The "alternative" route got us into close quarters of shoals, 70ft fishing vessels, crab pots, narrow channels and every possible marine obstacle one can imagine. All that was missing was the Kraken. The winds increased to 20knts with gusts to 25 and I chose to keep full canvas as long as possible since I am more competitive than prudent when racing. So, we had the rail buried in the water for most of the race. We finally ended up reefing the main after we began to take on water and we were still healing to 30 degrees, but at least we had the rail out of the water. The beat against the wind after rounding the buoy was a two hour slog of tacks that began to defy logic and sanity. All I could think about besides my back cramping up was a cocktail and muscle relaxants at the end of the race. Jen's thoughts were on hot soup, which she said should be prepared by all the yacht club "bitches" that weren't in the race. She was the only woman in the race by the way.
The 12 nautical mile course took us just under 4hrs and our boat speed was between 5-7knots the whole time. That should give you an idea of how much tacking and jibing was involved.
