Spinnaker Cup on the Moore 24

Pete Trachy, Andy Hamilton and I sailed down the coast from San Francisco to Monterey on Friday in Pete's Moore 24. We won our class on handicap, despite being the smallest, slowest boat in the race and seeing lighter winds than many of the faster boats. We took the 'inside' route, sailing closer to rhumb line than the bigger boats who sailed farther offshore looking for more breeze. We saw wind in the 20's off of Davenport after we gybed in towards shore hoping for a westerly shift and more breeze. We think that it was a worthwhile move, but it's hard to tell since there weren't any other Moore's in the fleet. Steering a Moore 24 in 20 kts and ocean swells with the kite up is great! The boat handles the waves beautifully, going down one wave and up the next with a wall of spray all around the boat. We did round-down after a gybe and it was a good reminder about the importance of being clipped in during maneuvers and breeze. Once the sun fully set and the full moon came up, the surfing was even more spectactular in the moonlight. We finished just before midnight in light wind.
On Saturday, we delivered the boat to Santa Cruz where it is waiting for us to race it in the Moore 24 Nationals next weekend.