, so we're trying to sell that one we used today. Would work well on a SUPERCAT *cough* :P

I gave Tom Metts an I20 chute, and have an extra pole, extra harken ratcheting blocks and a couple of lines that might work for the sheets and halyards, but he doesnt want the extra aggravation. Hes pretty good without it though, especially when its blowing, he almost Cary and I on the I20 with a chute and him with no chute. Dont ever underestimate the SC 20 as an old heavy boat, it will smoke you when you least expect it! Aint that right Bill?

David

Tad, Thanks for the report! Sorry you didn't have better wind. Good luck with that spinnaker!