Sailing

My husband and I own a Bombardier 7.6.  A 25 foot racing sailboat, built in 1981.  We bought it in 2000 for a song and man it needed work.  However, it's now in great condition and a ton of fun.

Although the racing season at LSYC is almost over there are still 4 more Wednesday night races left, plus 2 long distance races and the single handed, plus the weekend fun!

Coming out of the spring series, we placed 2nd over all, and coming out of the summer series, a respectable 3rd.  Best year yet for Ashe.  

Last night was a blast.  There was about 18 knots of wind out of the south with lots of chop.  Waves from 6 inches to 2 feet, nothing organized.  The current was very light, which was a blessing because we had to fight pretty hard up wind against the chop.  

We had a not too bad start - 10 seconds late (like usual) then had a great upwind leg.  We were in good standing at the windward mark and after shaking out the reef in the main, decided to throw up the spinnaker.  It went up without a hitch and we were cruising!  However, myself and Kat are the only 2 crew members who know what we're doing - the other 2 are newbies.  So I was driving the boat and flying the chute and Kat was on foredeck readying for a gybe.  Unfortunately, we caught a gust and the boat rounded up - broach!  I did a face plant into Lake Ontario before letting go of the Spinnaker Sheet.  Here we were, me trying to keep the boat from crash gybing, and hauling in the spinnaker and Kat on the foredeck trying to get the pole under control and the other 2 starring wide eyed in disbelief.

After much yelling, the boat was under control and the head sail back up and we were on our way after losing 10 minutes.  Sadly the entire fleet passed us by. 

The last downwind leg we caught up to a Grampian 26, which we call Rupture, due to their inability to control their boat, and pinned them on our low side.  Just before the finish we gybed, back up to speed and called them on Starboard - sorry guys but sometimes I make some brilliant moves.  We finished 2 seconds ahead of them with the race committee clapping.

Although we came in 9 out of 9, we had a great time and both me and the crew learned a lot last night.  Stay tuned - there's nothing but fun and adventure on the decks of Ashe