Category: Race Reports

Dinghy, Lazy Sheet and me had a fantastic day together and we got PERSPECTIVE’s mojo back on a long pursuit race!

Of the two competing forecasts for the day (1-2 knot drifter, 10 knot sea breeze), neither proved to be true, nor did their average.  Rather we had a sea breeze of about 7 knots from the east at the start, dropping to a milky calm 4 knots that rotated SE, S, and then rotated to the SW and built to 15 knots for the finish.

Our thoughts were to go into shore to catch the sea breeze that we expected to build, and after we watched Nautibuoy start with a hot spinnaker heading for the Burlington shore, Dinghy got the spinnaker bag set so we could do the same if we chose.  Half an hour later the sea breeze had begun to fill, Pandora compared notes with us about following Nautibuoy and we watched them start.  The sea breeze had filled enough and the wind angles had changed enough that this was clearly not the way to go.  After retrieving Brian Garrett’s hat, we opened the #1, but left the spinnaker bag in place as an eventuality. The sea breeze filled more and we prepared for speed.

The start was well timed and we were pretty quickly dialed into good boat speed and performance.  We were even able to harden up a bit to point high — above our rhumb line — taking all the height we could in case the wind shifted forward.  Battlewagon started 20 seconds behind us and they must have had a good start too because they began to approach on our starboard quarter.  For nearly an hour we were able to keep them there as the wind began to slacken and veer.  Eventually it settled into a surreal drag race on mirror calm water separated by less than a boat length.  Wish we had some drone footage!

And then they rolled over us.  All it took was one wiggle in the wind, one lapse of concentration in steering and our speed fell off while their momentum carried them over us.  We stayed calm, and I think that was the key to our success today.

We rebuilt speed quickly again, but by now, Battlewagon had fallen off the breeze and we gained leverage to the outside.  Something Brian Garrett had said to me a few weeks ago echoed in my mind…”when the breeze is light, sail a higher angle to create more apparent wind”.  Like young Luke responding to Obi-Wan, I took the advice while we kept the slot wide open between the main and the genoa.  As the wind continued to rotate, this path took us away from shore and away from the rhumb line, but we were moving much faster than everyone shoreward and within the next hour we rolled over nearly the entire fleet!

Only Big Yellow (off our starboard aft quarter), Magic (ahead), and a few smaller white sail boats remained in contention with us.  After a lot of discussion we landed on a great plan — carry on sailing fast and away from the rhumb line until we could hold a hot spinnaker on the bearing to the finish mark.  Dinghy set the pole.  The moment came, smooth hoist, bear away, fill, and Bye Bye big Yellow!  We were ghosting along at five knots of speed consolidating our gains on the fleet as we headed back to the rhumb line.

Here’s what ghosting in mirror-calm seas looks like:

And here’s what it looks like on board (do we have a new candidate for the nickname Lazy Sheet?)

The wind began to build and mist rose from the surface of the water.  Toronto was merely the glint of the CN tower above the haze.  Were it not for that, we may have been sailing off the end of the earth.  Would dragons eat us?  We were keen to find out!

Soon it was only Magic ahead of us (C&C 35, like Celtic Spirit but they fly spinnaker).  We tried half-heartedly to reel them in — to no avail — but mostly focused on enjoying the stronger breeze the moved aft so we could sail deep and fast, finishing the race with 7.2 knots of boat speed.  Looking back, there were no boats in site.  Had the dragons eaten them there?

Three of us on board for a 25nm race on Lake Ontario that started and finished at the Burlington Bridge.  The course was to round three marks (Bronte, Winona Rifle Range, & CCIW Spider) in any direction we chose.  With the wind from the North, we opted for clockwise.

Mainsail trim, Spinnaker trim, Foredeck, Sail changer, Douser, Food bringer and otherwise runner-a-rounder:  Go-go-Gadget.  (Tasmanian devil has nothing on this guy)

Foresail trim, Pit, Navigation & Data: Lazy Sheet

Tiller holder: StarPort.

It was a gorgeous summer day with lots of wind at the start promising a quick and intense lap before a relaxing party back at the marina.  But what unfolded was a four part miniseries with many plot twists, gut-wrenching anguish, a moral victory and a third place result (for GHYRA).  Note:  Top Gun was in this race, but not competing in GHYRA.

