Epic

We departed Anegada with little wind in the forecast. It looked as though we had a long motor ahead of us. We cleared the reefs and guess what? Wind! It started at about 15 and peaked at 21!! We were flying at over 10kts. Our destination was Bitter End Yacht Club where we would pick up a mooring ball. We had to make a few tacks to get there and I helped with the sheets. Our boat is over 42 tons so it takes a good breeze to get us going. Don't even think about flying a hull. We arrived about 1pm and this is one beautiful part of Virgin Gorda. After a fine lunch of fish tacos (mahi mahi) we headed to the beach to rent a Hobie. We were told that we could have the 16' for a half our but that it had to be back by 4:30 for the beer can race. We did a tack across the bay and back and hit over 10kts. My brother in law Tom was taking us into the beach and your editor pulled a bonehead move! We were almost at the beach and I had given Tom instructions on how to slow the boat down before hitting the beach. We didn't slow down and we headed for a collision with another boat on the beach. I jumped off the bow and a line wrapped around my foot and I did a face plant on the beach and we hit the other boat. Oh boy. My pride was wounded but I was OK as was the other boat. We wanted to continue sailing but to do that we had to enter the race. I convinced Tom we should and we did. We had a small Hobie Wave that is cat rigged. We hit the starting line and had to sail to the upwind to the mark. There were four kinds of boats racing and we were the slowest. We hit the first mark in a tight rounding with 7 year old Jimmy in an Optimist. We had the angle and were closest to the mark, but Jimmy was right there and he hit us. I told him I would be protesting! :~} We rounded the down wind mark and as you passed the committee boat they handed you a beer! We headed up to the upwind mark clearly in last pace so I decided on a crew change. We headed to the Mothership and picked up two more crew. We joined in the second race midway through and now we are winning! Not for long as a Laser passed us on the down wind leg. We picked up three more beers and got ready for the last race. We hit the first mark and then sailed back by Secret Oasis. Dropped off one crew and then headed to the beach. As we were headed in, the last boat passed and the guy yelled "DFL". What does that mean? We got in to the beach and I asked him and he said "dead f**king last". And that we were. What a blast. Dinner was braised lamb and some Silver Oak Cab to finish the day. What a great day! Thursday we head to The Baths!