Memo: Never Schedule a Race on Mother's Day...

Because It Just Provokes Mother Nature

We didn't reef from the get-go on this 11nm race and we were penalized by not being able to ease off. Steady at 27 knots with gusts to 40. We could have finished the race, but we could not have saved our time. And I wanted to save my rudder. Seven out of only nine starters finished. Another DNF is the cost for my dogmatic insistence on not reefing. However, the good news is that two new crew were discovered, baptized by the spray, and proved their mettle!