Part ONE: Big Wind & Waves

Chose the #2 and it was the right choice for sure: 15g20 upwind to Bronte with 3 foot waves crashing us and slowing us.  We did well, gaining on many boats, but the J35s who started 30 seconds after us were able to handle the surf better and overtook us.  Foredeck was soaked with the occasional wave washing over us.

We opted to focus on boat handling and set the spinnaker only after rounding.  Good choice with three on board!

Rounding was smooth, planing with the #2 headsail while Gil rigged the spinnaker and double and triple checked everything.  We gained some ground on Battlewagon as they also delayed their hoist.  Hoist was smooth and off we shot.  Battlewagon hoisted almost at the same moment!  By now Top gun was well ahead (no delay in their hoist), and we reeled in Battlewagon.  Attempts to pass them were in vain, so we sailed alongside for a while.

Part TWO: Sail Swap

The wind just completely died.  From 15g20 to 0g3 (of inconsistent direction).

It was like hitting the brakes.

After an infuriating delay, a light breeze set up from the east.  By now we had gained to windward of Battlewagon and Stigaro (whom we had just overtaken).  Once we sailed into somewhat steady breeze, we doused the Spinnaker and hoisted the jib to sail in the right direction.  It was all great except that now the #2 was the wrong headsail.  Too small, and too flat.

So, we did a hot sail swap.

Gil & Mark readied a temporary jib sheet for the #2, got the #1 in place with the real jib sheets and then dropped the #2, swapped the halyard and hoisted the #1.  It was pretty smooth, and didn’t take too long, but we had a weird headsail for a minute or so, and then no headsail for less than a minute.  Once we had the bigger genoa we began to sail well, and re-overtook Stigaro.  Battlewagon had their #1 up the whole time, so they were able to put some important distance between us.

Part THREE: A long and winding road downwind

It began fine with a nice match up with Stigaro and their asymmetric spinnaker.  We pushed into shore hunting breeze that was not there, so we went offshore.  For at least thirty minutes (more?) we kept believing there was better wind ahead, and kept chasing these mirages even though we were not sailing in the right direction.  Meanwhile the waves were against us so we were dead slow.  Finally we jibed toward the spider and were able to fill on a deep run with the waves at our stern.  Eventually the wind began to build, but our rivals by now were un-catchable.  In fact, we watched Stigaro overtake Battlewagon by a large margin.

Part FOUR: Curfew

Our new rival was the clock.  Curfew was set for 6:00 and we had about an hour to cover just over 4 nautical miles.  Boat speed was about 3.5-4.5 knots.  Nip and tuck.  A smooth jibe at the spider and we started to get optimistic, but each time we checked the clock the wind faded a bit and the boat slowed down.  Eventually though, we beat our new rival, finishing just 4 minutes ahead of curfew.  What a relief!  We started the engine immediately and made the 6:00 bridge. 🙂

We will remember this day for a long time, and the very important lesson about chasing mirages.  Sometimes there just isn’t any better wind to find and the right move is to sail in the right direction!

Despite the shifty and hot conditions, we had a wonderful start to Canada Day Weekend with the Beyond the Bridge Regatta in our home waters.  Their were eight boats in our fleet with a huge range of handicaps from Nauti-buoy to Sabotage.

Foredeck & Headsail: David

Pit: Lazy Sheet

Mainsail: Dinghy

Helm: StarPort

Race one:  Skirting the hole

Sabotage ahead

Catching up: Pandora outside

Overtaking: Pandora outside

Sabotage Sandwich

Just before the mark

Yessiree Bobbo, this was the THIRD race in a row when we beat Top Gun!

FINAL RESULT: Third place for PERSPECTIVE, behind The Artful Dodger (Kirby 25), and Sabotage.

And afterwards we all enjoyed a great meal and lively band at the regatta dinner party.  Nearly the whole crew turned out with their better halfs and we toasted a great day on the water and a summer full of memories.

…the mice beat TOP GUN!

