Author: Rob DeWitte

We were in for a big surprise tonight on our approach to the ‘leeward’ mark.  One by one, the boats ahead fell in a hole, turned 120 degrees, dropped their spinnakers, hoisted their jibs and found new wind.  We were a bit behind at the time and steered toward the Burlington shore, hoping to go around the worst of the hole.  No such luck.  When it was our turn, exactly the same thing happened.  And as the hole moved to swallow us, the new wind met the boats toward the Hamilton shore.  One by one we powered up and rounded the mark in about the same order we were in before the hole.

We saw that we might be hoisting again once we rounded and Squirrel had things ready lickety split.  Sure enough, we hoisted again, for a quick hot reach down to the finish.  We made ground on Battlewagon, but not likely enough to overtake them  C’est la vie!

All the action that decided the race happened on the upwind leg.  We had a pretty good start, and held our lane against Sandpiper.  About half way to the windward mark, we found ourselves in a clump with the J35s and Sandpiper.  I opted to tack away for clear air.  When we converged with them all a bit later, we had lost significant ground.  There’s a lesson in there somewhere, that I think I should have learned already.  Stay calm, take a little dirt, stay close to the pack, and pounce on the downwind.  Next time!

Anyway, there are some nice highlights in the video tonight, gorgeous weather, lots of wind at the start, good hoists and some fun overtaking boats on the last leg.  Enjoy!

 

 

Just a stunning evening on the bay tonight!  Yesterday’s thunderstorms cleared out the humidity leaving a bright sunny evening with little popcorn puffball clouds.

And plenty of wind!

Once again from the NWish, and once again lots of gusts.  The race committee set a fantastic course using a drop mark down near Heddle marine, just shy of where the old #12 would have been.  A giant freighter lay parked just northeast of the rhumb line between 6 and the drop mark, but the last beat had us passing eastward of the freighter.  When the gusty wind bounced off the freighter, it accelerated, changed direction and kept us on our toes.

And with three hoists, three douses and tons of gusts to manage, the five of us on board were plenty busy.  I know I’ll sleep well tonight 🙂

• Afterguy was away preparing for vacation coming up.
• Lazy Sheet took the night off to give his hamstring more time to recover.
• Dinghy took the pit job for the first time, and climbed the learning curve quickly — another baptism by fire — but with three repetitions tonight, it was a perfect chance to learn quickly.  All in all a fantastic performance: well done Rob!
• With Kiwi on the helm, I got a lot of practice managing big gusts, and three chances to haul in the spinnaker from the hole.  That more than doubled my experience doing that!
• Four hands packed, repacked, repacked, set, reset, and reset the spinnaker bag for three jibe sets — the first of which we were not prepared for and demanded a real time re-routing of everything.  Fantastic!
• Nonsuch tacked and tacked and trimmed and trimmed and trimmed and kept a keen eye on traffic.  With a short fast course and three laps, there were a lot of boats to avoid.
• And Kiwi, with his classic coolness, found ways to pinch around them rather than dipping, and brought us around a very tricky weather mark without the need for extra tacks.

This is why we sail!

Interestingly, with all that activity on board each boat, no one passed anyone.  At the start, Top Gun, Remarkable and Sandpiper got away, we were next with Battlewagon astern.  And that is the sequence in which we rounded each mark.  We did everything we could to try to reel in Sandpiper, but in the end it took everything we had to fend off Battlewagon on the last beat.

The first upwind was solid, and we rounded simultaneously with Battlewagon, both of us pinching, them with the inside lane.  We were shocked that we made it around, and don’t quite know how they managed to make it too.  We were set for a bear away set, so our hoist was delayed.  under genoa we took the inside lane over Battlewagon, and even though we hoisted at a similar time, we had gained an advantage they never got back.

All was good until the last run.  We had become accustomed to the wind angle which allowed us to sail a hot angle until the part of the course where the freighter changed the wind direction and then soak down to the mark.  But this time the wind direction had shifted and we got caught a bit too high on the course.  Maybe we should have jibed, but the swirly wind wasn’t reliable and boats ahead and to leeward were soaking down to the mark.  We did the same, running dead downwind, nearly suffering a Chinese jibe.  In the meantime, Battlewagon took a lower line and were able to stay filled and fast, eating into our lead.  We doused early, jibed the genoa twice and rounded just a few boat lengths ahead of them.

