Race day 1

Today was a day of highs and lows, very low.
The weather for the day was variable with some rain in the morning and the wind being affected by overhead clouds.
First Race: The call was to start at the boat and work the right side of the course. The line is quite short for the 4 boats. On our final approach, we had to hold back a little so that we would not be shut out by Titan. As soon as Titan committed to putting the bow down, we boreaway and started. We were at the line but a little slow, but we got the right. We worked a few shifts on the way up and rounded the mark right on Titan’s tail. The set went well and we were able to get a small tow off Titan wake.
Titan extended a bit on the run. We have a single mark at the bottom, port rounding and no offset at the top, so the course is a bit the way they used to be. Good Fun.
The bottom mark rounding was smooth and we had a smooth beat back to the top. On the next set, we had a small hiccup with the kite sheet coming the winch on the set. The guys in the cockpit sorted it out quickly and we were on the way. We held our time on the boats and won the race.
Race 2
Between races, the breeze started backing off so we put up the J 1.5 and sailed upwind to get a feel for the boat. Unfortunately, as we sailed upwind, we did not hear the RC make the call for the start time. By the time we heard it, we were quickly running out of time. We put the engine on, then had to hoist the kite at the 4 minute to get back down in time. We started probably 20-30 seconds late. The team worked the boat hard to try and get back into the race but there were not very many passing lanes and we had to settle with a last place finish. We also had a few mechanical issues with a winch but that did not affect the result. We are angry with ourselves for making this kind of mistake but everyone on the team kept working hard to try and get the boat back in the race, but it was not to be. So, for today we ended with a poor result but there are 8 races to go and tomorrow we will come out fighting.
Doogie