2009 ACC's - A different perspective

Jon did a great job of describing the regatta, but I'll add my view, which was much more distant. Laura and I arrived Friday afternoon, rigged the boat, had a drink and then went back to her mother's house for dinner. Batton Kenyon, our third crew, arrived sometime after 1:30 - I was well asleep.

The racing Saturday was exciting with the wind and chop building from race to race. We were hampered by a series of bad starts (except for one that had a general recall). Getting off a line with 60 aggressive boats is something I didn't do well. As a result, after 3-4 minutes, we were at least 100 yards behind the first row of boats, and the distance increased throughout the race. We were clearly too light for the 18+ kts that we were sailing in, and although I remembered Larry MacDonald winning the FD with his two kids 2 years ago, I couldn't simultaneously get enough speed and keep the boat flat.

We got the only reasonable start of the regatta in the 3rd race on Saturday, but we hesitated on a jibe, I fell into the boat, and then the boat fell into the water. Had a dickens of a time righting it; came to find out that the tip of the mast was stuck in the mud. The water must not have been much more than 4'. Lost a lot of stuff, but none expensive. Had a great ride back to the dock and joined all the others who had capsized or broken their mast and retired.

Sunday was a tough day. The NOR said that the tow would begin at 8:30 with races at 10, but the SI's said races at 11. So, we got towed out, had to wait around, got towed out into Barnegat Bay, and finally started racing after being on the water for 4 hours. The wind was already howling and we slogged the 1-1/2 upwind legs and then planed literally the whole way back to the leeward mark. Batton did a great job of keeping us on a plane and the boat on its feet. Then disaster struck on the first upwind leg of the second race. We tacked to port, crossed one boat and tried to duck Nabeel and failed. Big holes in both our boats, but Muller has done a great job repairing them.

Barnegat Bay is a great place to sail, and the NA's should be a lot of fun. The sea breeze is strong, and there's tide to contend with, as well as cigarette boats going up and down the Bay at full throttle. Take a heavy crew!