2013 Cuspidor

Congratulations to Kate Coupland with Chris Liberti as crew. Kate is the first female winner of the Cuspidor in it’s 51 year history. They sailed an outstanding regatta and the win was well deserved.

Thanks to a strong front moving through the area, we saw South winds about 8 to 12 mph through most of Saturday, increasing to near 15 mph by the final race of the day. We were able to complete 6 races by 3:00 pm. Sunday began much like Saturday, at least for the first race. Then came the rain, and with it dying winds. After a decent first leg of the final race, the wind began to die. At least that was until the middle of the final run. The wind began to pick up and we finished in a blast that at points was well above 15 and pouring rain (1 inch in 1/2 hour).

The racing was fairly close for many of the races which made for an enjoyable event. The wind blast at the end of the last race produced one of the highlights of the week-end. It came on so suddenly while we were reaching to the leeward mark with spinnakers flying that it was difficult to react and there was a scramble to get spinnakers down. Kate and Chris reacted by Kate falling (jumping?) overboard. The picture below shows Chris single handing the FD on a three sail reach. It didn’t last long as the inevitable capsize came moments after this picture was taken, but it looked great while it lasted. PS: After a long swim, Kate got back aboard and they finished the race. The hazy picture is due to the heavy rain.