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.