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| Overview In 2001, we started the year with an easy introduction to racing through the Berkeley YC Chowder races. We then started the YRA's ocean series in order to prepare for the longer offshore races. In addition, we are doing a few of the bay-races in order to improve crew-work and short-course racing.
The Results are in. We came in 9th (tied for 8th on points) for the '01 season in the OYRA! Yeah!! A new boat, a new crew, and a great finish. Watch out, next year, here we come.
Crew: Erick, Badru, Jay, Beth, Manu, Chris Best Moment: Sailing into the slip Things to Learn: light air sailing Distance: 27.5 miles
What a slow race! The wind never seems to have been hovering in the 3-4kn range for most of the race, never topping 6kn. We were positioned reasonably close to the starting line as the gun sounded, so were able to 'start' in the middle of the fleet, while many boats were still fighting to even get to the line. This is another lesson to relearn that in light air, it pays to sit really close to the line at the start. The flooding current didn't help things, forcing Illusion and a couple of other boats to tack back onto starboard since they weren't making the starting mark on port.
For the most part of the first leg towards the gate, we were slow. As far as I am able to tell, this was due to trying to go too high, and over-trimming the #1. Talking with the sailmaker, it seems that one has to be careful in light air to keep the slot between the genoa and the main open to permit air to pass and accelerate. Otherwise, the main is starved. We figured this out fairly late in the game, by which time we'd fallen to the back of the fleet. But not to worry, the fleet decided to wait for us at the GG. Everybody piled up at the south-tower, trying to round it and head south. However, here the current was accelerating, and boats were going backwards. Seeing that situation, we decided to head past the fleet towards the north shore, a move that paid off. We were back in the game.
As we tacked along the shore, we didn't play it as close as a number of the other boats (somehow I just don't like seeing those big rocks less than a boat-length away ;-) , so slowly the fleet moved away from us. Still, the continuous tacks were good practice, and seeing how close we could get to the rocks showed us how safe we had been on other approaches. As we reached Pt. Bonita, the wind continued to drop, and we came to a virtual standstill, barely being able to keep up with the incoming tide. So at 13:30, we finally decided to turn around, and turn the race into a nice pleasure day-sail.
Approaching Berkeley harbor, the engine wouldn't start. The batteries had run down (cause TBD). We decided to sail into the harbor and slip, instead of taking a chance on Vessel Assist (watching these guys in action makes me weary of using their services unless in dire circumstances). It was blowing 10-12, directly into the harbor, and into our downwind slip. The plan was to sail into Berkeley under jib alone, drop it before having to turn into the final crosswind fairway, and dock under momentum alone. That way, the jib wouldn't blow the bow downwind in the fairway, and the main wouldn't accelerate us turning into the slip. If it had been blowing in the 20's, we would have definitely had to rely on the main for the crosswind fairway, which would have made everything much more difficult.
So as we approached the harbor, we went into irons, and quickly the main was dropped. Then the jib filled again, the bow came down, and off we were to Berkeley. At the breakwater, we furled half of the jib in order to reduce speed, which dropped from 4.5kn to 3kn. Then, in the main fairway, we completed the furling operation. We were now going under momentum alone, but the tailwind continued to push us along at 3kn. A few quick right-left-right throws on the wheel, and we slowed a bit more. Then, the turn into the crosswind fairway. This clearly was the most exposed stretch, since if we were too slow, we'd just be blown sideways onto the pilings. But, as luck would have it, we had judged nearly perfectly. The boat slowed to a low of 0.2kn in the fairway just as we turned downwind into the slip. Quickly, we accellerated to 0.4kn, at which point more throws on the wheel maintained speed, and we docked. Erick, Badru, and Manu jumped off and threw lines onto dock-cleats to stop us. Whew! Everybody breathed a sigh of relief. What a great feeling to have accomplished this with Argonaut. I think the next time, I'd probably go a in bit hotter, since slowing down is a bit easier than speeding up (esp. given that we didn't have sails up in the last stretch ;-).
9/22 Drakes Bay Race (day 1 DNF, day 2 4th) Crew: Doug, Rune, Frank, Andrea, Louis, Chris Best Moment: Finishing in 19-22kn on Su, doing 5 jibes in quick succession Things to Learn: light air sailing Distance: 27.5 miles
Well, how about starting a race with the worst start ever? That's what we did, starting 10min late, because we were focused on tuning the boat pre-start instead of staying close to the starting area. From now on, there will be a time-watcher, and an alarm-clock set to 15min prior to the warning. Still, after finally starting, we did a phenomenal job trimming, going for speed, and watching for wind, so by the time we got close to Pt. Bonita, we were in the middle of the fleet. Cool. After getting to Pt. Bonita, we turned north, and were met by the building incoming flood. We'd make good progress towards the north, then have to tack heading west, and be blown downwind and downstream faster than we knew what hit us. The rest of the fleet were experiencing the same conditions.
