u/velvethammer125

Are we still posting these pictures

So we are in the middle of Suisun Bay. It's blowing 20 knots TWS, the RS21 is on a full plane, and we are sailing lower and faster than Andrew, who is leading the pack. We are sitting in second, pulling away from third and fourth, in a great spot to pull into the lead. My very chatty 10-year-old is no longer talking. We are both about as far aft on the RS21 as we can get, the jib is set as a staysail, the vang is soft, and the boat is hauling.
I check in with Emmet and remember he is our tactician and navigator. He has a chart we found in Poppy’s garage from the mid-1990s. His instructions are clear and well-understood: it's time for the kite to come down and to wing out a jib. Okay, the speed team doesn’t always agree with the calls from the back of the boat, but we listen. Emmet takes the helm and I work on a weather douse of the kite—it’s the go-to standard for getting an RS21 kite down without shrimping it.
Kite down, we wing out the jib and watch the other two RS21s sail past. Emmet drives, hangs his feet in the water, and eats some snacks—all the typical things a 10-year-old would do sailing in the Delta. About this time, we notice that we are passing one of the RS21s. They appear well north of the channel in an area on the chart called Middle Ground Island. We see some birds standing next to them as we sail past.
Maybe our tactician has a plan. Leaving the "mud farmers" behind, we have a great time sailing up New York Slough and into the San Joaquin River. Our tactician has also noticed that the RS21 has an uncanny ability to pick up grass on the rudder. The foils on the boat are basically vertical, so they must be catching a bunch of grass. He keeps cleaning off the rudder. About every few miles, we back the boat down and reveal a huge chunk of grass on the keel. Once cleared, the boat jumps back to life. We are doing our best to avoid the grass, but it's hard to see and avoid.
With the mud farmers in the rearview mirror, we are passing the dreaded Day Marker 19. Emmet lets me know that after this reach, it will be kite back up for the home stretch into Stockton. Giddy up! The speed team is ecstatic to get going again. One more back-down before the kite goes up, and we are off sailing down the river.
We are in third, having a great time. We are taking turns driving, snacking, and bird watching. An old plane even buzzed us! Around Tinsley Island, we notice two RS21s ahead. We look again, and sure enough, they are about 400 yards ahead of us with their SFYC kites flying. Emmet pushes us to go wing-on-wing, J/70 style, and we pass the second-place boat, moving us into second. Andrew Picel is in first, and we work on grinding him down.
We cross the line overlapped, with Andrew accelerating at the last moment to avoid us overtaking. We take second in the RS fleet! Emmet is ecstatic. We have a quick motor into the Stockton Sailing Club and de-rig.
It was such a wonderful day on the water double-handing with my 10-year-old. We talked for hours on the trip, had a blast, and made some amazing memories. Next year, I will not second-guess my tactician—he called a hell of a race.

Sending it down the Santa Barbra channel in the 2026 costal cup. We were chasing down the 125’s after starting 6 minutes behind them we almost caught them.