KWRW - Day 8

What started out a great weather day, turned into a disaster. We started the day knowing that a cold front was approaching from the north, and began sailing in 12-15 knot winds with about a 2 ft. chop. We had a great first race, which we got a 4th place. We were out of the money by inches, which is pretty good in this fleet. The second race started in a little more wind, and the chop grew. At this point there was no more sun. On our first upwind beat, we were forced to the left side of the course, while wanting to go right, this made us lose some boats. At the second windward mark rounding, somehow the chute got totally screwed up. It seemed to tangle in everything, and it took two of us to sort it out, put it up, just to have the shackle break open, and the chute fall into the water. Up a second time, we were DFL coming into the last leeward mark. We took a flyer to the right hoping for the wind shift, and got it, we took back three boats on the beat. At the finish line, we almost t-boned another T-10 which was in irons because of an out of control J-29. This also caused another T-10 behind us to almost run over the pin boat. After all of this adventure, the front passed through, and brought squall conditions. 30 knots of wind on the nose, rain, and cold air. We motored back to Key West cold, and tired after a day of sailing.