This was the first race that the J120s have ever done the shore course. The beginning of the race was very light air with spinnakers. We had a goal of starting on the right side of the line. We crossed on port and gybed in front of Hot Ticket just before the gun. The rest of the fleet sailed closer to the shore. They did get an early lead because there was more pressure inshore.
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| Expedition course for Carinthia off of Harbor Beach |
Flyin Irish managed to gybe in front of us at dusk where the at that point more wind was out in the lake vs. the shore where many of the J120s were sailing. We sailed closer to shore as the wind was blowing about 6 knots out of the northeast. Flyin Irish and Carinthia pulled ahead of the rest with a little more air and a little lift off the shore. Although it gets a little tricky off the thumb with giant rocks, we kept an eye on the gps and sweated it out.
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| Yellowbrick version of the J120s |
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| Changing to the genoa south of Harbor Beach |
Crossing Saginaw Bay the wind started to fill in from the southeast at 15 knots and later went more northernly. Hot Ticket tried to fly their code 0 and it was just too much sail. Before the wind filled in we were very close to Flyin Irish for the lead. We never fell more than a 1/4 mile but could just not make it up.
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| Expedition view of the journey to the straits. |
When we passed Presque Isle, Hot Ticket went in closer to shore. Considering she was the boat behind us we should of gybed to cover but stayed with Flyin Irish. HT was going a knot faster than both of us and when she came back up to our line was nearly a mile ahead of both of us.
The rest of the race was the equivalent of a train ride to the finish. We all arrived to Bob Lo at dusk and unfortunately as predicted there was a shift from the west that made the last few miles very slow. With the easterly current it took nearly an hour to finish past the point. We could of been 1st or 2nd but because we blew a fundamental rule of sailing (cover your competition), Hot Ticket ended up with a bullet and 3rd overall. Carinthia and Fyin Irish ended up with tea for two while the Hot Ticket gang drank champagne.
Link for finishes:
http://www.bycmack.com/mack/results.cfm?Class=J120&Class2=OD
This was the first race that the J120s have ever done the shore course. The beginning of the race was very light air with spinnakers. We had a goal of starting on the right side of the line. We crossed on port and gybed in front of Hot Ticket just before the gun. The rest of the fleet sailed closer to the shore. They did get an early lead because there was more pressure inshore.
The rest of the race was the equivalent of a train ride to the finish. We all arrived to Bob Lo at dusk and unfortunately as predicted there was a shift from the west that made the last few miles very slow. With the easterly current it took nearly an hour to finish past the point. We could of been 1st or 2nd but because we blew a fundamental rule of sailing (cover your competition), Hot Ticket ended up with a bullet and 3rd overall. Carinthia and Fyin Irish ended up with tea for two while the Hot Ticket gang drank champagne.
