I entered a race this weekend, which I infrequently do from time to time. I liked the race description because it is one buoy at the end of a reservoir east of here, and a group start. The idea for holding it at dawn is to take advantage of the catabatic flow from the surrounding mountains, which are often whitecapping on the reservoir. I put my boat on a diet the night before, and removed at least 400 lbs of stuff, including all cushions, the port potti and all the water from the system. I had a good crew, my two sons and I, and Joel S of IdaSailor (in)fame. We had planned to cheat by using a spinnaker, which others in the fleet decided to use as well. The race was unco-ordinated from the beginning, we were merely leaving the dock to get some kind of free room (yeah, right)---and suddenly every boat made a dash for the end of the lake! We figured we'd put up the spinnaker right away, and I worked the foredeck while Joel yelled at my incompetance (ha!). I managed to immediately break the end of the spinnaker pole off, which we jury rigged by tying it to the mast ring. We finally got the symmetrical flying and I turned around and looked back and we were at the head of the fleet. Wahoo! Then we got cocky, veered too close to a headland, and ended up in a dead calm. As the rest of the fleet went by us, we consoled ourselves with launching water balloons at the other boats. We finally ghosted out of the dead calm into some air, but most of the pack had disappeared downwind and down the lake. We pressed on, and eventually met the fleet as they were coming back up to windward. Never giving up, we rounded the downwind mark and started beating to windward. We made about 1/2 way up the lake when the wind quit, dead, nothing. Since there was to be a BBQ and party at the other end of the lake (and since we lost anyway) I fired up the kicker and started up the lake. I saw a small boat nearby with no alternate means of propulsion and I towed them behind. Sure enough, the whole lake was becalmed and I started to pick up various boats until I had 4 sailboats behind mine all in a row. We were not hauling butt, as I have an 8 HP outboard, but those cheeseburgers were starting to sound good, as I had last eaten at 5 AM and it was approaching 1 PM. Later that afternoon, the wind picked up nicely and I sailed for a few hours well heeled over. It was really fun. As far as a symmetrical spinnaker flown from the masthead and poled out-wow what a rush. There is so much power in a spinnaker that one can easily break things. My spinnaker pole needs to be much heavier, yet there were light times where I held the pole up to get better shape. I originally set the little spin pole I have to the J length, and I have been advised it needs to be the length of the foot of the spinnaker. And I know about topping lifts and struts for the spinnaker setup, but with addition of Lazy Jacks to cradle my new main, I have way too many lines already. John S Boise