Kingston Day One

Opening ceremonies and barbecue last night at the Kingston Yacht Club.  Jeff Martin noted that Kingston is the only venue to have hosted the Laser Worlds twice.

Today, the first day of racing, it was a beautiful day with around 8 to 10 knots of breeze.  Just great to be out on the water.

And sailing in fresh water is really great – nothing to rinse off after and no stinky clothes after a bit.  What a treat.

The organization is very good overall. Yes, there is a queue for launching at the main ramp but it moves relatively smoothly and there are friendly volunteers to help with the trolleys at both the launch and return.  What a treat.

The Race Committee is using the U flag for all starts, but even that didn’t prevent 2 general recalls in the Grand Master start just before our start.  Those youngsters just need to be more disciplined.

In the first race, I had a mediocre start and even though the wind was relatively light, there was a chop that killed me upwind – I still can’t manage waves very well.  But it was lots of fun – there are several of us who battle it out at the back of the fleet and I actually managed to do some good downwind sailing, catching a boat or two.  And at the last turning mark, I had an inside overlap and did a nice rounding – my competitor tried to cut inside me but I closed the door and he hit the mark.  So, at least one decent maneuver.

The second race, I had a better start but fell behind the leaders quickly.  Battled it out at the back of the fleet and did manage to catch one fellow downwind, but he finally got me on the last leg with a better mark rounding.