Author: Rob DeWitte

We left the marina with the feeling that the wind had blown itself out. There hasn’t been much wind for the last few hot sweltering days, just 30+ degrees of sunshine.  So, we were just happy to be out on the water in these balmy conditions for one last Tuesday night race around the bay.  With sweat beading on our foreheads, we hoisted the sails and set the boat up for light wind — everything soft and round.  Two big ships anchored in the middle of the bay, forced the race committee to set up far down in the west end, across from RHYC.  And as we approached, we could see a promising texture on the water in front of the yacht club.  Sure enough, it filled in and when it reached us we suddenly had 10+ knots of tropical air drying our sweat, and heeling the boat.  Fantastic!

The race committee had already set their course — a rather short one since the sun would set at 7:14pm — so we left the big #1 genoa up front, as it didn’t appear from the wind direction that we would be sailing close-hauled all that much.  Indeed it was a bit of a drag race tonight, with few strategic decisions.  As a result, the race was won and lost in the big maneuvers:  start, hoist, douse and leeward mark rounding.  If only we had a better start!

 

With the starting line set at Mark #5, near the Burlington shore, and the committee boat even closer in to shore, there wasn’t much room to sail around near the boat end of the line.  The water gets shallow there. And I’m so used to gauging my time by using the boat as a reference point.  But tonight we had to approach the start by running parallel to the line on port tack, then tacking onto starboard at the right moment and going for it.  I think we should practice this kind of start next year.  Bottom line, timing was good, but we ended up quite close to the pin end of the line, when the boat end was clearly favoured.

That put us in plenty of bad air among the other boats that were just to windward of us, so we tacked over, crossing just astern of our fleet to find some clear air.  It definitely helped, and we even got some promising lifts, so that we rounded the windward mark just astern of the fleet — Remarkable just ahead of us, and Battlewagon a few boat lengths ahead of them.

We rounded, got onto our line and the hoist was clean.  As usual, we closed the distance on our fleet with the spinnaker up.  But there was no opportunity to pass anyone, since no jibes were needed — just a drag race on a bit of a broad reach.  Nice and fast, and great fun.  We maneuvered to a lane inside Remarkable and Battlewagon before dousing.  Remarkable was just far enough ahead to get around before us, but Battlewagon was further outside and we were able to slip in front of them at the rounding.  It was a great tactical maneuver that we actually planned, and it almost went exactly as planned!  Rather than bringing the genoa out on port side, and then jibing both sails at the mark, we dropped the pole, flew the spinnaker for a bit without the pole, doused and then brought the genoa out on starboard for a wee bit of wing on wing before the rounding.  This way, as we jibed around the mark into close hauled trim for the upwind, all we had to do was bring in the main and trim the genoa as we turned.  Bingo!  We were able to slip into a spot just beside Remarkable, with Battlewagon behind.

Upwind everyone except Remarkable and us tacked away to find the layline for the finish.  We started off windward and half a boat length behind Remarkable.  I was determined not to lose a pointing match with them, so we pinched a bit to stay high.  Eventually, they footed off a bit, and we could fill our sails without any bad air.  Both of us stayed close to the burlington shore and enjoyed a few lifts that teased us into believing that we could fetch the line — that would have been great, and we would have had a fantastic result — but it was not to be.  So, we had one important decision to make — when to tack.  We kept our eyes on Remarkable.  They tacked.  As they powered, up on starboard, we thought we might be clear ahead on port, but it was not to be.  Do we dip, or do we tack?  Roll the dice, and the answer is….let’s try to lee bow them!  (We should practice this too :-)).  At the last possible moment, we tacked, and put ourselves int the right position to give them our bad air, but they had so much momentum, that they rolled over us before we could get powered up.  Nice try!

One last tack, to fetch the favoured pin end of the line and we savoured finishing 25 seconds ahead of Battlewagon (just 20 seconds behind Remarkable).  Great fun!  On the bow of of Battlewagon, our friend Ken gave us a gracious bow of his own, and we turned away for a pleasure sail on this tropical night.

For about an hour, we sailed the length of the bay as the setting sun gave way to a bright half moon and the twinkling lights of the Hamilton skyline.  Total relaxation, gratitude for one last balmy night, and disbelief that it was almost October.

