J/120 Great Lakes Trophy - Lets hear it for the crew

Yesterday we had the J120 owners xmas party. At it Bob Kirkman and Doug Scheibner presented me with this hard won trophy. If you look at the plaque you can see year's won by Hot Ticket was 6 years in a row and Merlin got it 3 years in a row. We finally broke that streak. This is quite an accomplishment for the crew and I am really proud of them. Thanks guys (and ladies)!

Gulf Streaming Video

This was the Sailfish Club's Munroe Regatta from Ft. Lauderdale to Palm Beach commonly referred to as the race to the buffet. The wind started out of the north at about 15-16 knots and we started with a #1. We began by peeling off a little to get in the gulf stream. It is my belief that we were in the stream sooner than we thought and we should of gone straight to weather sooner. When the wind was at 18 knots we went to the #3 but because I had not modified the rig before the start, we had to do a bareheaded change that just took too long. I had kept up the #1 longer than I wanted to because I was anticipating this problem. We also went too far out where the gulf stream was closer to shore and we did

not have to suffer so much from the waves. Out in mid course we were almost t-boned by another boat when they were not able to go behind us (we were on starboard) Chuck was driving the boat and he had enough sense to turn the boat up at the last second. I was on the rail and was sitting in water up to my chest until Karl let the head sail go. The last mistake we made was cutting in from the gulf stream a little to early. That probably cost us another 4 minutes. The crew still did a great job inspite of the problems. We had 8 foot seas with 3 people sea sick but everyone did their job. Another thing learned is that we should of gone to a smaller sail sooner in choppy seas. That way you can get power out of the main. At least the meal was excellent.

Crew: Kevin Thompson, James Maxwell, Jim Dundas, Karl Kuspa, Chuck Beyer, Rob Amsler, Colleen Flanagan, Ken Morrison, Nathan Caspers
Result: 6th out of 8 boats in class B
Link: http://www.geocities.com/getgo444/sailfishresults.pdf

Sour sweet

Last night we went to pick up our awards for DRYA at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club and it was a grand affair. We managed to clean up by taking 1st in w/l, point to point, J120 overall, and boat of the year on B course. Hardware won included the H C MacGregor and WJR Trophy. Most of the crew managed to come so it was an evening that was made that much sweeter. After the affair we migrated to the Bayview bar and had some celebratory hummers. In general it was a great evening. It has been 22 years since I have been racing my own boats and this the best season I have ever had. Rod Weston was also with me during that time so it was wonderful he was there that night.

The same morning the first boat I raced on, a 45 foot New York 32 built in 1936 called Sapphire had been sold and was being shipped to Maine to her new home. She will be with 3 other NY32's and will be well taken care of. Penny Breck, daughter of the owner who bought her in 1968, Bob Neesly Sr., was no longer healthy enough to take care of her in manner that was needed. I went down to say goodbye to an old friend. I did my first Mackinaw race in her and have many happy memories. She was the only boat that I ever won a Mackinaw in. That year we took our class but also the entire CCA division. In the picture on the right taken in 1971 is me doing foredeck finishing in front of Mackinaw Island.

Garbage in but not garbage out

This is a story my crew asked me to post since they thought it was so funny.

To prepare for the the trip down to Florida I had the main winch drum pads resandblasted by Harken because the lines were slipping too easy. They came back by UPS and were delivered to my back porch. When I got home I opened up the box and examined the winch to make sure it was done correctly. I left the other winch drum in the box. Yesterday was holloween so my wife Carol did not put out the garbage until early the next morning. When I came out later that morning I asked her about the box on the porch and she said that she had thought the box was empty so she took it out to the street. Needless to say the garbage truck had already picked up the trash. I heard the truck on the next street and stopped the truck. The two guys in the truck said that if I followed them to the dump out at 29 Mile and Gratiot (I live in Grosse Pointe) We got up there and they dumped out the compacted garbage. It was line about 4 feet tall and 80 feet long. It was quite the detective job finding it. We would find mail at certain addresses close to us and dig a while. Occasionally they would bring over a large bulldozer to spread it out. By luck we found it after 20 minutes. It only had a small part broken but it was intact. On the way home my hands stunk so bad that I stopped by Doyle off of I94 to wash them. When I told them my story they just could not stop laughing. One of the guys kept telling me not to stand too close since I smelled pretty bad. Oh well - it was a painful process but I did get it back although Carol was too happy with the stream of four letter words that came out of my mouth this morning.

Shifting Gears in Light and Variable Wind by Rich Bowen

The key to keeping the boat moving in light winds is clear communication between the helm and the trimmers.
We've all heard people use the term shifting gears when talking about sailboat racing. Surely a lot of folks scoff at first when they hear this. There's no transmission on a sailboat. Sailboats are slow and they lack the kind of gear-shifting we're accustomed to in cars. But actually, shifting gears on the racecourse follows exactly the same concept as it does in cars. Put yourself in the following scenarios, and you'll understand how best to react to the hills and straightaways out on the racecourse.

Remember, on sailboats, one of the most important factors when it comes to shifting gears—especially on larger boats—is communication among the speed team, that is the trimmers, the driver, and the tactician. All of these people need to be aware of what is happening or what the goals are in particular situations. For instance, the tactician needs to know if the boat is at max trim in a close, port-starboard situation, because if it's not, he or she may want the sails sheeted to cross the other boat, or eased out to duck it.

"Having the trimmer provide feedback to the driver and tactician while making minor adjustments can make the difference between preserving your spot among the leaders and sucking bad air in the cheap seats."
Here's the scene: It's early morning and the crew is gathering at the boat on Day One of a regatta. The tactician arrives with the weather report and gives everyone the low-down on the expected conditions—light and variable. Someone says 'We'll need the entire newspaper and a Sports Illustrated to make it through the postponement.' Look on the bright side, it could be raining.

The first critical adjustment for these conditions—tuning the rig—should take place even before leaving the dock. Your boat's tuning guide (obtained from your sailmaker, class association, or boatbuilder) and whatever notes you've taken while practicing should indicate the best rig settings for light air, so make sure you've got this covered. The next call is which sails to use. Depending on what kind of boat you are campaigning, you may have the latitude of selecting different headsails and downwind sails for the day's activities. Obviously for a light-air day, you should think about bringing an appropriate spinnaker, not the heavy air 1.5-ounce kite. And you might want to leave any heavy air jibs on the dock and instead bring the light jib and an AP (all-purpose headsail) if that's an option.

Now let's fast-forward to the start. The brain trust in the back of the boat has gotten your team off to a perfect start, you've got a clean lane at the favored end with full speed on your way to the favored side of the racecourse. In these light and variable conditions, the headsail trimmer is always on the job, sitting in to leeward, at the winch, with the sheet in hand, not in the cleat or the self-tailer. It's important that he or she constantly provide feedback to the helmsman and tactician while making minor adjustments in sail trim according to the demands of the situation. This can make the difference between preserving your spot among the leaders and sucking bad air back in the cheap seats.

As you sail along, your boat speed starts to drop and the headsail begins to luff slightly as the angle of heel begins to decrease. All these are signs that the apparent wind is going forward, meaning that you're sailing into less pressure, which is like starting to climb a hill in a car. OK, it's time to downshift. The jib trimmer or tactician should communicate to the rest of the afterguard that the boat is sailing into less pressure. Then, working in unison with the mainsail trimmer and the driver, he or she can begin to get the boat moving as fast as possible.


