Association Forum - Last Season - Biggest surprise, and biggest "win"

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Racing Forum

Last Season - Biggest surprise, and biggest "win"

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

Canada
3159 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/25/2009 : 21:55:07

So i was flippin gthrough my race history kind of stuff, and came across the race results from last year. Going through them, its funny how certain races make you think of different things.

The biggest "win" for our boat last year was on a 22 nm medium distance race.

On the start we were incredible. It was a downwind start, and we stayed clear of the fleet, but recognized that a strong shore wind was brewing, and caught it to lead the entire PHRF fleet (high and low) for about 6 miles dead downwind. A lot of the race was broad reaching, and my crew was awesome at playing the wind. This was our first race after we figured out that the foredeck crew should be calling trim to the helm/jib trimmer while they were hiking. The wind was perfect, and we were pretty much running a perfect course. The result was our highest finish of the year (2nd place out of 8 boats) in great weather, with great friends. ( see the results here: http://www.byc.on.ca/results/2008/lsis/whitehi07.html )

The Biggest surprise race was the very next day.

The crew from the day before had been called away unexpectedly, and I was left with just Chuck (my daughter) as crew. After a late night of much partying the night before, I wasn't feeling great, and she wasn't really focussed on what she was doing. Karomi - who had finished 3rd the day before - was making it clear that he didn't think our boat should be ahead of him, and there was a lot running around in my head. We were among the first boats out of th eharbour, and we spent some time getting 'tuned' but our start was, well, pathetic. I wasn't happy with it at all, and beat myself up all the way up the windward leg (triangle course) Now when I have a bad start, I usually use it to gauge where not to go - so i keep an eye on th eboats ahead and follow the qquick ones. Today though, I was so busy beating myself up that I took a really bad course and went for the pin instead of the wind.

Coming up short on the pin, I was forced to "shoot the mark," barely rounding it, and heading off to the second mark. I realized there had been a wind shift, and saw that I was on the wrong tack, but figured I'd best ride it out until I could tack straight to the next pin. Rounding the second pin was a bit of circus, but I got around, then it was down to the start on a broad reach.

Heading back up to pin one, I was trying to follow the course that the faster boat had taken at the start, and was getting nowhere. It wasn't until I reached the pin that I remembered th ewind shift. DAMN! how could I be so dumb!

But since I remembered the shift, I got a really good line on the next pin. Coming back in at the end of the race, the wind died off, but I was able to use the techniques I had used with my crew the day before to find the pockets of wind and catch a few boats on the way back to the line.

I was really disappointed with the race and told a few people so. It came as a total surprise when I was called to the podium for the flag at breakfast the next morning. Seems we snuck by just enough boats to take 3rd. (Results: http://www.byc.on.ca/results/2008/lsis/whitehi08.html )

This summer I've promised SWMBO that I won't race so much.I'm goin gto try to cut back and spend more time with family, but I MUST do the interclub series again.

So what are your stories? Lets hear them...

"Iris"
1984 FK/SR #4040
http://frosthaus.blogspot.com/

Take a minute to register your boat with the association!!
http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/owner_questionnaire.htm

Edited by - Prospector on 03/25/2009 21:56:00

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2009 : 22:02:46

FWIW, race 9 in that series shows how competitive it is in our home fleet (where it is much harder to take a flag) Between 1st and 4th all the boats are from our club, and the time difference is only 2-3/4 minutes. Stardust has an amazing skipper, it is a major event ANY time I bet Newfie, and I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have had Canopus bearing down on me at the finish. In this race he was actually a boat length ahead of me crossing the line.

Race 9 results: http://www.byc.on.ca/results/2008/lsis/whitehi09.html

They are all back in the harbour for this summer...

Edited by - Prospector on 03/25/2009 22:05:56

JimB517
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2009 : 19:44:16

My favorite race of the year was Regatta de los Todos Santos, my first race in another country. When you consider we went from this:

to this:

in less than 3 miles, beating the Catalina 27 scratch, and taking 7th in a mixed PHRF fleet of 18 boats with the top boats of San Diego, I think it's a great accomplishment. We sailed a great race, and I had lots of fun.

I think the lowest point was either the New Year's Day race 2009 where we had good wind, sailed well, and placed 17 out of 17, or the September Race Around the Coronados where we averaged over 6 knots (finished a 36 mile race in 6 hours) and placed 8 out of 8.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.