Thanks Tuesday lads for a great season — next race: May 8th.

 

It was a chilly morning, the kind of morning that makes you think of apple picking and raking leaves.  Sailing isn’t usually the first thought on a day like that, but the sun still had early September strength, and there was hope for a warming trend.

But there wasn’t hope for wind.  The forecast predicted something around 4 knots out on the lake for the Fred Gilbank memorial double-handed race.  Nonetheless, FourHands and I set out at 8:30 to represent the PERSPECTIVE team, wind or no wind.

Well, with one caveat:   I had to leave for the airport at 4:30pm for a 6:30 flight, so the 4pm lift bridge was a hard cut-off (3:30 preferred and the target), so there was a strong possibility that we would have to abandon.

We changed the mainsail back to the clear Doyle sail.  More depth for the light wind. And we started the engine early (just in case).  No issues.  At the skippers meeting, everyone agreed to shorten the course a bit due to the light wind forecast.  Perfect and simple:  to the Shell Pier and back.

While motoring out to the bridge, Les and I reviewed the conflicting wind forecasts, so that we arrived at the lake on the lookout for one of two possibilities:

1. Wind starting just a bit north of the rhumb line, veering gradually about 30-40 degrees.  This would favour port tack early, which would also position us strategically to get lifted on starboard tack later in the leg.
2. A sea breeze starting in near the shore.  This would favour starboard tack at the start, and hugging the shoreline tightly.

As we hoisted sails and set our car position out on the lake, we were pleased to see 5 knots of wind, with lighter patches of wind toward shore and what looked like stronger wind away from shore.  Option 1 looked to be the game plan.

So we did a port tack start near the middle of the line!  A gutsy move with eight boats on a short start line, and only the two of us on board.  Two boats were clear ahead, we had to dip badger, but the rest were astern.  Bingo, we popped into clear air and began trimming our sails.

Not wanting to separate too far from the fleet, we tacked about ten minutes along, and began to enjoy a progressive lift toward the mark.  Okay, it was a great game plan, but it didn’t feel like the textbook.  Even though the wind speed was pretty steady, the direction was very shifty.  Now a knock, now a lift, now a knock, now a lift.  Slowly over time, the lifts out-lifted the knocks and we shaped our way toward the mark as the breeze strengthened gradually.

Before long, the entire fleet began to separate, with Battlewagon and us pulling ahead.  They were inshore, but tacked over to cover us about halfway along.  I think they noticed that we were unlikely to fetch the mark, so they pushed out further into the lake than us, crossing just ahead.  They added distance on us but weren’t pointing as high, so by the time we each spotted the mark, we both had to tack across to it about the same distance.

By this time the wind had built to about 9 knots.

We began to plan our hoist on the upwind leg, and as the wind shifted further toward the east, it became clear that we needed to do a jibe-set.  Les changed the lines and got the bag ready.

Battlewagon rounded first and went for a bear away set, which took them perpendicular to the rhumb line, sailing straight toward the shore.  We put in a swift jibe at the mark, and then hoisted quickly pointing toward the Burlington lift bridge the entire time.

(well, okay, we had an hourglass, got a bit overpowered when I didn’t steer correctly, and there were so many lines all over the place, the cockpit was like a bowl of spaghetti)

But the undeniable result of that jibe-set is that we tore away from Battlewagon, who took a long time to jibe, and chased us the entire way to the finish. We learned later they had one of their lines routed through the pulpit and had to re-rig before jibing.

As we sailed to the finish line, the wind built in strength a bit more and continued its shift a bit further, so that we were sailing a very high angle with the spinnaker.  Very fast!  But also a lot of power to manage with just two guys on board.  Les and I both sat on the high side: with the spinnaker sheet routed across the cockpit to the cabin top winch, two wraps and handle in.  Once we locked the pole in tight, low and just off the forestay, it was a hot fetch to the mark.  I used the lulls to head up the course a bit, and then steered down in the gusts.

Could Battlewagon catch us?  Nope!  In fact, it looked to us like we extended our lead a bit, and crossed the finish line 1:25 ahead of them, just a hair under two hours to shell pier and back!