Finally, we dropped the anchor in the Bonita Channel in 65' of water, since we were making more progress towards the mark standing still than several other boats, which drifted past us as we came to a stop. After an hour of bobbing on the hook, we decided to raise the jib again, which we had dropped, and give it another try. Sailing up to the hook, it took 3 of us to retrieve it from the bottom. Off we went.
Yet, after having fought the current in little to know wind for 5 hours and still being stuck at Pt Bonita, we dropped out of the race at 3:00pm. This gave us enough time to motor up to Drakes Bay, drop the hook, and have a sumptuous dinner. Pretty cool. The few boats that did finish arrived in the early morning hours (other than Ocean Planet, an open 60 with a PHRF of -118, which made it in at 7:00pm?).
The next morning: Light winds (5kn) greeted us for the start. We kept pace with the fleet, and after adjusting the jib-cars (great call by Rune/Louis), we were doing better than most. A few right calls on wind-holes, and we were leading Setanta and Illusion (both sailed into a major hole) by a good chunk. Illusion managed to extricate herself and pass us at a later time, while Setanta didn't as far as we could tell. For a while the winds died down to the 1-3kn region, before picking up again as we approached the SF Bay entrance. During these long periods of slow going, it's extremely difficult to keep focused, and here, I think, we still loose valuable ground vs. the winning boats.
Anyhow, as we came into the entrance of the bay, the wind picked up steadily, and we were finally sailing with a full chute. Oh what fun. The only problem were two good sized steamers: a tanker leaving the bay, and a container ship entering it. The breeze was building towards 16-18kn. We were sailing towards the south-side of the channel, and needed to jibe towards the north to allow the incoming container ship to pass. Just as he did, we had to jibe back towards the south to make room for the leaving tanker. Whew. The sweat was building from all the hard work. And now we were too far south to clear the South Tower of the Golden Gate. Yiekes. More wind, and another jibe to the north. Hey, this was starting to feel like jibing practice. Only we were short 2 crew, and it was the end of a looong day. No matter. A quick dash to the bridge. Clear of the South Tower. Ready. And off to the next jibe to the south and towards the finish at the city-front. I think we all felt really good, both for having finished (hours ahead of the next couple of boats), and for having executed so well.
Crew: Doug, Richard, Badru, Gabi, Manuela, Joe, Chris Best Moment: surfing down swells! Things to Learn: light air sailing Distance: 67 miles
Wow, probably one of the hardest races we've done. We met at the boat Friday at 11:00, and got off quickly. With several people in new positions, we spent some time going over roles and the plan for the race before raising sails and doing a few practice tacks/gybes. Going for the start looked great - with 15sec to go we were in the right place. But then .....no....gun. We had misread the signalling, and were a minute early to the line. Shame on me. A quick gybe and tack followed to drop down and then get back to the line. However, the abruptness of the maneuvers didn't give the trimmers enough time to get the genoa in (we were flying the 150% at the top of its range, at which point it's one bear to manage). We got over the line kind of late, and then followed the fleet, short-tacking along the shore to utilize as much of the relief-current (it was flooding under the gate) as possible. With the 150% being difficult to manage, it would probably have been wiser to take a bit more of a hit on the current, and instead get the boat settled down and in a groove. Once we got out of the gate and started to head south, however, the boat did settle, and for the next two hours we were doing great on a long starboard-tack beat. Beating along, we suddenly hit a wind-hole. The genoa backed, and momentum carried us forward. Then the wind made itself felt again, but it had shifted by 180 degrees to now come from behind. The #1 went down, the spinny up, and off we went. Over the next hours, the wind built slowly until it was in the 18-21kn range. For a short second or two we hit 10kn of boat-speed when Manu caught just the right wave. What a ride! At our average speed of over 8kn we'd easily reach Santa Cruz before 11:00pm. By 10:00 we were less than 8miles off Santa Cruz, and all looked well. Then, nothing. No wind. Nada. Every now and then it would show it's face, just to tease us, and disappear as quickly as it had appeared. For the next 7-8 hours we went just about nowhere. Dense, cold fog had settled in around us, so that it was difficult to tell where we were without looking at the instruments. The #1 (a heavy, bulletproof sail) wouldn't stay full, and instead slapped around with the motion of the boat. We settled into an ad-hoc routine of some of us sleeping, others keeping watch, which actually worked much better then the semi-planned version down to Monterey.
As the morning progressed, the fog lifted, and 'breeze' (Chris: "Wow, I feel it blowing now!") filled in, which turned out to be a fickle 2-4kn. And with the ocean being as small as it is, we found ourselves in the company of a good half-dozen other boats. The most amazing site was Stan Honey in his Cal40 #57, who appeared from far behind, and slowly worked his way through the fleet until he crossed the line ahead of everybody else. We were watching him, and couldn't quite figure out why he was tacking at some amazing deep angles (near degrees a lot of the times). Later, during our return trip, we would try the same, and also were able to build much more speed than if we had just sailed a fairly close-hauled course. Close to the finish we had to navigate around/through a kelp-forest. We decided to play it safe and try to stay out of it as much as possible, which cost us a couple of positions, but listening to Joe's wild surfing stories getting caught in that spot drove the point home that maybe being safe was probably the right way to go. Soon were crossed the finish, and all thoughts shifted to BREAKFAST!!!! Yes, were were starved, worn out, and the world wobbled around us. Doug had great local knowledge and navigated us to one of the best breakfast places I've ever been to, and life was gooood.
