Well folks,

Today was a good day for us, we moved up 10 spots in the standings. We now stand 26 and are well on our way to our goal of being top 20 in the regatta. Tuesdays racing was very interesting. The first race was the lightest air we have sailed in all regatta 10-15 knots and it was a lot shiftier than the days before. At the start of the first race, we got a great start about 1/3 of the way down the line with clear air and we were going wicked fast. We were able to burn off a couple of leaders and for the first time all regatta we got to chose where and when to tack instead of having other boats dictate our course. We played the right middle of the course and were able to round the top mark in the top 15. The right side of the course paid off in a big way and it was interesting because on the way down to the race course Vince Brun could be seen way over on the right side of the course checking compass bearings and tide, he must have liked something he saw over there because he played the right side and rounded the weather mark in first by about 10 boat lengths. We had great speed down wind and were able to catch a couple of boats so we rounded the bottom mark in 12 place. Going back upwind we tried to make the right side pay in a big way, but I think we were in a little too much dirty air to make it work so we lost a couple of boats the second weather leg. Back down wind we gained a again and this time we tried to make the left side pay, which didn't work as well as we hoped and we lost a couple more boats from the right, Seadon was one who crossed in front of us right before the finish so he beat us by one. But we got a 19th that race which was great. The race was won by Vince. Boy is it hard to keep the fast boats behind you (Terry, Chris Larson, Seadon, Keith Whittemore).

The next race saw the wind pick up again to the usual 15-20 knots. Some of the boats were going to try and race with their big jibs up and that would have been tough, luckily for them there was a general recall and everybody, but one boat switched down to the smaller sails. This race was almost the opposite of the race before. We had a terrible start and once again started the unenviable task of weeding our way through 65 boats. We were able to play the left side of the course which was favored, some people tried the right side one more time, but that did not pay off at all. Terry Hutchinson played the middle left and came out at the top mark in first, the position he held to the finish. We showed signs of great speed and we seemed to catch boats every leg. It was very exciting racing beacause the concentration level on our boat was very high (Red Bull does the trick) and we were able to work our way back to 27th place, very respectable for where we started.

The racing has been fantastic, the race management has been absolutely amazing, every race has started on time and we get back to the dock by 4:30 each day, a very gentlemanly time. The race course has proven itself a little bit trick to figure out and that has kept the racing very fair and very competetive, I think all the racers are enjoying themselves immensely.

Seamus