The aftermath

Whew,

So the showdown is over. What a blast it was - the race committee did such a fantastic job and the club was nothing but welcoming to the out of town boats.

We had some highs and lows. Port tacking the start and crossing the entire fleet in 18 knots of breeze - priceless. Losing your halyard when in first place 100 yards from the line...not. Or knot. You choose. We blew out our main halyard - the cover cut away in the clutch. Had to drop the mast tonight to pull it for repair. Soon to be good as new!

The racing at the Showdown was fantastic, with Tom Reese the run away champion. Still hot from the St. Pete win, they took bullets inm every race and ended up beating Randy Smyth on corrected time for their mark on the perpetual trophy.

The conditions varied from light to heavy and with 15 tri's on the line with a single start, it was exciting.

Now we start our training program with Randy in preparation for the races in Key West. Looking forward to a real challenge this year - not a single rock star on our team - only a bunch of average joe's. Hope we do well. Kim and the kids are coming down this year - should be great fun.

More later,

C.