Only 5 boats from our OYRA series entered in the race. Most likely, we didn't place well. I think a couple of major causes contributed: Light-air sailing ability clearly could be improved. A lighter #1 that stays full easier would help here too. Hitting the wind-hole sooo close to the finish was bad for us, since we were one of the fast boats in the fleet, it gave all the slower boats a chance to catch up before we all started up again.
Nevertheless, a wonderful trip, and a great learning experience to boot. Thanks, team! The more we do this, the more I love it.
8/11 - Southern Cross (8th of 13) Crew: Doug, Richard, Erick, Sean, Frank, Manuela, Joe, Chris Best Moment: Beating Enchante over the line!!! Things to Learn: peels, staying focused on the beats Distance: 33 miles
This was a really great race. Crewwork was great, and we did better than ever before against our benchmarks, Enchante, Setanta, and Christina, beating all three over the line (a first!), and beating the latter two on adjusted time.
Before the start, it was blowing between 12-20kn, which made us wonder about which headsail to use. Finally, we stuck with the #3, which turned out to be the right choice, as the wind stabilized in the low 20's shortly after the start. The start: as usual, we hung out right at the line, and crossed it on port tack a couple of boatlengths below the pin. As we were crossing, two boats crossed on starboard at the pin. The 2nd boat tacked onto port instantaneously, while the first one took longer than anticipated (they didn't appear to be well prepared for the tack). So for a few seconds we were forced to tack back to starboard, but then followed the other guy onto port as soon as he tacked. He tried to take us up since we were trying to pass him to windward, but trimming for point we were able to roll him. Soon we found ourselves in the lead; Enchante was close behind, and under the bridge, we forced them to tack away from us - a first that felt great. Soon, however, we tacked away since it wasn't clear if they'd clear the South-tower buoy. Neither did we feel like being forced to tack on their terms, nor was the idea of heading out of the dominant ebbing current an appealing one.
Outside the gate, we bore off towards the southern approach buoy. We were in the lead, and were slowly gaining on the start before us, as well as leaving Enchante further behind. While the wind around the Gate had been steadily in the 20's, it now started to drop steadily, but since were were reaching, boat speed kept up nicely. In hindsight, this lulled us into thinking all was well, when instead we should have changed headsails as the wind was dropping into the mid-to-low teens. As we approached the first mark, SunDog (a Bianca 41, 2nd in the 1st half) caught up with us. We tacked around the mark, came up to a close hauled course, and ...... stopped. Well, not quite, but it sure felt like it. The wind was now a leisurely 9-10kns, and we were way underpowered. As we lugged the #1 up on deck, dropped the #3, and raised the #1, SunDog, Enchante, and a couple of other boats passed us. Yep, paying attention earlier would have paid off. But...
the foredeck did a great job getting the #1 up, and soon we were in the race again, beginning to catch up with Christina, which still managed to round the windward mark before us, as did Enchante and Stan Honey's Cal40. Crewwork was great getting the chute set at the mark, and soon we began to gain on Christina. What we had lost in staying focused on the beats, we now gained through being focused. Continuously, we trimmed, adjusted weight & heel, and by the time we hit the finish, we beat Christina and Enchante by over a minute over the line. Setanta, which had obvious problems carrying their chute at what was about 100degrees apparent for us, was 5-6 min behind.
7/28-29 - 2nd Half Opener (8/9th of 10) Crew: Doug, Badru, Erick, Jay, Andrea, Sean, Joe, Jon, Chris Best Moment: A great 2nd day, near perfect crew-work Things to Learn: upwind performance!! Distance: 22miles Sat, 9miles Su
2 days of great racing against stiff competition.
Saturday, the course was set to start just south of the Berkeley Pier, out to Pt. Bonita, and then finish all the way in the Estuary at EYC (Encinal Yacht Club). We were a little early during the start, playing with a J120 to leeward, which repeatedly took us up towards the line and then ducked back down. With about 2-3 seconds to go, they and another J120 crossed the line, closely followed by us, resulting in a general recall. For the next start, we picked a place closer to the pin end, and got away clean probably 2 seconds after the start. During the start accelerating towards the line close-hauled was too slow. An improvement would be to protect some leeward space to accelerate into, as well as maintain a fuller shape during those first moments. Next came the looooong upwind beat towards Pt. Bonita. Chris was somewhat fighting the helm in a somewhat innocuous manner. In general, we were slow, and the fleet basically walked away from us. What happened? Jon suggested, that the upwind helming was a problem; to keep the boat in the 'groove' upwind is non-trivial. It takes a while for the helmsmen to settle into the groove, and maybe we never got there. Another suggestion from Peter (a Halsey Lidgard sailmaker racing on an Antrim 27 in the same start) was that "You guys were struggling. The trim looked quite out of whack." In general, Peter thinks we were overpowered: the jib too round, the main not sufficiently twisted. He thought that with the appropriate changes, we'd gain a half knot and helming would be easier to boot. Suggestions include fairleads further aft, tighter halyard tension, and more backstay.
