At the time I snapped this picture, I thought this would say it all. Yes, that is us well ahead of Top Gun in the final leg of the race. And yes, we were able to hold them off to the finish!
There were high fives all around when we crossed the line just behind Legacy, with Sabotage ahead of them. But if we had really known what happened, we would have found a bottle of champagne somewhere…. are you ready for it?
We beat Sabotage!
Sure, they crossed the line well ahead of us, and as usual, we didn’t pay much heed, but now that I look back on the race…they were never really that far ahead. And with a massive ratings difference, even though they finished nearly four minutes ahead of us, we were able to beat them on corrected time. Woohoo!
But of course, the real race tonight was not with Sabotage. It also wasn’t really with Top Gun. Those two boats are so far ahead in the standings that the real battle was with Legacy, who are just a couple points behind us in the standings and keep sailing really well. Tonight was no exception, and we found ourselves chasing them the entire race, never quite able to overtake. Here’s how it went.
Breezy is an understatement. At the dock with 16 knots blowing in our slip, I hardened the shrouds mercilessly. We were almost convinced it would be a #3 night, especially when we saw Top Gun with their #3 up. But the wind was a bit less fierce before the start and we opted for the #2. It was the perfect choice. Although there was a lot of wind, it wasn’t gusty, and Gil was able to keep the boat fast, pointing high and well balanced during all the upwind sailing. With the flat #2, tight rig, jib car well aft and lots of backstay on, we were able to point as high as all the J35s. What a joy.
And with Lazy Sheet away, Skootch and I double-teamed on the genoa and pit jobs, while Gadget took the spinnaker sheet to keep us flying downwind. This worked beautifully, and I’m so proud of my dad. Together we put in a night full of awesome tacks, enjoying the kind of teamwork we’ve always had. Hat’s off to ya Skootch. :-).
But boy did I ever miss Lazy Sheet when it came time to jibe. Gil went forward to help Super Dave on the foredeck, and I struggled to keep track of double sheets and guys. At least once, one of the lines should have been eased, but wasn’t and the guys struggled to get the pole attached to the mast. Did I mention it was breezy?
Our start was um….interesting…as we found ourselves in a complete trap above the layline near the committee boat with everyone salivating at the chance to push us up. Ken (sporting his new Team shirt) pulled a rabbit out of a hat, though, dipped one of the boats and timed the start beautifully. And ironically, it was Top Gun who was over early, not us!
We tacked into clear air, got dialed in quickly, but Legacy tacked to cover us. And this was the story of the night. They rarely let us separate from them, and even though our tacks were crisp, the sail trim was ON, and we were able to find the better breeze consistently, they were always there. Finally, in the last push to the windward mark, we got some separation, and nailed the layline from quite a distance. Nonetheless, Legacy rounded ahead of us, as did Top Gun. Rason d’Etre rounded just inside us and we hoisted nearly simultaneously. Meanwhile, our Tuesday rivals (Battlewagon and Sandpiper) were off the pace. Battlewagon was sailing without a mainsail and eventually retired (main halyard let go midway up the first leg).
The downwind was fun as we found a slot of strong air and sailed deep to stay in it. Meanwhile, Legacy sailed hotter angles, and Top Gun did something between the two extremes. There were times when the wind had shifted a bit to favour us, and we thought we might get to the leeward mark ahead. This was not to be, however. Legacy rounded ahead, and we converged with Top Gun at the leeward mark. They were ahead and had the inside lane. Neither of us had a very clean douse, but we were a bit quicker, and Ken found an opportunity and seized it. Once both boats were hardened up, we were to windward and a bit ahead of Top Gun. Just a smidge. Like a boat length.
But that was enough. First, we focused on Legacy. But whenever we tacked, they tacked to cover, and although we sometimes closed the gap, it became clear that we were not going to overtake. Top Gun split away from us and went deep toward Hamilton on the upwind. When we next crossed (us on port), we were clearly ahead. Change in tactics: let Legacy go, and cover Top Gun. It was okay to concede a point to Legacy, but we couldn’t afford to let Top Gun get between us (and concede two points to Legacy).
It all came together. We tacked to cover Top Gun, and found ourselves pointing as high as them, and going as fast. Another tack, another cover. And this time we weren’t pointing quite as high. Two clicks on the winch and guess what? now we were out-pointing them. Yes indeed….two clicks!
And this continued until the layline to the finish, where we tacked to put ourselves between them and the line. Fait accomplis!
We capped off this perfect evening by hosting a BBQ at the dock for the BSBC racers. It was a great evening to linger long and savour such a thrilling race.
This summer continues to provide phenomenal sailing in the evenings! With perfectly comfortable temperatures, just enough wind to keep the boats moving, and a dramatic sunset, tonight was among the finest.
Yes, the wind was on the light side, and we really had to be attentive to find the opportunities, but the vibe on board was sublime, as we calmly accepted our lumps and then stealthily seized our moments. The result was just what we needed on Tuesdays — a finish ahead of Battlewagon (on PHRF) and two spots ahead of Sandpiper.
And we had the extra bonus of having Ihab on board, a keen participant in the BSBC Shark sailing program who just started sailing this year. Although we only called upon him to master the art of Ballast Engineer and Spinnaker-hauler-inner, it is clear that he will become a strong racer.
