SATURDAY, MARCH 24
Dave met Bob in the dinghy at 7:00 A.M. We motored around the lagoon area and did some walking on land. It was a fun and successful morning. Besides seeing lots of birds that we already had seen or knew, Bob was able to add about seven birds to his life-list. Dave did get two new birds, the San Blas Jay and our prize bird of the morning the Ferruginous Pigmy-Owl. We were back at the boats by 9:00 A.M. to prepare for the regatta. It was already a successful day.
The next three hours were very busy with boat preparation work. We decided that we might sail better in the strong winds if we had a smaller jib up. So, the four of us worked to take down the 150% genoa and replace it with the 115% working jib that we normally sail with. There is a major difference in effort to crank down the smaller sail in strong winds. Then, Marj and Ginger worked on getting everything well stowed and tied down on the inside of the boat, as on Day 1 things were flying everywhere inside the boat. The Davids set about trying to lighten the boat. We took off two 5-gal cans of water, two 5-gal cans of diesel fuel, and a spare battery. Then we got serious, dropping the main anchor off the front of Kievit, running out the 300 ft of 3/8 in. chain and tying the chain to the dock. Next the large (60 lb) spare anchor and an additional 200 ft of chain were removed from the aft lazarette and placed on the dock. The Hooka-Max compressor, Honda generator, and a lug of spare deck hardware were moved from the aft storage and tide below decks to the mast. Lastly, we cut off the damaged stainless steel rail holding the bent up BBQ and rigged a rope life line. Now we were tired, but ready to go get 'em. Don't worry - Be Happy!
At about noon we motored out of the marina with the engine cooling working perfectly. Sails went up and we were off again to the starting line about 2 mi north and in front of the string of high-rise condo buildings, our spectator group. The wind was again blowing nearly 20 knots, steady. Even with the smaller foresail, Kievit's rails were under water on both tacks to windward. We got off to a late start, being 40 seconds off the starting line and about 30 seconds behind our major competitor, Befana, with its shiny new mylar sails and crew of five, and several other boats. With the smaller foresail, Kievit was still the fastest boat, but we couldn't point as high as with the larger sail. On the first windward leg we had passed all the boats except Befana, which rounded the mark and popped its spinnaker about 20 sec ahead of us. The next leg of the race was a starboard reach to a southerly mark, followed by a port reach to a leeward mark about ½ mile behind the start/finish line. We sailed equal to Befana on the reaches but couldn't gain against the asymmetric spinnaker powered boat, Kievit sailing without spinnaker. Then Befana screwed up taking down its spinnaker and we essentially caught up with her at the leeward mark. The next leg of the race was to the windward mark about one and a half miles out. We set out on a long port tack with Befana slightly behind and outside of us. Again, we were a bit faster but couldn't point as high as Befana and about a mile out she was able to cross behind us. We couldn't see the windward mark in the rough seas so made a guess of when to tack toward the mark. It turned out that we tacked too soon and would have a difficult time making the mark. We kept pinching the wind and slowing down trying to make the mark and finally gave up and tacked. We would then have to tack back again to round the mark and the extra two tacks in the large boat would cost us at least a minute. Befana neared the mark and we thought he would surely make it and be gone. But, he also had misjudged the tack to the mark and would have to double tack to get around. Having a shorter boat and a crew of five, Befana was able to complete the double tack faster than us and was around the mark 30-40 sec ahead of us. The next leg was directly down wind and Befana went off on a starboard spinnaker set while Kievit got wing and wing directly down wind. We held our own and came to the leeward mark just behind Befana. Now it was a final 1//2 mile beat to the finish line and we were hull up with Befana. Befana, because of here higher pointing ability, was able to work to windward of Kievit and dodged across the finish line just two seconds ahead of Kievit. The crews of both boats congratulated each other on a competitive and fun race. We had left all of the other boats in our class far behind and did correct out to second place for the third day race.
Confident of our second place finish in the Regatta, we sailed back to the breakwater and marina, knowing that we would have to get over the sandbar at the breakwater entrance before low tide which would occur in one hour. We got the engine going, sails down and were just entering the breakwater when the engine overheat alarm went off - again. We wheeled around, cut the engine, and furled out the jib. Not wanting to chance damaging the engine, we cruised on the jib all the way to La Cruz, then tacked and cruised back. This took two hours, which gave time for low tide to pass and flood to start, as well as the engine temperature to drop to a safe level. We sailed through the breakwater, started the engine once inside the marina and made it to our slip before the engine once again overheated. But, what the H is wrong with the cooling system??
By now it was 6:00 P.M. and the awards banquet and beach party was to start at 7:00. We all took showers and put on our best going ashore clothes and were off to the banquet. The food was good, but too much of a mix to know how to organize a good meal. Marj got shocked by touching an ungrounded light pole, throwing her desert plate to the ground. Philo and the Mexican Shuffle Band were playing. We ate fast, danced and accepted are plaque for second place in our division. We went home tired and overfed, but happy puppies and hit the sack.
I do apologize to all of our Dutch friends for holding the Fries Flag upside down. I was just too excited to notice. If you look closely in the photo gallery, you will see the Fries Flag Pennant flying proudly behind Kievit. To our friends at the Stockton Sailing Club, we are always proud to fly our burgee and represent the Club.