Cyclone is sitting comfortably in the boat yard thanks to Wally Jordan JohnF and NancyS. We made the river trip in record time this year

On Sunday we got the outer marks out, thanks to Jordan Marcin and Dick from Gremlin. It was a dirty, messy job that was make more difficult by the 4-6 ft rollers. When we were done we were all soaked, dirty and very tired. Several times while backing down on the mark we had water washing over the transom bringing to mind scenes from the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" TV show http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/deadliestcatch/deadliestcatch.html

Thanks to everyone that helped out this year, see you at the crew BBQ

Wednesday 8/17/2008 we were doing fairly well till we attempted to jibe when things got all crossed up, once we got it sorted we went on to finish and ended up 21st. Thanks to Brendon, Jordan, NancyK, NancyS, and NavBob.

Wednesday 8/24/2008. We were light on crew and ended up running the race jib and main but that did not hurt us much. The race was had very light winds and was very shifty, fortunately the water was very smooth. As a result the race was mostly up wind. Outstanding tactics by NavBob and myself and great wind shift calls by NancyK kept us in the lead pack. We were on our way to take fifth when Y-Knot snuck by and we ended up 6th overall. Thanks to NancyK and NavBob for our best Wednesday night Pursuit finish yet.

The last weekend race was last Saturday. Race start was postponed due to lack of wind then due to radical wind shifts. After about an hour the wind filled in enough to get a start off. We had an OK start with a great upwind leg and good downwind leg. A bad spinnaker takedown hurt us a bit but we recovered on the upwind leg to finish fourth. Giving us fourth for this Commodore Cup series. Thanks to Brendon, Nora, Wally, and special guests Mark and Michele.

Thats it for weekend racing but give me a call and we can go out for weekend booze cruises I prefer Friday nights or Saturdays but can accommodate.

There are three Wednesday pursuit races left and looks like I should make all of them. NOTE: our start time is 6:38:58. That means that we need to get off the dock by 5:45 so boat call is 5:15. A bit of a stretch for me but I am going to give it my best shot. We could use help for all three races please use crewsignup.com to let me know your availability.

I was hoping to get the Mac race summery done then update the race results, but the Mac summery is taking a lot longer than I expected. Let’s get everyone up to date on the other races.

Friday night August 8th was the Moonlight race. It started in very light air and got lighter, the course was shortened but it almost did not help. After lots of work the breeze started to fill in. We ended up third.

Saturday August 9th was the CCYC to JPYC race. Race was 10.8 miles south to Jackson Park. Cyclone placed second and the top three boats were within one min and all the boats were within two min. JPYC put on their anaual Jazz party and buffet. Killer soul food was provided Dixie Kitchen and bait shop.

Wednesday night racing was back on August 20th. We were short on crew so we raced JAM (jib and main). Cyclone placed second and it felt good to be back racing on Wednesday nights.

Sunday August 24th was the last CCYC Invitational and Cyclone took third and as a result placed fourth in this series.

Wednesday night, August 27th we raced or attempted to anyway, Started out with 5-10 kts or wind and got lighter and lighter, us and 30 other boats managed to get around the last mark when the wind shut off and left the eerie sight of all the boats floating on still water. Only one R19 and five offshore fleet boats finished, we were not one of them. So for the Wednesday night C series Cyclone placed second.

Saturday August 30th was the last Weekend race. Cyclone was the rabbit and we never looked back. After rounding the windward mark, raising the spinnaker getting the twist out, NancyS started flying it and the red and white sail never looked better. We were looking over the setup to find out why this sail, which has never been fast or look good, was suddenly rocketing the boat along. That’s when we noticed that when Wally tied the sail on he accidently switched the tack and clew. Turns out that the sail was labeled wrong LOL. Cyclone took line honors but after the PHRF math we scored a second missing first by less than 30 seconds. This placed us in third overall for this series.

I did not keep track of who crewed when so a general thanks to all that helped out.

Just a few more races are left. The last weekend race is this Saturday September 6th, which is the last Commodore’s Cup and there are Pursuit races on Wednesday nights till October 1st. See crewsignup.com for details.

Want to take your friends or family out sailing? Contact me to set something up.