24 hours and no sign of any security breaches, so far...Unfortunately, I had to delete quite a few articles that were compromised. As you can see the home page is looking a little empty now!

The winter series current standings was one that got clobbered, so I reposted that this morning.

To pretty things up a little, here's a picture of Vampire and Mystic that I took during the last race, while the three of us were in a bit of a hole. Of course, as soon as I had taken a few quick snaps, the wind was up and camera was put away in a hurry before either of these boats could over take us! In the picture, Vampire is showing off their new North 3DL genny. Following the next race, I hope to have some comments on these new sails from the skippers of the three boats who ordered them...

There are a few boats that have mentioned that they would like some more crew. Here's my attempt at a "Crew Job Posting"...

ABOUT US:

There are between 8 and 15 sailboats of various sizes and performance levels that race on selected Saturdays during February through April, and Tuesday nights from May to June.

CREW TITLE:  Various positions are available, depending on your qualifications including Foredeck, Main, Trimmer, Pit and the coveted "Rail Meat" position.

DESCRIPTIONS of POSITIONS:

Foredeck - This is an intermittently demanding job and could be considered part-time rail meat. On some boats, foredeck union membership is mandatory. It involves spinnaker pole and spinnaker handling for downwind work. Prior experience is required.

Main - Despite it's name, candidates are not applying to be the "main" crew, but are actually required to control the main sail sheeting. Expect some traveller work will be required.

Trimmer - Leave the scissors at home, a trimmer is critical to ensure the genoa is set properly for upwind work and spinnaker is set properly for downwind work.

Pit - A position which is not for the faint-of-heart. Prospective candidates are expected to have an excellent memory and problem solving skills to determine which line other crew members are shouting to be released.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Some knowledge and experience on a sailboat is useful and will be considered in our selection process. Once assigned to a boat, you will be expected to participate regularly and report to the boat's skipper.

PAY:

You will be rewarded with a lot of fun, opportunities to travel and race in far away destinations, not to mention huge opportunities to enhance your sailing skills and meet new people from all walks of life who have similar interests.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

If any of these positions interest you, please submit a "resume" via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  with your contact info and level of experience.

Vampire was officially committee, but since Don was away on business, Genesis stood in with skipper James, and assisted by me. Amigos was stuck at the dock waiting for her owner to stop procrastinating over some necessary repairs.

Toucan's ever reliable workhorse of an engine quit half way out the channel and requested a tow from Mermaid. Murray is uncertain why this almost resulted in Mermaid on the rocks. Fortunately an Amigos crew-member, Andy, was on loan to Mermaid and he jumped off the bow and held them off the rocks! Way to go Andy!

We did our best to put Kelly's committee tips to go use, and the 3-1 x3 course worked out well, though the race committee had to reposition after Avalanche informed us that they couldn't cross the start line on starboard. And, we found both radios on board could listen but not transmit! (And I thought everyone was just ignoring us!)

Avalanche took the right side of the course, and Jabiru and Mystic chose to go up current along the left side. This choice paid off in spades for Avalanche, who took the race handily with a lead of over 10 minutes over Jabiru, and 20 minutes over Mystic.

In Div 2, Spellbound was sporting a flashy new symmetrical spinnaker and pole too! This helped them to a healthy lead of 5 minutes over Toucan. Since Spellbound's official rating is for white-sails only, we gave them a temporary rating of 185 until they receive their official flying rating which is currently on order.

See you all on Feb 21 for race #2.

The site is still under attack by some bone head in Turkey. I've completed an upgrade to the latest version which contains a security patch that I hope denies access.

If you are reading this, To the shithead in Turkey who thinks this is fun: do your country proud and get a real job instead of destroying the work of others.