It's those subtle adjustments you make to the trim of the sails and the trim of the boat that can keep your boat moving through even the least inspiring zephyrs.
Generally, the initial reaction in these situations is to begin easing the jib immediately, knowing that the sail is now sheeted too tight for the new wind. The trimmer should ease the sail gradually so that it doesn't cause the driver to over-steer and essentially chase the tell tales down in order to find his or her groove. So ease the sail just until the tell tales start flowing again. A typical exchange in such a situation might go something like this:

Trimmer Tim: "We're losing pressure and slowing down, I'm going to give you a slight ease."

Driver Dave: "OK, keep us moving."

Tactician Tina: "Yeah, we'll need the speed because we want to tack in the next two minutes."

Trimmer Tim: "All right, I'm eased three inches and the speed is beginning to come back."

In extreme situations, where the wind has dropped drastically, you may want to ease the headsail halyard tension and the backstay as well as move the sheet lead forward. If you make these adjustments, make sure all of this is communicated to the driver and tactician. Knowing how much the boat has slowed down and how much the wind has decreased will determine the amount of ease needed to get the boat back up to speed. Once the boat is going well enough to resume normal upwind angles for the new conditions, and the tactical situation permits, the headsail trimmer should begin sheeting in and telling his cockpit partners that he's getting it back to maximum upwind trim.

The second possibility in these conditions is an increase in pressure, which would be like starting down a hill in a car. An increase in pressure, when racing upwind, usually allows a boat to sail closer to the wind. When building pressure comes down the course and gets to your boat, the outer tell tales may begin to lift, indicating that the course your driver is steering is too low. There's usually about a two-second delay before the crew on the rail begins to yell: "You're heavy, head up!" Remember, a big change of course made rapidly in light conditions will result in a dramatic loss of boat speed, so don't let the driver over-steer in these situations.

Before the driver begins heading up, keep in mind that when the outer tell tales luff, it's also an indication that the sail might be over-trimmed. The headsail trimmer (sitting with the sheet in hand, ready to react) should communicate to the driver that he or she will ease the sail three inches, or whatever amount is necessary, to make the tell tales flow evenly again. This is when you start shifting into a higher gear to go down the hill. As the boat speed begins to increase, the driver can begin to head up toward the proper upwind angle and the trimmer can begin sheeting the headsail back to max trim. Remember, communication with the driver while sheeting will keep that person from heading up too far. Once again, the headsail halyard and backstay tension may also need to be adjusted for the increased pressure.

If there's one thing you can be sure of out on the racecourse it's that the wind is constantly changing, so you have no excuses for not practicing the technique of shifting gears. The next time you're out sailing upwind in light air, take a moment to sit down to leeward and start making some subtle adjustments in sail trim. If you pay attention to the tell tales and the boatspeed while you're doing this, you'll eventually develop a feel for how much ease is enough when the wind drops and how much trim is necessary when a puff hits. Good luck and good sailing.

Things we learned this year to go faster

I have posted my top entries where I thought it helped us go much faster this

year. If anybody in the crew thinks they have anything to add please do so in the comment section. I will add it to the list.

Lee bow defense – when a boat tacks in front of us the best defense we can use is to point higher when they cross and then go down for speed. To make it work the trimmers had to over trim and then trim for power. Then we would about every 15 seconds go up half a boat lane and then power off for speed. Most of the time if the trimmers were in form we could backwind their sails.

Mark roundings - in general when rounding marks try to approach wide and then cut it close. This will make it more difficult for the boat behind to sneak into the inside and give you problems.

At the leeward mark on windward / leeward courses try to come in on starboard to do a Mexican takedown. Usually we can sneak forward a number of boat lengths on our competition because we can keep the spinnaker right up to the mark.

Try to be on the left side of the starters on the committee boat side. By doing so we usually can bottle up and then stall the boats to the right of us.

Hang on the starting line when necessary to keep the position you want to start at. When we wanted to just hang on the line we would keep the main trimmed and let the headsail go to drop speed. In heavier air the main should also be eased so the boat can turn down when needed. When we wanted to accelerate again we would trim the headsail and head down. Also on a crowded line you can hold your position longer while normally the boat to leeward would skid down the line leaving you a clear lane after the gun.

On windward / leeward courses bias towards the left side of the course. By doing so we could very often avoid the traffic ahead of us thus disturbed air. It is always gutsy because it is required to get to the top mark on port but usually pays off.

In moderate air always turn up to a hot angle after a jibe. In order to sail low effectively the boat must be sailing its targets as soon as possible.

In heavy air the crew must jibe differently than in moderate air. The sheet must be pulled down instead of back when jibing in heavy air. It is also important the trimmer let the sheet go super fast after the spinnaker fills.

Shroud tension is very important. We would have the top of the mast fall off in conditions of 7 knots or less. Anything above that we would adjust it to keep it straight.

To save on slowing the boat down for spinnaker changes we would try to perform a jibe peel under the right conditions. This was done by raising the new spinnaker at the same time taking down the old spinnaker when jibing. We have found that peels have slowed the boat down to 4 knots so this is a great move.

Helmsman position in heavy to moderate air. We would as soon as possible after a tack have the helmsman sit on the high side of the boat behind the mainsail winch and the mainsail trimmer just in front of it. This way we would constantly work together on boat speed, trim and point. We could talk to each other without the crew talking over us.

In light air overtrim the main. By doing this the boat will register a little bit of weather helm. Otherwise the steering gets really squirrelly and to compensate the helmsman has to move the wheel around a lot to keep the boat straight.

If you hit a dead air hole with the spinnaker it is better to dump the spinnaker before you do anything. This will prevent the sail from collapsing into the shrouds to slow down the boat like an air brake. By just going bareheaded for a short time the boat can coast for a longer distance.

Put together a written sail selection guide and modify it as lessons are learned to what is faster. This is done by the intersection of apparent wind angle and wind speed and showing which is the best sail.

On a downwind leg spinnaker pressure is most important. We would have a constant dialog between the trimmer and helmsman regarding boat speed and pressure. By doing so we could point lower and as fast as any J/120 out there.

If in the lead cover, cover, and cover the closest competition. It does not matter if you win by 1 minute or 10 minutes. If you stay between the other boat and the mark or finish line it reduces the chances of getting rolled.


Subject: Still Learning...
Hey there - I know I have only been on the boat a few times, but the hours add up on two Macs and the Chimo Race!

Weight placement sensitivity is something that I've learned over the past few years... and racing on Carinthia and being on a chase boat for Friday of Harbor I have witnessed VERY different approaches to weight placement in the J120s. I have a decent amount of video that the class could actually analyze this winter if you're interested... It really seems as if the 'slower' boats were generally stern-heavy.

First hand, this year when the air got somewhat light in the PH-Mac, Hot Ticket was probably a good 1.5 miles away with their jib up, I was driving, we put up the Code 0, shifted some weight low, and some dogs-in-the-house...and we reeled them in.

When in doubt - test it out...move some folks around while watching the boat speed. Obviously if its super-duper light you don't want to be pouncing all over the place, but...stay in the game. People on the rail should always be engaged w/r/t where they should be sitting. They should know what "move the rack aft (or forward)" means...