Here’s the summary from our poet laureate, Gil “Gadge” Lamothe:

Well, honestly, if I were to write about what I saw, then it would be a tale of tell tails that I would tell.  Shifty wind doesn’t quite describe it so constant trimming was in order, but I digress…

Ken engineered a great start, both timing and position wise.  The wind out of the NE had us sailing towards mark 7.  We started off on a starboard tack, knowing we would soon be over on port, as the best wind was along the Hamilton side.  Once we felt the wind diminishing, we made the tack and just kept her moving as fast and as high as we could.  There was a progressive lift as we made our way down the bay.  Top Gun was even further toward the Hamilton shore, clearly off our starboard side.  Sometimes we were faster, then they were faster.  As the lift continued to build, they were more and more to the outside of the course, and maybe not getting lifted quite as much.  Finally they tacked, we held our line, and they cut our wake a good 5 boat lengths below us.  It was clear the boats in the center of the course were losing wind, so we stayed wide and went significantly higher than the “lay line”, to ensure that we could withstand any knocks that might take place near the pin.  Battlewagon tacked earlier, and were able to hold that lay line, rounding just ahead of us.  Top Gun was in a world of hurt in the middle of the course, still trying to make headway up the course as we were rounding.  We hoisted and followed Battlewagon on the starboard jibe, debating whether or when to jibe to port to get back to the Hamilton side.  The wind started dying (the course was shortened to 7 – 14) and it was all we could do to maintain way.  We finally got near enough to a patch of wind in the center of the course to risk a jibe and went for it.  Top Gun had finally rounded, we must have had 800 meters on them, and immediately jibed and headed for the Hamilton side.  By the time we reached that wind, Top Gun had a full head of steam and had closed to within 300 meters and gaining.  We jibed to starboard, got trimmed up and finally got some boat speed, but TopGun had closed to 200 meters.  Battlewagon had never jibed and went closer to the Burlington shore, where perhaps a sea breeze had built.  They ran down the course from there and crossed well ahead of us.  We maintained our lead on Top Gun and crossed the line with high fives all around.

We had a full crew tonight and what a difference it made!  The solid breeze meant all the weight on the rail helped us power up and point, while all the experience working together in synchronicity meant for crisp tacks, smooth jibes, quick recovery from the odd stray line and lots of eyes on wind and competition to make good decisions.

And the weather was absolutely stunning.  Warm sunshine, lingering humidity, bright sky — ahhh this is the summer weather we have all been waiting for!

Before the race, the wind was really up.  We were reading over 14 knots in the marina.  But all the forecasts called for the wind to die down.  Sure enough, just after we set the #2 headsail, the wind dropped down into the 10-12 knot range, threatening to drop even more.  Headsail change!  Neatly done and now we had the right amount of power.  Of course, the big sails meant for a busy night for Dinghy on the mainsail trim, but he was right on it.

Port tack and pin end were favoured, so our plan was to start on Starboard down the line somewhere looking for clear air.  Unfortunately, our competitors got in our way, so we ended up closer to the boat than we wanted and just behind Battlewagon (who once again put in a great race).  We tacked away onto Port and enjoyed the lifted tack, but it appeared that the better wind was down near Hamilton, so we tacked back over.  Good move.  We pushed in all the way to the wall before tacking and then put in a few more tacks to stay on that side of the course.  These choices helped us claw back some distance on Battlewagon, and round ahead of Raison d’Etre and Sandpiper.  Remarkable was back out tonight, and rounded just ahead of us.

Even though we had a very short lay line, the hoist was quick and away we went.  We chose a hotter angle than our competitors, which brought us out into the better air near the Hamilton shore.  The jibes were our best ever this year — great to have both Four Hands and Nonsuch up on the pointy end together.  We put in extra jibes to stay out toward the Hamilton shore.  This helped us overtake Remarkable (who didn’t hoist) and expand our lead on Sandpiper and Raison d’Etre.  And we thought it might just be enough to get the inside lane on Battlewagon at the leeward mark, but we rounded just astern.

For the final beat, we chose not to follow Battlewagon to the Burlington shore. Instead we tacked away, looking for the better wind to the finish.  Although we found great wind and sailed fast and high, it wasn’t enough to close the gap on our rivals.

What a fantastic night!

We had a premonition of some weather to come during the pre-start as the light breeze suddenly got a bit chillier.  We donned our rain jackets as a precaution.  And that was a move that was rewarded.  By the end of the evening, the only dry parts of us were under those jackets!

