Wednesday, August 29, 2007

WYC Wednesday Night Race - Party at the end of the world

We knew that the thunderstorms were going to show but did not know when. The first leg was a broad reach on port. Again I got the boat to the line early. The crew was quick to point out that I was going to be early so I turned the boat back in time before the gun. We managed to get the boat to mark d in 3rd behind Merlin and Hot Ticket with the 3/4 oz. chute in 8 knots of wind. We made the turn gybing the spinnaker. Merlin and HT took each other up where we stayed on rumb. About a third the way down the leg the wind hit from behind at 30 knots. Immediately we rounded up so the first order was to get the spinnaker down. After a couple of attempts we managed to get it down. Then the wind picked up to the high 30's and I considered taking down the main and quitting. I had even started the engine. HT already had ripped their main in half. Merlin was just ahead. I decided that it would be better for the main if we continue going down wind rather than try to take it down. We rounded around mark b with just the main and the ap #1 rolled. Merlin took theirs down and put up their #3 on this reach leg. Since we had only 6 people without Brian and Sandy on board we decided to ride it through until the wind would die down to put up the #1. The wind went down to 18 knots on the leg to D so we unrolled the #1. We caught up considerably to Merlin and just before mark DP7 they did a bareheaded change of their headsail to the #1. This allowed us to catch up to their stern. At DP5 we put up our code 0 since the wind was at 80 degrees. Merlin put up their 3/4 spinnaker after us but not soon enough. We managed to roll them and finished 30 seconds ahead. This was an exciting evening with Night Moves, Hot Ticket, and Jay Hawker dropping out. Jay Hawker got their prop shaft wrapped around a line so it took a while for them to get back to BYC. As the storm hit and while they were flying their kite, the yacht "Risky Business" had a man overboard. Within 45 seconds, they got the boat around and sailed back and got the man back on. The yacht "Epic" clocked the wind at 48 knots true and we got to see a water spout travel up the fleet.

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: 1st out of 5 J120s (only 2 finished)
Link: http://wyc.info/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%202.pdf

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Crescent Sail Yacht Club Regatta - Another nail biter

This was a port 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 left side of the fleet. We only had 6 people for this race so we had problem getting the .6 oz. spinnaker up twisting the head. Hot Ticket got their nose ahead of us to leeward. Ihnsanity and Night Moves got above us so we stayed low since we knew there was more pressure farther out in the lake. We rounded right behind Hot Ticket. The next leg was a close reach at 20 knots. Ihnsanity almost caught us but had to round behind us. The next leg was a weather leg with the favored being port. We were not able to tack because Saturn, a Melges 32, was to leeward and waited a half mile to tack. We had to still wait because a good portion of the boats behind us were blocking us. Ihnsanity managed to pass us because they did not have to overstand the mark and more people on the rail. At the next mark 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. At this point there were major shifts so we tacked and almost caught HT. We finished just behind HT in 3rd.


Result: 3rd out of 4 J120s

Link: http://www.drya.org/race2007/Results/csyc.htm
Course: Start, D, C, B, A, Finish

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Detroit Yacht Club Sweepstakes Regatta - Another St. Stupid Day

This was to be a 2 race windward leeward series. The first race was set in about 6 knots of air with the line straight. We started in the middle but Hot Ticket managed to get on the left of us and eventually we had to tack to port and duck Ihnsanity. We wanted to get on the right side of the course but we soon found out that the left side had more pressure near the shoreline. We rounded the first mark in fourth place but picked off two boats on the downwind side by going near shore. After rounding the leeward mark we tacked to starboard to get back to the shore. We got a lot of distance up to HT but after rounding we stayed near the shore on the downwind leg. It turned out there was more pressure this time out in the lake and Night Moves nearly caught us at the finish. Because of the lack of wind they canceled the second race. Just another typical day on Lake St. Stupid.

Result: 2nd out of 4 J120s
Link: http://drya.org/race2007/Results/dycsweep.htm