Columbia Sailing Club was the venue for this past weekend's J/24 racing. The 3-day Easter regatta saw 30 J/24s from all up and down the East Coast and Great Lakes. Friday's conditions were extremely light, and the fleet only completed one race.
We awoke to nice breeze Saturday morning, ranging from 8 to 12 knots for most of the day. Due to the light air friday and the possibility thereof on Sunday, the race committee decided to pack in as many races as possible. 5 races, 7 1/2 hours, and 12-14 beers later, we finished the day ready for some BBQ.
The forecast for Sunday proved to be about as accurate as a Miss Cleo reading, and Sunday morning saw a nice 14 knot westerly and two nice races to finish the regatta.
Friday's light air was a good thing, as Thursday night's festivities included a stop at Billy Ray's barn. A local legend at Columbia Sailing Club, Billy Ray brought out the big guns--in the form of his "Slovakian Moonshine." No doubt whipped up in a bathtub behind the barn, this putrid concoction has the nose of corn-flavored diesel fuel and a consistency not unlike fermented battery acid. Friday morning's hangover was painful even by Regatta standards, and had their been more than 1.1 knots of breeze, I would have probably sworn off drinking forever again.
One interesting feature of the event: Chris Fortin shared his Kattack system with the Fleet. Kattack is a GPS driven system that monitors the position of each boat at any given time on the race course. It tracks realtime position, heading and speed, thus enabling each boat to see in great detail when and where the rails fell off the track for each race.
As to our performance: I will only say this.
Not good. Not at all good.
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