But tonight’s race report is not really about the rain, it’s about the sweet satisfaction of overtaking boats in our fleet, a crew in synchronicity and a boat responding brilliantly to the wind and our coaxing.

Before the start, we talked about the lesson of sailing a bit lower and faster in light air and decided to put it to the test.  By and large, Bert left a hand’s-breadth between the upper shroud and the genoa, and I did my best to keep both outer & inner tell-tales streaming.  The result was very satisfying.  We were still pointing high (less leeway, I guess) and our pace was excellent.

The start itself wasn’t spectacular.  The pin end was strongly favoured, as was port tack, so I tried to to tack onto port just before the gun, down near the pin end.  Without enough time to gather speed, we ended up footing off and dipping below most of the fleet before we could harden up.  Shortly after that Battlewagon rolled over us to windward.  We tacked as soon as we were clear, looking for clear air and better wind.

This tack was a big difference maker for us, as we essentially tacked onto a header as a persistent shift continued to progress.  Textbook!  Once on port tack again, we enjoyed good air and a lift to the layline and we were able to cross clear ahead of Battlewagon.  Sweet satisfaction.

Now I should point out there were a lot of boats in our fleet tonight:  two sport-boats (the Viper 830 and a new Esse 850, both with professional skippers and A-team crew), Top Gun, Take-Notice-Again (our favorite yellow boat), Battlewagon and Raison d’Etre.  Eight of us in total.  Approaching the windward mark, we were just a bit ahead of Battlewagon, but the sport boats, Top Gun and the minions were around already.

And then, with just a few boat-lengths to go, the wind lurched to the north, we got knocked way off course and had to tack (with the pole up) to fetch the mark.  It was messy, but it was brief and we tacked back to round.  Up went the kite!  With all the focus on tacking, we hadn’t cleated the guy, so the spinnaker went high in the sky!  Yes, up went the kite!  but this was quickly settled and away we went.

And at some point in all of this, it began to rain lightly.

By now, Battlewagon was a few boat lengths ahead, and it was time to reel in the competitors.  We sailed a very high line to windward of Battlewagon, and managed to catch up and overtake.  White sail boats in other fleets had the rights to push us up, so I kept well clear of them.  Ahead, we watched Wind Thief push Top Gun up terribly, so when it was our turn, we gave them and all their kin a wide berth.  Next up was Big Yellow.  They didn’t fly spinnaker, so we had the speed to overtake them, and were far enough to windward that they didn’t come to sport with us — thank goodness!

Because we needed to jibe at the leeward mark, we doused a bit early, giving time to clear the pole before we rounded.  That was a good move because we arrived amidst a pile of traffic, and were able to choose a pretty good line to windward of most of them.

And during all of this, it began to rain more steadily.

With the wind coming from the North, the final leg was a fetch.  With all the tell-tales glued to the sails, it was hard to know where to aim the boat, but Ken helped me see that I could point much higher.  Sure enough, the boat speed built and we enjoyed a slightly stronger breeze as we cracked off to finish strongly.  Big Yellow rounded behind us but powered up quickly enough to cross the line three seconds ahead of us — well behind on corrected time.

And by now it was raining pretty hard!

As wet as we were, our enthusiasm was not dampened.  We knew we had sailed a good race: smart, well trimmed and well executed.  It was a fourth place finish in a fleet of eight.  That may not sound so great, but when you look at the boats that finished ahead of us…well, to finish top three, we need to beat Top Gun.  I think that just about sums it up!

On the way back to the marina, there was a constant stream of water pouring off the boom right onto my head 🙂

Hastily we put the boat away and then headed up to the club house to wring out our socks, and toast Chris Cumming’s birthday, complete with pizza and cake.  A perfect finish!

A reluctant sea breeze had developed on the bay, and a giant freighter was anchored just to windward of the race course.  The combination made for a tricky night as the wind was really unevenly spread across the course, and the ripples on the water were an unreliable indicator of where to find the wind.

The pin end was strongly favoured as the wind was slightly north of the windward mark.  We opted to start at the pin end on port tack.  Timing was great, but we weren’t quite lifted enough to cross the fleet and ended up dipping two boats on Starboard.  One of them was Battlewagon who tacked onto port soon after and got into a strong groove quickly, while we struggled to get boat speed and strong air.  Nonetheless we stayed ahead of Sandpiper and Raison d’Etre until the last decision of the beat.  They went out to the layline and caught good breeze while we made slow progress in lighter air avoiding the corners and the starboard tack parade like dutiful students of Walker’s book.  We were fourth around the mark (still ahead of Raison d’Etre with Sandpiper just ahead).