After rounding the windward mark, the chute came up cleanly and we started the long run home. Initially, we stayed close to the northern shore, not wanting to cross the ebbing current twice. However, watching the majority of the boats taking the southern route, this seems to have been a mistake, since we were loosing ground slowly. The stretch between the Golden Gate and the lee of Treasure Island was marked by sudden changes in wind speed and direction, placing a premium on quick trim adjustments (pole forward or aft, as well as trim in/out). During this section of the course we gained consistently on the fleet. Yet, we could probably still be more aggressive on the trim adjustments, as well as keep a better lookout for coming gusts/headers/lifts. Maybe the foredeck can help here? In the lee of Treasure Island the wind died down to 4-6kn true. We dowsed the 1.5oz chute, which was having difficulties staying full, and raised the 0.75oz. Now came the long run down the estuary, gybing frequently from one side to the other. Soon we finished, and off it was to a party and relaxation. More than a half hour of adjusted time separated us from the 1st place, most of it probably lost in the upwind leg.
Sunday: A much shorter course, again starting close to Berkeley Pier, a beat towards the Bridge, followed by a run back to east of the Pier and the final short beat to the finish. Again we got a clean start, and this time our upwind performance was much improved. We moved the fairleads back a notch (yet the winds were lighter than on Saturday), which made a big difference. Rounding the windward mark, we spotted Infinity, a custom Holland 47 with a PHRF of 30, close ahead. Infinity was having trouble raising its chute; we seized the opportunity and sat on top of them for a while, then started to pass them. Finally, they were able to get up the chute and took off. Somewhat by accident we caught a tow from them, a rather neat experience! After a while we decided that we could probably do better not following them, and started to head lower. This most likely was a mistake, as they were clear ahead (~10 boat lengths) at the leeward mark. We doused (too) early, wanting to play it safe. Close ahead was Flyer, a Choate 40, which rounded the leeward mark too tight, loosing substantial speed. We rounded softer, and gained on them. The wind having died down, we were underpowered. So we decided to adjust fairleads, tack, adjust fairleads, and tack back. By the time we crossed the finish, Flyer had beat us by a little over 30seconds over the line. On adjusted time, we came in less than 20 seconds behind flyer; less than 1 minute would have moved us up 3 places, and 5 1/2 minutes separated us from the first place finisher. The biggest potential area for improvement appears to be the upwind leg. A most likely distant second would be anal attention paying to spin-trim during the downwind leg.
7/14 - Lightship II (6th of 18) Crew: Erick, Badru, Doug, Andrea, Jay, Frank, Jon, Louis, Chris Best Moment: A good start & and a great downwind run Things to Learn: Upwind performance Distance: 25.4 miles
Needs Updating!
5/25 - Monterey Spinnaker Cup (4th of 10+) Crew: Erick, Paul, Sid, Jay, Andrea, Louis, Rich, Manuela, Chris Best Moment: A good start & and a race at the finish Things to Learn: passage-making skills (e.g. watch-keeping schedules) Distance: ~90 miles
A great, yet one of our roughest races, if not for the conditions then due to the length, night-time and damage sustained to the boat. Well, let me start at the beginning: We met at 3:00pm at the boat, started to rig it, and then left for the starting area south of Angel Island. With the wind blowing in the ~18kn region, we decided to use the #3 blade.
Counter the YRA racing instructions (starts on even minutes), the committee decided to insert a 1min delay between the start of the 1st fleet and our warning, which lead to a bit of confusion at the start, and about 5 boats being over early. Luckily, we pulled back in the last moment and cleared the line at the pin end on time. The new inboard track for the #3 did wonders, as we pointed significantly better than previously, and had no problem keeping up with the rest of the fleet, and passing one boat after the other. We were in a good grove.
With it being slack time, the chop outside of the gate wasn't bad, and we made good headway. As we turned south, the relative benign swells over the bar surprised, and pleased us. Soon we set the chute, and began to pull away from a few similarly rated boats. Fun. As time wore on, several of us went down below to rest before our shift started.
