Since when can the weathermen predict the weather, let alone the future? That’s what many racers were asking before Saturday’s Offshore Spring Series III coupled with a little Back to the Future storm reference. What started out as a miserable day early in the morning turned out to be warm, partly sunny day with 10-15 kt. breezes out of the southwest. To top it off it was a great day of sailing and racing.

Certainly, one thing unpredictable was the results and nobody’s clock was safe this day. In PHRF A, Nanuq not only won PHRF A, but they received the best score for the day with a total of 4 points receiving 2 bullets and a 2^nd. It must be that fancy new keel combined with some solid crew work. Hmmm…or maybe the blaze orange shirts simply blind the competition…WOW. Only thing I can figure is they are hunting polar bears and the blaze orange is for protection? Guys – the polar bear is on the spinnaker…Either way it’s working. Double Eagle took 2^nd and Voodoo 2 took 3^rd to round out PHRF A. In PHRF B, there was definitely excitement and tacking in close quarters. I guess Goin’ had enough of taking 2^nd after the first race to finally get a pair of bullets, seizing 1^st for the day. This usurped the Hatter’s trend of bullets thus far in the series. To date they have an astonishing 5 bullets out of 7 races. Mad Hatter took 2^nd and Neried took 3^rd for the B Fleet. In PHRF C there was truly great competition. Play it Again took the day with 5 points, earning the 1^st place cup after recovering from the Spring Series II wipe out. The real backstory though is the eventual breaking of the long standing tie between Schiehallion and Cheeky Monkey. It took 3 hard fought races to get to that point. In the first race, a mere 4 corrected seconds separated the two in the Monkey’s favor resulting in a bullet. In the second race, the Monkey fell behind to take 3^rd. In the third race, Schiehallion bet on a current shift and went left – far left…how did wolf trap look this time of year? The gamble failed to pay off knocking them down to 4^th for that race. Cheeky Monkey took 2^nd and Schiehallion took 3^rd – this time no tie breaker determined the outcome for the day. And finally PHRF Non-Spin, with only 1 boat competing Nutcracker dominated with the trifecta. Imagine if they came in second for one of those races?

Spring Series IV wraps up this Saturday and we will see who has the gumption to maintain their position in the pack and who wishes they could go back in time to take a different tack.

Stay tuned for a high point scoring update later this week. And be sure to register for the Long Distance series – the pool is open. I’ll leave you with one final movie reference (I promise)…Roads? Where we are going we don’t need roads…So true for sailing right?

See you on the water.