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Around the (beer) cans

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Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/30/2010 : 06:54:25

Well, its been a rather spartan racing season for me this year, but I got out last night and it was a great race. Figured I'd share a quick summary.

Arrived at the marina between the skippers meeting and start, so I had to "speed-rig" the boat.

Got the main uncovered and 110 hanked on, then sprinted out of the harbour, and motored all the way to the start pin, raising the sails on the way. I was surprised by the intensity of the wind and size of waves as I left the harbour. Our harbour is pretty protected, and I was glad I had only hanked on the #3.

Out at the start pin, I started circling with the rest of the fleet, but I had no idea where they were in the pre-start countdown. Got on teh radio and asked when the party was starting.

"One minute" Oh, really, Hardened up and aimed for the line, with another boat coming in hard on port tack.

Made it across the line with the leaders, and the port tack boat - Summerschool - just below me. (He tacked on to STBD around the pin)

Although Summerschool was leeward boat, I was outpointing him, and so whenever he tried to push me up, he would stall out. My position held him from tacking, or we would collide. We were boats 4 and 5 in the lead pack, and I pretty much controlled his race on the first windward tack.

After a bunch of other boats tacked over, I kept holding summerschool off, watching him watching me and playing a bit of a cat & mouse game with him. Eventually I tacked over, and my tack went smoother than Summerschools, forcing him to leeward again, where we played the same game. If I hadn't been out pointing him I would have been in trouble, but since I could outpoint this boat, I basically shut him down every time he tried to come up to me. Eventually he fell off, realizing that pinching was costing him and not hurting me, and I was on my own on the way to the windward mark.

With the big wind we had, everyone was heeling hard and getting pushed around by big waves. Iris was up on her side with gunnels awash. I love standing on the coamings, cushioning the waves with my knees. Its a great feeling.

As I powered along like this I got the next couple boats ahead of me in my sights, an HR-28 and a Pearson Flyer. The HR is skippered by a great sailor, and the Pearson is just a damned fast boat. The two of them were playing games with each other and I was hoping I could sneak in on them unnoticed.

As they approached the windward mark, the pearson tacked to make his rounding, but went early. Way early. I smiled. The HR-28 held off a little longer, but made the same mistake. The two of them tangled with each other as they tried to make some kind of recovery. I sailed by, rounded the mark, and settled in for the reaching leg.

The reaching leg always reminds me of NASCAR or something. Its just a gofast leg without a lot of strategy. The pearson and HR-28 rounded the pin way behind me and started to work their way along, slowly catching up. With its planing hull, the pearson had little trouble and conditions favoured her. As we rounded the pin she was almost on me. Her rating is also half of mine. I decided to play with her.

I rounded first, then held a "Middle of the road" position on the run. As the pearson rounded, she came up to windward of me. Slowly, I started pusing her up. Normally I wouldn't be a fan of this sort of play, especially on a running leg, but the pearson has so much of a lower rating than I do that every second I can prevent her from getting by counts as about 3 on her PHRF adjustment. I kept pushing until it was clear I couldn't hold her off any longer, then with a resigned wave of defeat, I let her by. I should be an actor. I had held her off for almost all of the running leg, and felt pretty good about it.

IN rounding into the pointing leg things started to fall apart. Just before the pin I was faced with the dilemma of whether to round the pin and harden the sheets, or to tack around the pin coming out on the opposite tack. I decided to tack. Trouble was I was cross sheeted, and didn't want to release the sheets early. What to do, what to do. If I had crew it would have been easy, but sailing single-handed, meant sheeting in the main, undoing the cross-sheeting, and trimming the jib all in the time it took to round the pin.

I screwed things up. the cross sheeting didn't release on time, the jib never came across, and the main ended up sheeted tight while the jib flogged. then Iris spun around and made a beeline back to the pin after rounding it.

Some frantic helm work held her off the pin while I released the cross-sheeted jib. Then I tacked over, and sailed away, having lost considerable time to the HR-28. They passed me by taking the opposite tack.

On my next tack I was determined not to repeat my mistakes. Carefully I prepped the lines before tacking, and carefully I got the lazy sheet ready before pulling the tiller across. I even spoke to myself as if I were crew. "ready to tack!" (quick check of everything) "Ready!" ok, lets do this then, "Helm's alee"

Iris turned gracefully, I pulled in the sail. The wind and waves crashed around us, the jib sheet flipped in the wind and caught on the mast winch. Iris heeled hard to starboard. Everytthing crashed out of its place below. The boat stalled, heeled hard over while more boats passed us.

Dammit. I ran forward, removed teh sheet from the winch, and got under way again, sailing a perfect leg to the windward mark.

Because of all the time I had lost by sailing the less efficient tack, and screwing up my tacks, I had fallen back a long ways. The Pearson Flyer adn the HR 28 were way ahead of me. Because he had sailed well for the past 2 legs, a friend in a Catalina 27 had caught up. I was now in a race with another boat to the finish.

the C-27 rounded the windward mark just behind me, and I played the same game with him that I had played earlier with the Pearson, forcing him to stay on course longer, counting on PHRF to give me a bonus on corrected time. As I continued to hold him off the rhumb line, I realized that I may be able to prevent him from finishing altogether. I lined up my boat on the windward pin on the finishline, and kept a close eye on the C-27 to port.

Being that I was now leeward boat, and had a line on the finish, whenever he turned down for the line, I pushed him up. I was broad reaching, almost running, but I kept both sails filled. As we approached the finish, I had pushed him far enough over that he couldn't finish the race on a reach, and had to turn down and go wing on wing to finish. I continued on my reach, finishing inches from the pin, and curling the boat around it.

In the end I finished 6th, and ahead of the C-27 and Pearson Flyer on Corrected time. Summerschool was DNF. He quit after hitting a pin. The HR-28 corrected out ahead of me, but only by a couple minutes, the time I lost in my screwed up tacks probably would have put me ahead of him.

Conditions by sailfow were 10 kts gusting 15 and we had at least a dozen boats out. Not a bad evening at all.

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

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Edited by - Prospector on 07/30/2010 07:05:07

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2010 : 12:21:21

What a nice write up. A pleasure to read.

A Sailor and a writer ye be...

Edited by - on

PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1225 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2010 : 13:10:23

Cool, what kind of boat was Summer school?

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 08/16/2010 : 14:39:06

Summerschool is a Hughes 25-half ton - I think. Not a race boat, but a great guy and fun to be around.

Edited by - on

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