Fog and light wind drifter on Wed nite

That’s Western Flyer way out 3rd right after the start.  The nice compact bowline knot I tied in the jib sheet came undone shortly after we crossed the starting line.  Not too bad for recovery.  Good job to the quick crew.  Bad job to me for putting untested changes in before a race.

It was like fall snuck up and pounced us during the race.   Started off with northern wind like normal during practice.  We tried for some practice spinnaker time but couldn’t seem to figure out which way the wind was coming from.  Well, it was making huge shifts, that’s why.

Just after the start the fog rolled in heavy.  Winds began spurting in from south.

We finished it with a weird spinnaker run where the tide current carried us fast enough to allow us to go in wind angles (on the instruments) that were impossible.

I don’t think we finished in time to qualify as a finish according to race rules.  But we finished it.  Two boats finished and we were one of them.  We got to fly spinnaker and kept moving despite almost no wind.  That’s a win for us.

The Wilderness 21 does pretty well in light air.  The boat is very sensitive to weight location.  That lets us make a good difference shifting around.  Roll tacking every time.  Getting good twist on the main.  Putting weight on the low side.  The boat just feels like it enjoys the water moving lightly around its curves.  I guess that is what the “high prismatic” comments are about in the sales brochure.   If there is wind then it can be moving.