2001 JTA SPRING REGATTA
4/28-29 スプリングレガッタ
場所：　葉山　森戸海岸　　レポート：　ティム・ナイト

Excellent choice of Ryokan Kaikaso (thank you Mr Yamamoto for arranging it), Mariko and Anna enjoyed filling their shoes with sand every day on the beach.

Woke up on Saturday, no wind and very hot. My decision to bring my winter steamer and Mayumi's Drysuit did not look good. Met lots of friends at the beach and Mayumi went to the briefing.

Race 1
Steamer/drysuit tied around waists and lots of sun cream.We sailed out to the start, very light winds, Mayumi in the motorbike position upwind. We had a good start and rounded 3rd at the windward mark behind Stawberry Shake (Ishi-san) and the Tanaka's. Big pack very close behind I could hear the bow waves. This is the scary part of sailing, tried to ignore them, act cool, not look back and concentrate on the waves and keeping the telltales streaming. The boats all stayed very close together and the last beat was very exciting. Kanneko, Ozawa, Tanaka and us all swopping places as we tacked up the last beat. Strawberry Shake held the lead and we all finished very slowly but within a minute. George (who had had a late breakfast) showed up and said hello just as we were finishing. He wasn't even on the beach when we left for the start!

Race 2
More wind, Mayumi trying to sit on the side. Most of the other crews are leaning out upwind. We had an endless battle with Ishi-san. He's very quick on the reaches. Ozawa-san overtakes us on the finish line.

Race 3
Tanakas, Gone!
Couldn't believe they could be so fast. It was very depressing watching them sail away on every leg of the course. We felt very slow. Still struggling to sit out Strawberry shake has a new name in our house, (its not so nice) Strawberry shake overtakes us 20 meters from the finish.

Party
Excellent but we had to leave early to see sunset over Fuji. Look forward to seeing the full party report.

Race 4
Yah tah! Our turn, same wind as race 1 but much cooler, steamer weather.
We had a start to dream of, right next to the committee boat clear wind and rounded the windward mark first with a gap to the next boat that gave us some hope. When we looked back at each bouy we are increasing our lead. A wonderful feeling, we have never had this experience before.

Race 5
Same wind, Mayumi still on the motorbike.
Bye bye George, just to show he can do it too.
Terrible start for us, we were shut out at the committee boat and had to tack off and start late, but we are confident that we have good speed in the very light wind. Though we started last we are looking forward to the race as we have a tradition in our boat of a kiss for each boat we overtake. (it works well for us, but might not be so good in an all boy boat) Tack straight onto Port and head towards clear air. At the windward mark we are 14th. Sail low on the reaches and get past some luffers. Go the wrong way again (port tack) up the 2nd beat and get past another couple of boats. Gybe immediately at the windward mark onto the run, away from the boats ahead and pass another boat downwind. At the next windward mark we are 3rd and very very happy. A couple of good tacks on the last beat and we finish second. Snowy was flying. We didn't catch George but hope he was scared when he looked back. Our lips were well used.

A big THANK YOU to everyone at Hayama. We will be back next year. We look forward to seeing most of you in Whitstable and more often in 2002.