So, how did this race transpire?
Leg 1: Pin end and port tack favored at the start. We approached on Starboard, but got caught in a bit of a trap with Top Gun to leeward. Fortunately, they didn’t have enough boat speed to push us over the line. Meanwhile Battlewagon nailed the pin end on port tack and got across us all. We tacked. Sandpiper tacked to cover. Bad air! Tack toward the middle, then back again. Crossing Sandpiper, we’re on port… a deep and painful dip. By now we are behind the whole fleet. Conservative decision as the wind got lighter: push well beyond the layline before tacking. Great move! Sandpiper struggled to make the mark, and we rounded just outside them.
Leg 2: Great hoist, and quickly into a good mode, pulling away from Sandpiper on a hot spinnaker line. Up ahead we see Christephanie heading toward Burlington shore to pick up some better wind. Hot to it, then soaking deep in it. Great decisions, good trim and all the weight forward and leeward. Sandpiper well astern, and the gap to Battlewagon is closed down. Douse was a bit funky as we tried to free-fly and jibe the main, but everything got backwinded, so we just pulled down the kite and jibed around.
Leg 3: THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE SHOULD ALWAYS DO UPWIND!!!!!! (oops, pardon the exuberance, but we had both speed and pointing on this near fetch to the finish line). Somehow, we got into the right mode right away and pointed at least ten degrees higher than Battlewagon (and most other boats), without sacrificing speed. It was such a pure delight to cut off a major corner on the course, and it put us in a position to take a bite out of Battlewagon. Meanwhile, Sandpiper was astern and fell off our line. We couldn’t quite fetch the committee boat, and focused on VMC. We dipped Pandora without changing course much, but then had to do a deep dip on Battlewagon, since we weren’t ahead enough to clear their bow. Once beyond, a quick tack to windward of them, and then a quick tack to finish at the committee boat. Battlewagon took the pin end seven seconds ahead of us, but it was enough to get them on PHRF.
Great teamwork, great conditions and a great result. Let’s do this again!
Even stronger than the wind we experienced at the start was the unbelievable gradient in wind speed between the Hamilton Shore and the Burlington Shore. The difference was night and day, and we learned (the hard way), that one tactical error in these conditions can neutralize an entire evening of perfect execution.
The perfection began before the race as we studied long and hard before selecting the #2 genoa. In the gusts, we were tempted to go for the #3, but the lulls kept going lower, so we opted for more power. Perfect choice — aside from one or two tough gusts, #2 was the right call.
Next was the start — it was a weird one with the wind getting light and flukey. In the light wind, we jibed twice on the layline to the committee boat to just stay nearby and in position. As we went for the line, we burned time by feathering up and forcing Battlewagon below us, then bore off into plenty of clear air while the rest of the boats were further down the line. Legacy and RdE were over early and had to restart. Off we go!
But we struggled to point [ contrast that with the next race, on Tuesday night, and there is a big lesson in there]
Nonetheless, we sailed a great windward leg, with Gadget managing the gusts like a pro. We stayed toward Hamilton shore until the last moment, and this gained us a few positions. Only Remarkable and Top Gun are ahead as we round. Sabotage is away. It’s starting to feel good.
Hoist is clean. Wind angles support a quick jibe onto the rhumb line. Clean jibe. Slow. Meanwhile, to leeward, Battlewagon is gaining steam in better air. Legacy is behind, suffering like us. We take our lumps, and jibe toward Hamilton. Legacy does likewise. We jibe back to windward of Battlewagon’s line. Legacy pushes further to the Hamilton shore. We’re moving, but by now Battlewagon is well ahead. To leeward, Legacy starts cooking.
Next perfect choice was a headsail change, switching to the #1 as the wind had dropped below 12 kts. This gave us a chance on the last leg.
Approaching the leeward mark, three boats converge (Top Gun and Battlewagon are ahead): Remarkable to windward, us, and Legacy to leeward. It came down to a boat-length, but both of them got ahead of us. Once we rounded, it was a drag race to the finish and we started astern and in bad air. Legacy had the windward side. Once again we struggled to point.
The nutshell, Legacy got Remarkable between us, and Battlewagon was ahead of them. The lesson: when the wind gradient is that strong, sail the extra distance!
During my solo sail, I was able to link up with Kiwi off the shore of Etobicoke Yacht Club to get a good view of his new Jeanneau 410 — a very impressive ship!
On Wednesday, I got up well before dawn so that I could be through the 5am lift bridge in time for the beginning of Nautical Twilight (about an hour before sunrise). I sailed (and sometimes motored) as far as I could before turning around and returning through the 10pm lift bridge just after the end of Nautical Twilight.
It was a magical day, with spectular predawn light and an unforgettable sunrise. Here are some highlight photos.
At the marina, we were preparing for a night of light wind, maybe one of those races where you spend most of the time trying to figure out where the holes are and how to avoid them. With just four of us on board, that suited us just fine, but what we got was much much better — one of those delightful nights with steady wind around 9 knots where the race comes down to technical details: crisp maneuvers, sail trim and small shifts in wind speed and direction.