At around 12:30am, going too deep, we got a solid spinny-wrap around the headstay. It was all-hands on deck, and Erick, Sid, Andrea, and Chris were on the foredeck attempting to unwrap the chute. During this time, we ended up in an accidental gybe (the swells made boat-handling challenging), which resulted in the main-sheet being caught behind the binnacle. As the sail filled on the new side, the main-sheet ripped the binnacle off the deck. We were, temporarily, without steerage. Scary! Yet, the forward bolt of the 4 bolts attaching the binnacle to the deck was still holding on by a hairs width, so we were able to righten the binnacle. Luckily, none of the cables had snapped, permitting us to regain some control. Next, we rigged the emergency tiller (a royal bear to use - just ask Louis about his biceps ;-), and performed a damage assessment. The steering cables looked way too loose for comfort, and the binnacle could come off again at any moment.
By this time the foredeck had been able to drop the chute. We were 25 miles north of Santa Cruz, 40 miles from Monterey, and 10 miles south of Half-moon Bay. Santa-Cruz being a nasty harbour to enter even during daylight, and Half-moon bay being a bit instead of a run, we decided to continue on to Monterey under reduced sail and focused on safety.
As we approached Monterey, the wind shifted, and we caught up with a single-handed SC40, which we managed to pass during the last mile of the race. Obviously, we had the advantage being able to trim to every little wind-shift. Still, lots of fun. As we approached the finish-line, we saw Setanta (a Baltic 42 with the same rating as ours) converge with us. The race was on! Tired, yet focused, we managed to beat them over the line.
As we pulled into the harbour and tied up at the dock, most of us just collapsed into a bunk, leaving repairs, etc., for later. Even the YC didn't interest most of us, since we were convinced that we were (near) dead-last. Only when 2 hours later we saw Enchante (a consistent top-finisher in the ocean series) pull in, did it occur to us that we may not have done to badly. Fourth under these circumstance! Wow.
The boat is now Monterey, awaiting repairs. Hopefully, we will be able to effect them soon, so that Argonaut can return to her home in Berkeley.
Crew: Erick, Badru, Mike, Jay, Frank, Sean, Andreas, Louis, Chuck, Manuela, Chris Best Moment: The perfect start Things to Learn: staying with the competition, headsail trim? Distance: ~55 miles
A completely unsquare line set off the St. Francis YC favored a port-tack start, yet the whole fleet approached on starboard from the northern (sea) end. We had run the line with a bit over a minute left and found ourselves all alone on the sea-wall end. With 15 sec remaining, we tacked over to port, and crossed the line right with the gun. As the whole fleet approached on starboard, we crossed in front on port, not being distracted by a couple of pointless 'starboard!' yells. With clean air, we proceeded to lead the fleet for quite a while.
As we got out into the ocean, the wind lessened, and our lead shrunk. We managed to stay with Enchante (one of the top boats of the fleet) for quite a while, but then (in a moment of in-attention) lost them. In fact, we weren't able to point as well as the competition, and were making less speed as the wind was lessening. The groove of the genoa was mighty narrow - probably the halyard was too tight?
We chose our route based on optimal VMG (Velocity Made Good), which lead us to stay north of the islands for quite a while, whereas much of the fleet went further south. As we rounded the island, the wind nearly evaporated, and around 7:00pm with 20 miles to go and an average speed of <2kn, we decided to drop out of the race. We dropped and packed the sails, and (doing 6+kn under power) began to cook up a nice dinner down below.
At around 9:30 two things happened. We noticed that we were nearly empty on fuel (Note: after filling up later, I think we had ~3gal left, but also went through 5gal that afternoon, probably due to high RPM. Need to watch that the next time), and the wind had picked up again to something reasonable. We hoisted the main, and then reran all the lines for the chute, all in the dark. What followed is one of the greatest sailing experiences: we hoisted cleanly, and went off at close to 8kn towards the Golden Gate and SF. At around 11:00 we passed under the beautifully lit GG Bridge, with clear sight of the San Francisco skyline. Wow. An hour and half later we tied up at the dock, and although we had dropped out of the race, we all were excited about the great ride we had had.
Enchante finished the race roughly at the same time we passed the GG. Clearly, they were well ahead of us. The two most likely reasons I can see is: boat-setup for light winds, as well as not staying with them.
5/5-5/6 Vallejo (6th! of 18) Crew: Doug, Erick, Rich, Jon, Clive, Sean (Sat), Manuela, Chris Best Moment: Lots: An amazing channel-run, tacking ontop of Bodacious, great boat-handling Things to Learn: clearly identified roles; approaching a starboard rounding mark as late as possible on port; in general, a more aggressive defense
Wow, what two days of racing. What a difference a few months of racing, the right crew, and the right attitude make!
