It's Getting Serious

The season started and we began the way everyone wants to with two bullets. The second day of racing we ended with what I would call two disappointing thirds. Gave up the lead after two full legs at the leeward rounding and Goebel snuck in at the finish line... that sucked. Second race, not such a good start, but 2nd to windward rounding, but gave up a spot downwind to Jeal and almost nipped him at the line, but didn't. I spent a few hours in the St. Francis reading about leeward roundings, I think I have a few more tricks now. The good news is the boat is fast, we are tied for 1st on the season with the Wilson's and I've got good crew for the rest of the season. The bad news is discovering the stress crack in the starboard chain plate grew on the beat down back to SF in 30 knots and fat ebb chop after Saturday's racing. A little G-10 and epoxy should make that hold and I need a new mast organizer, I snapped off a second ring holding the jib halyard block. I fear the others will go one by one as we hit the big winds of late May/ June.
I've put Josephine on a serious diet, to the point of anorexia... I think I've become obsessed. I tried not to let this happen, but it runs in the family and I know of no 12 step program to help me, so I'm going to just dive right into the sickness. After talking with Sean Svendsen and discovering he is just as sick as I am, I found 40 extra pounds of stuff that didn't need to be on the boat ranging from extra sails and a spare whisker pole to a bottle of windex. Extra tools, deck brushes, spare lines, extra battons, and several extra bottles of water, gone. I don't think I'll hollow out the bolts holding the spreaders or put swiss cheese holes in the main halyard wheel at the top of the mast, but I did take off a fourth shot glass, several rolls of tape, and spare wind indicator. I took down anything that was hanging and swinging... thinking that the extra momentum can't be helpful. I finished off a bottle of Gammel Dansk because the almost empty bottle seemed heavy. All the Knarr sailors I talk to are also obsessed and have done a few off the wall things, but one that stands out is the spectra halyards which are not only lighter, they don't chafe the mast either. I'm not going to do anything illegal, but I am going to explore the rules and see what other things I can do. Any suggestions?