Hoist was clean, and a quick jibe was well executed.  We went in search of stronger breeze.

By taking a hot angle, we were able to cross Sandpiper’s stern at close distance (they had done a jibe-set).  They had a bit of trouble with their jibe, but ours went well.  Suddenly we were abeam of our rivals with the inside lane and a long way to go.  Battlewagon was still well ahead (and Top Gun too, of course), so we focused on Sandpiper.

We and Sandpiper were both sailing deep downwind angles to the mark, suffering in the wind shadow of the freighter, so we opted for more jibes and hotter angles toward better wind in the middle of the bay.  It was a great choice that really paid off.  The jibes were solid and we gained on Sandpiper, coming into the leeward mark on a hot angle with plenty of boat speed.  By the leeward mark, there were some smaller boats between us and Sandpiper.  Once again, bold choices with the spinnaker up have served us well.

A knot in the halyard made the douse awkward, but we got sailing upwind with the spinnaker mostly down and kept our line while the lads sorted out the tangles.  Sandpiper emerged from traffic with good boat speed sailing lower and faster than us.  For a while, they had us looking over our shoulder, but ultimately our high line to the boat end of the finish gave us third place with a 50 second margin.

There’s something to learn here though, about the value of sailing upwind low and fast on these light nights — go for boat speed!

Race #2 was cancelled due to high winds on Saturday, and Race #3 was shortened due to low winds on Sunday.  Go figure!

But it was a good thing that the course was shortened.  It took Brian Garrett and I five hours to sail the same course Jan Varkevisser and I sailed in two hours just a few weeks earlier.  It seems like we are getting more than our fair share of light wind races this year.  This particular race had two very interesting surprises.

The first came right after our start.  As we approached the line the wind shifted a bit and slackened.  As a result we were a bit late and away from the committee boat, which had been our target.  Three boats in our start managed to hit the boat end well timed, and it took us a bit to get out from under their shadow and gain some momentum.  But that gave us the chance to spot some much better wind filling in away from shore.  We tacked away to claim it, sailing about 5-10 minutes on port until we were solidly in the better breeze.  Back onto starboard we began reeling in the fleet to leeward.  Only a few boats followed us to the better air.  Some held the rhumb line to the mark, and some sought better air into shore.  We aimed a bit above the mark to give ourselves some buffer in case of a header.  The header never came, and some of the boats below us were able to fetch the mark ahead of us.  Most were well astern!

Then it got silly.

The wind shut down.

The halyard popped off the spinnaker during the hoist and traveled all the way up the mast.

All the boats were standing still.

The finish looked to be downwind — we needed the spinnaker.

Brian is lighter than me.

We only had the jib halyard.

That doesn’t enable someone to reach the masthead.

Long story short: mid-race in a windless hole surrounded by a dozen stranded boats, I hauled Brian up to the hounds armed with a boat hook and a wad of duck tape.  Gingerly he got a grip on the halyard and brought it down.  Up went the kite!

But by this time, we were facing the wrong direction, sailing the wrong direction and the wind had shifted direction completely.  So we carried the kite for only a few minutes to get to some breeze near the shore of Toronto Islands.  Douse, headsail, back on course, look around.

How much did all that spinnaker fuss cost us?  At most 10 boat-lengths!!!

Brian drove, and I tweaked and we managed to finish third in our fleet.  But, first place might have been ours if we hadn’t lost all that time fussing over the halyard!

Never mind, it was a great day with a funny story to tell, and most importantly, we were all safe.

And there is another lesson to learn here.  About an hour before the finish, we crossed ahead of Lively, a J109 in our fleet with about the same rating.  They were sailing low and fast, while we were sailing high and slow.  For a time, we thought our choice to sail less distance would benefit us, but ultimately, Lively finished 9 minutes ahead.  With light wind, and a bit of a gentle swell on the lake, clearly going low and fast was key.  Let’s try to remember this on light nights!

