The breeze looked pretty good off the dock, but when we got close to the egg shells at Deer Island, the wind died. We drifted around Deer Island Light, and drifted in the channel towards the race course.

Despite leaving the dock 45 minutes after everyone else, Peter and Jessica Costa used the high tide, and some local wisdom to their advantage, as they sailed over the Deer Island shoal, right up against the seawall catching the only breeze on the water. Impressively, they were the first to make it to the race course in the middle of Broad Sound.

The start was delayed as the rest of the fleet drifted to the course, and the RC waited for some confirmation of wind. Finally, the prevailing westerly breeze appeared to fill. They set a Windward - Leeward course twice around in a breeze that topped out at five knots.

Team Costa's ability to come from behind continued in the first, and only completed race of the day. They, and John Cavicchi with Howard Davis, rounded the first leeward mark behind the rest of the pack. However, halfway up the next windward leg, they caught a little breeze line on the middle left hand side of the course, rounded the windward mark before everyone else, held their positions to the downwind mark, and back up to the finish in a very long and tedious race.

The course for the second race was the same as the first, but the breeze was lighter. After all the boats rounded the windward mark, a little finger of breeze filled in from behind, collapsing the fleet. As the leaders approached the bottom mark, the seabreeze made a feeble attempt to fill from the east. The RC Called the race at about 6:00 as the seabreeze never quite materialized, the gradient was dead and Broad Sound was all glass. Perhaps we can say that Ken Woods and Bill Paton made the smartest move sailing back to the dock at the end of the first race.

Team Costa's fourth bullet in the 8 races so far puts them in a tie with Fran Charles and John Murphy with sixteen points for the Fleet Qualifying Series. The Series ends with two races at the Constitution Cup next Saturday July 3rd. The points are tight with other boats right behind. The Fleet Championship, and the berth to the 1999 and 2000 Star World Championships are up for grabs for Punta Ala, Italy and Annapolis respectively.

Big thanks to Kurt Larson, Dan Mullane and Jim Frasier for the race, their efforts, and for towing us all back home.