Valkyrie was in Division 1, the slower of the non-spinnaker boats. That meant we were in the first start. A little before noon on Thursday, we attached our numeral pennant to the backstay and headed out for the starting area, off Rockaway Beach, to get in a little practice tacking, since we really hadn't sailed together yet. The wind was pretty light, however, and we only did a few tacks.
The wind then proceeded to get lighter. I was completely in start mode, worrying about line sights and stuff, but everyone else figured out we had bigger problems. The current was against us. We got passed by an anchored boat. Then we dropped our anchor and watched boats under spinnaker backing past us, which was pretty amusing. After an hour's postponement, they managed to get a start off. We played "Ride of the Valkyries" on the CD player.
The wind stayed pretty light. Some boats headed farther out, hoping to pick up some breeze out there. By night, we were spending a lot of time just rolling on the swells with the sails slatting. I was looking sufficiently pathetic that the others decided not to call me for my first night watch.
The next day was basically more of the same, with some fog thrown in. By evening, I could tell that people were getting kind of discouraged and starting to think about the fact that we would be passing near Valkyrie's home marina shortly. Then, just before sunset and just before rounding Montauk Point, the wind filled in. I have rarely seen the mood on a boat change so quickly. We made it to Plum Gut just in time before the tide turned against us. I was on watch at that point, and the view looking back at the lighthouse silhouetted in the middle of the pool of white from the rising full moon reflected on the water was about as pretty as anything I have ever seen. The nav lights reflecting in the spray coming over the bow were pretty nice, too, because we had good wind by this point and were really moving along. The wind continued good all that night and the next morning, which was a clear, beautiful day. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out where barges were headed, but never got close to any of them.
Then it was time to start trying to spot the finish line, which was between an anchored boat and a breakwater.