Somehow in the rounding they managed to grab a line to windward of us just behind.  This was trouble. Typically upwind they can out point us, and I had a picture in my mind of us falling off and ending up behind them after the first tack.  The wind by now had softened enough that we could focus on technical sailing, and gradually we built more speed and pointing ability and Kiwi was able to climb up onto Battlewagon’s line.  We gave up a few boat-lengths in the process, but now Battlewagon was in our bad air and began to fall behind.  They tacked, we tacked to cover and again we focused on pointing.  Gradually they fell off our line, so that when we both put in our final tack to the finish line, we were well ahead.

We just won a pointing battle with a J35!!!

I think there were three contributing factors:

• Much tighter shrouds.  Tonight I dialed them up really high, beyond the settings I thought were for 22+ knots.  I’m testing the hypothesis that we are only starting to make things firm enough.  Tonight was a good indication that we are heading in the right direction.
• Using the flat #2.  Sure, we were overpowered in the gusts and there were times when the mainsail was completely inside out.  But, in the lulls we could power up and point.  Let’s leave the #3 for the extreme nights.
• Focusing on the back edge of the mainsail, and good communication between helm and mainsail trimmer to get as much out of the main while managing weather helm.

So, we’ll keep pushing in the direction of tighter shrouds.  One important footnote:  Kiwi spotted that we had negative mast bend with the initial settings of the shrouds.  We were able to neutralize this with some backstay, but it was a bit troubling.  After the race, using the theory that this was a compression bend, we eased the lowers a few turns and were able to straighten it out.  Now we have a new set point for moderate to high wind, and can start to fine tune from there.

 

A gusty, breezy night on the bay sent a few home with injuries tonight, and Afterguy is still glad he has all his teeth.  From least to most grave:

• Rob Irish got rope burn on a jibe (great job today on the mainsheet — a baptism by fire!)
• Four Hands got massive rope burn on all fingertips when the second douse went sour.
• Lazy Sheet pulled a hamstring.  It happened early in the race while reaching for something to tidy up.  Nasty.  We could tell he was in agony.

And Alvin wins the near-miss award, as he ducked out of the way of a swinging spinnaker pole.

Before the race, Lazy Sheet and I had hardened the shrouds.  With gusts in the high teens, we opted for the #3.  We got both of these decisions correct.

The committee sent us on two laps that were a short beat, a tight reach with the spinnaker, and a fetch.  So it was a bit of a drag race out there.  Most of the time, we were under control out there, even managing to hold the chute on a hot spinnaker angle in some pretty big gusts.  We were even able to pass two boats by hoisting clean, and a good first douse.  But at the second douse, the wheels fell off when the guy got jammed at the end of the pole, the pole came off the mast first, the spinnaker filled up high in a gust, the pole went swinging and the sheets ripped  along Les’ fingertips.  The guys got everything settled pretty quickly, but we had to sail beyond the mark which opened a window for Remarkable to slip ahead of us.  We kept Battlewagon astern, though for a fourth place finish.

Back in port, we talked through what happened and learned a bit of a lesson:  When doing a very hot douse, it’s important to do a couple things:

1. Bring the pole back to about 1 o’clock.  Yes this will destroy the spinnaker trim, but it will keep the guy from jamming in the spinnaker pole
2. Blow the sheet early, to take pressure off the guy
3. Make sure to keep the pole connected at the mast until after the guy has been released from the pole
4. And of course, if possible, steer downwind a bit to depower the douse.

Tonight was a hard way to learn these lessons.  I hope everyone heals up quickly and next week gives us 10 knots steady!

 

 

 

We began the day with a theory based on the weather forecasts.  There was light wind from the south bringing another day of stultifying heat.  Over the course of the day, it was expected to back to more of an easterly breeze, and then as the storm front approached, all bets were off about what would happen.

So, Gil and I harkened back to the reading we had done several winters ago.  Gil remembered “take the bad tack early”, and I remembered “sail toward the expected shift.”  Since both of these pointed in the same direction, we agreed that we would sail on starboard tack first, toward the SE.  This, despite the fact that there was a seductively decent sea breeze setting up along the shore.  That sea breeze attracted nearly all the boats today, but all the top honours went to the boats that sailed the road less travelled.

Heidi & Marika were tending the jib sheets today and put in several great tacks to give us a good start.  It was great to be sailing with my girls!

One more lesson from our reading popped into my mind:  we didn’t need to be greedy. So long as we were positioned favorably relative to the fleet, we didn’t need to take extreme measures.  So we tacked once we were further east than the other most easterly boat.  And as the wind rotated toward the East, we headed straight to the turning mark in Stoney Creek, easing our sheets and gaining speed, while all those who went along the shore had to climb all the way back to the rhumb line close hauled.  Along our course, we overtook Chimo II, who had made the same choice we did — a great reassurance that we had chosen the better side of the course.