:-) Lynn

Windsor Wednesday Race - Chimo

This was a river start in front of the Windsor Yacht Club. We got there a little early and found that there was wind at about 5 to 6 knots on the right side of the river coming from the south (mainland side) and in an upwind direction. I decided to start on the yacht club side as close as possible in order to not get caught in the traffic, thus disturbed air. Merlin started to our left with a little more speed, Jayhawker to the left of them about a 100 yards over and Night Moves was somewhere down stream fighting off Flyin' Irish. We were right on the line at the gun but started very slow. Merlin managed to get a little ahead of us by less than a boat length and Jayhawker was even a little more ahead. We all had to eventually go to the left side of the river as the wind speed dropped to about 1 to 2 knots in the middle and boats on the island side were moving out. I tried to stay on starboard as long as possible as tacking to port was really ugly. The current would pull us down the river. Just past the seawall we tacked back because there was a hole in the fleet. That turned out to be a mistake. Jhopper stayed on starboard behind us and got lifted to DP5. We did however passed DP5 in 2nd about 5 boat lengths behind. About a quarter of the way to DP7 the wind started to go right so we put up our code 0. We got it up before J put up their .6 oz and gained a little. Essentially we worked on catching J all the way to R8 with the code 0 round only a boat length behind. We got it partially down tacked and finished the take down. I made a small mistake where I thought that the code 0 had pulled into the headsail but did too early. That slowed down the foredeck crew so I needed to turn the boat down again. Fortunately for us at the mark Jayhopper had problems taking down their chute and ended up doing 360 degree turn. At this point we went into our conservative mode with only a headsail. We decided not to put up a code 0 inspite of a 50 apparent wind direction in case we got headed. As long as the boat behind us did not raise one we did not need to do it. When we got in the mouth of the river however Jhopper came in with some wind and got a little more pressure on the right side but it was not enough to pass us at the finish. Incredibly also there were other boats just leaving the river when we got there.

This was great finish to a great season. This was the 4th 1st place in a row we took this fall and this race cinched us for 1st place for the overall Windsor night series. I feel that the crew and our experience has carried us a long way. We are still making some mistakes but not enough to hurt our finishes. Talking to the crew I am sure that we want to continue to make our program better.

COURSE 1 (river start) - 9.6 nautical miles
Start to DP5 leaving it to port

-then to DP7 leaving it to port
-then to R2 leaving it to starboard (025M)
-then to R8 leaving it to starboard (054M)
-then to DP7 leaving it to starboard (225M)
-then to DP5 leaving it to starboard
-then to finish line.

Result: 1st out of 4 J120's
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Chimo%20Race.pdf

Yacht Club Team Challenge Race

Since we were representing Bayview we got some veteran club members for crew. Nick Cost served on the mast, Dane Christy as trimmer, Tim Prophet as trimmer, and Carl Kuspa as tactician and fireman. Regular crew members Colleen did halyard, navigation and trim, Rodney on the main, and Nancy on bow. Challengers in our class were Jayhawker representing LSSC (J120), Hard Attack (Mumm30), and Mr Bill (j35). This was a windward start with the committee boat slightly favored before the start. We ran the line on port and started at the committee boat side on port. After a short time we tacked to starboard and eventually Jayhawker crossed us. Karl had me come up a little as he crossed and then turn down a little as he tacked on top of us. This enabled us to get our nose out a little. A little scare occured when one of the trimmers let the main sheet winch loose and the main flogged, slowing us down. Thanks to the crew getting it in quickly and me turning the boat down a little we were able to recover our speed. From there on Rod and I worked on speed accelerating and then pointing to get us up into their lane to interfere with their sails from leeward. We got up to the windward mark with Jhopper about 10 boat lengths behind us. After rounding the top mark we made our second mistake. When the spinnaker went up the halyard got unattached when it was put up. The spinnaker fell to the water but the crew calmly pulled it out of the water reattached the spare halyard and put it back up. At this point the rest of the race was spent trying to get enough distance and half covering the J35 to get them on corrected time. We did that by 13 seconds, a little close for comfort but still a first place. This was a little bit of a navigational challenge since we were the first boat and they gave us the last trhee marks at the third mark but Colleen got us through it without a hitch. The other BYC teams Epic took first, Seafever took first and Jim Coolidge's boat took second. There was a little bit of a wait for the flags because Epic got protested for the length of his wisker pole in Jam but it turned out to be bogus and he prevailed. BYC takes 1st in the regatta for the 5th straight year.

Course: 199 degrees 2.6 miles, 19 degrees 2.6 miles, 200 degrees 1.32 miles, 198 degrees 1.29 miles, 78 degrees 1.26 miles, 350 degrees 2.24 miles at finish

Result: 1st out of a mixed fleet of 4

Windsor Wednesday Race

This course was 50 degree reach on course C. The pin end was again favored. Before the start we turned before Merlin on port and managed to squeeze in at the pin right at the gun and yet kept NM out on our left side. Merlin kept us a little high and we both let Jhopper squeezed out in front of us to leeward. Since we were inside boat rounded DP8 ahead of Merlin but behind Jayhawker. We all put up our code 0's. Jayhawler and us did a spinnaker peel to the downwind .6 oz chutes where Merlin did the change by putting out their headsail first. Because of this we both had to heat up a little higher until we made the change. Towards mark B Jayhawer decided to jibe just ahead of us so I beared downed a little to make it more complicated and the they twisted their chute. This in turn slowed down Merlin on starboard. At this point we jibed and managed to get in front of both of them. We jibed back on starboard and did a mexican takedown and came out fast on a close reach. At this point we managed to hold both of them off past DP7 and DP5 and finished in first.

This was an impressive performance by the crew. We did 3 good jibes and and a good take down with practically no warning within the space of 2 minutes. That won the race for us.

COURSE C - 7.6 nautical miles
Start to DP8 (243o) leaving it to port
-then to A (091o) leaving it to port
-then to B (007o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (247o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Result: 1st out of 5 J120's
Link:http://www.wyc.info/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Fall%20Race%207.pdf

GPYC Bluenose Regatta - the day of small spinnakers

The first leg was at 75 degrees to weather in 12 knots of wind with the committee boat slightly favored. The course was marks to port. The mistake I made at this start was to to not get to the committee boat side on port before the gun because I was concerned about getting leveraged above Jayhawker. I tacked to starboard about 10 seconds before the gun so we had good speed at the start. Merlin got in trouble so they tacked on port immediately and later was leading the fleet. I stayed on starboard because I was not willing to tack behind Ihnsanity and Night Moves ot our right and it put us right into the fishing fleet. They were packed in so tight I could not find a hole to go through so we had to make a few ugly tacks. After leaving the fisherman I just tacked to port because we were getting knocked on starboard. Before the race I noticed that we were getting periodic shifts to the right at the masthead 25 degrees compared to deck level. With nothing to lose I wanted to get on the right side of the course because I felt there would eventually a total shift. We went behind all the J120's and tacked to starboard when we got another knock. Incredibly the wind filled in from the right and we got great lift. Even more incredibly Ihnsanity, NM and Jayhawker tacked behind us and overstood because we were already on the layline. We got in a little ahead of Merlin and Victrix, a large 50 footer blanketed Merlin, a little more to Mark W. We rounded it in 1st and saw about a 70 degree apparent wind with about 16 knots of wind. We were prepared to raise the code 0 and when Merlin did we did also about a quarter the way down the leg. At that point it was a case of covering Merlin. At the next mark we jibed and covered Merlin and NM. NM fell farther behind when they had spinnaker problems. With Merlin we had to first cover to leeward and then to windward. We went higher on the course than I would of liked but we could not let Merlin get too far above our lane. We finished about 20 boat lengths ahead of Merlin.

This was windy code 0 day perfect for J120's. We got to blow through the whole fleet at 9 to 10 knots and kept our lead. The crew was a little short with each other because I think that everyone was nursing their hangovers from last night's Mackinaw award party (although it was pretty entertaining watching Colleen try to tie a bowline). It still was a great finish to the DRYA season. We finished 1st in windward / leeward, point to point, and overall in the J120's for the season.

