Century Club: Jonathan Nepini

SMSA Wednesday Night A-2. Lots of people available this week meant we ran the boat with a crew of 7. We had been wondering how the boat would run with this many crew, and it went surprisingly well. There were jobs for the whole crew, we all found spots to move around the boat as needed, and in 11-12kts of wind she picked up 10 degrees of pointing ability at full speed under the #1. A great upwind leg, tidy rounding and set, nice downwind, and another good close reach out and run back. Conditions got very light towards the last mark rounding, and we had a slow last leg. A great sunset and a great evening on the water. Hoping we have the opportunity to run the boat with a big crew in the future.

Running the boat pretty light with a crew of 4 today for the SMSA Spring Invitational. Conditions weren't horrific like they were yesterday, but were still strong, and RC decided to run races in the Bay. The first race was a triangle course around government marks. We started with a broad reach under spinnaker, and worked hard to keep the boat composed and going fast. We responded quickly in the gusts and saved her from rounding up several times. The upwind leg started out somewhat reasonable but built to pretty mighty conditions and 5 foot swells by the time we rounded the next mark. Our run back to the finish was very quick despite our deciding not to put up the spinnaker, and we surfed the boat to over 12 knots on one wave. We hung around for a while as RC set up the second race, and conditions continued to be very stiff. By the time we started, conditions were so heavy we had to pull down the #3 to maneuver to the start, and after a brief consideration of retiring I convinced Dewey to stick it out and run the race. We got on course, got the headsail back up, and got back in the game. Puffy conditions prevailed as we got into the river, and it was a real fight to keep the boat under control and making good speed. The crew was pretty tired by the time we rounded the last mark, so we kept the spin down going to the finish. We managed a strong third place of 8 boats. The whole crew definitely had to earn it today! Glad we stuck it out and finished the second race. 

Out on Dangerous for some skill building before the start of Wednesday nights. Ran all around the river and did a bunch of sets and douses to tighten up our spin work and get a new foredeck started. I worked the mast and did a little coaching to get him up to speed. Great weather and a great day on the water to get tuned up as the racing season gets going.

Got a last-minute invite to take the helm of Elysium, a friend's J/33 and probably my favorite boat, for SMSA Frostbites #4. With a pretty light crew and winds in the high teens we started with a reefed main and old Dacron #2. Sailed a strong downwind leg, followed by a long and relatively unsuccessful beat. Despite my best efforts, my lack of helm time on the boat and the tired sail plan led to a pretty slow upwind leg. We shook out the reef and did our best to catch up on the next downwind leg, followed by another beat to the finish. Caught an awful 90 degree shift right at the end and dunked half the crew's shoes in the water, but recovered quickly and finished the race. Not my best effort on the helm, but I still had a ton of fun running the boat and getting some more experience.