Kraken has had a mixed year and also a quiet year. A strong NOODS marred by one major mistake (2nd overall) and a fun but mid fleet finish during the Yachting Cup.
We snagged another 2nd at the Elizabeth Hospice regatta with a scratch team and only really lost it on the last leg.
But going into the Beneteau Cup to defend our west coast championship we had a great crew signed up and a new boat in town. The new boat, Legend, had just had a LOT of bottom work done (invoking massive discussions about what was and wasn't allowed) and it's owners have deep connections with sailing community in San Diego so I had a feeling they would be tough.
But before we got there I was out with the kids and friends when I found I couldn't go above 2200 rpm. Increased throttle just meant more black smoke out the back. Joe Braun suggested the exhaust riser might have been the cause. Taking it off led to discovering it was indeed 90 percent blocked. With that fixed I went out for a sea trial before heading south and the smoke was gone. But what was that brown in my exhaust water? Oh it's gone. What's that alarm? Well, long story and some drifting in the harbor later and a few hours cooling a seriously hot engine down and it turns out i've got no coolant in the engine. Adding more led to a gurgling sound and no visible coolant in the engine still.
Joe to the rescue again and admiralty marine in SD with some overnight shipping and we replaced the exhaust exchange case for one without a hole corroded through it.
Finally a successful sea trail on the friday morning and Charlie and I drove Kraken down on the afternoon for the Beneteau Cup!
Saturday morning had an on time start with a massive long start line designed for large classes full of 55ft cruising boats.
Our Genoa halyard jammed in the first start and we didn't really setup well to start. Managed to work out way up to third I think at the end of lap one (1.5 miles legs!) And finished a close second to Legend. After that the wind picked up and we just couldn't hold them. I blame a lingering cold and my crappy bearings making it hard to steer in the waves. We ended up in second, four points adrift.
Sunday was in the bay. I figured this would be tough for us as the tide was ebbing hard and local knowledge would be strong. The wind was from the SW though and the RC offered us a random leg course. We declined and they scrambled to make a short windward leeward course across the bay. It was probably half a mile across.
We'd had a great mood on board all morning and something about the crew was in the zone. This short course was something we could relish.
A short start line had everyone fighting and with a nice sandwich of boats we got over the top of Legend. They then got buried, while we worked out way up through the fleet with the whole crew just on song and ended up with a third with Legends 7th tying us on points.
Now we had our backs up. Just needed to beat one boat who while fast had a lot less time on the in the class.
Next race we let them escape left (the roght had been paying) and got stung by a big left shift that had them come over the top of us at the windward mark. We nabbed the inside downwind and pinned them to the layline. After that it was just a matter of keeping between Legend and the mark while exchanging blows with Adventure and Melokia. In the final leg we got just enough of a downwind bite on Adventure to beat them over the line and take our first bullet in a long while.
And win the championship again!