Result: 1st out of 5 J120's
Link: http://www.drya.org/race2005/Results/gpycBN.htm

Windsor Wednesday Race

This race was with a a near port tack fetch to the first mark with the pin favored. I wanted to start at the pin end. I went over on starboard and was a little late letting Merlin in to our left and Jayhawker to our right. For some reason Flyin Irish decided to take Night Moves out early by being on starboard too long which took them both out of the race. On our approach to the first mark we did all we could to keep the boat going fast. This meant constant sail adjustment along with going down in the puffs and up in the lulls. By doing so we did not get gassed by Merlin and we got enough in fron to gas Jayhawker. We rounded DP8 in second right behind Merlin and raised our code 0. We managed to round mark A still behind Merlin. Since the next leg was downwind we did a jibe peel and went to the .6 oz. still behind Merlin. I tried coming in from the left side of the course so if we were even with Merlin we would have an inside overlap but unfortunately I think I over stood it a little allowing Merlin to get ahead again. The next leg to B was close reach where it was difficult to get past Merlin. The next leg to DP7 was a fetch so we still had problems passing them. In the mouth of the river we converged on 5 smaller boats. They managed to slow us down and Merlin squirted out in front of them. This hole in a wind hole in river allowed Jayhawker to pass us in a private wind shaft to our left. Boy I hate losing to Jayhawker that way.

COURSE C - 7.6 nautical miles
Start to DP8 (243o) leaving it to port
-then to A (091o) leaving it to port
-then to B (007o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (247o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Result: 3rd out of 5 J120's
Link:http://www.wyc.info/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Fall%20Race%206.pdf

Bayview Long Distance Race

This race started in front of Bayview between a committee boat and a pin. Wind conditions were only about 7 knots to weather with a lot of direction and intensity shifts. I wanted to get good boat speed biased to the right of the other boats because I felt there was more wind on the right side of course inspite of the faster current. Ihnsanity was still to our right at the gun while the other J120's fought for the pin with Merlin grabbing it from the outside. We stayed on the right side of the river while most of the other boats went up the left side. After a couple of tacks I tried to do as few starboard tacks as possible because the current would just push the boat down stream. We did not go back on starboard until we were out in the lake. That put us ahead of the other boats. Here is where my first mistake was made. Instead of covering the other boats I let them get in on the Michigan shore and NM managed to catch up and eventually passed us to weather. We tacked at the front range light but kept most of the boats to the left.

We continued to tack in the northeast wind when favorable. NM and the other boats except Ihnsanity went more right where we went into the bay on the shoreline. We got a wonderful lift following it. I could see that the smoke coming out of a large power plant was coming from the northwest so all we had to do is tack and get to Huron Point Buoy. Unfortunately the wind went right over the land and believe it or not gave that wind to leeward of us first. We rounded in 4th place (merlin had gone aground and withdrawn) flying a code 0. We did a jibe spinnaker change to our .6 oz chute. We managed to work by Jayhawker with boat speed and good trimming. I tried jibing left early in the channel but the current just slowed us down too much. When the wind went right again we eventually went to the headsail and then switched back to the code 0 with the wind at about 55 degrees aparrent to Thames River buoy.

We could see NM and Ihnsanity come out ahead of us at the buoy with Ihnsanity rounding 1 mile ahead of us. The first part of the trip back was with a code 0 and we switched to 3/4 AP. Mike was steering and he comment on slow the change was. We dropped to 4 knots and he did not see why the new chute did not fill faster. I think this was good instructional conversation. Firstly the new chute cannot fill until the old one is blown and starts to come down. Secondly it is important to turn the boat up to get the apparent boat speed faster to speed it back up. Of course when you are the wheel time always move slower. We managed to catch up to Large Marg at the river and almost rolled her. Crazy Horse with the much larger water line attempted to roll us at the front range light but could not. We did have spirited conversation about going to a headsail at the light because the numbers were showing 45 degrees apparent on the instrument. I could tell it was much more abeam because the kite was not strapped all the way in. I think we were just getting some windshear at the top.

Upon entering the river Ihnsanity was only a 1/4 mile ahead of us. They chose to hug the Michigan shoreline where we opted to stay out in the river. We had experienced the same thing last year with Merlin where they sailed right into a hole. This gave us enough speed differential to beat them right at the finish line by a boat length.

This race was obviously well sailed by Night Moves. They got in front and did the necessary cover moves to stay in front. They have become a very good competitor and the standings are starting to show it. They were so far ahead that they may get first overall for the race. We shall see.

Course: starting line leaving both Peche Island Range lights to starboard to buoy G1”PH” (Point Huron outer buoy (42° 33. 2’ N - 082° 44.8’ W)) which shall be left to starboard. Thence to G27 (42° 29.8’N - 082° 43.0’ W) which shall be left to port. Thence to the Thames River entrance channel outer buoy (RW “T” Mo(A)) (42° 20.7’N - 082° 28.6’W). Thence to the finishing line, leaving both Peche Island range lights to port.

Result: 2nd out of 5 J/120's
Link: http://www.drya.org/race2005/Results/bycLD.htm

Windsor Wednesday Race

This race was course 3 with a little favored on the pin side for a 7 knot weather leg. I wanted to start on starboard on the pin side and go to port as soon possible. 2 minutes before the start I ran the line on port and turned when I got close to Jayhawker on starboard. Unfortunately Merlin wanted to sneak in from the outside so I needed to duck him and then tried to jam it. Merlin was over early but it did not do us much good because I had to let the starboard boats (NM, Jhopper, and Flyin Irish) go by and then tacked to port. I felt at the time this was still favored since we were going down to DP8 to get in the current. They must of had a little more pressure on the left because NM still beat us around the pin. The following leg was a broad reach that got further back as we approached Mark A. NM stayed a little faster with their 3/4 and going a little higher. We did a Puerto Rican takedown and just got inside (after the pole was taken in) of an old IOR boat to enable us to pass them. The leg to CC was a fetch where we gained a little on NM. We continued on past CC where the wind speed dropped to 4 or 5 knots to get a little further down stream before tacking to get to DP7. There seemed to be more pressure on the island side so we tried to stay on the south side of the channel. Jhopper stayed a little more right and managed to tack in front of us where we were never able to make up the difference. Right at the end there was a little more wind on the left and Merlin almost caught up to us on starboard. Because we were a little further out in the river we continued on starboard when Merlin had to tack. That allowed us to finish before them.

This was a frustrating race because we could of done better but it did not pan out. A middle position is little like kissing your sister. The worst part is we lost to Jayhopper and I hate losing to Jay hopper.

COURSE 3 - 6.3 nautical miles
Start to DP8 (243o) leaving it to port
-then to A (091o) leaving it to port
-then to CC (291o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (251o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Result: 3 out of 5 J120's
Link: http://www.wyc.info/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Fall%20Race%205.pdf

Detroit Yacht Club Sweepstakes Regatta - Redemption!

This was a series of 2 W/L races. Conditions started light and variable with 2 start delays. Although the start was set up for 60 degrees about 6 knots wind, the pin side was extremely favored. I noticed that that in the J105 start that Creative managed to port start ahead of everyone at the pin. In the NA40 start the pin side was also favored. I tried to start on port but let Ihnsanity get underneath me. This was a near disaster as he started to force me up and I had to jam the boat up and then just missed the pin on the port side of the boat. Because of slowing down we crossed behind Night Moves on starboard. We sailed to weather well as we were able to sail a little above and caught up a little to Ihnsanity. I believe this was because we had tuned the mast to fall off at the top to leeward a little to get us a little speed advantage. In any case we managed to get to the top mark in 2nd just behind NM. We got our spinnaker up pretty fast and blanketed NM downwind. I decided I wanted to jibe to the left of NM so that when we came across on starboard so we could cross ahead. Later in the downwind leg I felt that the wind was a little stronger on the left so we came in on the layline and then did a mexican take down ahead of NM. This put us in 1st place. At this point it was a loose cover staying on the Canadian side of the course and winning the race.

