Regular readers of this column know that Nimble scored three firsts last week to leap into the lead of the August Series. John Callahan, skipper of Nimble, has decades of experience weighing and optimizing the key factors that determine the outcome of a sailboat race on Vineyard Sound—notably the swirling eddies of the tidal currents and the fickle southeasterly winds that sometimes come uninvited to what is meant to be the home of steady southwesterlies. This week another natural element came into play that upended Nimble’s quest for another picket fence of victories: seaweed.

Race one played out with the usual strategic balancing act between wind and tide. Nimble led most of the fleet along the shore to stay out of the full force of the ebbing tide, stronger than normal due to the sturg

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