Friday, March 12, 2010

Russian Around The Race Course

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to go match racing on custom made 44 foot carbon fiber sport boat against its identical sister boat. The boats are owned by a very rich Russian man who bought them as he was interested in learning to sail. What better way to learn how to sail and race than on your own custom yacht with all your buddies and a professional coach, against a team of professional sailors? And to think, I learned in a Opti....

The boats were absolutely incredible sailing machines. From the moment we hoisted the square roach main, you could feel the power that this boat possessed. Every little detail was thought of when this boat was designed, from the teak inlays on top of the carbon deck, to the lines running internally from the bottom of the mast to the pit, and the perfectly positioned winches. The small details made racing on this yacht a lot of fun.

Though it was raining most of the day and I had the chance to finally take advantage of my foul weather gear which has been collecting dust on my boat. Despite the miserable weather, the wind was still blowing and we raced 3 match races and our boat won 2 of them. It was a great experience to sail on such a powerful and fast boat, and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to do so again before the yachts are packed up and shipped to Europe for the spring and summer.

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