Day 1: Had a clean start toward the first, upwind, mark. Continued on starboard too long, forcing us to go to port to head towards the mark. Other boats, staying in the 'cone' longer, crossed us on starboard, and forced us into repeated ducks and tacks. Not the most optimum way of going. Still, our position wasn't bad after the first mark. However, we really started to gain by making a good call on a wind-hole in the lee of Angel Island, and then setting the chute and working up with the current towards the Richmond bridge. Another couple of good calls in regards to current, and we found ourselves in an excellent position rounding the channel entry buoy for the Vallejo Marina, etc.. It had been a great ride, with lots of gains. However, at this point, we weren't aggressive enough to defend our windward side; a whole train of J105s passed us. Then, to make things worse, a J46 (flying a gargantuan a-sail) wedged its nose between us and the windward boat. We got out of the way to prevent damage (his chute was touching our shrouds). In hindsight, we should have protested him. Another thing to do the next time would be to have someone watch closer behind, and make sure to shut a guy like the J46 off before he even gets an idea.
Day 2: Race postponed by close to an hour due to the lack of wind. After 20 min, the first 3 starting groups still hadn't completely cleared the starting line. Then our start. What followed, was an our of glory. We set the chute on the line, and startd to head down the channel. As we approached a line of stalled boats, we doused, raised the genoa, and headed up to pass the line. The moment we cleared, we set again, and continued on. The whole team was clicking like mad. We must have set and doused at least 5 times in a row, and gained places after places. Coming out of the channel, a new Farr 40 rolled over us (finally ;-), and we were leading Bodacious, who we were in friendly competition with the rest of the race. A somewhat 'white knuckle' dash along the breakwater followed, tacking within feet of the wall to get as much current relief as possible. I certainly wouldn't play it any closer than we did that day. The remainder of the race was a long upwind beat. We crossed the line 2 min behind Bodacious, which is a great finish and puts us 2 places ahead of them on adjusted time!
4/28 Duxship (12 of 20?) Crew: Louis, Doug, Jay, Erick, Badru, Steve, Jon, Manuela, Chris Best Moment: Beating 'Christina' by 10 feet over the line after they lead most of the race Things to Learn: Better Main trim, checking course to next mark before setting the chute
Our 2nd ocean race. This one was much much calmer than the first one, with nearly bay-like conditions. Even going over the potato patch wasn't much of an issue, and nobody got sick (we were really worried about loosing Jay from our team ;-).
We had a reasonable start in the middle of the pack, got clean air, and made it out of the gate well. As the wind built, we didn't depower the main correctly - had to fight the helm too much. After we dialed it in correctly, we gained 0.5 kn, but not before loosing quite a few places. Continuing up to the Duxship buoy was clean and uneventful. We tacked several times to keep away from the layline.
Rounding the windward mark, we set the chute, and started running well. However, at this point, it was a tight reach to the next mark. We kept the chute on the edge for quite a while, but then doused it and continued on under jib. After rounding the approach buoy, we then reset, and slowly gained on Christina. Coming under the GG bridge, they were leading by about 5 boat lengths. Both of us executed a gybe - we perfectly (Erick, Badru, Steve)! , they not quite. so we rolled over them, and gained the lead. After that, we had to defend against them a couple of times, but made it by a few feet over the line before them. What a great job by everybody.
Crew: Karl, Cappy, Laura, Steve, Erick, Bardu, Sean (Sat), Lynne (Sat), Andrea (Su), Doug, Manuela, Chris Best Moment: A perfect leeward mark on Sunday; recovering from a broach quickly, without anybody loosing their head Things to Learn: Crew-work, Crew-work, Crew-work, helming, helming, helming
This was our first race with new sails (main and a #3). Karl, Cappy, and Laura from Halsey Lidgard in Seattle joined us to introduce us to the new sails, and coach us through this weekend. I think I speak for everybody on the team when I say that they made a huge difference! We learned oodles, and had wonderful company to boot! Thank you, Laura, Cappy, and Karl!
Of all the racing we have done so far, this was probably the most challenging. Not only was the wind strong, but due to it being a northerly, we also experienced waves inside the bay, and it being short-course racing, crew-work became critical in these conditions.
Saturday: After an initial postponement due to light and variable winds, the race started in a building breeze. We got off the line cleanly, sailed a reasonable upwind leg keeping with the other boats, and had a clean hoist at the offset mark. The downwind leg went well until the leeward mark, where Chris (totally focused on steering "the perfect" rounding) didn't pay any attention to the foredeck, came up while the chute was still flying, and instead of the perfect rounding managed the perfect broach right in front of the committee boat. Everybody kept their cool, sheets and guys of the chute were released (thanks Sean!), Chris steered down, and the boat came right back up. Well done everybody, and thanks for not skinning me alive! The 2nd race was around the buoys followed by a long downwind run from north of Treasure Island all the way to the Encinal YC. We decided to set the chute only after reaching the entrance of the channel, since watching boats broaching left and right, as well as 3-4 shredded chutes convinced us that safety and conservatism was the way to go. This seems to have been the right strategy, since we were the only boat to finish all 4 races (Sat & Sun). The run down the channel was still rather tense, since the wind didn't drop by far as much as expected, and we had to short-gybe all the way.
