Actually, John, I ran it up coming up the Pagan Sunday so as not to break tradition. What a great race. In a bit lighter air, you'd have clobbered us, as was clear from your downwind runs. Thank you for alerting me to the race. I'm going to join that club next year and try to keep better posted on things. And, again, thank you for encouraging me to do this. It has been a great part of my life. Just wish I'd started earlier.
John E. On Oct 16, 2011, at 6:57 AM, John wrote:
Want to report that I am making some progress in outfitting "Eclipse" to do a little racing, and in figuring out how to make her go. We took a second yesterday and got our first "hardware" with the new boat. Do I need to tell you who was first? John Edwards, sailing Recovery with Jim Groves and his sons, of course. It was a beautiful day, with winds in mid-20's, occaisional gusts to 30+, and an 8.5 mile course that had about 4.5 miles of beating and 4 miles of reaching. Going upwind was a lot like work, but the reaches were spectacular, with boats surfing at 8+ knots in bright sun and sparkling whitecaps. Anyway, aside from having some regret for encouraging John E to race, I feel great and wanted to share this day.I hope more of the gang can come "downeast" for some of these races. Most of the Willoughby races are on Saturdays, getting there can be a long summer day, or a reasonable day followed by overnight at anchor in the little bay or in one of Willoughby Harbor Marina's many transient slips.Schedule for all handicap racing around here can be found at www.hamptonyc.com and following the link to "yacht racing/handicap fleet".Willoughby is having the hot buttered rum race on Nov 5th, that's always fun, and next weekend is Old Point "Round the lights" race, which can sometimes be grueling, as it is a long race that enjoys what are argueably worst tidal currents in Hampton Roads. (i.e. The entrance at Fort Monroe, and the mixmaster at the confluence of the James and Elizabeth rivers.)Congrats to John, Jim, and the guys, and thanks for not flying that J.R.
