First night out

Hola Westward fans!

We've had a great although light day (you already know this if you've been checking out Yellowbrick). Around 0930, Westward and crew left Alamitos Bay Yacht Club to much fanfare that included Dana Bell, Shauneen Bell, Whitney Rush, Monika Sanders and Terry Bishop who gave us a tradition conch shell send off!

We cruised down to Newport Beach, hugging the shore enough to check out the surfers and draw the attention of the Huntington Beach lifegaurds. We arrived at the starting area and it became quickly clear that we were a bit of an...outlier...among the ultra-light racing machines that also started today. Certainly, Westward is also a racing machine, but of a different vintage.

The wind was light and we spent the afternoon waiting for the lift Graham promised to get us where we needed to be to get the wind we want. It's hard to be patient and not get greedy as wait for the wind to lift us and point us where we want to head (basically we need the wind to change direction and allow us to steer the boat the right direction. Alli has won the pun award for the day and has advised us all to not look a lift horse in the mouth (that this is funny is a good indication that things have already gotten a little weird out here). Willie is even making jokes.

If you're tracking us and wondering if it's bad that we're the farthest behind, the answer is maybe. Like golf, sailing is handicaped to try to put boats on an equal playing field. So the total time that we take to get to the finish line will be corrected based on our handicap (or rating) and it is the corrected that really matters. We'll know how we're doing in a few days. For now, we're racing the clock and trying to help Westward stretch her legs down the racecourse and move as quickly as possible.

Cheers to all!

Westward and crew



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