On Sunday, the conditions were lighter, the waves smaller, and the racing a bit more intense. By now, we were getting pretty good at setting, gybing, and dropping the chute. The first time around we were still a tad late at the leeward mark, but the next leeward mark was met with near-perfection - sneaking up the headsail, dropping the chute, and rounding the mark. It's a great feeling when things go that smoothly.
3/31 OYRA Lightship (19 of 21/28) Crew: Steve, Bardu, Louis, Sean, Jay, Doug, Manuela, Chris Best Moment: Well-balanced boat riding the moguls Things to Learn: Better starts Race Course: From St. Francis YC out the Golden Gate to a buoy 12.7nm west & back
Our first ocean race, and what a race it was. 8-10ft waves with an 8sec period made for very rough going. Initially, the wind was below 20kn, and because we had decided to be careful and reef ahead of time, we were underpowered. This probably cost us several minutes in the beginning, before we shook the reef out. Shortly outside the gate though, the wind built steadily until it hit the mid 20's, with gusts into the 30's. The boat became hard to control, so we put the reef back in, and furled the #1 (no #3 yet) to a napkin sized sail. With a bit of trim adjustments, the boat became nearly perfectly balanced, which sent a smile over Sean's face as he took the helm. Still, one moment of in-attention at the helm, and the boat would launch off a wave (Chris), or punch right through one, which everybody on the rail really appreciated. Of the 8 of us, I think only Louis and Badru didn't get queasy in this rough weather. The rest of us had to be careful, and Jay, what a sport, hung in there like no-one I've ever seen, despite having caught the mal-de-mere rather nastily.
The way back became much nicer (we chicken-gybed at the windward mark), although attention to helm was still critical. Shortly outside the gate the seas and wind calmed. We set the chute, and wow, the boat took off and just raced towards the finish line. What a feeling!
Overall, the race lasted 3:40:09 for us. We came in 19th out of 28 boats, 21 of which finished. 37sec separate us from the next boat, and 9min would have given us 10th place. So where could we have made up time? We lost 1-2min being late at the start. Being underpowered and waiting a while to shake out the reef probably cost us another 2min-3min (the next fleet started to catch us in the beginning). Most likely, we could have set the chute earlier coming back; however, considering the conditions and our level of experience, it was probably wise not doing so. As the season progresses and we learn more about the boat, the chute, and crew-work, we'll be able to become more aggressive in this respect.
Crew: Steve, Erick, Bardu, Andrea (Su), Jay, Doug, Manuela, Chris Best Moment: Very clean downwind leg on Sunday. Things to Learn: Better high-wind setup of the boat; racing rules at the finish line
Saturday: Three races were planned. On the first race, we were late off the line, but then gained on the leaders upwind. Good height & speed. After the windward mark, we tried to raise the chute, but got a big twist in it, so ended up dowsing it and finished the race without it. The start of the 2nd was a bit better, followed by another good upwind leg. This time, the chute went up cleanly, and we made good ground on the downwind leg. The gybe took a while, and then, at the leward mark, the jib refused to unfurl. Finally we took down the chute in some lighter air, and sent Chris to the mast-top to fix the furler (great view of the bay from up there!). Being only partially successful, we headed back to the slip for a permanent fix and some lunch. Afterwards, we headed back to Richmond for the party and the night.
Sunday: After an initial race postponement, the race was started 30 min late. We had a very clean start right on time and ahead of the other J40 (China Cloud). Initially, in the lower wind range, we had both speed and height on them. As the wind built, we were overpowered and lost both speed and height (need to figure out how to improve the setup of the boat for the higher winds). We rounded Alcatraz too wide (Chris worried about being tacked on-top of; also Ebb-action?). At the bottom of Raccoon Straight, the chute came up cleanly, and we made excellent ground on a couple of J35's, as well as a Benneteau 42s (all faster boats than ours).
3/4/01 BYC Chowder Race - cancelled Bummer! 35kn winds gusting to 45kn was enough? reason to stay home. Oh well.
2/25/01 BYC Chowder Race - 2nd (of 6) Crew: Erick, Steve, Manuela, Ben, Matt, Chris Best Moment: Sailing w. the chute shorthanded and making it work Things to Learn: Chute Practice; better eye on the tides; stay with the fleet
This was a really good learning race. Matt and Ben were new additions, and being somewhat new to sailing, had to learn a lot in a really short time. Steve and Erick did a phenomenal job handling the foredeck by themselves, while Matt was on the main, and Manuela and Ben trimmed.
The up-wind leg was well-sailed, although Chris made a couple of tactical mistakes, heading out into the bay too much; the thinking was that we were still in a flood, but due to the heavy rains during the previous 2 days, the tide had already switched to an ebb, so the shoreline was the place to be. We placed a big bet, and lost. Staying with the fleet, unless absolutely sure, is a good thing to do.
The downwind leg went well; Manuela took the helm, while Chris, Matt, and Ben trimmed, and Erick and Steve handled the foredeck. Erick seems to have the golden touch rigging the chute; he's 10 for 10 so far on raising it cleanly. Steve had to handle the inside end of the pole, as well as topping lift and halyard all by himself, and did a great job.
