Author: Rob DeWitte

Canada Day was VERY hot, with a firm breeze in the forecast (8 kts building to 12, no gusts), so they set us off on a 23 nautical mile course.  As you can see above, the forecast wasn’t quite right!  It was a long hot day out in the sun, for the crew, and our guests: Michelle, Cathy and Renee came along for the ride.

We had to choose which way to go around the course: clockwise or counter-clockwise.  It seemed obvious based on the forecasted wind (clockwise), but out at the pre-start, it was a toss up.  In the end we chose clockwise, as did most of our boats.  Only five boats chose counter-clockwise and they won all the top honours.

Our start wasn’t great.  We horsed around a bit with the spinnaker bag and pole to try to make Battlewagon think we were going to go counter-clockwise, as a result, we started slowly, and Top Gun had overtaken us before we even started 🙁  (Since it was a pursuit race, we started at 11:14, while they and Battlewagon started 20 seconds after us.  To give you an idea of the spread, Chewan started at 10:00).

The first leg to the CCIW spider was a close reach, with the #1 genoa up and the shrouds still soft.  We were flying along at 7+ knots, keeping Battlewagon astern and almost keeping up to Top Gun.

We jibed around the spider, whereas Top Gun and Battlewagon bore away, pushing more toward shore.  After some time, we jibed too and were doing well, until the entire clockwise fleet fell into an enormous hole.  The wind ground to a halt, and all the boats that started before us were bobbing along helplessly.

At first it seemed like we would be able to ghost through, and we overtook many boats, but then the inevitable caught up to us also, and we began to wallow.  Closer into shore, Battlewagon and Top Gun had a little better luck, ghosted further and then were able to link up with the building sea breeze nearer the shore.  They were away and one by one boats began to pull away, until it was our turn.  We spent more than half an hour in the doldrums, but it felt like an eternity.  Sanity was preserved by ice cold hats of water thrown on us, and frozen juice boxes.

Once away, we began to cheer up.  Even though we were well astern of Battlewagon at this time, nearly the entire fleet was behind us.  About this time, Perry-Eh, Stigaro and Tardis passed us going in the opposite direction — the three boats who took top honours in our fleet, likely because they were able to avoid the hole on their way upwind.  Also about this time, Battlewagon doused at the wrong mark and began to head to the next turning point.  We didn’t notice right away, but when we figured it out, I hailed them on the radio to let them know.  They turned back to round properly, but that cost them the race.

Leg three was close hauled in a growing breeze for 10 nautical miles.  We had left the shrouds soft and the new breeze was feeling a lot like the forecast, so I asked Calvin and Mark to try to harden the shrouds while we were sailing close hauled.  Somehow they were able to do it — and that made a huge difference on the next leg.  At first, we were sailing a course about 20 degrees low of the mark, and I began to wonder if we should tack to consolidate our position, but slowly the wind began to veer and we got lifted gradually until we were right on the layline to the mark.  We could see Top Gun ahead with their black sails, and there were three others that we were hunting.

Leg four was a thrill ride, almost close hauled in a breeze that was bigger and gustier than forecast.  The big gusts were easily 20 knots of wind.  We were over-powered with the #1 genoa up, but the guys were on it.  Gadget worked that traveler and sheet like a piston, and Squirrel eased the genoa sheet in the biggest gusts.  We were flying!  Slowly we started to gain on the boats ahead, and we slipped by one of them.  Up ahead, the second one got hit by a gust so hard they lost control and did a complete 360 degree turn!  When mother nature got the best of us, we had the cockpit full of water.  Calvin had to unplug the drain hole to bail out 4 inches worth!

I didn’t see the final results, but we counted 7 or 8 boats that finished ahead of us, out of a total complement of 53 racers.  A very gratifying result, and enough for a third place finish in our fleet for GHYRA day one.

But the next hour was a genuine highlight.  We dropped anchor, quenched our inner heat with a long swim in chilly water, enjoyed perfect Mojitos (complements of Gadget the mixologist), mourned the spoilage of beautiful shrimp kabobs (courtesy of Lazy Sheet) all on the awesome cockpit table (courtesy of Squirrel).  This is a team sport!  The spirit on board was fabulous as we watched boat after boat come in for the finish.

We timed our return to harbor so that we wouldn’t be waiting long in the heat for dinner.  Newport served up a perfect steak dinner, but we were baking like potatoes.  After the results were called out, and we picked up one more GHYRA glass for our collection, we went back out, dropped anchor again and enjoyed fireworks from the boat in the comfortable twilight temperatures.  Nearby there were several impressive displays, the FIASCO organizers set off donated fireworks (thanks Gadget & Lazy Sheet!) and then in the distance we could watch the colossal shows from Bronte, Burlington, Confederation Park, and Hamilton.

