IRC East Coast Day 3

Wow, only two races today. Coming into the first race we are tied for fourth place and about seven points out of second. The first start was money mid line and about one second late on the gun going full speed. Then 'Numbers' gave us the one and only chance to get a look at her bow. Two seconds later she was over the top of us and forced a tack.

Nice and breezy today not as cold but I've got the kit on anyway. We did well in the first race, not too many fowl-ups and in a good mood. We still finished fifth but who's counting...

The first Leeward mark rounding in the second race was madness. Some reason this yacht likes to do a spike dowse. We were on port headed for the left gate, left turn. About three boat lenghts out the shackle on the port guy snaps free. Boom the pole smashes in to the forestay.

"Transfer!"

The tack line is getting ground on and the tack of the 2-A is making a circle. The midbow and I are pulling like crazy to get the sail under control. In my fingers I could tell its getting loaded up and wants to rip. A nano second later the schute is in the drink and stopping the yacht. A shrimp advisory is now in effect. Then I see it, the head getting sucked into the water, boils of trapped air and the meat of the spinnaker are churning us to a screeching halt. I run to the back of the yacht to get the thing out of the water. At this point most people have left their stations and are trying to help. One set of people are on the windward side pulling up and the other group is on the leeward side pulling up, not good. Meanwhile its me, the owner and some other geriatric trying to pull the schute in from the stern.

I could tell the rudder was fowled and needs to be cleared immediately. I am pulling very hard and see the owner is struggling a bit. I hand him what I had in my left paw and grabbed what he was pulling in. Shortly after a teammate came by with a knife in his hand. We are in the back of a TP52 with breeze on and nothing secure to hold onto.

"We are going to have to knife it, its already cute forward!"

I reply, "you had better get away from me with that knife, man!"

I've never been to jail and I've never been stabbed, I'd like to keep it that way...

I reassess the sitcho and deem it necessary to knife the luff cord. I turn to the owner as I pull out my knife and say:

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to cut it."

"That's alright son." he replies going to the rail.

Now most of the spinnaker once cut was easy to get on board. We are in full up wind mode and still there is about twenty five feet of material around the rudder. To clear the rudder I put my right side on deck and streached out my right arm to grab it. Just out of reach. I readjust, now my paw is just inches away, I stick my hand into the water to create an eddy for the spinnaker to flow up into. After a few attempts I have succeeded.

We finish the race with a second place! That's the most amazing part about it. We corrected over 'Numbers' and they subsequently got a second in the regatta. Nice.