Expresses Rule! Just in case there was any doubt, we offer this proof-- Xena hammered all divisions and won overall on Saturday (upwind, 22 boats, and we beat all but a few boat-for-boat !). Downwind on Sunday (16 boats) we corrected out again and won overall. We went out much further than the other boats on both days.

The downwind ride on Sunday was awesome. Coming in over the north bar we think the wind was about 30 and it was ebbing. So the seas at the bar were very chopped up, steep and beginning to break in places. But the express has such control in these conditions, we never came close to crashing. It helped that our boatspeed was often over 14 knots ...adrenaline also helps :-), several times the speedo went above 17 knots, with our peak speed being 17.4 knots. You can imagine all the hooting and hollering each time the speedo hit a new high. I still can't wipe the grin off my face.

We have some pix, I think one them is going to appear in latitude. I'll see about getting some posted on the site, here.

As Jason says in a nearby post: "Sailing these boats downwind on the ocean is the most fun you can have with your clothes on".... Amen.

Cheers, Mark

-e27 Poobah