GHYRA is off to a wonderful start with a SPLASH, many BANGS, and a third place finish!

A stunning warm summer evening with not a cloud in sight, and a big full moon rising just after sunset.  For the last race in June we couldn’t ask for more….except perhaps a do-over on the shroud adjustment.

There were conflicting forecasts, and when we arrived at the boat, the breeze was pretty soft.  So Bert and I dialed down the shrouds to something softer, suitable for 0-8 knots.  In the pre-start, there were some gusts well above ten knots but we set the #1.  It was the wrong combination.  With soft shrouds, the deep #1 genoa powered up and we couldn’t point.  Right off the start, I could feel something was wrong and we slipped to leeward of the line all the other boats were carrying — in stark contrast to other nights when we were able to hold our lane with the J35s in similar conditions.

Sure enough, by the windward mark, we were astern of the fleet.  A great hoist and jibe with Michael on the foredeck  got us approaching the leeward mark with the inside lane on Battlewagon and a flotilla of large white-sail boats.  I was hoping that would give us an advantage on the upwind, but our friends on Battlewagon were just able to pull clear ahead and round ahead of us.

We tacked away toward clear air, and by now we had changed the headsail to the #2, and we were able to sail upwind with much better balance, but we were under-powered in the lulls.  Looking back, the right move would have been to leave the #1 headsail in place, and harden the shrouds instead.

Lesson learned!  In case you are wondering how much we loosened the shrouds:  4 mm for the uppers, 3mm for the mids, and 2mm for the lowers.  Some races are just won and lost at the docks 🙁

Never mind!  Back in port, just as we finished putting the sails away, Squirrel arrived with a cart full of wood, tools and screws.  Just after dark, le voila!  PERSPECTIVE has a table:

 

Shortly after the start tonight we had Starboard advantage on Battlewagon at a close crossing.  We hollered and hollered until finally someone popped their head around to see us.  Too late to dip, they put in a crash tack and we rolled over them.  Check it out:

And that took care of Battlewagon for the evening.  The real battle was with Sandpiper, and they got us by four seconds at the finish.  That’s two photo finishes in a row!  Here’s how it went…

It was another perfect summer evening, steady 10-12 knots with a few gusts here and there.  A great night for technical sailing.  Our start would have been good, but all the other boats had perfect starts, and we got squeezed into a sandwich.  Once clear of the committee boat we tacked away into clear air and enjoyed a nice high line.  We flew the #2 genoa, which was nice and fast and allowed us to keep the mainsail filled.  In fact, we often had to ease the traveler to keep good balance, so it was the right choice for the night.  The bigger boats in our fleet (all of them) flew their bigger headsails, so we were happy to hold our own upwind and round slightly astern of them (aside from Battlewagon).

During the hoist, something funny happened at the mast track, and the pole popped off.  I scampered up to the foredeck and had a look.  Nothing serious…just dropped the mast track car one position and all was good.  After a slightly delayed hoist we heated up and began to get moving.  But this put us closer to the Burlington shore than the fleet — not the desired strategic position — so we jibed, crossed just astern of Sandpiper, and headed over to better air toward Hamilton.  This is the third time in a row we have made this move, and each time it has paid off.  Not only did we have clear air, we had slightly better wind, AND we had the inside lane approaching the leeward mark!

Sandpiper was ahead and outside, and had just put in a jibe.  We were debating whether to jibe to cover them (and keep hold of the inside lane), or to stand pat for a while, trusting to hotter angles for more boat speed.  At this time Christephanie managed to tangle with Sandpiper.  They had crossed our bow on a hot angle on Starboard.  Because Sandpiper had just jibed onto Port, they had to give way, and began sailing deeper, slightly away from the mark.  That was our cue.  We jibed, and sailed to the leeward mark in the inside lane.  Afterguy and Irish put in a crisp douse and at the rounding, Sandpiper were just astern.  Perfect!

But somehow, this advantage began to slip away. We should have been able to smother them with dirty air and then cover them to the finish, but first we weren’t pointing as high, then our next tack (across their bow) got fouled with the jib sheet caught in the hatch cover (and maybe an Irish leg?).  By the time we recovered, we had lost a crucial boat length or two.

We separated from them to try to regain advantage, but it came down to a photo finish that went their way, a bit less than a boat length between us.

It just shows once again how every detail matters.  It’s so fun to be in the hunt!

