36.7: Racing: SDYC Yachting Cup

So, a couple of months back we took Kraken out into the San Diego NOODs (National Offshore One Design) racing against 8 other 36.7s. Unfortunately personal reasons kept us out of the second day, which prevented redemption for the solid last place on day one. While in last we were steadily gaining on the back of the fleet, and in the last race of the day got messed up as we suddenly needed to round a leeward gate in a bunch of traffic, and got distracted.

The Yachting Cup fielded 6 36.7s and gave us a chance to build on what we learnt at the NOODs. Our results were 6,5,5,4,4,3 and for the 3 we crossed the line right after the first two boats, so headed in the right direction.

The event was excellently run and parking right in front of the yacht club was a nice bonus (plus a first med mooring for me). Docking at the end of the first day was accompanied by a mariachi band, something I'd now like for every docking, ever. The beers passed in over the transom seconds after making the lines were also something you could get used to. Props to SDYC.

Props also to Team Kraken. We had several new faces on the boat and they brought a lot with them and our old (? six months of racing now! ?) hands performed with increasing confidence as we moved up the field. Still a long way to go, need to get better at reading the shifts - especially downwind - and better at sorting out tactics - especially downwind - but hopefully we continue to mix it with other boats in a way that allows us to work on this.

Final props go to the other 36.7s on the course, who were courteous and cheered us across the finish line on several occasions. Heartwarming.