New Jib, Who Dis?

Sitting on the dock at 4:30 watching the storm clouds roll through I thought the night was shaping up to be a bust. 204 had a late launch this season so we were all eager to get out racing on such a scorcher of a day. When the race committee decided to rendezvous off The Dumplings, it was all smiles as we left the mooring.

The forecast was for a very light breeze all evening and a ripping incoming tide. Thoughts onboard were that the passing storms would leave us with nothing but as we sailed over to the Jamestown side it was thankfully looking like enough breeze across the racecourse. 

We got in a nice position at the committee boat for the first start but along with what felt like the rest of the fleet, we got there too early. Our second start was a fumble, and there was relief onboard when we heard the general recall. The race committee had a tough night with major shifts in the breeze but after another reset and an ‘I’ flag they got us all going and boy were we happy for a third try!

Pumped to finally get racing and tactician Serena Vilage setting us up for a great start, we managed to carry nice speed off the line and the crew was buzzing from our morale booster: new jib. 

Keeping the boat moving upwind in the shifts and lulls was a challenge. We favored the right-hand side of the course and it paid off hugging the pier off Fort Adams coming into the windward mark. We managed to find our own lane on the downwind and took advantage of a pile up at the leeward mark, passing a few boats as we rounded. It was a short drag race to the finish line, and we had three boats on top of us crossing the line. Truly a photo finish. As the heat went down with the sun, it became a special night on Narragansett Bay–made better in part because it almost didn't happen. 

Austin Cohen 

204 Prudence 

Kelsy Patnaude

Serena Vilage

Ben Steinberg

Sailing back to The Point with our neighbors on 11