David Murchison, Rob Crothers and Skipper set out on September 19 for the Amherst Island Pursuit Race.  This was the debut for the new aramid load path genoa from Elliott Pattison sails in Newport Beach, CA. The sail was built in just two weeks from a membrane manufactured by D4 dimension polyant in Connecticut. Some messing around was required because the sail was cut to hook on to the deck and the furler had to be removed. Removing the furler – that’s a whole other story!

Here is what the sail looked like when we first hoisted it.

The wind was light from the N when we started – of course being a pursuit race everyone starts at different times. We chose to go E from the start line, “clockwise” around the island. As often happens, the fleet split roughly into equal groups, rounding the island in opposite directions.

From the point of view of the faster boats, the ideal is to have the early starters “parked up” on the start line until you start, and that is to some extent what happened. We just flew through the high handicap boats as if they were tethered to the bottom, and found ourselves in a battle with Steve Yates in Black Knight that was to last for the whole race.

The new sail was fast on every point of sail. Here’s a nice shot of us close reaching on the SW corner of Amherst Island.