Key West Race Week - when it rains it pours

Key West Race Week is renowned for its splendid weather, but some rain must fall in each person's life. Today, it poured on John Thomson's Solution in Farr 40 class Races 3 and 4.

Race 3 started OK. We got off the line in decent shape and sailed in some narrow lanes to round the windward mark in 15th. We were disadvantaged a bit by being to the left of a big shift to the right, the wind shifted from 40 to 70 degrees, but still got around the mark in good shape.

The shift was the result of a squall rolling across the course, which also made for a lively rounding as the windspeed jumped to 20 knots from 14 knots and rain began to fall. With the wind so far right, tactician Tom Whidden called for a jibe set. We got around, popped the .5-ounce polyester kite and took off down the 2.0-mile run at 12 to 14 knots.

The Farr 40 proved once again a thrill to sail in windy conditions, as its light-to-moderate displacement allows it to surf easily. Some crews had trouble, however, with Chris Doscher's Twister broaching a couple of times.

We rounded the leeward mark in 15th, and picked off one more boat over the next two legs to the finish and placed 14th, a result we were happy with as some of yesterday's leaders were behind us. We felt good. We liked our boatspeed and set-up, and felt a first place would set everything right.

The wind dropped to about eight knots for the second race, but we nailed the start at speed and with a hole to windward and leeward. Simply an ideal start. We worked to the left, tacked to port and sped off to round the windward mark first, with a two-boat-length cushion over Jim Richardson's Barking Mad.

The boat was grooving and we were confident. If we could win the race we would gain a load of points because some of the leaders were buried back in the pack. The wind, however, had a different game plan.

When we got halfway down the 1.8-mile leg the wind died away to about four knots and was shifting far to the right again. We were drifting downwind to the leeward mark with the current, but maintaining the lead despite the difficult conditions. Then, just 200 yards from the gate, the race committee abandoned the race.

"Booo!" we yelled. "Yeah!" came a chorus reply from the boats behind us. Sailing in a big fleet is a game of inches. You have to have some luck along the way. The abandonment was an omen of bad things to come.

The race committee announced it had reports of a fresh breeze filling in within 20 minutes, so we would be waiting awhile. The wind never freshened, but did fill enough to get another race off.

The second race started again in eight knots of breeze. On Solution, we wished it hadn't started at all. We were too close to the line and Philippe Kahn's Pegasus, among other boats to leeward, kept pushing up and we wound up an early starter. After clearing around the boat end, our race continued to go down hill. We rounded the windward mark around 25th, lost a few more boats on the run and then continued to run ourselves into the back of the fleet. We finished 34th out of 37. A horrible race and finish. Nothing went right.

We kept it in perspective and didn't get too down on ourselves, but a 14-34 for the day isn't favourable to our chances, to say the least. Barring some radical circumstances, we'll have trouble cracking the top 10.

At the end of a long day, highlighted by a 14-34, all you can do is grin and bear it. Tonight, we'll wash away the misery and look forward to a better day tomorrow. That's the good thing about sailing, there's always tomorrow.

First published on QuokkaSailing.com, republished with permission.