Last night was another AYC Wednesday Night Race. Depsite the predictions, there was a nice breeze, and there was not obvious signs that we would get rained upon while we were rigging the boat. There were a few dark clouds that prompted some discussion, but the taller, more threatening, of them seemed like they would pass to the west and north of us.
After a crummy start with no one to blame but myself, we sailed a really wonderful race. The owner wasn't aboard so we were all on best behavior as in 'don't break the boat'.. In what was a bit of "we are putting the band back together' moment, the crew all came together doing positions that we don't usually do together. We worked our way up through the fleet and had one good leg after another. All the while, we kept a cautious eye on the dark wall of clouds that appeared to have our fleet's name on it. About the time we decided we agreed that we should be back at the dock before it hit, It hit with a big gust that shifted near 90 degrees, knocking us down to what seconds before had been our windward side. A quick version of an autotack accompanied by a skillful dropping the traveler to the new leeward and tacking the jib across poste haste, put us back on our feet and roaring home at speeds through the harbor that would have gotten us fined on a weekend or holiday. .
Which would have been a perfect way to end a race except that the gusts came with a horizontally blown river of water soaking us to the marrow. As a Leo, which after all is a cat of sorts, I really don't like being wet. Its not like a freak out if I break a sweat a bit or the air turns a bit damp. But I don't like being soaking wet as in the sky is falling.type of wet. And while we had no problem docking, securing the boat and putting her to bed, as I walked off the dock and looked back, i was leaving visibly wet footprints in the shallow puddles on the dock. I was wet. I was really wet. Did I tell you that I hate being wet? I mean I was really really wet.
But as much as I hate being wet, we did have a very good race with our best finish of the season. Go Team!