Race 2 was with the wind at about 8.5 knots with the line fairly square. We started biased towards the pin side with

Ihnsanity in the middle and NM on the right side. We managed to work up on Ihnsanity and forced her away and then tacked underneath NM. When we tacked back on port Ihnsanity tacked right in front of us in our lane. Because NM was a couple lanes up we tacked out to get a clear lane and almost up to the left layline. Although we would not able to gain we could get clearer air and reduce the damage. After rounding the windward mark in 3rd we jibed right away to get on the left side of the course. We managed to catch up to a point where Ihnsanity rounded the leeward mark ahead of us but because we came in and did another mexican take down we were able to round on the inside of NM and climb up to 2nd. On this windward leg Ihnsanity incredibly tacked away from our lane a little past the layline and rounded in first. We had the NA40 Montabi round just ahead of us and I snuck in between them and the mark. He started to come down a little and thanks to Nancy's quick thinking of gathering the spinnaker so we would not touch the mark. We then filled the spinnaker and jibed to port. Although in first I wanted to stay to the left of Ihnsanity where if we had to cross we could do it on starboard. Fortunately at the finish line we did cross in front of her and jibed back in front of her because the left side of the line was favored and finished 1st. Both Night Moves and Ihnsanity sailed very good races for the finishes were all less than 50 seconds apart. I felt we used a couple of good tricks and again had some great crew work. Rob Ramirez said he liked the mexican takedown so much he wanted to rename it the Puerto Rican takedown. In any case we had some mediocre starts and managed to climb back up...redemption. Maybe we can get another picture of the trophy again this year.

Result: 1 out of 3 J120s
Link: http://www.drya.org/race2005/Results/dycsweep.htm

Windsor Wednesday Race

This race was course D with an even line with the wind maybe 20 degrees from behind. It was a port start with a code 0 launch. Because the true wind was behind the line I wanted to be by the committee boat side and slide down the line launching the chute early which we did. Unfortunately we could not seem to get enough boat speed so most of the J120's rounded the first mark in front of us. We gibed around the mark and continued on a starboard tack with the code 0. We continued to go slow when Mike revealed to me that we had attached the sail on backwards. This explained the slowness and flogging. At this point we put up the head sail and switched to the AP spinnaker. We rounded mark B tied for last place where Jayhawker did a mexican takedown so he tacked while we continued on starboard. Merlin was on the same tack ahead of us so at the first opening I tacked to port. I tacked again at the near layline on starboard at mark A. The next leg was again a close reach with the code 0. We stayed low on Jayhawker and Merlin and managed to inch them out at mark D. The next leg was a windward one where we stayed on port and then tacked when the it was evident the boat ahead was slowing us down. We tacked on port later and went to the layline of DP7 since it was further down stream. We managed to stay on starboard a little past DP7 and tacked in front of Flyin' Irish a little to windward. We managed to hold her off the rest of the way down the river and took 2nd. The only brilliant thing I had to say about this race was they managed to pull this out of our butts after such a problematic early race.

COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles
Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard
-then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard
-then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard
-then to D (296o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Result: 2nd out of 5 J120s
Link: http://www.wyc.info/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Fall%20Race%204.pdf

Crescent Sail Yacht Club Regatta

This regatta was a dented trapezoid course with the first leg starting at 67 degrees on a starboard reach. The right pin mark was extremely favored. I chose to come in on port and tack inside Night Moves and Jayhawker to windward. After the gun went off although we were within 2 boat lengths of the right pin Jayhawker started yelling at NM to move to windward. He kept yapping about he must have room to go up but did not seem to understand he had give to both of us room within two boat lengths of the mark since we had an overlap. NM put up their code 0 first since he was getting gassed and had room below to put it up. Since JH to leeward took their time putting theirs up we had to wait for them to slide behind us to put ours up. At the next mark NM got there before us and dropped the code 0 and went back to a headsail. We got up there and for some reason the furling line came up in a knot. The only thing I could do was point the boat up, go slow and make the boats behind us go below us. Fortunately we were able to hold onto second by doing our go fast act. We got lifted to the next mark but unfortunately we did have to take a short hitch at the end because of boats rounding ahead of us. Here we tried to tack but for some reason the spinnaker was tangled up in it and it was another disaster. Because we were so slow we had to tack behind Merlin and then round mark B for a downwind leg with the .6 oz. Creative, a J105 was doing some shrimping with his spinnaker so we had to take him on the right and do a set. Merlin did a jibe set and was on the other board ahead

of us. This is where it got interesting. We had caught up to Merlin and only was maybe a boat length behind on the same board. Since we had trouble rolling them I had us do a quick starboard jibe and hope for better wind. When we crossed again we were ahead by about 2 boat lengths. I had intended to do a mexican takedown at the next mark but because I lost sight of the mark I jibe too soon. Because of this we had to jibe in front of Merlin and they rolled us before we got to mark C. The next leg was another reach and rounding it I managed to get inside of Merlin. We got our small spinnakers up and we did roll Merlin again. At this point I saw some bad weather and a header so I dropped out spinnaker first. Merlin dropped his right after but not before they rolled us again. When we hit mark we tacked to starboard right away and to get out from under them. This when the one inch of rain hit. What I did not realize was all the other boats stayed on port and then tacked when the win shifted 30 degrees in their favor. It was at this point we lost the race. The major mistakes I felt I made in this regatta was not preparing the crew enough for certain moves. I usually make it a point to be redundant about preparing for any moves and maybe these mistake would not have been made. Because our crew work this year has been much better than average I think sometimes I get complacent. When things did go wrong it did set us back. I also made a major mistake of not getting somebody in the crew to spot the mark I wanted to do a mexican takedown at. We would of crossed in front of Merlin. The worst mistake I made was not being aware of the changes in wind direction when the thunderstorm hit. I should of not got distracted by the conditions.

Result: 5 out of 5 J120's
Link: http://www.drya.org/race2005/Results/csyc.htm

Windsor Wednesday Race - Scha-wing!

This race we took Tom and Amy from Hot Ticket. This was a starboard close reach course (66 degrees) with the air coming from about 130 degrees at about 8 knots with the pin side favored. I chose to use the light #1. 3 of the J/120's approached the start on starboard from farther back and Merlin came in from port following the line. I went around the pin, came in on port, and tacked when I got close to the first starboard tack boat. We managed to hit the pin end at about half a boat length behind the line at the gun a little slow. Night Moves was right behind us and I chose to go up into their lane to gas them a little bit. When we got a little distance on them we went down leeward to Merlin who at the time was about even with us. Going farther up the leg we concentrated on boat speed (meaning constant sail trim). All we needed was a few feet forward and we could start gassing them. With adjustments made by Rod, Ben, and Mike (moving the lead forward and back)we were able to get that distance and then blanket them. This put us ahead of Merlin and NM about 10 boat lengths at the top mark. This time I chose to delay putting up the 3/4 until I was sure it was the right sail after rounding. We put it up and extended our lead to the next mark. By having clear air we had kept our distance on NM, the next J120. The next mark was also another close reach and we rounded without problem. The next downwind leg was with the .6, performed a Mexican takedown and rounded inside of Dirty Harry, a J105 going slow. The next leg was a close reach and we managed to roll him and came in close behind Creative, another J105. Fortunately they let us cut in underneath them without laying down on us. The following leg was againwith the head sail on a close reach. The last leg to DP7 we put up the .75 spinnaker because we were about at 60 degrees apparent. NM went with their code 0 and that proved to be a problem in the river. Our sail was larger and we were able to sail it a little lower without collapsing it. We finished less than a minute ahead of NM and finished first. This race I felt we were back in the groove with very little mistakes made tactically and crew work. Even Colton enjoyed steering the finish. I would rate it a sha-wing.