But the first order of business was to sail out of the dock. Both start motor and throttle control were in need of repair, so we had to go old school. The wind was right on our nose, so we hoisted the main at the dock, David gave us a mighty shove and then we turned to a beam reach and filled the sail. Easy peasy.
In the pre-start, the Sharks all went deep into the corner near Stelco, a strong clue about where the wind would be. The line was pretty square, so I focused on clear air and timing it well, and put into practice the general start pattern from the winter series. It was fun to sail on port toward the committee boat and then tack just before intersecting the fleet on starboard. It worked pretty well, and we only had to spill a bit of wind to time the pin end. Next, though, we needed to get onto port tack to get down to the better wind to the south. Hmmm…maybe it would have been better to be a bit late at the boat end of the line? We ended up dipping a few members of the fleet (except RdE who were far enough astern, and Legacy, who had already tacked to port).
Sure enough, the breeze built as we went south. Legacy, ahead and to leeward, tacked onto the layline. Had they overstood? We tacked earlier, and at first it looked golden. But as we approached the mark, we got a fierce knock that called for two more tacks AND the need to dip Sandpiper at the layline. Too bad! We went from a golden opportunity to round first to being second last around the mark. Such is the affect of one ill-timed knock! (and the value of a safety margin when judging the layline from afar — Legacy nailed that decision and it paid off in spades).
I should point out that neither of the perrenial leaders were in the fleet tonight: Sabotage and Top Gun were both away.
Despite a very short layline after those extra tacks, Super Dave had the pole ready in a jiffy, our hoist was supreme and we jibed right away to get back toward the stronger wind in the southern part of the bay. This was enough to slip by both Sandpiper and Battlewagon. Remarkable didn’t hoist and Legacy pushed far to the Hamilton shore. We followed suit, keeping the kite nice and full. Once we got into a stronger band of wind, we sailed a lower course to enjoy that wind as long as possible. Another clean jibe at the Hamilton shore and we were able to sail directly to Mark #3.
Legacy was still ahead. Battlewagon had staid in the middle of the bay, and we were about even after the jibe, but our better breeze paid off, and we got to the leeward mark with a good margin on our rivals.
Free fly the kite. Pole down. Jib out. Douse. Round. Harden up. Ready to tack…it was all so smooth, you wouldn’t know that there were only four of us on board.
And for the last upwind, the wind filled nicely. Legacy was uncatchable, and no one was threatening us. A lovely sprint to claim a second place finish!
Looking back after we crossed the line, the wind dropped and shifted, so that boats had to work hard to finish. We made it just in time. What a great night 🙂
But that light breeze meant we needed a tow back to the marina from the Able Sail coach boat, who was out gathering drop marks.
This summer has been full of gorgeous sailing evenings, and tonight was right up there with the best. With a nice full breeze that promised to clock around, the race committee set the most elaborate course I can recall. And it was a long race. Our elapsed time was nearly an hour and a half. And there were three very different spinnaker legs including a hot jibe at mark 1. Again.
Now, we all miss our regular Tuesday foredeck captain, who a few weeks ago buzzed around the boat like a chipmunk. But the bench on PERSPECTIVE is deep, and all this spinnaker work went off without a hitch thanks to the great work of Nonsuch with support from Afterguy. And this time (in lighter breeze, I have to admit), we nailed the jibe mark maneuver.
We had a great time and a great night, but this race belonged to our friends on Battlewagon, who had a great start, sailed the upwind legs perfectly, nailed their maneuvers and held off Top Gun to win the gun! Our upwind legs were more of a mixed bag — didn’t sail in the strongest breeze, had some trouble getting into mode — so there was a pretty big gap between those two boats and all the rest of us.
But the final leg was dramatic and great fun. We rounded the jibe mark just behind Remarkable and just ahead of Sandpiper. Up ahead, and slightly to windward, Pandora II had their giant spinnaker out, and some white sail boats also needed to be overtaken. We were to windward of Remarkable, who didn’t have their spinnaker up. We wanted separation from Pandora II so we could overtake without their wind shadow affecting us, but whenever we sailed slightly a slightly lower course, Sandpiper made gains on us from behind, and there was the risk of Remarkable pushing us up.
We gingerly threaded the needle, so that we weren’t too affected by Pandora II. At the line, Remarkable got us by 9 seconds, and we got Sandpiper by 13 seconds. That’s tight racing after nearly 90 minutes! (A difference of less than 0.2%) And after correction for handicaps, the finish order among the three of us was reversed: Sandpiper -> PERSPECTIVE -> Remarkable. I’ve never seen that happen before.
So, Four Hands, wherever you are, we hope you are enjoying sailing the Dalmatian Coast. Rest easy…we got this!
It’s not often that we are the boat that goes straight down the middle, but tonight we just found there was more wind, so we spent as much time as we could there and it paid off.
It was yet another perfect summer evening, with warm temperatures and a soft breeze. In fact, there was much more breeze than I expected based on the forecasts, and it was more steady than expected; it even resisted resisted dying down.
And with steady breeze in and around 10 knots it was a night for technical sailing. Small adjustments in trim made a big difference, as did decisions about when to tack and when to jibe. Technically, the crew was right on the money throughout the race, and tacks and jibes grew crisper with each repetition.
