Now before I begin, you have to understand that SEASILK has only been in one race before in the 7+ years we have owned her. That one was downwind in San Diego Bay from La Playa cove to the SD bridge. It involved a bet between yacht clubs which we won and go to go meet the French A/C 45 sailing team at the Coronado yacht Club as an award. I say we won because there was no handicapping and we got a great downwind start wing-in-wing.

A "Pursuit Race" is one in which boats start at staggered start times based on their speed rating (called PHRF). The idea is that by staggering the starts, you can tell who wins by the order of the finish. Good in theory, especially if the boats are somewhat similar. For Sailfest, we had mono-hull boats, catamarans, a very heavy sailing ketch and everything in between...including 5 Hobycats. It as wild! We took on 3 passengers who were donating to the children's cause for the privilege of joining. If Craig had known the three passengers were going to be 3 experienced racing sailors, he would have prepared to fly our A-sail and we might have caught the first place mono-hull. as it was, we came in 4th overall and second of the mono-hull with 13 boats plus 5 Hoby's participating. Including the "Calcutta" betting that went on for the benefit of the charity, we think over $3000 was raised today alone.

Tomorrow is a chilli-cook-off and a silent auction in town..