By Rich
I’m not one of those racers who can remember every leg of every race in his/her career. In fact I remember very little of any of them, but I remember this Annapolis Nood race and this beat in particular. We made the right call by choosing the genoa instead of the #3 (it was a borderline call). We substantially outpointed Huster for the entire first leg of the beat on starboard tack and had a big lead when….a massive lefty filled in. They tacked over and crossed us by a significant margin and beat us to the mark.
That’s yacht racing. Sometimes you can make all the right decisions and still come up short! Still this was only a slight negative in a regatta full of positives that resulted in a podium finish. Best of all was the sailing itself – just look at the J/29 going upwind with a full rail of crew and a nice, flat, 150% heavy genoa. The J/29 in its prime.