Despite a relatively long start line with very little bias, I managed to start us in a bunch of traffic at the boat end of the line. Old habits die hard, I guess. Once we all got flowing, we tacked away out of traffic, across Sandpiper’s bow. We enjoyed the breeze in the middle of the course, and tacked back once it got lighter. Clearly the boats near the Hamilton shore enjoyed a lift, as many crossed well ahead of us. But then it was our turn to get the lift, and things evened out pretty well. After another pair of tacks to the windward mark we were in the hunt. Rounding order was Sabotage, Top Gun, RdE, Legacy, Us, Battlewagon, Sandpiper.
Spinnaker up, and its decision time. Near RHYC, we were able to soak quite deep in good pressure, and then jibed back to the middle of the course while Battlewagon and Sandpiper chose to continue to that shore pursuing RdE. We liked the middle, and overtook Legacy, who sailed hotter angles to both shores.
At the leeward mark, we had the inside lane and were about a boat length ahead of RdE. Douse was perfect and we protected our line, but by the time we had powered up RdE had gone around the outside to overtake us and we were in their bad air. Tack back to the middle with a keen eye on the fleet. RdE didn’t cover. Good pressure in the middle. Another great tack before the layline, hoping for a lift to bring us home, but it didn’t come. We needed one last tack to finish and RdE crossed ahead of us.
A very satisfying race nonetheless, as Legacy crossed 30 seconds after us and then a gap before the others.
And all this time, a threatening sky on the lake never made it into the Bay. We tidied up and enjoyed our snack under balmy summer skies. Only on the drive home did I see evidence that it had indeed rained. We were charmed!
I don’t recall ever doing this before! Rather than dousing at the leeward mark, we jibed and held the spinnaker until (almost) the finish line. Way cool!
Here’s how it happened:
It had been a gorgeous sunny summer day with little humidity, the kind where the sun is hot and the breeze is light but still you can be comfortable. My favorite kind of summer day. Except that there was little wind. Just before leaving the dock we checked on the wind forecast, and had a chuckle: The light gradient wind was coming from the north, maybe even a bit northwest, BUT it was fighting a deflected version of the gradient wind that had gained speed along Lake Erie and was approaching us from the Southwest, AND a struggling sea breeze was trying to build from the East. In other words, if there was going to be any breeze at all, it would be hard to predict which of these would win.
So we went out to the start area searching for clues about what might happen.
The course was set for the prevailing light breeze at the time, from the NorthEast, which meant that the sea breeze was winning at the moment, but it had already backed, so it was probably dying out. As we watched the sharks start, the wind backed more and it looked like it would be a port-tack fetch to #9 at the golf course. But just a few minutes later, the direction was back at the NE. Were these oscillating conditions or was a persistent shift just struggling to get established? Our money was on the persistent shift, so we watched carefully as the sharks responded. They had already flopped onto port tack, and just took the knock. Then the wind backed again. Nearly all the boats stayed on the lifted port tack, but one of them tacked over to take the header. Interesting! They were placing a big bet that the shift was persistent and would continue to progress.
As we watched other fleets start, it became clear that a progressive persistent shift had begun. The shark in question made huge gains, and we made our own plan accordingly: Start on starboard near the pin end of the line, push toward the Burlington shore just beyond the rest of the fleet and the tack onto port and ride the lift up to the mark.
Execution was clockwork. Just about everyone else in the fleet went for the port tack start and had to duck us. Only Raison d’Etre had the same idea as us. They were ahead and to leeward. Once they tacked onto port behind us, we tacked also.
Although we weren’t fast (had the old mainsail up), it was a pure joy to watch the fleet spread out to leeward, and continue to get lifted. We all got lifted so much that the layline kept getting further away. But since we were able to nearly fetch the mark, we only had a couple of boat-lengths to sail on starboard. The other boats’ reaction were a perfect illustration of the lesson we studied this winter: Sandpiper realized the situation early and tacked back to our line early — as a result, they didn’t lose much and were a bit faster toward the mark than we were, so they rounded just behind us. Top Gun realized next, and took their lumps — as they tacked back to our line, they crossed well astern of us. Battlewagon stayed on the lifted tack, but had to sail a lot of extra distance to the layline before tacking.
We rounded the mark in second place just behind Raison d’Etre. By now the wind was from the North and we had a very hot spinnaker leg to mark #1.
Our first challenge was to overtake Raison d’Etre. It took a couple of tries, but we were eventually able to work our way to windward of them and overtake near aboard.
Meanwhile, Sandpiper sailed their spinnaker more deeply, below the rhumbline, and fell off the pace. But Top Gun and Battlewagon got into mode quickly and built a ton of speed. Shortly after we passed Raison d’Etre to windward, Top Gun shot by to leeward, and Battlewagon overtook RdE.
Quick reference to the true wind direction and predicted true wind angle for our next leg (thanks to trusty iRegatta), and it became clear that we could jibe at the next mark, rather than douse. Sure enough a couple of boats from earlier fleets had done just that. So, while Top Gun began to douse, we got ready to jibe — this was our chance!