COURSE B - 7.5 nautical miles
Start to B (065o) leaving it to port
-then to D (261o) leaving it to port
-then to DP8 (208o) leaving it to port
-then to CC (063o) leaving it to port
-then to D (309o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.
Result: 1 out of 5 J120's
Link: http://www.wyc.info/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Fall%20Race%202.pdf

Windsor Wednesday Race

Unfortunately we had only 5 of our crew to do this race. Merlin was kind enough to lend us Lara Scheibner and another crew member for the race. This start was in about 5 to 6 knots of air to weather with the committee boat side favored. I decided to start on starboard. Because we were a little early I did have to do a couple of s turns and slow downs to not be early. I tacked to port just before the gun to clear the anchor line and Night Moves almost rolled us to weather. Working with Lara Scheibner we managed to work up a couple of lanes to squeeze them out. We stayed on port and sailed right up to the layline because I thought there would be more wind by shore and then tacked. We managed to round first of the J120's. Since it was a short leg I had us put up the .6 oz which was a mistake. Merlin kept their headsail and almost caught us because it was close reach. We still managed to round in first with Merlin close behind. I chose to jibe and Night Moves almost caught us and then jibed away. Merlin who had stayed on the right side of the course crossed and consolidated in front of us. We managed to stay in second on a short 1 mile windward leg. On the next downwind leg Jayhawker managed to come up on our starboard side. They passed us a little in the river and it was an real battle to stay clear of them because I could not see them. We put up our headsail when we were headed but did not get enough distance to beat them. The main lesson of this race is I should of covered Merlin on the first downwind leg and I should of dumped the spinnaker when I saw that we were not going fast enough.

Result: 3 out of 5 J120's
Link: http://www.wyc.info/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Fall%20Race%201.pdf

Grosse Pointe Yacht Club Regatta

W/L Race cancelled because of no wind. We got however a chance to practice our halyard jumping.

Delivery to Detroit

This is not a race entry but I wanted to post the photos of delivery stop made with Merlin and Jayhawker at Thunder Bay Island. It was just like a stop in the North Channel.

Little Traverse Regatta Day 3 - Schizophrenia!

The start of this race was delayed until we had adequate wind. In this race I wanted to get to the right side of the line since it was favored. I had to tack when Bounder tacked to starboard and I did not see any holes behind him. This race finally had some heavier air from 16 to 20 knots. We managed to put away Ihnsanity and Jayhawker from leeward. Merlin and Perseverence tacked in front of us but we hung in there. I went to a #3 on the second upwind leg but it turned out to be the wrong choice. We seemed to be doing well with the other J120's with #3's but could not keep up with the ones with #1's upwind. We switched back to the #1 on the next upwind leg while doing well with Perseverence and Merlin. We passed Merlin while even with her on port on the downwind leg and Merlin came over on starboard to take us out to the corner for the pin. When they jibed back they put an hourglass in their chute and we passed in front of them. On the same leg we passed Perserverence because they had already blown their .6 oz spinnaker and were flying their .75 oz chute. At that point we stayed in front on the next upwind leg and overstood a little the mark in order to control P and not make an extra tack. On the next downwind leg Merlin was right behind us and we did a leeward takedown early to stay conservative. I figured if Merlin pulled down their chute well we would still be on the inside of the mark. Merlin had trouble pulling it down so we left them in the dust. At that point we just covered to finish first. We took our spinnaker down early and overstood the windward mark a little bit. I figured in both cases if the boat behind us caught up they would still have to go through our air. This race was won by near perfect crew work and the good advise of Art Le Vasseur. We managed to finish dead *ss first in PHRF D and the entire fleet. Totally opposite of yesterday. Like I said it was Schizophrenia!

After all was done we found out by this race if we beat Hot Ticket we would win the J120 Great Lakes Trophy. Unfortunately they had the forestay seperate and lost their rig. Not the way to win it but this was a wonderful race for us.

Result: 1st of 7 J120's, 1st of 16 PHRF D, 1st of 43 in entire fleet
Link: http://www.ltyc.org/regatta_results/2005/2005Fleet.HTM

Little Traverse Regatta Day 2 - Ugh!

We started this race in about 3 knots of air. We started towards the left side of the line. I had a couple of boats that were over early so they managed to gas us at the start. Hot Ticket was on our left so that forced us into Hot Tickets lane. From there it went from bad to really bad. We could not seem to catch the whiffs of air in any of the bay. We kept trying different lanes from the boats in front of
us and it just put us further and further back. In any case they pulled the finish line right after we finished. I think it was the worst race of the entire year.

Result: dead *ss last in the PHRF D

Little Traverse Regatta Day 1

This was a series of three races. The wind most of the time except the last one was under 2 knots.

The first race I tacked the boat to starboard soon before the start and it put us behind the line. I saw Perseverance tacked to port to get the left side of the line and he put him self way ahead of the fleet. We managed to get only a 6 out of 7th because we could not just get the wind.

The second race we were over early. I should of jibed the boat when over early to come back on port to go in the other direction. By dipping and staying on starboard all we did was kept us under 2 other boats. The only uplifting part of the race was on the last downwind leg we kept way to the lake side of the course were there was more wind and we managed to carry it in a half circle course to finish ahead of Jayhawker who was stuck in a hole in the middle of the course.

The third race we had a reasonably good start on the committee boat side of the line. We had agreed before hand that we would go to the right side of the course to get lift off the shore. We tacked under two boats to our right and went up that side. When all the other boats tacked back on port we were ahead of all of them. We should of covered Perseverance since he was the lead boat but did not because it was decided that we would cover the left boats. When we tacked back Perseverance managed to tack ahead of us where we were the second to round. Capers tacked back on starboard with us but we managed to get a little ahead of them to force them back. The next two legs we kept our position behind the red boat. On the last downwind leg we got behind Perseverence maybe a 1000 yards before the finish. He came up in anticipation of us rolling him. I saw that he was nearly parallel to the line and I ducked him and we jibed the main. We managed to finish in first by a few feet.

Results: 1st race 6 out of 7
2nd race 6 out of 7
3rd race 1 out of 7

Bayview Mackinaw Race - ver.21.6!

This race started to weather coming out of the Northeast at about 8 knots after a 40 minute delay. At the beginning we got a reasonable start. I went in on port at about 4 minute before the start and turned to starboard when the boats turned to starboard. I managed to get the favored right side of the line and was about 10 boat lengths at the gun half a boat length behind it. This allowed Flyin Irish and some other J120s to go to weather of us. This allowed Capers to get up to our windward side. We stayed a little to left of rhumb to stay away from the Canadian shore a little later on. Unfortunately some in our class stayed a little to left of us before Southhampton and we rounded in 5th with Hot Ticket 15 minutes ahead. After we rounded we went to .75 oz and code 0. We were averaging 11 knots when the wind picked up. About 25 miles out from Spectacle Reef we got gusts up to 26 knots. I was down sleeping when I heard a bang that did not sound good. Our 3/4 oz. chute blew and the crew was beginning to gather it up. Once cleaned up we went to our code 0 again. The wind picked up even more. When I was driving we got Carinthia up to 18 knots and I was estatic. Mike took over and we then did 21.6 for at least for a minute and a half. Previous to this the fastest I ever had the boat was 16! I guess after 21.6 that just does not seem as fast. 15 minutes later our halyard blew so I dialed the boat down to a headsail. When the wind slowed down a bit we went back to the code 0 where at this point we could see Hot Ticket to leeward. This reinvigorated us to really work on boat speed.
We stayed even with Ticket for a time but the loss of our 3/4 hurt us and they pulled slowly ahead. At that point the wind came out of 260 degrees and we were tacking with for miles and miles. Finally about 8 miles out we tacked towards Canada and Ticket did not cover. I knew that the wind coming our of the west the best place to approach the island would be from the north. Ticket chose to tack along Boblo. We kept waiting for HT to announce their finish but it did not happen right to our finish. Some one looked behind and saw Merlin finishing just ahead of Ticket. Apparently Ticket thought Merlin was Carinthia. This lucky break allowed us to sneak in.

