Heineken High Performance Dinghy Open

Well, we didn't get our own start, having only four Wetai attend, but Heineken
and American YC in Rye, NY put on quite a show last weekend. $55 registration
got you three meals, a collared shirt, three safety boats, enough Heineken that
the kegs didn't run out, and a free room in an AYC member's mansion. Holy crap
what a deal!

At 5 knots, the wind was marginal, particularly when combined with quite a bit
of power boat chop, but who can complain with 85F temperatures in october! We
were told that last year there was enough wind to flip a large fraction of the
fleet.

Three races on saturday plus two more on sunday, us four wetai started
with seven international canoes, four tempests, and an I-14. also on our course
were the 49er, fireball, moth, and flying dutchman fleets. 125 boats total,
half of them (viper 640, K6, 505, F18) on a separate course.

the big lesson learned was how to deal with long island sound tidal currents!
missed every single layline the first race, and not by a little. the tide was
so strong that even though the start line was more or less square to the wind, a
port tack start was often hugely favored, as being close-hauled on starboard
would only barely get you across the line. the starboard layline at the
windward mark was 30 degrees or more aft of abeam!

having other wetai around me i did not pay attention to the other boats in our
start. the competition between richard, keith, and i was fierce as usual.
twice keith and i crossed the finish line overlapped after an hour-long race!
sailing the 4th weta was alex on saturday, and berndt on sunday, both
experienced multihull sailors from long island, but new to the weta. in the
end, keith and i tied for first among the wetas, each having two 1s, two 2s, and
a 3, and were about halfway back when lumped with our start pack.

the most exciting moment for me was at the first windward mark of the first
race: bearing down, setting the gennaker, and being nearly run over by an
upwind port-tack 49er, who surprisingly-politely informed me that i had
forgotten to round the offset mark!

full results, photos, and a video here:

http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=478
http://www.photoboatgallery.net/p242271165
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IZROuBHkpNE