It was really cool sailing with Cedar Point right in the background.  It is hard to believe that some people who race sailboats and hang over the side hiking out as hard as they can are afraid to ride the roller coasters!  I think the ride we all had today might just measure up to the rides at the amusement park.  With the sun shining and a few wispy clouds and temperature in the high 70's, it sure was a great day out on the water.

Today's races were in the protected bay outside Sandusky Sailing Club so we sailed out for about 5-10 minutes instead of over an hour to the starting line!   That meant shorter legs but a lot less time spent getting beaten up trying to get to the racecourse.  Jim Tichenor and the RC ran one 4-leg and one 5-leg Windward-Leeward race.   At first, the pin boat had a hard time anchoring in place, but after a 15 minute delay we were able to start. The first race we had 6-8 SW winds with about a 10-degree wind shift during the race.  It looked like there was some wind to the right, but the boats who went over there were sorely disappointed.  We saw spinnakers overtaking each other in both the Championship and Challenger divisions on the downwinds.  

Before the second race the course had to change a little due to the wind shift.  The RC wanted to leave the pin boat in place since the anchor was holding, so they moved the committee boat.  After a little over 1/2 hour we were in business.  At that point we had some more gusts with the SW 10-13 MPH, shifting quite a bit, spotty in some places  and confusing even some of the best skippers.  Several of the top 10 teams swapped places after today's racing.

After day 2, the leaders in the Championship Division are (1) Jeff and Amy Smith Linton, (2) Tyler and Carrie Andrews and (3) Zeke and Jay Horowitz.  In the Challenger Division, the leaders are (1) Ryan Malmgren and Stacey Rieu, (2) Melanie and Bill Dunham and (3) Sandy and Keith Eustis.  

Tonight is the Annual Meeting and Banquet at Sandusky Yacht Club and one more race is planned for tomorrow.  Stay tuned here for updates.

Full results are here.