At this rate, we'll be an amazing team by the end of the year!
2/18/01 BYC Chowder Race - 1st (of 7) Crew: Andrea, Badru, Jay, Steve, Louis, Erick, Chris Best Moment: Setting the chute cleanly twice! Thing to learn: Gybes; oh, and not scraping bottom at the harbor entrance
We went out to practice with the chute at 11:30, and managed to get a set and a couple of gybes in before having to douse it and head back to the starting area under power (yep, running very late). Engine off, a quick tack, and off we went over the line (4 sec late), followed by the chute going up (the first leg was a downwind one). After an initial lead we hit a hole, and the rest of the fleet caught up with us. We were 2nd to the first mark.
The upwind leg went extremely well. We tacked after being headed ~10 degrees, and after that just pulled away from the fleet. A very clean leg. Coming around the next mark, we once again raised the chute, and headed to the finish on a beam reach. This being another low tide situation (+0.1), we again heeled the boat coming in, but not quite enough - a good solid crunching sound had us all scared for a second as we entered the harbor.
2/4/01 BYC Chowder race - 4th/3rd? (of 11) Crew: Badru, Jay, Steve, Josh, Erick, Chris Best Moment: A very clean race with a near perfect windward leg Downer: Race committee misses their calculation and puts us into 4th instead of 3rd
A little early to the line, slowed down in very tight quarters, found a hole, accelerated, and had a very clean start, in the first row of boats over the line. With a max ebb coinciding with the start, we stayed really close to the shore on the upwind leg. After a couple good tacks, we lead by a long ways at the first mark (need to time that the next time). The downwind was tougher. We stayed reasonably high to maintain speed, and may have gone to far back to the shore, loosing some of the helping ebb. Overall though, a clean downwind leg.
Finally, a beam reach to the finish. Fast, and fun, especially for the guys hanging off the leeward rail to induce further heel. I think some feet got wet. Why heel, you may ask? A negative low tide with a channel that we can barely negotiate during regular low tides. And to make things more exciting, we took a vote to take the shorter, but even shallower of the two harbor entrances. With the depth reading a 5.3ft and us drawing 6.5ft, I still wonder how we made it. By the way, a C&C 33 following us a bit later didn't make it. What a team!
So we crossed the line 3-4 min ahead of #2 & #3, and 8 min ahead of #4. With (wrong?) time adjustments, that put us into 4th.
1/28/01 BYC Chowder Race - 4th (of 8) Crew: Steve, Josh, Erick, Chris Best Moment: A lee-bow that worked well Lessons learned: Learn the course before the race if you are the fastest boat
Had a pretty good start on quite an un-square line. Approached on port, then just before the line tacked and crossed. Lead on this beat to the first mark, except we had sailed to the wrong mark! ('B' instead of 'A'). Still, nearly everybody followed us, so we didn't give up too much and rounded 2nd around the real first mark. Then made some reasonable gains on the next leg, but then figured we should give everybody else a chance, and gybed since we couldn't find the next mark. Nobody, I mean NOBODY, followed us, which was a clue, and after a few minutes of going the wrong way, we figured it out. Gybed back, rounded the mark 2nd (having given up all that lead we had built).
Well, now we were warming up, and for once we actually new where we were going (a close reach back to 'A'). First there by a long margin (everybody else was heading much higher - I think they 'knew' we wouldn't all in the sudden head the 'right' way ;-). Now came a run back to the finish - no chute, but still first over the line (by about 1/2 a boat length). Time-adjusted that gave us 4th. Not too bad. Go, team, go!
1/21/01 BYC Chowder Race - 5th (of 11) Crew: Erick, Steve, Bill, Chris Best Moment: Making the right call to a layline, having figured in current Worst Moment: No Wind (well, scrap that, we had lunch in the middle of the race there ;-)
This was a wonderful race, despite the fact that we had little wind. A good start was followed by a couple of good tactical calls, and a nice relaxed lunch as we meandered towards the finish line. Then Steve took the helm, and our boatspeed doubled! Was it the helmsmanship, or the the wind ?
Crew: Steve, Manuela, Chris Best Moment: Making the right call on a windshift Sad Moment: Having to stop due to the tides/wind
Three of us (Steve, Manuela, Chris) raced during this 2nd weekend of the boat being in the water. We had a reasonable start in the middle of the fleet, rounded the first mark in 2nd after making the right call on a wind shift, and then for a few minutes found ourselves in first as the leading boat had a problem getting the chute up (something we didn't have to contend with, since we were racing without one). But then the windgods turned against us, the winds just about dying, and we were sitting there, seeing a parade of boats passing us by, all flying chutes. Finally, after an hour of that, we had to call it quits, since we were coming up on a 2ft negative tide, which would keep us out of Berkeley harbour. Still, we felt pretty good about that first race of ours. |