Tonight was a showcase of how quickly weather can change.  At the dock, things were calm.  Dark sky was stacking to the SW, but a lovely picturesque sky hung above us.  The water was smooth and the wind was light.

We motored out.

Slowly, the undulating glass of the bay gathered a faint ripple, maybe 3 knots of wind.

We set the mainsail.

Ordinarily, these conditions would suggest a #1, but there was something about the sky that made me wary.  It was unstable to the south, and gathering darkness.

We left the headsails below decks and waited.

The faint ripple grew to a steady breeze, maybe 7 knots of wind.

Again, the #1 seemed logical, but we defered.

A hint of 10 knots of wind, and we opted to set the #2.  I doubted the choice as we watched other fleets starting.  We were seeing gusts of 12 knots — easy to carry on the #1. But with 7 minutes to our start, the storm to the south sent us its power.  Even the #2 seemed too much as we eased everything to maintain control.

With that much force, our prestart was messy, but Ken was at the helm and did a great job to get us in position for the approach.  We were above the layline near the committee boat, and had to kill time.  Ken feathered us up perfectly with Sabotage ahead of us and Top Gun to leeward, ready to push us up if we went for the boat.  Sails were flapping, the wind was roaring and the boat was heeling.  But we held off for long enough and then charged the line.

(Battlewagon, opting for a headsail change at the start, chose to start the race and retire).

At this time, the wind had shifted south west — it was coming from the storm clouds.  So we were close-hauled almost parallel to the line, with Raison d’Etre astern keeping us from tacking.  Eventually they tacked, we followed and Top Gun (ahead) did likewise.  This put us on a port tack fetch to the weather mark. At first the wind was aggressive, and Gadget did a great job keeping us flat in the gusts, and Ken claimed all the height we could.  This put Top Gun in a position where they had to overtake from our windward side, and it took them a long time to push through our bad air.  Eventually, though, they were able to do that.  The wind settled down a bit and we were able to trim well to fetch the windward mark, rounding just astern of Top Gun and with mark room on Raison d’Etre.

All this time, I kept one eye on the weather to the south.  Yes we had been sailing toward more friendly skies, but the sky above Mordor flashed its evil intent, and rumbled its dismay at our sport.  Hmmm, I wondered, what lies ahead?

Time to hoist!

We took an extra moment to make sure all was set, and David and Bert cleared a wayward halyard. Up went the kite in a sensible 12 knot breeze, just slightly aft of the beam.  With Raison d’Etre just abeam of us to windward, it took some time to pull free of their shadow.  By this time, our rivals on Top Gun were well ahead.

(Hey, did I just call them our rivals?  Hmmm, haven’t done that before.  But with Sandpiper away, Battlewagon retired and Raison d’Etre astern, it seems right.  Hopefully it stays that way!)

Strategy time.

Raison d’Etre did not hoist.  We could afford to take some risk in order to try to overtake Top Gun.  Following them was not going to make it happen, and they were sailing deep.  Decision:  sail hotter, plan for a jibe, and try to overtake on the downwind.

It almost worked!

(and I’m sure we made them think)

We rounded just astern of them, which shows we gained significant ground downwind.  Of course, by the time we were both powered up they had several boat lengths on us.

Strategy time again.

By now Raison d’Etre was so far astern that we could risk even more.  We expected the wind to veer, which meant that the fastest way to finish was to hold our line  (take our knock early) and tack later.  But that would mean following Top Gun from well astern.  Not a winning scenario.  The other choice would be to tack away to position ourselves for a favorable wind shift.

We did, but of course Top Gun tacked to cover us.  It proved to be a disadvantage to both of us, as we both sailed longer distance in lighter wind — we even allowed a boat from a slower fleet to overtake us.  It was worth a try, but Top Gun preserved their win over us.

All in all, it was an excellent night on the water with a bit of everything: big wind, good start, strong beat, technical downwind sailing, strategic choices, lots of sail trimming, and a solid result.

With all that weather out to the south, it was definitely a time to be wary of dire possibilities.  Prudence on the headsail choice proved to be prophetic, as we would have been all tangled up if we had set the #1.  The worst weather tracked south, and our resolution paid off as we put several points between us and our traditional rivals of Sandpiper and Battlewagon.

Warily resolute.  I like it!

Wary resolution rewarded.  I like it even more!