One thing of note. The entire crew stayed up the last fifteen hours and did all that was neccessary to keep the boat moving including huddling on the windward rear quarter to keep the boat upright. Great job guys!

Crew: Rod Weston, Colleen Scoville, Lynn Kotwicki, Baker Keeler, John Harvey, Mike Badendiek, Nancy Caldwell, Ben Thorsen, Nathan Caspers

Result: 2nd out of 9 boats
Link:
http://www.byc.com/mack05/results-south.cfm?Class=J120&Class2=OD

Runup to Bayview Mackinaw

Rodney sent me an email regarding Robs Amsler's comments in the freep. I guess you can't win anything in the paper. Its got to be on the water!

"Merlin, owned by Robert Amsler of Clinton Township, won the J-120 class last year and will be a contender this year. But it will have some tough competition. "Our standard best competition has been Hot Ticket up through the years, but this year, there are two big guns that are coming on strong, Carinthia and Night Moves," Amsler said. "If I weren't betting on me, I'd be betting on the two of them and probably Carinthia, because they are both doing great jobs." "All are Detroit-area boats."

Here is an excerpt from the Detroit News -

"Lynn Kotwicki of Royal Oak will crew on the 40-foot Carnithia, which will sail on the Southampton Course. She said the women who sail the Mackinac race make their teams stronger. "You'll find that the boats that have women perform better, in my opinion," Kotwicki said. "I think there is a better chemistry on those boats. The women help level out the macho-ness of the guys. And plus, people don't realize what a deep experience this is. You're with a group of people, racing in sometimes tough conditions, night and day. You really get to know people, and I think that's a very special experience. "It's like going away to adult summer camp. The sailing is great, the people are even better."

Grosse Pointe Sail Club Regatta

This was a series of 2 windward/leeward races. The first race was started with the wind only blowing maybe 3.5 to 4 knots. It was apparent that the committee boat side was heavily favored. On top of that the top pin placement boat said on the the radio that the wind was already at 90 degrees even though the course had been setup at 70 degrees. It was real important that we get on the committee boat (right) side of the course. There was a large opening on the committee boat side of the course but Night Moves also saw it and turned on our leeward side and filled the hole. I immediately put our boat to windward to slow us down so I would not be caught barging. This was enough for NM to get a boat length ahead of us on boat lane below us. Fortunately most of fleet was spread out on the line so they were already behind at the start. NM was eventually able to drive up into our lane so we had to tack. From this point on they covered us the rest of the race to win and we took second by 44 seconds.

The second race the committee boat was still favored in 6 knots of air and the rest of the fleet grasped this by coming in from the committee boat side. I decided early to stay more on the pin side on port and tacked to starboard when the first starboard tack boat reached us. This worked really well. We were on the line at the gun the left of all the boats. By doing this it also bottled up some of the boats that were coming in from the right. Starboard tack was favored by a little bit but the largest problem we had was Hot Ticket was to our right on the same step of the windward ladder. We came up to their line by alternately going a little low and fast and then punching up to get up a lane at a time. I was very concerned if they stayed there they would take us out past the layline and would make us follow them in to the windward pin. We managed enough to start back winding their sails and they were forced to tack early. They went through to leeeward of the the other 3 boat fleets so when we crossed again we were able to round ahead of them. The next downward leg we had all 4 J120's on our wind so I decided to jibe to get clear air. We were able to come in hot at the leeward pin and do a Mexican takedown. At this point coming out on port we had a NA40 Montombi ahead of us slowing our acceleration. We tacked and we just started covering Night Moves who we felt was our closest competition. We were able to hold him off the rest of the race and finish 40 seconds ahead of them in 1st. I think between strategy and crew work it was nearly a perfect race. If you take our total time for both race NM beat us by 4 seconds but the rules read if you are tied in points the last race takes precedence. Next race....Mackinaw!

Result: 1st out of 5 J120's for the series
Link: http://www.drya.org/race2005/Results/gpsc.htm

Windsor Wednesday Race

Course B a downwind race with only 1 or 2 knots of air. This is race I would rather forget. We got about 100 feet past the starting line and the wind died. We were drifting toward mark D and worked on getting to the right of the mark since the current was pulling us down. We managed to maneuver between Dirty Harry and Windshadow at the mark since Windshadow was going really slow. The next leg we were ahead of HT and NM and tacked to starboard so that we would not get caught on the wrong side of DP7 with the current. HT and MV kept on the board and managed to get lifted to the mark and we rounded dead last. At this point Flyin Irish dropped out and we jibed at the mark to catch a little wind but the other boats were just too far ahead. After DP5 we practically drifted to the finish line. Sometimes I just hate Lake St. Stupid. At least James's son JD had a good time and the fireworks were good.

Result: 4 out 5 J120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Spring%20Race%207.pdf

DBC/GPC Regatta

The first leg of this triangular course was at 67 degrees with a favored left spinnaker run. The wind conditions 6 to 7 knots were at about 280 degrees with the wind tending to go north. The starting line was the seawall of the GPC and a pin with the pin side more favored. We watched the 6 starts before us to get an idea of what was favored since it was a pretty long starting line. Somehow or another I kept asking the order of the starts in case they were off and when it came to our time I saw the code 8 flag 30 seconds before the start and we got up to the pin on port as quick as we could. Hot Ticket was there on starboard but was little slow getting its spinnaker up. So we were able to jibe and get our spinnaker up at the same time with us being a little to windward. at first Merlin seemed to be going pretty fast but up ahead I saw the boats were in a giant hole. So instead of falling down to her I decided to go up to HT on our starboard. We were almost even when I saw the boats ahead getting headed to the point of putting up their genoas. This allowed us to prepare for when we hit the header we were able to change headsails almost instantaneously. The next part of the course was just trying to keep the boat going fast. Whenever we got a header (starboard tack was favored ) we tacked the boat to get in front of HT since they were the closest competition. We paid extra attention to headsail trim. The wind was changing much faster than I could turn the boat to adjust. We came to the top mark on port to cover HT and found out the course was to shortened directly back to the finish. We tacked at the mark, did a leeward set and jibed the boat. HT did a jibe set. We threaded our way through the fleet and HT had to do an emergency jibe to miss a freighter. This kept him behind us the entire way back to the club. About 200 yards from the finish line, a quarter a mile ahead of HT, the wind died. It was like hitting a wall. We changed to a genoa and the wind then backed again. Unfortunately HT came in with the wind and beat us by 1 boat length. We led the entire race. I guess when the wind gods decide to take a dump they can do it in strange places.

