Flying Scot Sailing: Flying Scot Midwinters Final

Friday 27 March

Allan and Katie Terhune are the Champions! One race was sailed in a building breeze as a front approaches Tampa Bay.

Wind 4-32 mph from the South East, temperature 80.

Day four of the 2009 Flying Scot Mid Winters in St. Petersburg, Florida.

When we came to the Yacht Club, the wind was around 15-18mph. The race was scheduled to be on time. We had a bumpy ride to the start and were ready in full foul weather gear for a windy race. But, the wind was slacking off and by the time we arrived at the committee boat we had stripped off all our waterproofs to stay cool.

We had a terrible start. With the pin heavily favored we were outmaneuvered on the line by fellow competitors and the current. In an attempt to make the pin, we fouled someone and had to do our 720. Nothing is more frustrating than to do a 720 at the start line. We had been geared up to defend our 5th overall position and a 720 on the start line doesn’t really help a crew and helm to maintain a positive outlook in such a highly competitive fleet. We struggled to get over the line and were a good two minutes and a half behind the fleet. Sticking to our original race plan we made our way to the right hand side of the course for the first beat.

By the first rounding of the windward mark we had caught the majority of the fleet who had favored the left. The wind was picking up for the downward leg which meant we could take advantage of our speed on the run to the first rounding of the leeward mark. By the time we reached the second downwind run the wind had increased considerably. We were not planing anymore and were in real danger of either taking off (we decided against this as we had not filed our flight plan with Tampa International Airport!) or sinking our bow into the oncoming waves. All I can say is; thank god for the invention of the auto ratchet and an experienced crew.

Anticipating a bumpy ride to the finish line we had no time to readjust our clothing from shorts and t-shirts to foul weather gear so we just painted huge grins on our faces. My crew quite enjoyed the bumpy windy beat to the line as one sails in the Puget Sound and the other in the Solent (UK) and were screaming that it was just like sailing in the height of summer in their respective waters (unfortunately it wasn’t raining so they were a little disappointed!) Again we favored the right and were able to pinch in front of two boats on the line. Due to the windy conditions racing was abandoned for the day and we had a beautiful plane back to the harbor hooting and hauling all the way.

It had been a long hard few days of sailing and now we could have some fun and just sail Njord with a relaxed hand on the helm. By our mental calculations, we thought we were about 11th in the last race; we had lost our 5th position. Did we mind? Well, yes we did because we are competitive. But then again, no we didn’t mind as we had experienced a great few days of close competitive sailing with a great bunch of fellow sailors in a great location.

It was a little sad knowing that when we lifted Njord out of the water she would be placed on her trailer and covered up for the ride back to Selby Bay, MD. However that thought was quickly replaced when we found out that we had finished 8th which meant we had maintained our overall 5th position. Heineken flowed and we packed up tired but very happy. Thank you to the St Petersburg Yacht Club and the Race Committee for a wonderful regatta. See you all in August for the Nationals in Ephraim.

Team Njord.