Last Sunday was fun. Partially in the interest of staying out of the way but mostly due to being early, I buried The PCXpress under Al and Bob and managed a horrendous start but made ok headway to the mark.
Likely thanks to Al's hail I slipped by a big yellow mark on the way to winward 1. Thank you sir.
As I watched that yellow mark slide by a few feet away I heard a loud "thunk!" Ughh. Easily could have been any of us and really hit home (excuse the phrasing) for me with my near buoy miss. Another boat in a different fleet sailing downwind collided with a singlehander going to weather I assume.
Meanwhile, with a 4 and flat main the boat still was um, not flat, and gave up lots of ground. Ah well, kuddos to Al and Bob. Having 2 clean sets and 2 good douses was great but I caught myself looking around and forgot to stow the pole at the last leeward mark. The crash jibe stowing the pole while forward was not great but I cleared the mark anyway. Nipped the tuna and her big jib by 12 seconds.
Central bay return was cooking at 17-19 knots tws and beam to quartering sea.
Good ol Ray EV100 had her hittin' 9's with a reef and a 4.
We often sail in to Pier 39 but this time got the little honda going which was already on the transom. I saw something on anarchy recently poo pooing the act of leaving the outboard out back. I get it looks like shite, is slow, and can be a hazard but guess they don't singlehand. Sometimes it's just better to leave it there.
Also saves your back and a trip going down below securing or fetching it (usually with other boats/obstructions around).
Tomorrow is YRA doublehanded with the wifey. In 4 weeks Pork Chop will have done 4 different races sponsored by 4 different clubs with 4 different crew counts. 3, 4, 1 and 2. Kinda neato.