Result: 2nd out of 5 J120s

Link: http://www.drya.org/race2005/Results/gpcdbc.htm

Windsor Wednesday Race

This was a port favored tack to windward start with the committee boat at the left side of the line slightly favored. Wind was 10-12 knots out of the NW sunny conditions, course B. We worked our way up the line on starboard doing a couple of stop and goes. At the starting gun I had to punch up a little to clear the committee boat anchor line with Flyin Irish and Night Moves passing behind us at full speed on port. We continued for about 1500 yards and tacked to starboard. I saw a little more pressure on the left side of the course and I wanted to be left of the other J120's. Because Rod was constantly adjusting the main in puffs and lulls, we were able to tack before the top mark in front of FI and NM. We put up the .6 spinnaker nearly flawlessly. The next mark we needed to just turn down as we got lifted farther down the course. At the turn we did get stuck in some traffic and in particularly a green C&C35. Merlin had snuck in ahead and then he decided instead of coming up to get out of our way (we were leeward boat) he decided to come down to us. 40 boat lengths out he then started to scream at me about giving him room at the mark. I did reply that was not necessary until the 2 boat circle. I was tempted to have a crewman get the rule book and throw it to him because he just could not understand the concept. In any case Merlin managed to stay ahead of us at the next mark. It was a near fetch and we managed to stay a couple of lanes ahead of him. We almost managed to pass him but in the last quarter of the leg he came up and then dipped so we could not get an overlap with him. On the next leg Flyin Irish did manage to pass us to port and NM came screaming in from behind on our port. Past DP5 we got headed and we took our spinnaker down a little earlier than the other boats. We managed to nudge out NM and then nudged out Flyin Irish. The wind as usual was fluky and Mike and Colleen did a great job of keeping it trimmed by adjusting the headsail and lead to make our boat speed faster than NM and FI. With this 2nd and Jayhawker's 6th we are solidly in 1st place for the season.

Result: 2nd out of 6 J/120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Spring%20Race%206.pdf

Windsor Canadian Club Long Distance Race

The start was at Canadian mark "CC" with the wind at about northeast about 10-12 knots. The pin side was heavily favored and there were 3 other J120's starting. I was a little late getting to the line and Hot Ticket was able to get to the pin to windward to us and take the lead.  The leg was a 2.5 mile port fetch so we had to follow her to mark AA. The next let was a 7.3 mile beat and we were able to round behind Ticket. The next 14.1 mile leg was a close reach at about 45 degrees apparent. About 3 miles down in the leg we put up our code 0 because of a little bit of a lift. We managed to stay to windward of Flying Irish and had decent boat speed. We caught up to HT but she tried to come up to us. We were still able to roll her. Unfortunately Flying Irish got a little ahead of us. About a mile before the Thames River mark we put up our .6 oz chute. We rounded right behind Irish, the new leader, but the lazy sheet was not released and we almost got rolled by HT it was such a bad jibe. Later on the next 20.3 mile leg the wind picked up and we got rolled by Jayhawker because they were using their reaching chute. We changed to our .75 but could not make up the difference to the finish. Although we placed 3rd we did pretty well with the entire fleet because we finished with some large boats.

Result: 3rd out of 4 J120's

Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/pdfs/WYC%20Canadian%20Club%20Race%20Results.pdf

Windsor Wednesday Race

This was a starboard tack to windward start, gust to 22 knots out of the NW with light rain showers, course C. The pin side was favored so my plan was to start there from the middle of line. When I did the initial approach I realized that we would not make the pin so 45 seconds before the gun I had to tack to port to get up the line and then get back on starboard. This unfortunately put us behind by 20 seconds and under the other boats so when we got to the windward pin we were 5th with Flying Irish on the outside. Hot Ticket left us a hole the size of a house so I was able to sneak into the inside of the mark to pass her. The next leg was a port jibe almost dead downwind. We put up the .6 oz chute so we were able to go much lower than most of the other J120s. When jibing both Flying Irish and Jayhawker blew apart their spinnakers. It was enough to allow us to jibe in front of Jayhawker. At the top of the leg Night Moves jibed to starboard and since we had an overlap we had to do the same. We had only 6 people so the jibe actually went well. With this move Night Moves was able to get the shorter distance to the mark. Night Moves tacked at the windward mark and we did the same behind them. The next two legs were fetches so although we could gain a little distance due to fast reactions of trim to gusts by the crew, we were also able to hold off the competition behind us. The last leg in the river after DP5 was a number of tacks to the finish. Because of our finish we were able to gain another 2 points up on Jayhawker in the standings for a solid first place for the spring season.

Result: 3rd out of 6 J120's
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/regatta2005/WYC%202005%20Spring%20Race%205.pdf

Irked by IRC

US Sailing just posted the IRC handicap numbers for most of the J120s participating in the Bayview Mackinaw. It was our hope that the numbers would be reasonably close but there is a 34 minute differential over 48 hours between Merlin and Night Moves. What makes it even worst is that Merlin is hull #98 and Night Moves is hull #99. Hank Mistele is pissed and I dont blame him. After 7 years of racing one design we have found absolutely no difference in boat speed with these boats. Luiz Kahl has refused to make our ratings the same so here we are stuck with this problem. The J120 owners are in this class because we wanted to race boat for boat. There has to be a better way!

Windsor Wednesday Race

This was course D starting at a broad reach on port. The first leg was only about a half mile but I noticed that the starting line was cocked severely to the pin side. The wind was only 10 knots when we came out but at the starting gun it go up to 18 - 20 true. We did not pull out our headsail until 2 minutes before the start gun because I was more interested in placing us to line at the pin at the gun. Jayhawker started a little right to us but a little behind so we were able to gas him after the start in spite of him trying to force us up to the other boats. That was enough to allow us to round the mark first. The next leg was also a nearly 2 mile broad reach were we were able to hold off the rest of the fleet without putting up our spinnaker. Some of the other boats had put up their spinnakers and were broaching all over the place. The next leg was a beat and I decided to split the difference between the two boats behind us. Unfortunately Jayhawk managed to round the next mark on starboard so I had to let him in. Because their trimmers were not ready they went past the mark causing more problems for us. When we went on the next reaching leg I decided to go to a #3 sail because of the appearance of thunder storms in front of us. I did not know how much wind was in them and was worried about blowing out the main by luffing it. The bare headed change caused us to lose a place to Merlin and we were not able to make it up in the rest of the race. Unfortunately the wind speed did drop after the sail change so it just hurt our chances.

Result: 3rd out of 6 J120's

Detroit Noods Day 3

Today was a disappointment as well as a day of triumph. We started the day with a tie with Hot Ticket for 3rd place at 20 points with Merlin and Capers tied for first at 15 points. We had a relatively good start being maybe 8 feet off the line a little bit ahead of most of the fleet. We stayed left early and then tacked under 5 boats on the layline. Unfortunately since we were not ahead enough we got rolled so we rounded the top mark in 4th right behind HT. We managed to round the lower mark in 3rd with HT though. HT did beat us to the top mark again but stayed on the left side on the downwind leg to get an inside overlap. Bob D. went to the starboard side of the boat to point out to HT that we did have an inside overlap. We came out gassing HT to windward where we went out to the layline and HT tacked for clear air. We did overstand the layline so even though we came in hot it gave HT maybe a quarter boat length to gas us from leward to win the race by half a boat length with HT finishing 1st and Carinthia 2nd. The HT people sailed a great regatta and they beat us on the course instead of the room. The crew work today was nearly flawless and I am very proud of them. If not for either of the mark touches yesterday we could of carried the whole regatta. Damm!

Result:
1 Merlin Rob Amsler 19.00 1 1 4 1 4 4 4
2 Hot Ticket Bob Kirkman 21.00 5 7 3 2 1 2 1
3 Capers Don Hudak 21.00 3 3 1 3 2 3 6
4 Carinthia Kern 22.00 2 2 2 6 7 1 2
5 Night Moves Mistele 34.00 6 4 7 4 3 5 5
6 JHawker Sandlin 44.00 8 5 8% 7 6 7 3
7 Ihnsanity Ihnen 45.00 4 6 6 8 8 6 7
8 Flyin' Irish Bresser 49.00 7 8 8 5 5 8 8