We were racing on an offshore line with 505's starting ahead and J-22's starting behind. The 505's (with spinnakers) are faster than most of us thought but they don't point as high as the Nacra 6.0's. Many times we came around the leeward mark and footed out under them only to find ourselves pointing 5 degrees higher once we were ahead. The J-22's point higher and they go much deeper downwind so we were seldom close to them.

We had pretty close racing both days with downwind specialist Mike Ferrara burning the fleet in one race after an unusual bad start. He came around the windward mark in about last place, jibed immediately and then tore down the opposite side of the course into a strong breeze. The fleet jibed over to cover but never caught up. Dave Fortier had bright spots at times but had some problems. He ripped his mainsail in the first race and had to sit out the first day. The second day he flipped going downwind and when he pulled his teammate Andrea Jannarone aboard, his knee came in contact with her nose. The knee won. Yes, the nose is broken but Andrea hasn't taken up knitting over sailing. Craig and Jennifer Hackett had great moments and are sailing well together. Harry Richardson and Heather have improved greatly. Dave White and his brother John did well for having sailed very little together on the N6.0. Frank Dimeo (3rd in the Tybee 500) had a new monohull crew who got an initiation on Sunday. They did well up to that point.

I'll now get to the wild stuff. Sunday !!! The racing was postponed for an hour in order to figure out who the race committee wanted to send out and where. The weather reports were calling for gusts over 30. We were relocated from offshore to what I was told was an area behind a jetty. We sailed out with full sail and struggled to stay upright. We soon figured out that our race committee was outside and to windward of the jetty and that we were going to get stomped. We eased out into the brunt of it (gusts up near 30 and 5-6 ft choppy seas) and in seconds Brandy and I agreed that a far a way upwind beach was a good place to seek refuge to get rid of the jib. I think it was at the Kennedy Compound but if not it was close. We crept in between huge boulders which kept exposing themselves in the heavy seas. We struggled to get the sail rolled around the forestay and then crept back out. Several other teams were practicing survival drills. Let's see how many times we can flip the boat in 5 minutes. Mike Ferrara had gone to the beach and taken his jib off completely and stowed it in a kayak. The race got underway and three boats fought their way to the weather mark. Dave Fortier, with a new monohull crew who will probably never sail again on a catamaran, rounded first. We came around and were able to jam it downwind. Dave was double trapezed way back trying to keep the bows up. We knew it was only a matter of time before he pitchpoled since we were struggling without a jib. Oooopps, there he goes! We jibed and the rudders tips were a foot or so out of the water. Brandy dove to the rear corner and between us we got control. The jibing angle was about 5 degrees. We crossed the start/finish line and I jammed it over real hard to go close hauled. Brandy caught the shroud as she was flying across the trampoline. We sat for several minutes trying to figure out the course without success. We saw Ferrara turn the mark so we said the heck with it and headed back upwind. By this time Dave Doucette had gotten to the layline and tacked ahead of us. Brandy cautioned that I should watch out for him a second or so before he flipped. We pinched up around him. Downwind was even harder now since the wind had increased. No choice but to jibe one more time. The procedure was for both of us to dive to the opposite rear corner and for me to not over steer. We crossed just ahead of Ferrara and sat there a few minutes to catch our breath. I hadn't mentioned that on the upwind legs we were launching so high into the air that I was several feet above my trap ring a few times and I slammed down figuring I was going into the drink.

As we waited near the committee boat trying to figure out what we should do (most likely to head in) we saw several 505's not even bothering with to make the finish. They were sailing for the safety of the harbor. One had a broken top section of the mast and the sail was a mess. The race committee soon waved for us to go home and once again we had to turn downwind. That's a scary thing, from upwind to downwind, especially with a jetty in our lee. The wind had now increased to the mid 30's. We turned and roared off with the bows punching into the backs of 5-6 waves. We jibed a few times and finally made it safely into the flat water of the harbor. Dave Doucette pitchpoled almost into a channel marker right behind us. Now came the fun of negotiating the closely moored boats while blazing along on a run. We got hit by a huge puff just as I fortunately turned dead downwind. It drove the bows under about 5 feet and continued to push us along that way for about 200 feet at an incredible speed. I still don't know how we avoided moorings and boats but somehow I got some limited steerage from the tips of the rudders while the two of us hung over the rear crossbeam. It was like steering in slow motion. We made it to the beach and none too soon. The wind increased to gusts of 46 mph shortly thereafter. Stories from other boats abounded. Craig and Jen Hackett had gone out with no jib and waited to see how Harry Richardson made out. When Harry and Heather sailed back in the Hacketts didn't have to race since they would hold onto 3rd. Frank Dimeo made it to the start line but after flipping a number of times and since he couldn't get his jib to furl he wisely headed in. He and Janet were quickly getting exhausted. Others wisely never left the beach.

The second best part of the long weekend other than the first two beautiful days of racing was when the kids came over and asked if they could go for a catamaran ride. Many of them had gone for rides the year before. About five boats made numerous runs back and forth across the harbor with one to four kids aboard. The wind was perfect for a screaming reach and then a closed hauled trip back. Then the older sailors started taking rides. The outcome is that we may have some new Hobie 16/18 and/or F-18/I-18 owners.

The yacht club members seemed to enjoy watching the cats flying around and I believe we're invited back for next year.

For race results you can go to the website at hyannisyachtclub.org and check under the Hyannis Regatta. I'll give the first three places.

1st Rick Bliss/Brandy Wood
2nd Mike Ferrara/Roy Okurowski
3rd Craig Hackett/Jen Hackett

For verification of the wind speeds you can go to www.iwindsurf.com and see for yourself.

Rick Bliss
Nacra 6.0na #341