Sure enough, the entire fleet appeared astern and to leeward of us.  We were feeling great!  Mark kept his eye on the chart plotter to help me steer the best course, we trimmed to get the most performance we could, and Gil readied the spinnaker, hoping for a nice run down to the finish line.  We were clearly in the lead as we approached the turning mark, while Perry-Eh had to put in some tacks to get up to the mark.

But just as we were preparing to round, we got a very large and very inconvenient knock.  There was no way to make the mark, and the pole was in the way.  We tacked with the pole there, and almost hove-to or got caught in irons.  By bringing the boom way above centre-line, we were able to gain some distance to windward and round the mark.  What a massive surprise at exactly the wrong moment. Probably cost us a minute.

That wind shift also meant that our last leg began as a very hot spinnaker angle.  Pole forward and low, main in, we began to fly away from the others.  Things were looking pretty sweet for us, until the wind continued to turn, and we couldn’t hold the kite anymore. Gadget pulled off the hottest douse we’ve ever done (60 degree apparent wind angle in 12 knots of breeze!!), and we finished the race almost close hauled on the #1 genoa.

It was so satisfying to get line honours today: the first boat across the finish line — and a full five minutes ahead of Perry-Eh!  The road less travelled had everything: strategy that paid, a tricky rounding, and a very athletic surge to the line.  Was it enough to claim first place on Perry-Eh?  My doubts were confirmed a little later on.  Not quite enough.  We owed them about eight minutes, so they got us on PHRF.  Never mind, it was a great thrill to lead the fleet home!

 

What a change from yesterday.  Today, the water was beckoning already at 8 o’clock when we pulled into Dalhousie marina, and it just got better from there.

Special thanks to Skootch’s personalized livery service:  we all met up at my place (David and Alvin had already dropped off a car at Oakville), and Skootch delivered us to our boat in St Catherines.  Couldn’t have been any easier.  We especially appreciated this at the end of the day when the racing was done, and we were sun-kissed, tired and wobbly from the rolling swell that had developed.  Thanks Dad!

Originally, this was supposed to be a fleet start race, which would have had us underway at 10:20.  The organizers switched it up, to make it a pursuit race, which meant we had almost another hour to burn.  What did we do?  We went sailing!

As we tasted the wind, and got our bearings, we saw that there was a narrow possibility to fly the spinnaker.  The wind was from about 60 degrees (ENE), and we were heading to compass bearing 308 — about 110 degrees True Wind Angle.  Could we hold the spinnaker at that angle in 8 knots of breeze?  Only one way to find out:  We hoisted and tried it out.  Answer:  WOW that was exciting and fast, and we were asking for a broach, but YES we could!

We moved our coolers to the high side, stern corner, and Afterguy strapped them in.  Anything for a bit of extra ballast.  Douse, repack the bag, re-run the lines, and ready for the start — with the spinnaker ready to deploy.

Check the wind again….hmmm, it has backed about 20 degrees to more of a pure Northeast direction.  Too hot for the spinnaker.

So we focused on getting a good start with the #1 genoa up.  For the first time this week, we nailed the start, right at the line on time, and plenty of boat speed.  We aimed 5 degrees above the rhumb line:  insurance against any further backing of the wind, and hoping for a veer so we could pop the chute and blast through the fleet.  In the end, neither event happened, so we changed our course about midway to aim straight for the finish line at lower, faster wind angles.

The entire course took only about three hours!  Our average speed was about 7 knots, with a peak of 8.22!  The secret was to try to catch the waves that had developed, and surf down them.  It was all in the timing of when to steer upwind to accelerate and when to steer downwind to ride the wave.  When I caught a good one it was an amazing feeling.  David tweaked the genoa and main from time to time, and Alvin and Mark tested out different positions for the ballast.  When they moved to the stern on the high side, we averaged 0.3 knots faster than when they were on the beam.  We figured this out about half-way through the race.  Carried for 10 nautical miles at these speeds, it was worth about 3.8 minutes of time. (hold that thought).

First, and most notable, Battlewagon did not gain on us.  During the race we managed to extend our lead significantly.  We also gained on the rest of our fleet and began to slowly gobble them up, first Lindemere and then Tardis.  We had Perry-Eh in our sites at the finish, but couldn’t quite reel them in.  They got us by about two minutes.  Hmmm, what if we had the guys sitting further aft for the whole race?  Would that have been enough?  Maybe!

After we finished, we watched the rest of the boats come in, and enjoyed seeing Battlewagon overtake Tardis at the line, crossing ahead by one second!  Battlewagon third, PERSPECTIVE second, Perry-Eh third.  By my estimation, that puts solidly in second place overall.  2 points behind Perry-Eh, and three points ahead of Tardis.  One more race to go!

