When I arrived at the marina I learned that none of the crew had shown. We knew we would be short our two experienced bowmen, but L--- and S--- hadn't said they wouldn't be coming. So it was just captain S--- and I. Being so shorthanded we decided to use the jib as opposed to the genoa so that it would be easier to handle without having hands on the bow. In spite of the prospect of running before the wind for most of the race we also decided against flying the spinnaker.
The motor still has issues, it was running but not well.
We got out of the marina. The race attendance was low, which was good since we had to auto pilot the tiller whenever we needed two hands. The wind was good. We got the main up and shortly after that the jib. We did a lot of tacking and jibing near the start line, I got in some really good practice trimming the fore.
Due to commercial presence, the race was delayed. Once over the line we were downwind across to the restaurants. The wind was light enough to force our hand regarding the spinnaker, so we got it prepped. As captain S--- worked at this I decided maybe it would be good for me to take the helm. He thought it was a good idea. For the remainder of the race I had the tiller and captain S--- got to do some pretty intense sailing. I made a couple landsman mistakes, losing track of the wind direction thus steering exactly the wrong direction.
We made the lone mark of the race and, returning, held a beam reach most of the way. Captain S--- attempted to fly the spinnaker as a genoa which worked for a while, but it became apparent it had to come down. That task was rough. I was anchored at the helm and wasn't much help. The sail kept catching the wind making it impossible for captain S--- to stow below. He fed it through the foot of the mains'l and the beam to help. As soon as it was near enough for me to catch I helped haul with one hand while the other stayed fixed on the tiller. After much backbreaking we got it below.
Then the wind got lively and we stayed really powered up for the remainder of the race. On the way back we did well and took a couple other boats.
After finishing we ran the motor enough to give us response and captain S--- lowered the sails in strapped them for cleanup and stowage when we got back in. The huge commercial starboard of us was hoisting anchor. That was really cool as it was thudding loudly and gushing water.
We had a humpback whale swimming with us, but it made its appearance way aft of where we were, so we didn't get to see it.
Once in we cleaned up our stowing of the sails got everything in ship shape. We weren't done until nearly 10:00pm. It was a great night of learning and practicing.
Weather: cool, overcast, shifty winds.
Time on the water: about 2.0 hours.
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