The finish was cause for some heartburn, though.  We had to cross between the lift-bridge pier and a mark just 100 meters or so from the end of it.  There was nowhere to turn down to douse, so we had two choices:  cross the line under spinnaker, risking a broach right near the concrete wall (and then turn toward the beach, hoping to douse before reaching the shallows), or douse a bit early, and finish under genoa.  We took the conservative option, and that was exciting enough — once the pole was released, the spinnaker filled up quite high and heeled the boat very strongly.  Quickly releasing the sheet did the job, and Les had the kite in the hole in no time.

We watched Christephanie finish with their spinnaker still flying, and we were very glad we made the choice we did.

Back at the dock, we gathered to munch pizza and toast the memory of Fred Gilbank.  While waiting for the results to come in, there was a sense of expectation that perhaps PERSPECTIVE would be engraved on the trophy, but this was not to be the case — a few boats with higher PHRF handicaps also had great races, and Christephanie had the quickest corrected time.

No matter, PERSPECTIVE made her mark, and Les and I had a blast!

What a night of adventure!  Howling 20 knots in gusts at the start, down to 10 knots in the lulls.  We opted for a reef in the main and the #3 jib.  Even so we got water over the rail on the first upwind leg.

The opening few minutes of tonight’s video give you a feel for the intensity of the wind:

But by the time we got to the calmer west end of the bay, confidence was up and we hoisted the spinnaker.  With Squirrel away wining and dining a client (audit was a success!), Gadget had a busy night on the foredeck — really would have been a good night for six or seven on board.

Sandpiper was the only other boat in our fleet with a reef in the mainsail, so once the wind started to drop, we were really only hunting them.

Halfway downwind we took the reef out of the mainsail, and by the time we doused and began heading up we were just behind Sandpiper.  Upwind it was a really fun duel.   First they crossed ahead of us, then we approached the next cross very even, but we were on starboard.  They tacked and put our bow in their lee, so we had to tack again.  They tacked to cover, but that put them in our lee bow, astern and to windward.  We were able to point a wee bit higher as they wallowed in our dirty air, and slowly we climbed to windward of them.  That was a fantastic moment!

The wind kept dropping, so that it was nearly a drifter by this point.

They tacked, we covered them, and were on a line that was close to the pin end, with them to leeward.  They were going to need another tack for sure.  For us, it looked like we might not have to, but we couldn’t quite fetch the pin. Sandpiper tacked.  We held our line, securing a place to windward of them, tacked at the last moment and finished by shooting the line.

Our friends on Chimo II were on starboard, approaching the pin end of the line, and had to make a little room for us.  At first they were irked, but afterwards Hugh Johnson realized that we were in a duel with Sandpiper, and needed to squeeze in.

We crossed 18 seconds before Sandpiper — a moral victory, but not enough to offset the rating difference:  they got us on PHRF.

C’est la vie!

We continued the fall tradition of Crew Scramble — hey maybe it will become an annual tradition? — with Bert at the helm. It was one of the most beautiful evenings on the water: warm evening sunlight, almost clear skies with just enough cloud to make a glowing sunset and allow the full moon to sneak up on us.  It would have been the perfect chance for a night sail after the race.  A missed opportunity!

But the race was great fun!  The wind was out of the Northwest, which made the course into a bit of a drag race with few passing opportunities, but the wind was full of impish mischief that kept us all on our toes.

We put in a conservative start, at the boat end, just astern of Battlewagon, and a boat length behind the fleet who were spread along the start line.  Dirty air from Battlewagon forced us lower and we lost some ground to the fleet.  Bert did a great job holding PERSPECTIVE in the groove, and our tacks got more and more crisp with each maneuver.

With the course set this way, there was a short lay-line to the windward mark, and a jibe-set was the preferred maneuver, so we set the bag on starboard and took our time setting the pole after jibing around the mark.  Alvin and Mark put together a perfectly clean hoist and we held a nice high line all the way to the leeward mark.  No jibes needed tonight.  As we sailed into the middle of the bay, the wind built, and we had plenty of boat speed with a nice heel angle.  A few gusts hit us and we rounded up a bit, but Bert was the epitome of calm as we recovered well and kept gaining on Sandpiper.

