Weds. Night Series 3 Race 5

What a perfect night for sailboat racing. The breeze was 6-8kts from the Southeast. The water was fairly flat. The current was flooding.

We had a reasonable start in the middle of the line about a boat-length late. We pinched off Blue Meanie and held stb tack until we could clear the barge. The right turned out to be much better. So we dug in pretty hard. We rounded the weather mark just behind Slice and Mad Cow, but we couldn't get the chute up; same problem every time, the pole is pinned to the deck. We must be doing something wrong in the back of the boat because, it doesn't matter who's doing foredeck the result is the same, a 40 second loss at the weather mark.

We gybed as soon as we could. About 2/3 of the way down the course Slice and Cow gybed back on to stbd. We held port until the layline, made a big gain and rounded the mark inside of both boats. Unfortunately the chute was wrapped in the genoa, and I think I was pinching, which let Cow and Slice drive through our lee.

We lucked out and hit a lefty the second time up the course. It was more pressure than direction. We rounded the weather mark near the Cow, but somehow Slice was launched.

We played the NJ side downwind, and again it was a gainer. We rounded inside of Mad Cow. They drove off and went right. I think I was still pinching. At the next crossing we tacked into their lee bow, but they managed to lift off of us in a righty.

I think we went too far left on the third beat, there was more wind along the NJ shore. Cow corrected out 22 seconds ahead of us. Slice was way out in front.

The crew:

Bob M
Sean (we picked him up off the dock)
Laura
Roberta
Eric O
Craig
me

Weds. Night Series 3 Race 4

The changing conditions made for kind of a strange night. I got to the club early, for the first hour the wind was very light out of the east northeast. Around 5:00 the breeze picked up to just over 10kts. By 6pm the wind was just about gone. We left the rig tuned to 37/29. The course was from a mobile mark near Y out to T, back and forth 3 times.

We had a great start, going fast at the pin, in a huge left shift. We tacked and cleared the whole fleet. Problem was, we were 45 degrees above the mark. Slice and For Sail tacked under us. I cracked off and headed straight for the mark. The breeze shifted 60 degrees right, we followed the header down, thinking the shift was progressive. For Sail crossed us by less than a boat. Slice by about two boats.

When we tacked we over-stood the mark by too much. None of us took the current into affect. It makes sense now, since on the run I was having a hard time making the leeward mark on port jibe. The breeze was very shifty downwind. The puffs were righties lulls were to the left. By now the breeze was building. We staid pretty close to For Sail on the run and passed them on the next beat, we tacked out to the left soon after the leeward mark. I think we had better pressure. We crossed For Sail and rounded just ahead of them.

The second time down wind we held stdb jibe almost the whole way, just one short gybe at the end. By now it was a three boat race. Slice was launched, and was For Sail slightly behind of us. I managed to pinch FS off. We tacked to cover shortly after. We gained. FS initiated a tacking duel (By now the breeze was up and we were struggling a little with the 155%. It would have been fine if we had more weight on the rail.) We wouldn't bite and decided the shift was to the right so we headed off to that corner.

We got tied up with Dennis Driscole who took us past the layline. FS sneaked in at the mark. Our set was better than there's so we slowed them down and as they rolled up to protect their air we assumed a nice position inside them. FS jibed. We sailed by the lee to keep them from crossing, which they eventually did about 100 yards from the finish.

We corrected over them. Slice was way out in front for the win.

The crew:

Bob S.
Pavel
Niel
Bob M.
Mike K.
Charlotte
me

Weds. Night Series 3 Race 3

It looked to be a light air night, so I tuned the rig down to 39/29 and took 4 turns off the headstay. The helm felt kinda funny, but the boat speed seemed okay.

The plan was to start at the boat, but the line was so crooked, we got pinned out and circled around at 30 seconds to go. We had a third row start behind Magic who tacked away, allowing us to carry stbd tack for a long time.

We went almost to the port tack layline, tacked in breeze and it looked like we got lucky. About a third of the way from the mark the breeze died and came in from the right. We were the last of the 30' around the weather mark.

The wind went so far right that you needed to gybe immediately. We jibed before Magic and Cow and managed to round the mark before them.

The next time up wind we played right of center and lost to both sides. Cow and Slice caught breeze on the left, Meannie legged out in a righty. For Sail won, Poppy sailed another good race for a second. We finished 6th.

Crew

B. Gold
Neil
Pavel
Laura
Roberta
Eric O
Charlotte
Craig
me

Weds. Night Series 3 Race 2

At the start, the wind was blowing 12-16kts from the west-south-west. The tide was ebbing. The course was from T to a mobile mark off the Morgan beach. We left the rig tuned to the new base setting.

We managed to leave the dock early and spend some time sailing around the starting line. We should do that more. We were able to notice that except for a few big lefties, the breeze staying in a right phase. The puffs were all righties. When the A1 fleet started they all charged the pin except for Eric on Fame who looked to be immediately ahead. We all agreed to start at the boat.

At the start I was too early approaching the line. Blue Meanie was looking to hold us up but the current started to sweep him towards the pin as he stalled the boat. Rather than hook, him I opted to luff towards the RC boat. At 20 seconds we put the bow down and drove towards the line. We had a good start 1/3 from the weather end. Kelly had a better start, inside of us wound on the lift. For Sail was trapped under Meanine going slow at the pin. We rolled both of them.

We held strbd tack for quite a while until a pretty good header convinced us to tack. Although we'd been going fast Kelly crossed us by 1/3 of a boat. We continued right to the layline into what we thought was more wind and shift. Overstood by twenty degrees I cracked off. That was a mistake. The wind shifted left as we approached the mark. Kelly crossed a boat ahead and planted on us. We ended up needing two tacks to round.

By this point it was a two boat race. We had our time on the rest of the fleet. After a decent leeward mark rounding we opted to go right. Lucky for us Kelly tacked left soon after the rounding. We had clear air. As soon as we tacked on to strbd it looked like we had Kelly. When he tacked back we tacked just above him, and manage to pinch over the rock pile; he had to duck.

We rounded the 2nd weather mark about two boat lengths ahead of Kelly. He gybe-set we went a little farther on stbd then gybed. We had a better angle.

On the last beat, the air lessened, For Sail gained, we decided to keep a loose cover on Kelly. Poppy was our closest competition. Poppy drove out past the port tack layline. We beat them by forty seconds or so. It was a good night.

Crew

Aaron
Neil
Pavel
Laura
Roberta
Charlotte
Eric O
Craig (pinned thumb and all)
me.