Last May we hauled out and Dave was kind enough to come down to Brookings to do the modifications with help from Lee. We also installed a Max-prop while the boat was out of the water and the bottom was painted. I noticed the boat "coasts" much further when in neutral in the marina and at sea under sail.
Fast forward to last weekend. I showed up for the local yacht club race at the appointed time and was disappointed to learn that there were only 2 of us that were ready to go... this is bad news because 3 boats are needed (rules) in order to have a race. Since we were already out there, the other boat (a Ranger 33) and I decided to sail to the Point St George lighthouse - about 12 miles across the bay.
His sail configuration was full main with a laminate headsail ..either a number 1 or genoa.
We had full main and staysail with a 177sq foot yankee on the furler. I had the asymmetrical on the deck ready to hoist if there was going to be a race but since it was not a "formal" race I put the sail away about 10 minutes after hoisting all the other sails. There was about 8 - 10 knots of wind at about 60 degrees apparent to start with and it gusted up and down to about 12-13-14 knots moving from 60 apparent to about 100 apparent.
The Westsail overtook the Ranger and settled in like only a Westsail 32 can. The tillerpilot was steering and after trimming the sails a bit I sat down and was talking to the other two guys on the boat. About 10 minutes later I realized that the Ranger was not catching up or overtaking us like I thought it might. The owner/skipper of the boat is a very good sailor. I am not. I figured he was just being nice and pretty soon he would blow by.
It never happened.
I watched him a bit and he was trying.
After 9 miles he said he was going back to the marina. He did draw even at the end but we were not trying.
I'm still smiling.