What a great night!
The last race of the Wednesday Night season. 10-14knots of breeze, relatively slack tide, not much in the way of seas.
Enough crew on board to keep the "multitasking" within reason, not so many that we're tripping over one another.
Our Nemesis had 1st place pretty well locked up, but we were guaranteed 2nd place for the series, so really it was a no-pressure night. We were just racing against ourselves for the most part, trying to run the boat as smoothly as possible, with faint hopes of winning 1st place for the Overall (we really kicked ass in the spring series).
A crappy start, but a good upwind leg. Uneventful rounding and spinnaker set. Three flawless gybes, and the best leeward rounding of the season put us well ahead of our Nemesis. Another beat, another set, five more absofreakinlutely gorgeous gybes and a smooth finish for the gun.
As we reached back to the mooring, we watched the stopwatch tick away our 2-minute handicap while waiting for the Nemesis to finish. DAMN!!! his horn sounded 1:56 after our gun. He got us again. Little bugger.
No matter. As we coiled lines and bagged sails, the skipper was already below in the galley mixing a round of Mount Gay punch drinks to toast the great season we'd had. Three drinks later (an hour after sunset), we reluctantly tore ourselves away from the boat and boarded the launch. Back on land, after a quick stop at the head, we were still unwilling to call it a night.
"Shall we have a shandy?" asks the skipper as he strides toward the pub. Can't say no to that. Half of the fleet was already there. A bowl of soup and a Long Trail carried me well past my bedtime.
Today I'm having a less-than-productive day at work.