Another beautiful night with steady breeze.  Being the solstice, the committee boat set a long course.  This is the first time we’ve flown a spinnaker from one end of the bay (#11) all the way down to the other (#3).  A marvelous parade of backlit spinnakers heading toward the lowering sun.

If ever there was a night when every detail mattered, tonight was it.  Six boats out in our fleet, including Sabotage, Remarkable, Top Gun, Battlewagon and Sandpiper.  Game on!

After the start, we wanted to go to the right side of the course, so we put in a quick tack into clear air to sail our own race, while the rest of the fleet went left.  We didn’t quite have our usual pace, which may have been because I had dialed more tension into the shrouds before the race (it had been blowing 10+knots in the marina).  Regardless, we slipped further behind all the other boats with each crossing.

Approaching the layline, I could see that each of them had tacked early, so we pushed beyond them and nailed it.  The others needed extra tacks and Sandpiper tried to pinch the mark which cost them dearly.  As a result, we rounded ahead of Sandpiper and just astern of Remarkable and Battlewagon.  Our hoist was good and we gained quickly on Battlewagon.  ReMarkable’s hoist was slow.  We were almost able to push through to leeward of both of them — that would have been grand — but we couldn’t punch through their wind shadow.  Once we fell back, we crossed Battlewagon’s stern, got clear air and stole their wind.  With the extra speed, we got ahead, and I soaked down to their line, whispering to the guys to get ready to jibe.

 

We got ahead, jibed and headed for our own lane of clear air away from all the other boats.  We jibed back a minute or two later.  It cost us some distance, but as a result we sailed in clear air at a slightly hotter angle to the leeward mark, with a firm claim to the inside lane.  It was the longest run within the bay we have ever done.  At times, it felt like we were falling behind Battlewagon, at other times, it felt like we had overtaken Remarkable (who had managed to overtake Battlewagon to windward).  We tweaked our trim and did everything to go fast — Squirrel even held the boom up to try to scoop some more wind with the mainsail (seemed to work!).  A nice little wind shift to the North allowed us to soak down toward the mark and cut a corner off our competitors.  We put in a late jibe, and held the spinnaker up as long as we dared before dousing.  Every meter mattered as we rounded inside Battlewagon and powered up with them in our bad air astern and to leeward.  We began to pull away as they footed off.

The home stretch was thrilling.  Lots of quick tacks, had to duck a little yellow boat.  Forced Battlewagon to duck us.  Just got across their bow on port (that was close), and finally tried to lee bow them (unsuccessfully) at the finish line.  It was a photo finish.  Squirrel claims we were mast-to-mast when he heard the horn.  Can’t wait to see the results!

And special thanks to Michael Verduyn who joined us tonight on the foredeck.  That’s how we dared to hold the douse for so long.

RESULTS JUST CAME IN:  We crossed the line one second ahead of Battlewagon!  (after PHRF correction, we beat them by 13 seconds).  Wow that was tight — just 0.02% difference in time, or 0.001 knots difference in average speed.  Less than the last digit on our speedometer!  I feel like a downhill skier!

It was a gorgeous evening with more wind than expected.  We softened the shrouds down to the 0-8 range, and didn’t hesitate to hoist the #1 genoa.  Kiwi put in a solid start, well timed full speed around the middle of the line and we hiked hard to hold our lane.  Battlewagon to leeward, Top Gun to windward, and Sandpiper just behind them.

We believed there was better wind toward Hamilton, so we tacked over early, and were able to cross ahead of Sandpiper.  Next cross we were astern of Sandpiper, the result of some knocks.  By the windward mark we had regained third spot, not far behind Battlewagon, with Top Gun just a short way ahead of them.

Hoist was solid, and then we made our move with a quick jibe aiming at the better wind toward the Hamilton shore.  We weren’t too happy with our spinnaker trim until we hit the slightly better air. Then we got her trimmed up and Kiwi started to get the feel of the heat and burn approach to sailing hot angles with the spinnaker: head upwind slightly until the boat picks up speed; this shifts the apparent wind forward, and you can slowly turn downwind until eventually the speed burns off, and then you heat it up again.  We pushed far toward the Hamilton shore.  Top Gun and Battlewagon stayed on the Burlington side in lighter air, Sandpiper split the difference.  The question was:  was the extra speed worth the extra distance?

