Windsor Wednesday Race - That was a lot of wind!

This was another goofy race. The wind was consistently blowing out of 30 degrees at 20 to 21 knots. The committee boat was anchor challenged. They delayed a series of starts because they drifted downstream. I think they gave up because by the J120 start they had drifted nearly 3/4 a mile near DP7 (entrance to the Windsor Channel). Since the 3/4 mile line was parallel to the wind I chose to simply aim for the pin from a little up wind. Fortunately Merlin left me a big space to sneak in on starboard. Since eventually Merlin was going to wax us underneath I decided to go port for the long part of the leg. We just came in right of the mark but that was ok since Merlin would have to go behind us before tacking. The next leg to D was just a close reach so we held our lead there. Going down to DP8 Hot Ticket got their 1.5 spinnaker up before we did and got a little lead. Merling start catching us with their 3/4 when they had a catastrophic spinnaker failure.
We rounded DP8 behind HT and went to the #3 genoa again. No changes there. It was when we passed D that I decided to go to the 3/4 since it was run. We were not hurt until we hit DP7 when the fact that the port sheet was led over the lifeline. Because we were not able to get in our spinnaker we lost distance to Merlin who then passed us. It still was a close race considering we were only 11 seconds behind Hot Ticket. In any case it was a lot of wind and I think we were all exhausted by the end.

Result: 3rd out of 6 J120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/regatta2006/WYC%202006%20Fall%20Race%203.pdf

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.

Crescent Sail Yacht Club Regatta - 2nd tier start, 2nd tier finish

This was a starboard reaching start with the first leg at 29 degrees to mark D. The wind was coming out to maybe 100 degrees at 11 to 12 knots. It was needed that we start at the right side of the line. Unfortunately I turned a little too late to get up on the line although there was space 50 yards wide that I could of sneaked through. Merlin stood right on the line and went right when the gun went off so he got a great start with Night Moves following close behind. We only had 5 people for this race so we took our time putting out the code 0. I waited for Merlin and NM to put theirs up since we were in the lane above them. Jayhawker had problems with their spinnaker and the guest appearance of Ihnsanity started low and then took Hot Ticket up and then passed her with her 1.5 oz. chute. As we approached the first mark the wind started going behind us. Ihnsanity almost caught us but had to round behind us. The next leg was a weather leg with the favored being starboard. We simply went to weather of Ihnsanity. At this point we were unable to gain on the boats in front but did not lose any places even though we were extremely light on rail weight. Jayhawker must of had 8 people on the rail. The following leg was another weather leg and we still rounded 3rd. The next leg was a downwind leg where we had Jayhawker trailing us about 5 boat lengths back. We went a little higher than I wanted but Jayhawker eventually gave up and jybed. Before the last leg we put up our .75 under our genoa because the wind was going to be much closer. It was the right move since we had no rail weight. Again we finished 3rd. We did race consistently with a shortage of people so I guess 3rd is not so bad as kissing my sister.

Result: 3rd out of 6 J120s
Link: http://www.drya.org/race2006/Results/csyc.htm
Course: Start, D, C, B, A, Finish

Windsor Wednesday Race - Spinnakers, Schlimakers

This start was a fetch to starboard with the committee boat being favored. After watching many of the starts I knew it was going to be a fight to get a good start at that end because everyone would want the pole position. Instead I decided to come in on port and tack to starboard when I met the first boat. That seemed to work as we hit the line right when the gun went off. We had Jayhawker on our right hip and it was a struggle to get enough of lane and distance gain to shake them off. With this we rounded the mark first and went to a .6oz. chute about 2 boat lengeths ahead of Hot Ticket. We managed to lose enough on this leg where Hot Ticket passed us and then messed up the jybe by not releasing the lazy guy. However we still rounded in 2nd place and jybed. This is where I made my first tactical mistake. I should of done a mexican takedown and then we could of put up any chute we wanted. Instead we went slow with the .6 oz and then had to take replace it with a genoa as we got headed. Night Moves had put up their headsail up early and were higher than us when he put up his code 0. The rest of the way down we put up our code 0 trailing NM and HT to the mouth of the river. As we got in the mouth the J105 Windshadow took HT up and I took the opportunity to go low as I saw there was more wind ripples in the middle of the river. We managed to stretch out a 100 yard lead to HT to finish second. Thank you Al Fick!

Result: 2nd out of 6 J120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/regatta2006/WYC%202006%20Fall%20Race%202.pdf

COURSE 1 - 6.0 nautical miles
Start to A (110o) 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.

Grosse Pointe Yacht Club - At least the party was good

This was a windward leeward race only 6 knots of wind with only 3 J120s participating. My desire for this start was to go to the pin side on starboard and then tack to port. What I found was Ticket got on my left side and I had to get to the left of them for the gun. Unfortunately this was not the side I wanted to start on. I had to wait for HT to tack and we were already behind because we got into pressure later. Merlin started at the boat end so they were closer to shore and more pressure almost immediately. In any case we were a long 3rd getting the first mark and the rest of the race was like that. We finished a long way out.

The second race was almost the same conditions. I thought the pin side was favored and we managed to sneak in the left to Merlin. HT came barreling down the line on starboard and we had to tack to avoid fouling them. This put Merlin in a hole behind both of us and tacked away a slow third. Some how we got to the top mark in third again (not calling the shifts correctly). We seem fast on the downwind legs and on the last downwind leg I gybe to port to get to the left of the other 2 j120s and more pressure by the Canadian shore. We came in on starboard to the finish line just behind Ticket and ahead of Merlin. Merlin got caught in with some Na40s and got in traffic. Needless to say at least we pulled a 2nd out of our rear ends.

As you can see we celebrated Rodney's 60th birthday at the club. He is the one with the hat. We had a little too much to drink and took out the U20s out for a spin. Not a good idea. It took a life time to get them back when the wind dyed. Thanks Sandy for the encouragement.

Result: First race - 3rd out of 3 J120s Second race - 2nd out of 3 J120s
Total for day - 3rd Merlin won the tie breaker
Link: http://www.drya.org/race2006/Results/gpyc.htm