2007 WaveRate Albacore International Championship
October 5-12, 2007
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2007 WaveRate Albacore International Championship |
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Jennifer Yap: Lay day... and wind! Lay day...and wind! Yesterday was our lay day and most people headed into Annapolis to sightsee, shop and eat – downtown was popular, as was the Naval Academy. It’s amazing just how conscientiously Annapolis has developed its waterfront marine facilities, and protected them from condo developments; they certainly take their claim to be the “Sailboat Capital of the World” very seriously. Indeed, for the past week, Annapolis has been playing host to 2 boat shows, one for sailboats and another for powerboats. People here are palpably excited about sailing, and this mood is very infectious. There are boat yards, ridiculously convenient moorings, waterfront parkettes, waterside walkways and lookouts scattered all along the coast, and everywhere there are boats, boats, and more boats. Everywhere you look, it is pretty unmistakable that Annapolis lives by its ties to the water. In the evening, about 35 of us headed over to Mike’s crab house to terrorize the local crustaceans. Scott turned out to be an expert at dismembering and eating crabs – we’re pretty much marveling at his technique, speed and appetite. (See feast pics in earlier posts, but since Scott was taking them, there isn’t any evidence of HIS victims). Got woken up in the night by the sound of wind whipping around outside and had trouble falling asleep again just anticipating the sailing to come. It’ll be sweet after the past week of waiting - bobbing, swimming, napping, chatting and playing rock-paper-scissors. Today, Henry got his wish and we were treated to our most exhilarating day of the regattas so far! Ignoring a small craft warning, we headed out into moderately strong, gusty, shifting winds and chop. There were some capsizes and some lighter teams turned back. For the first time, we abandoned shorts and t-shirts in favour of massive amounts of gear (I can still smell neoprene as I type – mmmmm rubber). Upwind was a bit of work but downwind was absolutely wonderful! In all, we got 3 races in, had loads of fun planing, and the race organizers managed to snag some nice sailing pics which I’m sure will make its way here soon. Last day tomorrow; I’m looking forward to it, but a little sad all the same. |