It was definitely the right call, and indeed we did have a chance, but the jibe — from hot angle to hot angle — didn’t go smoothly and we had to sail deep (away from the rhumb line) for a while to sort it out. By the time we were flying, three things had happened: we’d lost time to Top Gun, we’d opened a windward lane for Battlewagon, and we now had to sail an even hotter angle to the finish line….too hot as it turned out.
We held the kite as hot as we could, for as long as we could, but it wasn’t quite enough. Battlewagon got by us, Top Gun staid ahead of them, and we needed a quick douse to cross the line on the jib.
(And that douse was a bit testy, as we forgot to blow the guy)
Bottom line is that we earned a third place result tonight, and made all the right decisions to have a shot at first. And all this with the old mainsail! The winter series is paying off! The more often we make the right decisions, the more often we’ll get the gun. Let’s do it again!
On behalf of PERSPECTIVE, six of us accepted the LO300 Challenge, to sail 304 nautical miles nonstop in close quarters and whatever elements nature chose to send our way. It was an unforgettable adventure full of highlights, great sailing, beautiful scenes, fun camaraderie, and even a couple of decent meals.
Here’s the course
One way to describe it: Six guys on a camping trip with a tent that sleeps two, a campfire just outside the tent that needs constant attention 24/7, and a tiny campsite just big enough for the tent & fire…leaving the campsite is not an option. Oh, and an outhouse inside the tent!
So hats off to the crew:
The M&M’s: Kiwi & Lazy Sheet
The Kit Kats: Starport & Rick Culver (aka surfer)
The Twizzlers: David & Gadget
And many thanks to the shore crew who helped get the boat ready: Bert, Calvin, Les & Rob.
Life on board
We organized ourselves into three watches of two people, and rotated through three levels of activity, switching every two hours:
On: actively sailing the boat, one person at the helm, one person trimming sails
Off: fully excused from any duty, time to sleep down below or rest on deck
Ready: on deck, life-jacket on, clipped in, ready to assist with sailing the boat, navigation, preparing food, cleaning up or otherwise resting.
This worked pretty well, but it meant only two hours of sleep at a time during the night. We didn’t wake people up, though if they were deeply asleep, and then shuffled things in the morning so that it roughly balanced out. When the wind was lighter (Monday), we had the chance to doze on our ready shift.
For food, we had a mix of grab and go meals that ranged from sandwiches to trail mix & beef jerky. These were about all we could manage when the wind and waves were up. But when things settled down, we did quite well with just a camp stove that could boil water: oatmeal, breakfast burritos (freeze-dried egg scramble in tortilla wraps), sous vide beef sandwiches, quinoa salad with beans, plus strawberries for desert. And yes, we had hot coffee!
For drinks, we had 70L of water on board, some of which was pre-frozen and thawed slowly to provide cold drinking water. Gatorade powder provided necessary electrolytes, so we stayed hydrated.
And we had a ready supply of handy snacks: lots of fruit, nuts, licorice, wine gums. These were critical to keeping the energy up and the brain sharp as we went along.
All in all, it was a pretty good setup, considering we had never done anything like this before. I’m sure we’ll fine tune things for the future.
Here’s a tracker that shows our progress on the course and the position of other boats: Click Here (Choose Main Duck 2019)
Leg One: Here we go!
From: Start
To: Humber Mark
Bearing: SW
Distance: 2.2nm
Distance sailed: 3nm
Average speed: 6.8 kts
Rounding: Saturday 1230pm
Time Elapsed: 45 minutes
There was a lot of wind at the start, and we were surrounded by magnificent sailing machines. A Farr 40 with hydraulic hand pumps, and a Volvo Ocean 60 that looked like it was from outer space. These were part of an IRC fleet that were not really competing with us in the PHRF fleets. In our fleet there were still some boats that positively dwarfed PERSPECTIVE. On Burlington Bay, we are among the big boats at the fast end of the spectrum. Out here, we were average sized, and the runt of our particular starting group, which comprised the biggest PHRF boats mostly 36+ feet long.
With 19 knots showing on the wind meter, we opted for our new #3. As David and Gil began to set the sail, they quickly discovered that it had been packed into the bag in a strange way by the sail loft. It took some time, but we were finally set and approached the starting area for our sequence. Game on!
Rob Irish’s brother Leon (Razorbill) snapped this photo of us, suited up and ready to go.
The line wasn’t square to the wind, so we had to approach on port tack while the entire fleet of big boys were running the line on Starboard. Kiwi took us in really tight to Red Leaf (A J120) before tacking. I was at the bow and could have touched the other boat!
Off we went, upwind into big wind and medium waves. Not our most favorable conditions, but we kept our speed up in the high sixes and held our own while the even bigger ships from the IRC fleet overtook us. At the rounding mark, we had our spinnaker ready to fly, but opted not to hoist right away. With a leg of 130 nm ahead of us, taking 20 seconds to double-check our course, heading and wind direction seemed a worthwhile investment.
Leg Two: Rhumb Punch!
