November Already?

No, I didn't intend to stop blogging once we brought the boat north, as that is the point where the adventure truly begins!  It has been an eventful couple of months, but rather than go back and create historical entries, I choose to pick up in the present.  You will no doubt see some references and photos related to adventures over the past few months.

Most recently we had our first official race on Ablissian.  Yes, we did do one race on the Columbia a few months after buying the boat, but we had no PHRF rating at the time, so the results are suspect at best.  This time we were official!  We entered the Sloop Tavern Fall Regatta, held on October 16.  Peter and I drove to Bainbridge from Portland on Friday night, then got up early Saturday morning to drive the boat across to Shilshole for the start of the race.  We picked up our able crew - August and Lola - and joined the boats milling for the start.

I'll admit that the few experiences I've had in the past with sailboat racing have not inspired me to do more.  Either we had no wind and moved at a snail's pace, or we were the slowest boat at the very back of the pack.  This time was different, as we were able to make a respectable showing against other boats in our class, finishing 7th out of 11 boats.  We had wonderful weather, with a good 10-15 knots of wind.  We had a lot of fun switching off on handling the winches during tacks, and exploring what the boat can do.  We are very much looking forward to more challenges in races coming up next season!

Here are a number of photos from our day of racing - the fantastic photos (and the one above) were all taken by August.  He is an amazing photographer!  Enjoy: