There were three races again today. All the courses have been windward-leeward with four or five legs of about 1.5 miles each. As of the time this is being written, we don't have details about two of our finishes - or about our standing overall in the Regatta. Sorry - we'll try to catch everyone up tomorrow.

Each day we have left the marina with a good sized list of things to do. Then we're at the boat early in the morning to finish the list. This morning, one item on the list was installing a device on the backstay control to make sure the backstay is eased when we release the backstay control. Another item was to replace a broken clutch that serves as a cleat for the main and jib halyards.

We also have a long list of things that need to be done before leaving the dock. A sample of these items includes:
* Removing all extraneous material from the boat to reduce weight.
* Putting tape over the bow cleats so the spinnaker lines don't get caught.
* Making sure we have all the required safety equipment.
* Stowing water and sandwiches we'll need on the water.
* Checking the oil level on the engine.
* Assuring the tuning on the rig is correct.
* Taping halyard and spinnaker sheet shackles so they won't release.

We left the dock this morning at 8:45 so we could arrive in the starting area by 10:00. This provided us with time to sail part of the first leg to windward and then turn downwind and to exercise the spinnaker.

The wind was very light for the first race. We struggled to find clear air - and ended up somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Race two found us with a very good start. We were sailing very fast and were second at the windward mark. The wind had gone right and on the downwind, we gybed immediately to be on a reach to the leeward mark. Meanwhile the lead boat wasn't able to do so. The result was that we sailed past them and were first around the leeward mark. Gong to windward again on the four leg course, we maintained our lead. This left the final downwind leg to the finish described in the opening paragraph. A hard earned first.

On this boat, a gybe involves every member of the crew. The driver needs to steer the boat smoothly, the main trimmer has to bring the mainsail over and the spinnaker trimmers need to keep up with the turn. A crew member has to control pole height with a foreguy, and the foredeck crew members have to "end-to-end" the pole. Coordination and teamwork is essential. The dedication of the crew to make the gybes go smoothly without losing any speed resulted in our first place finish.

In the third race there were about eight boats fighting for second place - us among them. Not more than five seconds separated the eight boats. Our position is unknown as this is being written.

After racing there is a big party at Bayview Yacht Club with a band, dinner, beer/soft drinks, etc. At this event, Driver Mike Moody was proud to represent the "Tenacity" crew in receiving a special award for our first place finish today.

Look for another report after Sunday's racing.