From: Humber mark
To: Ford Shoal Buoy (Oswego NY)
Bearing: 91 degrees (nearly due east)
Distance: 130nm
Distance Sailed: 135nm
Rounding: Sunday 1030am
Time elapsed: 20 hours
Max speed: 12.8 kts
Average speed: 6.5 kts
Yes, you read that correctly. It only took us 20 hours to sail nearly the entire length of Lake Ontario. A leg this long has many chapters to it. Here’s a summary of each…
2a. Settling in for speed
We opted not to hoist. The wind was strong and just aft of the beam. We doubted we could hold the rhumb line with the spinnaker up. Sure enough, boats ahead that did hoist had to sail a much lower line, away from the rhumb line and they weren’t making as much VMC (course made good) as we were, even with the #3 up. So instead, we opted for a sail change and put up our #1. The sail change went smoothly, but flaking the #3 on the foredeck was problematic since it has huge vertical battens.
Once we had the #1 up we enjoyed rhumb line sailing with boat speed in the high sevens, sometimes catching a plane and getting over 8 knots of boat speed. This was great sailing with easy control and tons of speed. Lunch time (fresh sandwiches), and time to take care of a few important details (like Lazy Sheet’s toe)
During this stretch we enjoyed overtaking several boats, including Entourage, pictured below. We saw a lot of Entourage during this leg of the journey, and they ended up rounding the next mark just behind us.
2b. Squall
But that joy of simple sailing was not fated to last forever. As the afternoon stretched toward evening we saw Toronto disappear to the North of us as dark clouds rolled in. The front edge of these clouds looked particularly ominous as a horizontal roll reached toward us threatening thunder, lightening and massive gusts.
We got ourselves ready by removing clutter from underfoot, talking through how to furl the jib and reef the main. Wind speed built. Prepare to reef the main. More wind. Cancel that. Furl the jib. Done. Too tight. Four feet of sail flapping madly. I went forward to bundle up the extra sail cloth. More wind. Heeling hard. Mainsail full. Knocking us down. REEF THE MAIN!!!!!
Quickly done and we were under control. And just as soon as the squall arrived, it passed taking most of the wind’s energy with it. This was around 5pm, and we were due south of Oshawa. We didn’t know it yet (indeed until we were finished the race), but Flight Simulator, a massive trimaran capsized in this squall. They were well ahead of us (due south of Port Hope?) when it happened. They were eventually rescued by the US coast guard. Glad we didn’t know all this when we were out there. All we knew was that the angry sky had been replaced with this lovely vista.
2c. Growing confidence and growing wind
As the storm gradually cleared, the wind slowly came back, in fits and starts at first (and from a range of angles). One by one the boats within sight raised their spinnakers and we did too. Downwind sailing had begun.
And then as the sun set and the moon rose we were making good progress once again, right on the rhumb line heading toward our mark.
Sailing in the dark is a particular joy, especially with a full moon and mostly clear sky. There is enough light to see on board, and other boats’ navigation lights are clearly visible. We vied for position with a few others as the night set in, choosing between a deep sailing mode along the rhumb line and the option of hotter angles. For the most part, we tried to stay close to the rhumb line.
2d. Planing in the dark (southern ocean)
Okay, we weren’t in the southern ocean, but this is the closest we have ever been to those champagne sailing conditions that we’ve all seen on TV. Big waves behind, big wind pushing us forward, high boat speeds and a very attentive focus on the helm.
We were sailing a deep angle with the spinnaker up, nearly dead down wind, and the waves would push our bow closer to the wind and then away from the wind. As the helmsmen started to get the feel of the waves, we were able to surf down more and more of them and hold it for longer. Our boat speeds rose into the nines as we surged along. To avoid a chinese jibe, we had a preventer stay on the mainsail. I now swear by these as we had two testy occasions when the wind got behind the main. Without the preventer stay we may have been in significant trouble, but the boom was restrained, steering control maintained and the jibe was averted.
The second time this happened, I called for a douse and we sailed wing on wing downwind. A dose of caution that may have cost us a few knots of boat speed — we were now only going about 8 knots (ie: still planing!) — but in the dark of night in the middle of the lake, this seemed the prudent move.
Once the predawn light came on, and after coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, we hoisted again and went for broke. For about an hour we enjoyed ever increasing wind speeds, more time planing with each wave, and in a 22 knot gust, we set A NEW SPEED RECORD FOR PERSPECTIVE: 12.8 KNOTS!!!
This was a truly exhilarating experience!
2d. Rounding in good company
After twenty hours on this particular leg of the journey it was amazing to see boats converging at the turning mark from every direction. As we drew closer, we could make out the names and types of the nearest boats and found ourselves rounding just a few boat lengths behind Live Wire, a J109 in our own fleet, with the same handicap we have. Amazing! This filled us with the sense that we had been sailing well, and holding our own through the squall, the night, and the fast conditions. Fantastic.
And would you believe it, we arrived simultaneously with another boat and had to give them mark room — just like what happens on the bay after 20 minutes (vs 20 hours!).
Leg Three: Bootlegger’s dash
From: Ford shoal buoy
To: Main Duck Island
Bearing: 004 degrees (nearly due north)
Distance: 30nm
Rounding: Sunday 2:30pm
Time elapsed: 4 hours
Max speed: 8.2 kts
Average speed: 7.5 kts
Back in the days of the US Prohibition, Main Duck Island was a favorite stopover for bootleggers. As we dashed north, I’m sure we were faster than our intrepid forebears or the coast guard ships that hunted them down.
