Despite the amount of travel/logistics, Nationals was a great time – great to hit the road at least once per year, always a good time. Fleet 17 and San Francisco Yacht Club put on a great regatta, with 9 races over 3 days. 3 boats down from Seattle, 2 from Annapolis, a couple from down South, and then the local gang made for a solid, tough, but relatively small fleet of 20 boats compared to previous National events. Most of the boats did the Western Regionals the weekend prior, and it showed as it took us awhile to get the Soup rolling well – not adjusting well for tides (it goes both ways!) we tagged a couple marks on first day. On the 2nd day our starts hurt us, and we didn’t have the boat going as well in the big breeze. Come Sunday we had it figured out a bit better by going up on the rig early, and really letting the Genoa breath more. With a couple good starts, were “hanging” with some of the top boats most of the way around the course, but a mistake here/there and you’re back to 9th again with the caliber of the fleet. Overall we wound up 13th, one point out of 12th, 2 points out of 11th. Some more pics/etc. if interested at www.soupsailing.blogspot.com.
Photo credit http://www.rockskipper.com.
Congratulations to the Soup crew on a good result and for flying the flag for Fleet 27 on the national stage.
