2026 Green race was "Good Nuf"

The weather forecast was not predicting a great kick off for the club’s first race of the 2026 season. White outs, gusts in the 20s, waves from the NE and a few thunderstorms for fun. A cruddy day to be on the water. The sailing club to the south cancelled their races days prior once again proving that you should never cancel based on a forecast.

Sunday did not dawn bright. It was dreary and the air was damp. The waves were 2 ft and out of the east with wind SE 12ish.

Our ride for the day was the J30 Good Nuf that Barrie Soloway acquired within the past few months. The race was going to be a practice race for the ladies who are planning to participate in Castaways April Ladies’ day race.

We headed out of Lake Boca, put up the sails, and went to work figuring out crew placement and how the boat worked. Helming was going to be different for everyone due to the boat having a tiller. Marie and Fion settled in to be our helms people for the day.

Our trek down the beach to the start was slow as we figured the boat out. We noticed other boats gathering near the starting line, and according to what I heard, some were crossing tacks and maneuvering to secure an ideal position before the race began. We ended up being 9 minutes late for the start but were okay with that and pushed on. The wind was solid 11-13 with gust to 15-18 KN. The helmsperson and mainsheet person on Good Nuf worked together to keep the boat moving forward and upright. Surprisingly, there were a number of divers out on the water. Our biggest surprise was the beach diver who popped up into our view and caused us and Feeling Nauti a few moments of panic as both boats tacked to avoid the diver.

Virtual marks make rounding more challenging as you must pay close attention to the instruments, and you have no visible mark to round. It felt like we overstood the mark until we tacked and realized the wind had shifted and our angle was going to skim us past MM and out to the east.

The downwind leg was a bit slower and more rolly. The thunderstorm that had been parked south of Fort Lauderdale had kicked up the wind and waves and the wind had started its southern shift. The boat was being picked up by the waves and doing what we referred to as a Hula as we sailed towards the finish. We played with the sails to figure out what worked best on the boat while giving us the proper angle to the finish. We hit the finish line in a respectable time and felt rather good on our practice sail. Despite less-than-ideal conditions for the so-called "fun" club race, all participants had a great time.

Coming into Hillsboro inlet was interesting as the waves had built up and we ended up surfing in on a large wave. I had a momentary concern about the rocks to our north, but the boat turned to the west, and we coasted safely into the inlet and waited for the bridge.

The crew is looking forward to representing HISC in April at Castaways Ladies Day race. We all agreed that a bit less wind might be welcome.