AHMEN II

No Wednesday sailing this week due to the lack of wind. AHMEN II was on Saturday. Another great day. This time there was no need to wait for the wind. We once again had a nice breeze from the south east. The RC set the same course for white sail and spinnaker fleets: Gibraltar, Dufferin, Mark 3, Mark 5 and with the finish at Mark 3. The course was a good length. Everyone was finished by 14:30. The NYC RC did a great job.

We started more or less with the fleet. The less part meant we were in less than clear air; so I guess not good. It was pretty much a starboard tack direct to Gibraltar. Our windward mark rounding did not go as well as I would've liked. There was no offset. We needed to get the chute up, pole off, gybe, in a short period of time, i e immediately. I did not really communicate this effectively.

What I would really wish for is that my crew spend some time developing mind reading skills! We don't spend every weekend doing practise so our minds have not been preset. The key to successful competition is to have your mind go on autopilot. You know what needs to be done without thinking (or verbalizing).

It was pretty much a port gybe to Dufferin. We started to get bigger boats shadowing us and interfering with our wind as they overtook. The course was pretty much a point to point so there really wasn't a way to avoid this. At each mark you could lay the next. We were on starboard gybe on the last leg from Mark 5 to Mark 3.

Nick was able to sort out the GPS; this worked well except with his obviously wrong direction that the next mark was 180 degrees from were we and the rest of the fleet were heading! It isn't only me that can't enter waypoints. There was an interesting discussion about: What is Mark 3? EYC 3 and TSCC 3 are all Mark 3 but which one is AHMEN 3?

There were a few extra boats from NYC (this event was hosted by NYC). We knew we couldn't catch the semi professionals on Threes Company. It was a bit of a surprise that they finished second behind Short Sale. We were not close enough to beat Balance today; we got a fourth.

What a great day! It was a prefect day with a nice breeze and flat seas. I loved it.