Location: Great Harbor, Peter Island
Today Matthew and I woke up at 5:45 in order to go to the clinic at West End. We both headed to Event Horizon (the rescue boat on dive side) at about 6:20 to motor with them to the clinic. The rest of the boat awoke at 7:00 and ate cereal. Today we had two races with both sail sides, so Luke filled in for me and went to the skippers’ meeting on Mango Tango at around 7:30 in preparation for our first drag race. With Luke drawing 4th as our spot in the lineup, we seemed to have a solid start to the race. Then the unimaginable struck…. Our anchor malfunctioned. We finally got it up and got to the starting line with 4 seconds remaining before the start. We then had a poor start to our race due to wind conditions, but Luke persevered at the helm, and we overcame some boats. Notably, Micah, Daniel, and Blake sweat the halyard before reaching the start line. After completing the race, they continued to head to West End. Evan threw the spring line, Luke hopped on the dock to lock the stern, and Cobrin was on the roaming fender during the docking process. After this, Matthew and I returned from the clinic and met back up with the boat. We all then had shore time with the whole Action Quest and Go Beyond fleet! Both Louella, Scarlet, and Blake had a fun time meeting up with their friends on other boats for lunch. At about 12:30, I headed to the second skippers meeting of the day and drew number 1 in the lineup. In other words, the closest boat to the wind is at the starting line.
In preparation for the race, Stich and I walked the boat through the plan for the race. With Cobrin at the helm pointing us into the wind, Luke and Brendan sweat the halyard the fastest and fullest our boat has seen. After the 10-second countdown, the jib unfurled in record time, with Daniel on the working jib sheet and Luke tailing. Louella was easing the furling line and me on a lazy sheet. Me and Cobrin switched tasks after the first tack, and I took over the helm as he took over trimming the sails. We finished the race in second place, close behind Hope (who didn’t have the extra weight of a dinghy and diving gear, just saying). No matter the outcome, I was proud of how close we sailed to the wind. Thirty degrees on a catamaran!!! We dropped our sails and anchored in GHP, ready for our sail chat and ocean showers. For dinner, we all had Mexican night, by chefs Daniel and Luke. Then to finish our night, Mango Tango delivered our award for Boat Olympics cake!