Coming in to the leeward mark, the answer was definitely YES. Top Gun were not far ahead, Battlewagon were astern, and Sandpiper behind us got the inside line on them for the rounding.  We held our douse until late, and the lads brought the kite down in no time.  Check it out:

Around we went, well ahead of the other two boats for the beat the finish.  In fact, we were handily outpointing Sandpiper, spilling some bad wind on them.  Somehow the spinnaker sheet got afoul of the jib sheet.  Four hands sorted that out, and we put in a pair of tacks to finish second, respectably near Top Gun.  A great result on a great night!

After ferocious winds these last few days, we were prepared for another knock-down battle with mother nature, but the scene at the marina portended a different kind of night.  Clear blue skies, warm sunshine, flat water and a solid breeze, but nothing maniacal.  With David away, and Calvin on the injured list (sprained finger or something like it), we imported a ringer from the Tuesday crew, and Four-Hands was definitely the difference maker tonight.

Setting a course when the wind is from the NW is always tricky on the bay, but I really like what the RHYC committee decided to do.  They dropped a mark south of 14, closer to the Hamilton shore and sent us on two laps of a triangle course.  It was a short beat up to mark #6, then a fetch to Mark #1 on a close reach (with plenty of gusts), and then a reach down to the drop mark (just low enough to carry the spinnaker).

Before the race, we sailed with the #3 jib, and really enjoyed great balance in apparent winds up to 18 knots, with 7+ knots of boat speed.  No need for more power at all.  But then, just as the sharks were starting, a great big lull settled onto the bay.  We were half way between changing to the #1 (or the #2, we couldn’t make up our mind) when the wind came howling back, so we stayed with the blade as a headsail.  Looking back, the #2 might have been the better choice, as we were a little slow on the beat.  But when the gusts came on, we certainly didn’t lack for power.

Our start was okay, timing was good, but somehow we struggled to accelerate, and Top Gun and Battlewagon got away.  Approaching the first mark, we were in third and then misjudged the layline (twice in one week — arrrgggghhhh).  By the time we threw in two extra tacks, the others were well in front.  But the fetch to #1 was a good leg for us on both laps.  Bert kept adjusting the jib to get the most out of every gusty shift in wind direction, and Gadget kept us flat and surging forward when the gusts came.  Meanwhile, Lazy Sheet and Four Hands got ready for a jibe set.  Around we went, up went the kite and we started flying.

PERSPECTIVE loves a hot spinnaker angle in 12 knots of wind.  A quick glance over our shoulder, and we had overtaken Battlewagon in the hoist and started adding distance.

After the douse, we got caught in some bad air from slower boats and lost a bit of ground to Battlewagon before we broke free, but they were still astern when we rounded #6 again.  This time, we stretched away while they got caught in the bad air from the same slower boats.  Once again, we played the gusts well and extended our lead.  The next hoist wasn’t quite as quick, but we soon got flying again.  Here’s a clip of us overtaking Christephanie on the second spinnaker leg:

By the time we started the final beat to the finish line, we had a generous lead over Battlewagon.  Yes Top Gun finished well ahead of us, but we were all very satisfied with our performance.

Back at the dock, Skootch and Stitches greeted us with smiles and snack and we all enjoyed a mellow time on a gorgeous summer evening.  Let’s have more of these!

OK, I see the pros doing it.  I’ve heard that it matters.  But I’ve never felt it before.  I’ve never noticed its impact.

But now I have!

With the boat tuned much better, we are starting to notice the finer details.  A few cm of trim on the mainsail tweaker can give us an extra degree of pointing ability….and so can one more guy on the rail!

It was a perfect night for noticing the finer details, with steady wind right in the range that PERSPECTIVE loves best.  With the new #1 flying tight and the mainsail drawing fully (just a flutter of backwinding), we could focus on a technical race.  As each lad came to their spot on the rail, we pointed one more degree closer to the wind.

Kiwi gave us another great start, and we held our lane on Battlewagon, eventually climbing up to put them in our bad air.  Meanwhile, Top Gun came out to play, and we held our lane on them too later on in the race.

All the tacks were crisp.  Here’s a nice example, with a little treat at the end as all three boats were in close quarters!

Yep, that was Battlewagon just crossing the bow of us and Top Gun.  Looking back at the upwind leg, we probably put in an unnecessary pair of tacks, losing a couple of boat-lengths.  Then, someone (the flibberdigibbet on the mainsail) misjudged the layline to the mark, so we needed another pair of quick tacks to round.  That threw off our hoist, and when we finally got flying downwind, there were just too many boat-lengths to make up.

It felt like we made up some of the distance, but not enough to overtake.  Top Gun got the gun, Battlewagon second, and we were a bit behind.

Results just came in…we did just enough to claim 1st for the Tuesday Spring Series. Way to go guys!