No. I wasn't racing. But I was out on the water sailing for over four hours today during the THRASH regatta! It was really nice.

The sun was shining, the wind was steady from the Southeast and the tide was ripping along on a major ebb. That would come into play later, so pay attention.

I arrived on T2 just after 10:00 and immediately set about cleaning in preparation for Opening Day at RVYC. Mom had invited me and offered to buy me a pulled pork sandwich and a beer at the bar-b-que. So, after Trouper 2 was ship shape and ready for a casual inspection, I raised the sails and slipped my lines. That's when the adventure went a little sideways. How do you know when you're getting too cocky? When you leave your mooring under sail and don't even know where the keys for the engine are.

I was under main sail alone and immediately ended up in Irons like some rank amateur. I back winded the main, and managed to come out of irons but with no time to maneuver, I struck my neighbor amidships.  

Fortunately, being a spry sixty year-old, I managed to spring to the pulpit, and fend off. Nothing damaged except my pride.

I spent the next several hours having a lovely sail among the fleet of racers taking part in the annual THRASH regatta. Of course I steered well clear of the fleet. At one point I had a broad reach from Willows Beach, through Banes Channel. That's when the wicked ebb tide came into play. I know it was ebbing but thought I'd give it the old college try. I finally motored through after it became clear that the tide was taking me backwards under sail. But hey, that was the only time I used the engine. For about 15 minutes.

When I finally made it through the rip at Banes, I decided to head back to meet Mom at the bar-b-que. That's when I hit my maximum speed over the bottom of almost 9 Knotts. It didn't look like opening day. Everyone from RVYC was racing, and there was no sail past. So I asked one of the sailing instructors, on my way in and she told me it was next weekend. So I dropped the jib and sailed back onto my mooring buoy under main sail.

THRASH Regatta