Here's the video I promised from the Woman At The Helm Race #1, where Joyce steered like a champ, and I taunted my friends who blanketed us at the start.
We start out with discussing how we should fly a pink bra as our burgee, and it gets worse from there. You'll also see a fair amount of boozing and hear a lot of "Pirate Speak" as the race progresses. We may not have won, but we had a boatload of fun!
Very light wind tonight, so we put the crew on the leeward side to increase the heel and get the boat moving as best we could.
Joyce at the helm. "ENJOYCE YOURSELF!" became the battle cry of the race!
We became more piratey as the race progressed. Here ARRRRRRRR two guest crew who joined us tonight, Danielle and Enes.
Derek enjoying a grown-up beverage on the boat. I have to say our crew did a pretty good job cleaning out the well-stocked icebox and bar. They're nothing if not persistent!
Post-race, the crew ENJOYCES a moment mugging for the camera. Joyce did a fantastic job helming the boat tonight, and hopefully we placed at least in the middle of the pack. I'll post results when they're available.
AND, very soon I'm going to post video of the race, from my new Fuji digital camera. I have about an hour's worth of footage to edit and highlight our most embarrassing moments! Trust me, you won't be disappointed.
And, of course, my requisite self-portrait (photobombed by Ryan, also of course!)
Last night the race started with zero wind. The A class was ghosting towards the line, and we were seriously doubting that we'd make it anywhere near the line when our gun went off.
Then, a little wisp of a breeze started up, and we began moving towards the RC boat. At about 2 minutes left in the pre-start we got around 6-8 knots of wind, and it freshened enough that we were able to hit the line about 30 seconds after the start. The wind continued to increase until it was a solid 15+ knots for the rest of the race.
Here's the crew unfurling the main. Look at that sunny weather! It didn't last long.
Ominous clouds darken the sky as we get close to the start time.
Rain showers that weren't quite reaching sea level. That didn't last as the temperature cooled off. They always say that the rain brings the wind, and it sure did last night.
"Le Arche de Noe" may have barged us at the start, I don't know and I don't want to start any rumors. But they did. Anyway, we sailed right under them and got good air and left them in our wake.
After we finished the wind made it a bit challenging to wrangle the sail back on deck, but the crew did a bang up job and soon we were headed in, just before the real weather hit. At the dock, the sky opened up and some rain and lightning made us glad that the race only took about 45 minutes!
A perfect night for racing! Warm, breeze of 10-12 out of the northwest, and a tight windward-leeward course made for a fun and exciting race.
Me and Derek.
Here's Audacious ghosting alongside us during a light-breezed run.
Janel, Ryan, and Joyce.
Ryan, me, and my post-race cigar.
Janel and Joyce.
It was one start for about 20 boats. If they have results, I'll post them here and on the Windjammers Forum. After the race we sailed around the Gulf with just the main until well after sunset. Fun night.
