What Scott? You say your Oregon Run to the Coast relay race this weekend that you've been training for so diligently for the past six months takes priority over Swale crew responsibilities?! Okay, okay, time to improvise; Mandy at her former foredeck position, Shannon manning the topping lift/downhaul and spin halyard, while the skipper (that's me!) sets the spin sheet and guy. Peter, we're counting on you to haul in the upwind jib sheets while Brian, I realize it's only your second time racing, but you're tonight's keel grinding master. All set, what can possibly go wrong?? As a matter of fact, it all went smooth as silk.
With a slight slant of the starting line favoring the pin end, the skipper's best intentions of sneaking unnoticed toward that rarely favored pin end were badly foiled by every other competing skipper executing the same brilliant starting strategy. Boy was our skipper badly mispositioned on port tack when the onslaught of starboard boats closed in on poor Swale! So really, what's the big deal spotting the entire fleet thirty seconds at the start? Heck, we had to duck our long-standing nemesis Orion before even crossing the start, while our newest rival Speedster takes an unprecedented 45 second lead, and only with a tight squint of the eyes is she visible up in the distance. No worries though, this crack Swale crew can easily regain that lost time through resplendent execution of their individual duties.
Given that an 8 knot southeastern breeze is forecast to shift to the east (what's new this time of year, right?), the eastern shoreline was the place to be, and lots of ground was made on both Speedster AND Orion. But what's this, August Blaze also beat us to the windward mark?! Fine then, perfect spin set, a herculian keel raising exercise, and August Blaze shall be Swale's first victim. If only they'd willingly agree to this script; was a hard fought downwind battle back for another rounding at the leeward mark. For only did August Blaze's botched spinnaker drop give us Swalians the perfect overtaking opportunity; tack to starboard again toward the eastern shore, and never again did we look back.
Now following another textbook spinnaker set, all sights are set on Speedster (and all thirst's parched, demanding a "premium" cerveza). Did I mention that this boat's name came about by no accident? Slightly daunted, there is obviously no way that we can close the gap between us. But wait, what's this we see but Speedster and Superman dueling it out between the two of them all the while losing advantage to Swale by the second! Did I mention just how well the teamwork was aboard Swale tonight? Another flawless spin drop, one more lap, and there's a chance STILL that we can pull one out from under Speedster.Not the cleanest rounding on the skipper's part, Swale swung far too wide, adding extra ground to make up on both Superman and Speedster, not to mention the higher point each maintained on Swale. Tacking into a couple of windshifts toward the final windward mark rounding, Swale held her own against these two thoroughbreds and made another spectacular spinnaker hoist for the sprint to the finish line. And those two in front of us didn't learn from round 1, no? Gloves are back on with jabs a flyin', pushing higher and higher into the wind away from the finish. Sweet, Swale exhausted less than three minutes of the more than five that these two guys have to give us; we'll take our third place, thank you very much! :)
