Back to short course racing on the bay for this day. Crew was:
Foredeck: Four Hands
Pit: Lazy Sheet
Foresail trim: Mark E (from Sandpiper)
Mainsail trim: Tom S (from BSBC)
Helm: Kiwi
Tactics: StarPort
It was a particularly hot and swirly day, and before the details, we can sum it up as a day when things just didn’t go our way (contrast that with Saturday!) But it was great to be out on the water, eating a slice of humble pie after besting Top Gun three times in a row. (Recall, we had only every beaten them twice before this streak). And it was great to sail with Tom (who has a keelboat and has raced dinghies, but had never raced a keelboat — either he’s hustling us or a really quick learner) and with Mark E from Sandpiper who will feature in a much better story later this week.
Race one
Course 14S-7-1-14F
We were expecting zephyrs all day, but the day began with some breeze so with smiles on our face we approached the start line. Start was okay, we tacked for clear air. Once we tacked back we learned the left side of the course had paid off for the others. Hoist was solid, quick jibe to avoid a hole and now we had some ground to make up on our rivals. Some of them were in the hole so we headed toward the Hamilton shore. Just as we felt we had caught up to Battlewagon and Remarkable, the wind died and shifted. We doused, thinking it would be upwind sailing to the mark. That was true eventually, but not yet. So, we hoisted again! Five minutes later, we doused again and finished the leg on the #1.
Around the mark we went and up went the kite again! I don’t know how Les had all the lines working, but it was a thing of beauty. One thing about coming from behind, is you get to see where all the other boats are falling into holes and so we went the other way. It was looking so good for a while as we thought we might be able to ride our spinnaker to the finish across the bow of all the others. Mother nature snickered at our confidence, though and the wind died and shifted, so down came the kite and we drifted. Each time we tacked to fill the jib, the wind backed 100 degrees and we had to tack again. Finally, after a very painful interlude (during which our main rivals finished the race), the breeze became consistent and we finished near the back of the fleet.
Race two
Course 14S-7-14F
After a long pause the sea breeze began to build, the race committee set a short course, and we prepared for an eventual veer, wanting to take the headed (port) tack early in the leg to take advantage of the lift. We did this, but weren’t quite able to fetch the mark on our starboard tack. Battlewagon pushed out further to the right before tacking and were able to round ahead of us. Once again the wind on the left was stronger, so we found ourselves behind. Solid hoist, run and douse but not enough to overtake, so we found ourselves near the back of the fleet once again. At least now we were sailing and the east breeze helped cool us down.
Race three
Course 14S-7-15-14F