On Thursday night we got our mixed crew together for a practice, good to have at least one before racing together! Albert, Lise, Jason, me, Jen, and John steering. About 5 minutes after leaving the beach the wind, which was already not insignificant, kicked up. I was still a bit apprehensive from Tuesday so we headed north from the SSP beach.
About 15 minutes in we were already in some 1-2 foot swells and I noticed there were whitecaps, too. We continued north a few more minutes before John turned us around. He did an excellent job. Usually turns are made towards the ama or to the left, which keeps us in a more stable configuration. John turned us wide and slow to the right which kept the boat oriented where the wind helped to force the ama down and remain more stable. I never would have thought of that. Just another reason I'm not a steersman. That and my hind parts are too beamy for that seat!
My left butt bone area got a little bit crampy since I was leaning that way to help with our stability. The ama did pop up a few times but never in a way that made me feel like we were going over. However, we had no warning that we were going over Tuesday. We had taken a short break earlier and I instructed Jason and Jen (in seats 3 and 5) to keep an eye on the ama and help keep it in the water.
I'd like to take an aside here and say that Jen is one tough cookie! Her first go our we had her paddle down to the 520, no short paddle. Then Tuesday we huli her and need to be rescued. Then Thursday night taker her out in aggressive conditions. And she keeps coming out! Perhaps she's got a masochistic streak, I don't know. Regardless, Jen, you ROCK!
We made it back to the relatively sheltered area off the SSP beach and practiced turns for a little while. That was rather important since Da Grind has 4 turns. We started to get them dialed in and decided to head back into the beach. We were as good as we were going to be for Saturday's race.
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