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Monday, September 14, 2015

J24 North Americans Maine 9/10-9/13 (sailing)

The J24 North Americans were in Falmouth Maine this year. I went on "Spooky" with John, Jill, Doug, and Dave. Two other boats drove down from VT (Jam and Ice Cube). The regatta was four days and about 50 boats were racing.
The drive down wasn't completely uneventful. The tread pealed off one of the trailer tires in one large piece. Luckily it didn't blow and we had a spare and good tools. Back on the road in 20 minutes and at Handy's Boat in Yarmouth ME around the time we expected. We quickly put the boat together and went out for a practice race in what turned out to be nice wind. Good to get out and check out the boat since we realized there were no sail numbers on the sails we were using. Lobster pot buoys all over the place which was an added distraction while sailing.
Thu was light air and we had one race out in the bay area before heading in. Fri the wind was up and they ran 4 races, again in the bay area. We had some damage at the beginning of race 2 which caused us to miss two of the races. The front metal support that holds up the forestay got twisted and all of the screws, except one, pulled out. We quickly took down the sails and headed back to shore. After a quick repair we were back out for race 4 which went fairly well and was a good ending to a long day.
Sat was a very nice sunny day with reasonable wind. We went out to the ocean through Hussy Sound. Saw two dolphins out there and someone spotted a whale although I did not see that. We also saw a number of sea lions over the course of the regatta. Sat was 2 long races with a nice sail out and back around the islands. Sun was what I think of as typical Maine weather. Foggy with light drizzle all day. It made it harder to navigate and see the marks but a nice day of racing in decent wind.
The regatta was held at the Portland Yacht Club. Nice spot. Lots of good food and drink over the course of the regatta. Sat night they cooked 450 lobsters on metal grates over a fire. Corn, Potatoes, clams, and seaweed was added to the lobsters and the whole thing was covered in foil. Very good!
In the pictures below we are bow 23 and sail number 1048.
Some pictures taken by Jill:










Some regatta photos:



























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