We had 13 knots of wind on the beam, the #2 headsail up, and near planing speeds most of the time. This was easy sailing, but not so easy on the crew, since the waves were also on our beam and had grown to about 2 feet by this time.
Nonetheless, it was a welcome simplicity. Navigation was straightforward as we took our spot in a drag race north. The sail trim rarely needed adjustment and the bright midday sky shone its approval on our adventure.
2/3 of the way into this leg, we passed the halfway point in our journey — 150 nautical miles sailed in approximately 24 hours!
(somehow, none of us believed the second half would pass by quite so quickly)
Rounding the islands themselves was fun. Once again we were in good company, with Live Wire & Tenacious (a Beneteau 36.7 just like Sandpiper) just ahead and Tonic (another boat like Sandpiper) just astern. More affirmation that we were holding our own out there.
There were a pair of shoals to avoid before we could commit to a long stretch on any one heading, but we handled that with just one tack. As we headed out into the open lake, we quickly realized that our next leg would begin with upwind sailing in big waves and strong wind.
Leg Four: Transformation
From: Main Duck Island
To: Niagara Mark
Bearing: 258 degrees (WSW)
Distance: 110nm
Distance sailed: 136nm
Rounding: Monday 11:00pm
Time elapsed: 33.5 hours
Average speed: 4 kts
Indeed, our next leg was the longest one. We sailed a similar distance as Leg Two, but it began upwind, and then the wind settled down, shifted, died, a sea breeze grew, then died, and a new wind began. It was a day of transformation.
4a. 8 hours of pounding
This marathon leg began with pounding surf. 13 kts of steady strong breeze blowing from the WSW across 100 nm of fetch created waves about a meter high. We got ourselves dialed into a good mode, and focused on earning as much VMC as we could while crossing the lake.
The deck was strongly heeled, and the boat rose over the waves, crashing into the next one. For eight hours we could barely walk on board due to the motion. A hot meal was out of the question and we settled for trail mix, beef jerkey, apples, licorice and M&Ms. The only places to sit securely were on the rail on the high side (getting soaked by waves) and nestled on the floor of the cockpit
The power of the lake was relentless, but we had our plan — shift to the southern shore as quickly as we could. We had good reasons for this choice:
to get some reprieve from the waves in the lee of the NY shore
cross the lake while we still had wind (we expected the wind to die down overnight)
to catch a lift that we expected to materialize sometime in the next twelve hours as the forecast predicted a veer to the west.
be near the NY short to catch the new sea breeze as soon as it set up on Monday
So we soldiered on. Live Wire had the same plan as us, but they pulled away as their larger boat handled the waves better than PERSPECTIVE.
But I have no complaints about our craft. During the pounding, I went below to observe the hull as it endured wave after wave. Nothing flexed. Nothing groaned. The hull rose and fell as one rigid piece of composite, ready to keep taking it — and much more.
I reported this on deck, and the others responded….hmmm, you might even conclude the boat had been designed for this! Of course it had.
Out in the middle of the crossing, with no land in sight, the sunset was glorious over the starboard side, while at the same time the moonrise was equally stunning over the port side. That is a scene I will never forget.
4b. Dark & Shifty
The surf was indeed lighter near the NY shore, which allowed folks to find a quiet spot to sleep. The sky was clear and the full moon rose up high to light our way, as the lights of port towns twinkled on the horizon.
As the waves subsided, so did the wind, and it began to shift toward the west as expected. Unfortunately, this happened after we had crossed the lake, so that rather than benefiting from it, we now had to beat our way toward the Niagara mark. In hindsight, the timing of this shift favoured the boats who had stayed near the Canadian shore longer, as their crossing was lifted relative to ours. In the final analysis, this is probably the most decisive factor in the outcome of the race.
Nonetheless, we could only sail the wind we were in, and we did our best to make as much forward progress as possible in the slackening wind while still aiming to be near the shore to catch the new sea breeze when it would develop mid-morning.
At dawn we found ourselves further from shore than desired in a breeze that was quite light, and beginning to fail completely. We could see evidence of the sea breeze forming over the NY shore (see the tell-tale clouds in the next image), so we did our best to eke out as much speed in the right direction as we could.
Gadget relived his childhood joy of flying a kite while the rest of us hung out wet cloths and enjoyed breakfast burritos, the first proper food since breakfast the day before. It was darn good! And yes, we did let Gadget take a break to eat.
4c. Sea Breeze
Eventually the sea breeze made it to us, but before it did, the wind shut down completely. By this time the sun was hot and the flies had discovered us. With zero boat speed and nothing to lose, I declared a swimming break and we all refreshed in the lake, like pre-teen boys in our favorite swimming hole.
Lazy sheet brought out some shampoo and soap so we had a chance to clean up a bit and then the funniest thing happened. (Yes, it does involve someone dropping the bar of soap).
Super Dave (yes, that is his nickname now) is drying off on the cabin top. Lazy Sheet drops the soap. It begins to sink. Calculus flashes behind Super Dave’s eyes. He sizes things up. Leaps. Over the lifelines into a deep dive. Six feet down. Ten? One perfect arc back to the surface. Soap in hand. That’s our Super Dave!
