Sailing is a great sport! Especially if there is wind. Without wind sailing becomes a excruciating and sweaty social experiment. How many hours can you endure with your skipper, trapped on a 1.5 x 1.5 meter trampoline, before one of you either drowns himself, or strangles the other with one of the many sheets on the boat, or before both of you capsize the boat fighting over the last drop of mineral water?
Luckily, none of the above happened during the latest Regatta of this year's Traveler Series. Despite the lack of wind the mood on the 18 Hobie Cats, two Getaways, 12 Optimists and six 30+ feet mono hull boats was surprisingly good.
On day one of the two day event we managed to sail three races. The word "race" might give a wrong impression of the action on the water. Colorful sails were propped by tired arms and legs just to keep them from collapsing. Instead of racing we snailed around the race course.
In light wind conditions a light crew is definitely a benefit. "Light" in Hobie Cat language means 285 pounds. Glenn and I are just 2 pounds above the minimum weight requirement! Perfect for last weekend's wind conditions.
I'm sure the skippers of the heavier boats (I'm talking 400 pounds!) toyed with the idea to get rid of their heavy counterparts just to keep the boat afloat and moving at all!
Although we were able to maneuver the boat around the course on race day number two, the race committee canceled the race due to insufficient wind. After sitting out on the water and experimenting again on human behavior in distress (heat stroke, dehydration, boredom just to name a few) we snailed our boats back into the marina. At least I got two hours of light wind sailing practice in!
All in all we ended 8th place (out of 18 - not too bad). Since we didn't get to race 5 races, the minimum number of races to call this event a race, the Punta Fuego Regatta will not be counted in the Traveler Series. Which keeps team "Tiger Gambas" in 3rd place for now.
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