No racing today due to no wind. What does this mean? We win! Both Ran and Us were tied on points but on count back, we win.  The team is very happy and satisfied.  It has not been an easy road.  A big congrats to Hap for putting the big effort to win this event. A couple of years ago, we came close but were out sailed at the end.  It was a very competitive event and the future looks bright for the mini maxi class with a few more new boats getting built and the whole fleet getting stronger.
The boat will now be delivered back to Palma and then off to Florida for some winter sailing.
Thanks for following us,
Doogie

Well, we’ve had better days. Today was a coastal race in very light air. The first attempt was a glamour for us. We started by the pin with decent pace while our closest competition, Ran, were over early.  We controlled the fleet nicely and were pulling into a very nice lead. As we approached the rocks we were to round, the breeze died down to 2-3 knots and they abandoned the race.
The race committee waited for a while until the breeze built to a light 6-7 knots. We had a good start in the middle of the line, working our way to the weather mark.  We rounded behind Ran, but just ahead of Stig. The next leg was a reach which started with the jib but quickly went to the code 0. The change went well and we were slowly closing on Ran.  We got lifted as we neared the next mark and peeled to the A1.  The change went smoothly and we quickly set up for the next leg which was a beat back to the pin end of the line. We lost quite a bit of distance on this part of the race.  As we neared the mark, we again got lifted and went back to the code O.  The next leg was a run with the A1 again so as we approached the mark, we set up and hoisted the kite at the mark. From there on, it didn’t go well for us. As we tried to furl the 0, the kite wrapped itself into the furl at the top causing the bottom unit to twist. I know this all seems like gibberish so let me clear it up a bit.  It was a massive cluster !#%”. After trying several ways to untangle the mess, we were force to take both sails down and sort it out.  Once we cleared the mess, we rehoisted the kite and kept sailing. Of course, by now, it was time to gybe and our gybe sheet was out of commission having been an ingredient in the cluster. So we quickly grabbed another sheet, connected it to the kite and gybe we did.  This was a short run to the mark before a short reach to the finish.  
It was really frustrating but in actual fact, the cluster did not cost us that much.  We probably would still have finished 4th. 
So now we are tied with Ran going into tomorrow. The forecast is again light air, so it will be a real fight.

Two more windward leeward races were sailed today in 11-16 knots. The first race was a midline start with us being spot on the line. We worked the left side of the course and rounded just ahead of the competition at the top mark. The run went well and we got ready for the leeward mark rounding. We gybed onto final approach with 1:30 to go to the mark. All was going well and we were ready for windward drop. Just as we started the drop, something went wrong with the string and the kite stopped coming into the boat. We ended up spearing the kite with our bowsprit and having kite cloth everywhere. We still rounded the mark and worked hard to get it all back on board.  We worked hard and were able to retain the lead and still win the race.

Race 2. We started at the leeward end of the line and again worked the left side of the course. We rounded the top mark right on Ran’s stern.  We had a good set and sailed a decent run but were not able to close enough distance on them. The leeward mark rounding this time went well with the kite coming nicely. The second beat again saw us on the left side of the course with Ran keeping their distance on us.  We finished the race in second.  So for us, this was another day. We felt like we sailed well and overcame our challenges.
Tomorrow should be a coastal race.

Doogie

After yesterday’s abandonment  of racing, we were all anxious to get out on the race course. The reach out to the start line was lumpy. Ran ended up breaking their boom on the reach but were able to get in and replace it in time for the start of the first race. It was a good effort on their part.