 

 

Yesterday’s thunderstorm cleared out the worst of the humidity and dropped the temperature a few degrees, making for a very comfortably hot summer day.  But the thunderstorm also slurped up all the wind on the north shore of Lake Ontario.  We hoped a sea breeze would set in, and thought our late start in today’s pursuit race would build in time for us.  But that was not in the cards.

After about an hour and a half of trying to get the boats going, the race was abandoned.  Engines turned on, sails were furled, tarps were spread over the booms and the boats began to motor toward Port Dalhousie.  Once we were in the shade and the boat speed created a cooling breeze, we munched lunch and started to relax.

About an hour later, we found new wind, and once we were convinced it was strong enough and stable, we removed the tarp, hoisted sail and began to enjoy a three hour cruise all the way to St Catherines. We were cruising along At 6+ knots and barely had to touch a sheet all the way.  Mark Quinn on Snowbird snapped a gorgeous photo of us as we overtook them.  Love it!

Near port we stayed out for another great swim, and discovered that the water was much warmer here.  Somehow, the PERSPECTIVE Olympic games were born, as each crew member competed at a new sport.  I went and sat on the lifesaver at the end of its line, and the competitors hauled me in to the boat while someone else timed them.  Fun for me — I got four free rides.  Not sure who won.

Once docked and tied up we enjoyed  appetizers and cocktail samples courtesy of the cruising boats and then a BBQ feast at the Dalhousie Yacht Club.

So, no race results for today, but a lot of laughs and one very memorable cruise on the azure blue of Lake Ontario on a cloudless summer day.  Tomorrow, we are hoping for wind, for a great race to Oakville.

We have been known to invoke “Robert’s rules of order” from time to time on PERSPECTIVE.  After all, it’s my boat, so we may as well follow my rules 😉

Today began like yesterday.

• Smoking hot whether
• Similar wind.  (Actually slightly more — we opted for the #2)
• Course was essentially the first half of yesterday’s race
• Not a great start
• An excellent first leg to make up ground.

We were just astern of Battlewagon and Perry-Eh at the CCIW spider.

But now we used some learning from the day before.  Rather than jibing toward the lake, we did a bear away set of the spinnaker, and sailed a hot angle to position ourselves further inshore than our rivals.  Getting there involved some memorable moments as we worked our way to windward of the fleet.  First we overtook R-magic (a lovely red-hulled C&C35) on the windward side by sailing a hot angle from leeward, coming in really close to steal their wind and then push beyond them while they were recovering from our wind shadow.  We attempted the same thing on Battlewagon, but Chris was on to us and we both sailed higher for a while until I turned downwind.

Then we all fell into a hole, just like yesterday.

But this time, we were just able to hold onto our boat speed and just kept sailing as high an angle as the spinnaker would bear — 60 degrees at some points!  (pole all the way forward)  Slowly, we eked toward the Burlington shore, while the rest of the fleet wallowed on the rhumb line to Bronte.

There was a moment of crisis, when we lost our wind entirely.  We all claim that Bert telepathically communicated to us that we should be patient and persist toward shore.   The motion was made, seconded, there was minimal discussion and the motion was carried.  We will do nothing drastic, and persist in toward shore.  Eventually we could see a darker band of water in close to shore, and cruising sailboats making good speed within it.  Our hearts were gladdened (and our electrolytes rebalanced by frozen juice boxes), and then we got our first sniff of the new wind.

Our boat speed began to climb: 0.6 knots…1.1 knots…1.7 knots…2.2 knots, 3.1 knots, 4.8 knots, 6.2 knots!!!!

THE MOTION CARRIED INDEED!

In the new breeze, we were the envy of the fleet, sailing hot and pressing well into shore where we found 10 knots of fresh breeze.  A jibe, and a deeper angle in the better air, and we crested the Shell pier well ahead of our fleet, with only one GHYRA racer anywhere nearby.  “It’s a Conspiracy”, who started ten minutes before us, had managed to escape the worst of the hole and were sailing a deep line to the finish.  We debated whether to sail hot and jibe, or soak down to the line.  We opted for the latter and got the gun eight minutes before Battlewagon. Perry-Eh and Tardis were not far behind them.

It’s hard not to count chickens before they hatch, but this feels like a first place finish for us.  We’ll find out in a few hours!

Apres sail was lunch under mainsail slowly heading to deeper water, a refreshing swim, coronas with lime (to prevent scurvy), another swim.  We were docked and happily driving in air conditioning when the thunderstorm rolled in and gave the world a much needed drink.

More tomorrow!