A long winded write up for a not so long winded race, but hear me out:

There are many things that can define sailing experiences. Sailing can be a way to get from place to place, a way to relax on a sunny day, a challenge to cross an ocean, survival through a storm, arriving at the weather mark first, or even frustration when you have to break out the paddle. What do all of these things have in common? Each of these versions of our favorite activity all boil down to finding ways to connect with your surroundings. 
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Our version of connection is through competition. Every week, we take to the water hoping to understand the conditions in front of us and find a way to conquer those conditions. Each week presents its own challenges, some requiring crews to sling themselves over lifelines to hold the boat flat as the skipper tries to keep the bow down and the trimmers continuously depower the sails while trying to maintain boatspeed. Others require the whole crew to consistently try to hunt for dark water as the boat struggles to maintain flow over the foils. 

For me, last night's conditions define what it means to connect with your surroundings on the race course. The lulls had crews rolling the boat to leeward and the skippers hunting for power, but the stronger puffs had crews all the way back to the windward rail and the skippers taking all of the ups while they had it. What is so special about this kind of racing is that it all matters. This racing showcases teams that can constantly change gears and know what the boat needs as it goes through each wind speed by finely tuning the sail trim and moving weight back and forth on the boat inch by inch to maintain proper heel angle. But while doing all of this, crews also had to find the next puff or shift in a breeze that was just consistent enough to hide the differences as much as possible. And on top of that, the fantastic participation resulted in full starting lines and boat on boat tactics coming into play on every tack and gybe last night.

When one has to stay that active and attentive on the boat, it makes the time fly and you wish there was more breeze and more daylight to keep going. This activity challenges the mind and the body in ways that we all crave. It's why we love this sport and why we share it with our families, friends, other loved ones, and even strangers. 

My summary this week has turned into an essay but I was prompted by this gorgeous picture that Jurgen took from RC to share some of the things I love about this sport and I could talk for hours. What I hope is that as you look at this picture and read my essay, you are prompted to share this sport with others too. 

​My shoutouts for the week are prime examples of this. Stefan Schulze and the Cinderella crew took on an extra soul this week. The Georgia Tech Sailing Club managed to field two full J24s this week and had extra sailors, one of which was accepted by Stefan and crew on Cinderella for the night. Scott Bean is my second shoutout for helping the Georgia Tech kids pull their second boat out of the water late last night. I'm not sure who helped them put the boat in the water, but to whoever that may be you earn my praise too. 

Many of you know the college sailors for their up and down participation at the club, but what most of you may not understand is that the college clubs are filled with volunteer students sacrificing valuable study time to share sailing with other students who haven't had access to sailing before. Following the races last night, these fresh young sailors were telling so many stories of the battles they had across the three boats they sailed on in the race. The excitement Scott, Stefan and others provided for these fresh faces is what will grow our sport and make it last for the future.

So when you have the opportunity to provide more sailing opportunities, please do so. Whether it's helping someone set up their boat, tuning up with fellow competitors, explaining a boat on boat situation after heated words on the course, teaching new crew, sharing a rum drink, or volunteering for RC duty. Do your part to further sailing.

As always, but maybe more so this week, thank you to RC members Bill Overend, Jurgen Haeberle, Lester Ross, Matt Salley, and Bruce Johnson. Reminder that there will be food following races next week! 

As always let me know if there are any scoring corrections. We'll see you on the water!
-Kyle
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Holy Shift! If you managed to brave the rain you were rewarded with an ever changing race course that definitely made for an eventful night. By the time we were coming back downwind in the High PHRF fleet, we had seen many large shifts, but I was not prepared for what became a race to pull the spinnaker back down when we suddenly found ourselves going back upwind. Special thanks to Warren Collier, Jim Schwab, Sidney Brown-Shirley and Ben for sticking out the rain and getting a course set in tough conditions! 

I also want to thank Ted Sheldon and company for the fantastic grilled chicken, rice, beans and salad they provided us for dinner last night. I got in late but still managed to get two plates and it was well worth it! (PS I would love to know what seasoning y'all put in the beans). Next dinner will be after race 3!


The last story I found out about after the race was that Brad Bowers and crew found out they had one too many crew on the boat last night, After they had gone out already they found a quite large snake on the boat! Make sure y'all pump the bilge before going out ;)

For those of y'all that didn't bring your foulies, here's a picture of the sunset you missed after the storm passed. (thanks for sharing the pic Warren!)

Let me know if you see any issues with your score! Looking forward to seeing yall next week!
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