Monday was a lovely day. The perfect antidote to the extremes we had enjoyed thus far: squall, surfing downwind, pounding upwind, shifts in the night. Now we had calm stable breeze in flat water and the comfort of a lee shore in sight but not too close.
And we had company. Tenacious came toward the shore with their spinnaker full, crossed our stern, doused and hauled up another flatter spinnaker. And thus began an interesting drag race that lasted about 12 hours. Each of us doing our utmost to outpace the other. First it was a boat trim duel, and then they chose to sail a hotter angle away from shore, while we stayed sailing deep along the shore. It took several hours to work out who had made the better choice
And all this while, another boat, Jersey Girl was following us closer to shore. At first, they were at least a nautical mile behind, but they closed that distance slowly throughout the afternoon and evening, proving that there was a bit of better wind in closer to shore.
4d New Wind
We held this course through the afternoon and evening, enjoying the scenery as upstate NY scrolled by. Lazy Sheet made brilliant beef sandwiches for lunch. Gadget made fantastic quinoa salad for dinner. We were clean, dry, comfortable, well fed, the boat was flat and we’d all found a chance for a nap. A perfectly civilized day.
Otto was at the helm most of the time (Otto von Helm, that is, our digital seventh crew member), so the only person working was the crew member trimming the spinnaker. After dinner, I made the brash statement that I’d handle our watch on my own so that Rick could get some rest.
That was enough to tempt fate.
Over the next fifteen minutes, the wind flipped 180 degrees as the sea breeze was overtaken by a new system that was drawing wind from the south into a growing mass of clouds in the North. Toronto had only just appeared on the horizon, but now it was snuffed out.
Wary from the squall on the first day, we doused quickly and kept the spinnaker down for a while, watching the weather all the while. Eventually, we grew convinced it would stay near the north shore of the lake, and we hoisted the spinnaker once again, on the opposite jibe this time.
The breeze was still moderate, maybe only 5 knots or so, but we held such a high angle with the spinnaker (60 degrees apparent wind) that our boat speed rose to 7 knots. Absolutely fantastic!
Meanwhile, Tenacious, who had sailed away from shore, had to douse their spinnaker and come back almost close hauled on their genoa. In the end, that helped them reach the Niagara mark a few minutes before us.
Night fell quickly with a dark sky, and we ghosted along at good speed in surreal conditions of flat water and light breeze. Stunning!
rbshrbsh
rbshrbsh
4e. Rounding
We held this all the way to the Niagara mark, and then were hit with an unwelcome surprise. We found the mark, aimed right for it, and within the last 100 metres the wind wobbled, shifted forward drastically, and threatened to push us into the mark itself (a big ugly rusty thing that would leave a very unwholesome scrape).T
The kite was completely backwinded. Down it came in a hurry. Two tacks on the mainsail alone until well clear (and the wind was restored from the south), and back up came the spinnaker.
(and meanwhile, Tenacious sailed away)
Add that to the collection of strange mark roundings this season!
Leg FIVE: A few more surprises
From: Niagara Mark
To: PCYC Finish
Bearing: 300 degrees (WNW)
Distance: 25nm
Finish: Tuesday 5:00am
Time Elapsed: 6 hours
Average speed: 4.2 kts
5a. Flying
Having established itself, the new wind did not kid around. In no time we were sailing with boat speeds in the high sevens on a bee line to the finish. Once I took the helm a short while after, I could see Tenacious’ stern lights, and we packed on all the speed we could to close down on them.
I began to calculate that at these speeds, we could finish in less than four hours. Indeed, when I went down for a sleep and handed the helm over to Super Dave, I even wondered if they would have to wake me for the finish. Oh, the silly thoughts we think sometimes.
5b. Thunderstorm
All I know is that I woke up to pouring rain and the thump thump thump of Super Dave on the foredeck. the kite came down as another storm hit us. Wary once again of squalls, and doubly cautious because it was the black of night, we were slow to bring out the headsail. Nothing lost though, because the wind had been eliminated in that last downpour.
Wet, cold and tired, we waited for some breeze with 9 miles to go. Eventually a light breeze filled from the NW, and we made cautious progress once again to the finish. We could now see boats all around us, who had been ahead and behind, essentially restarting the race for one final push.
5c. Classic PCYC Finish
What I had estimated to be the last hour of sailing took us three, and could have been more had not a reasonably firm breeze come from the NW. But as we approached the PCYC finish area, we all had flashbacks to the Susan Hood race, when we were becalmed in sight of the line.
It wasn’t that bad, but we saw our boat speed drop below 1 knot as we slowly approached the turning mark. For a while, it looked as though we may be able to overtake Tenacious who was going slow to leeward of us. But as we had to turn down to reach the turning mark, they were able to harden up, and they kept their place ahead of us.
In the inky moonlight that greeted us post-rainstorm, we saw Jersey Girl overtake Tenacious briefly, only to fall back again in the last few hundred metres.
Finally, it was our turn to cross the line, just as the predawn light was warming the sky.
We did it! We successfully completed the Lake Ontario 300 Challenge!
