Century Club: Mario Santana

Went out to watch the junior regatta at Hampton Yacht Club on a breezy day with the kids all the way out on their traps.

Took a rainbow out to see the KidShip and Chessie fleets practice.  Then I coached a boat load of newbies who signed up through Peake Social - so much fun!

Father's Day race out to the bridge.  Paul and (dammit I'm probably misremembering his wife's name) Nancy were outstanding shipmates.  She did this thing where she sat on the leeward bow and held the jib sheets such that she functioned as a combination jib car and whisker pole.  A little experimentation showed that this move gave us an extra knot or so of speed - quite possibly the reason we won the race, in spite of a terrible start by me and in spite of us being in the white knockabaout.

(Also helped that Ben, who was ahead of us for half of the race, let his kids play with the sails.  Worth it, I would have done the same.)

(Also also, it helped that I used the iNavX app to plot my true cog toward the marks.  On long legs like these, that can make a big difference.)

Dropped the youngest off at KidShip, the oldest at Chessies practice, and then hopped on a Rainbow for a few solo hours.  Enjoyed a steady breeze, caught up on podcasts, and did a bunch of tack, jibe, and rounding practice.  It takes fewer reps for me to feel "warmed up" so I think that's good.  I should practice starts, though. 

When KidShip let out I took my youngest and his friend out so they could drive the Rainbow for a bit.  Then I parked the boat for a couple of hours to shower and pick up the oldest from Chessies practice, and got back on the rainbow with my wife for a Friday evening sail.

I'm pretty brown and don't sunburn easily, but I definitely got a little red along the edges of my tshirt-and-shorts tan lines.  I'll have to pick up some uv rated long sleeves and pants...