Too soon, it was time to douse, and Sandpiper was still ahead.  A nice orderly douse by the gents on the pointy end — was this really their first time working together? And off we went on the drag race to the finish line with the golden sun dead ahead.  We made up even more ground on Sandpiper but bad air off Christephanie held us back and we couldn’t overtake.  C’est la vie!

Back at the dock, we watched the moon rise and talked a wee bit about what we’ve learned from the crew scramble so far.  Some said that it helped to get an idea of what the other people have to do.  Others said it showed how everything has to go right to win a race — especially at the beginning of the race.  Not much went wrong tonight at all, but the little things add up, and when we are in our regular positions, we get those details right.  Some called for us to get back to our regular spots — its more fun to beat Battlewagon!

I’m smiling, because we’ve got a great crew and a great boat.  Bert summed it up well when he thanked me “for the keys to the Ferrari”.  Let’s keep scrambling this fall.  The investment will pay off.

A stiff breeze out of the north on a crisp sunny night made PERSPECTIVE as thrilling as the main attraction at the CNE — a combination log-ride & roller coaster.  (Thankfully no bumper cars!)  And we added to the thrill by continuing to move people around the boat.  Lazy Sheet took his first turn on the foredeck, and we put big Dave Holloway to work trimming sheets.  But it was Gadget and Squirrel who worked hardest tonight.  Gil had to grind the winches with all his might, and Calvin pumped the sheet and traveler constantly to keep the boat as level as possible — impossible tonight, even with six big lads on the rail.

The wind was deceiving.  Coming out of the North, there was no fetch, and so there were no whitecaps.  Sailing downwind to the start line, I was thinking we might set the #2, but when I checked the true wind speed (14-18 and building as we sailed toward Hamilton), it was clearly time for the #3.  We haven’t used this sail much — it basically only comes out on nights like this — so it was a chance to try something new in exciting conditions.  We also changed the mainsail to the old mainsail which is cut much flatter.  The theory here is that this sail would be backwinded less.  That probably was true, but it was hard to draw any conclusions with so much wind being spilled most of the time!

With the wind out of the North, the race committee dropped a mark near the Hamilton shore, dead downwind of LaSalle park, and we raced across the bay two times in 15+ knots of wind, and some great big gusts on top of that.  Woohoo!

With many folks sailing in unfamiliar positions, we wisely left the spinnaker in its bag, though most of our fleet did fly their chutes.  Instead of getting caught up in the competition, we smiled, and enjoyed the ride.  Have a look:

 

After such a great performance in the summer season, I’ve got the idea to use the fall season to scramble the crew around so we all get a taste of other jobs on board.  Tonight was the first crew scramble, and it gave Four Hands a chance to helm the boat.  Wind was perfect, around 11 knots at the start, fading to around nine knots by the finish; nice and steady.  We used #2 with a fair amount of backstay and outhaul at the outset, which we eased as the race progressed.

It was a wonderful August evening, warm sunshine with a fresh edge in the breeze.  Just enough cloud cover to make a perfect sunset.  A great night on the water.  (and as I was not on helm, a great opportunity to look around and enjoy it!)

How did the crew make out in their new positions?  No problem at all!  Tacks were solid and kept getting more and more crisp each time.  Hoist was clean. Jibe was perfect.  Douse was efficient.  Check it out for yourself.

A few details…

• Start was good, timed well, about mid-line in clear air
• Upwind we tacked several times to keep near the middle of the course — the rest of the fleet chose to sail further toward Burlington shore, which seems to have helped them.
• We got caught in the bad air behind Celtic Spirit, which cost us a bit
• We also misjudged the layline, which cost us two more tacks and a few more boat lengths
• Once we hoisted the spinnaker, we quickly overtook Battlewagon, who only had three crew on board, and left their kite below decks.
• Slowly we gained on Eclipse, but there was too much ground to make up, so we doused calmly and enjoyed the beautiful sailing to claim our third place finish.

Way to go Les!

Watch for more Crew Scramble reports in the coming races!