Whew! What a workout! But one ton of fun! Toni's flight was late getting in Thursday so we didn't get home till well after midnight. Then it was up at O-ugly-something Friday morning and we both had a few details with work to see to. We finally got away from the marina at 0900 and set the mainsail right after leaving the dock. Before we were even near Rocky 1,
KAYLA was already cooking hard! We sailed all the way to the ditch and even into it a ways before having to start motoring, and we did that in just 3 hours! Once out the other end (about 18 nm later) we were sailing hard again all the way across West Bay and to the STABYC dock and set a new
KAYLA record: 51.5 nm in 8 hours 45 minutes. The next day at the skippers' meeting we learned just how much "respect" they have for
KAYLA - we were not allowed to sail in their cruiser fleet and had to compete in the non-spin racing fleet... I was a bit surprised and then more amused than anything else. Toni was nearly livid at their wimpy attitude. On the way over I had said that I really wasn't worried about racing hard but just having fun, at which both Toni and Chip said "Yeah. Right."
Well, after the "new" fleet assignment, I said to hell with 'em, lets go kick some butt! And that's exactly what we did! We didn't win, but got a very solid second place and sailed a beautiful race. Not a single glitch, goof-up or error. Sure is fun to have great crew! Our ride home Sunday was about the same as Friday... sort of... except the wind was still from the same direction, and, of course, right on our nose to get home.
Once we got to the ditch it was easier motoring and we picked a bit of speed. When we got past the 331 bridge, we could have sailed on across Choctawhatchee Bay but it would have taken a lot of tacking, we were all pretty tired and Toni had to fly out again this morning. So we just motored all the way until we got past the Midbay bridge and then motor-sailed with just the headsail (the wonderful, new headsail!). That put us back in Bluewater Bay about 1630 and we had a chance to B.S. with some friends at Schooners for a short bit. All in all, a wonderful weekend!
-michael phillips
s/v KAYLA
CD28 #318
Niceville FL
