Madrone sailing wing on wing up San Jose Channel
During a morning hike with our friends Brad, Sonni, Pip and Mac from SV Luego, we agreed to sail together about 10 miles north to the fishing village of San Evaristo. All sailors know that any time two boats are headed in the same direction, it’s a race. So we were dismayed to hear the sound of Luego’s windlass and chain as they raised the anchor – they were getting a head start!
All white sails flying for this downwind race
The flat waters of the Sea of Cortez make for great light wind sailing – there’s no swell to roll the boat and knock the wind out of the sails. So both boats enjoyed a fantastic downwind sail in the light breeze.
The racing couldn’t have been that serious because Brad took a break from trimming the sails to fly his drone and get some fantastic footage of Madrone in her element.
Madrone in hot pursuit of Luego
Racing two sailboats of different sizes isn’t really fair – the longer boat is nearly always faster as long as there’s a decent breeze. So the illegal head start turned out to be no problem for the thoroughbred Madrone – she tracked down Luego and zipped (or maybe meandered, if we’re honest) past with a couple of miles still to go. But it still feels good to win!
