This years start was outside the gate at Baker beach which meant leaving the dock a little earlier. With the sun shinning and the wind blowing we crossed the starting line and headed for the 4.5 knots of current. As usual, the first couple of hours of the race is to weather until the wind moves aft and the chutes can pop out. The fleet stayed close together and were constantly pushing each other all the way to Half Moon Bay. Salty Hotel was the most inside and were the first to raise their chute. Being as competitive as I am, I couldn't allow them to have an advantage so we raised ours as well. And so the surfing begins!

This year the wind stayed in the manageable range and provided the perfect conditions needed to keep the boat going fast. The waves were the perfect size for dropping into and riding for extended periods of time. It became a challenge on the boat to see who could keep the boat on a plane the longest. Everyone was having a blast as the spray would shoot off the sides of the boat and the speedo climbed to the high teens. I think the speedo on Opus reads a bit higher, but we got Exocet up to 19 this year.

Our first indication that we were pushing the boat fairly hard came the first night around midnight. Tom was driving and he evidently headed up a little too high to drop into a wave causing the chute to collapse. The pop of the chute refilling snapped the spin pole in two. But we were prepared this year with a spare pole although we decided to leave it down for a few hours to rest a little. We dropped the spinnaker and continued under main for a few hours. It was also a convenient time to gybe and head back into shore since we were already 30 miles out.

Early Sunday morning we reset and were again charging in the high teens. The permanent grins instantly came back to all our faces as well. For those of you who have never had your boat going 19 knots, you are REALLY missing out! The Express is so easy to drive and very forgiving even at those speeds.

We charged down the coast and at the Sunday morning check in we were about 30 miles from Point Arguello. That was close to 230 miles in 24 hours! Not too bad for a 27 footer when the 68 footer traveled 285 miles in 24 hours.

That afternoon we got another indication of how hard we were pushing the boat while surfing in through Point Conception. The boat was not slowing down and continued between 15-19 knots for ten minutes. It was obvious that we had too much sail up and we needed to get the kite down before we broke something else. Unfortunately we weren't quick enough and a small wave hit us on the stern quarter as we surfed down a bigger wave. We rolled into a round down and skidded down the face of the wave. In the process the second spin pole drug in the water and snapped like a twig. We also had a crew member do a back flip into the water. Luckily she was harnessed into the boat and was quickly recovered although she wasn't happy to be so wet.

We finally got the spinnaker down and took a few deep breathes to evaluate the situation. We were fresh out of spin poles and still had over 100 miles to the finish. We were still surfing under main only but we new it would get lighter ahead and we would really need the spinnaker again. We decided to eat some dinner and relax a bit until the wind calmed down. During the evening check in we found out that Salty Hotel was six miles ahead of us. They must have been pushing it just as hard as us although they still had both of their spin poles. Go figure.

We decided to piece the pole back together by using a few of the seat wood slates and a couple of hose clamps. We wrapped the whole thing in duck tape and were back in business. Let me tell you that the pole was working but would bend around like a wet noodle. It wasn't pretty but we had to use it if we wanted to make up those six miles.

We tried the spinnaker for awhile but it was far too windy for our makeshift pole and we decided to just go under main and jib until it lightened up. Later that night as we sailed beneath Santa Cruz island the southwest wind filled in and we were beating to the finish. We still had over 50 miles to go and there weren't any other boats in sight.

The wind finally shut down completely and the infamous drifting began early Monday morning. It was also a bit foggy out so we couldn't see anyone else and were convinced that we were the only boat in this hole. The other boats must have been enjoying margaritas on the beach by now. But at check in time we were very surprised to hear all the big boats close around us. They too were waiting for the wind to fill in. But we didn't hear Salty Hotel check in and we new that Dave had been studying the course for the past few months. I was certain that he wouldn't make the same mistake of sailing into this hole.

Around 1PM the wind finally filled in and it was a nice spinnaker reach to the finish mark. The fog was starting to burn off and boats began to pop out one by one. It wasn't until we were within 10 miles of the finish that one of my crew noticed a little boat a beam of us. Could it be Salty Hotel? I was in denial but we decided to step it up a notch just in case. The crew was hiking hard and I was praying that the pole would not bend too much more than it already was.

We crossed the finish just behind a J120 (who had to give us a million seconds or so) and a mere eleven minutes ahead of Salty Hotel. Wow what a close race! We traveled over 400 miles and finished just over ten minutes apart. Now that is some close racing.

We continued into Avalon and began our celebrations and partying for the next few days. We found many other ways to be competitive including a golf game, a couple of shuffleboard matches, a golf cart race (suppose to just be a tour of the island but you could have figured it would turn into a race), some dancing in front of a live band at the awards dinner, and a whole lot of drinking! Some even took up a new profession at the Karaoke bar, although they should probably stick to sailing.

Catalina was a great place to spend a few days and wind down after such a fun race. It has already been decided that the race will go here again next year so hopefully more of you will be able to join in the fun!

Jason Crowson