Weds Night Series 2 Race 1

Craig set your clock ahead.

We waited at the dock for Craig until 5:50, it seemed like forever. Lucky for us the RC was late setting-up and postponed for 10 minutes. No harm done.

Another crocked race course. The wind was blowing from the SW at 10kts; tide running out hard. You had to be at the weather end. We tried a Mark May start (late and at the boat.) It might have worked, but we were fouled by Slice, lost the jib sheet with less than a minute go. I lost focus, and things went down hill from there. We started about 20 seconds late.

Tack to port as soon as possible. Tack back into a clear lane and ride some nice starboard tack lifts almost to the port layline. We round in 5th behind the Cow. Somehow their set is worse than ours, hard to believe since we didn't have the spin halyard attached, we almost roll them.

We had a decent run. Round behind but inside of Cow. We hold for a little while and then tack to the left. I don't remember much of this leg. It was puffy and squirrelly, so i just focused on boatspeed. Bob had us tack on three or four shifts. When I did manage to look around we were moving forward. We gained on the leaders for the rest of the race, but ran out of course. We finished 4th. It felt worse than that.

Crew

Jack B
Ben B (Ted went with Wolf who only had three.)
Chris
Laura
Bob
Craig
Eric
Charlotte
me

Weds Night Series 1 Race 5

No Race.

Thunderstorms blew in from the SW at around 6:30. Winds 40-50 in gusts lots of rain. RC abandoned after 10 mins.

Do damage. We needed this race to break the tie. End the series in 5th. Bummer.

crew

ted
Jack B
chris
ben b
craig
bob
eric
charlotte
me

Weds Night Series 1 Race 4

Wind was West Northwest at 12kts the current was once again going with the breeze making easy to be late for the line. We had a good start at the weather end. The breeze was in a right phase but current relief was off to the left. We rolled Stryker and Poppy. They tacked out to the right and died. The J/30 (Meanie) was fast to leeward and Jim was working up under our bow. We held starboard as long as we could, eventually Jim pinched us off.

We rounded the weather mark second, the Cow and Kung Fuie close behind. We had a little trouble getting sails up and down tonight, but that was more of a distraction than anything else. By the Second upwind leg it was a two boat race, us and Jim, or so I thought. Leg 4 the wind went light. The mastheads are coming. Mad Cow passes us on the run and pulls away. We have a good mark rounding, but linger too far on the right side of the course. That and I can't seem to find the boat speed. I think we were over trimmed and stalled.

Almost to the finish, we can see Meanie and the Santana charging from the left corner. We try to head that way but have to tack for the barge. In hindsight, we should have ducked it. This is where we fold like a cheap suit. Stuck on the outside of a lift in bad current. Mayhem and Meanie pass us on the left.

We end the night in 5th. That hurts. The good news is we're only 2 points out of first in the series. The final race is this Weds. Two boat ahead of us are out. We have a real chance next week.

Crew:

Jack Buzzi
Chris
Neil
Laura
Jon Eberly (from SF)
Eric O
Charlotte
me

Weds Night Series 1 Race 3

We started the night with a delay. There wasn't any wind and the RC was concerned about thunderstorms. Finally a 5kt SE breeze filled. The course was from the lighthouse to T and back. The tide was rushing in.

Our pre-race plan was to start at the weather end and protect the right, tack away into shallow water and current relief. We lingered up current in a barging position assuming the fleet would be late and we could slip in, ala Mark May. At the last minute Bob suggested a dip start just to leeward of the committee boat. It was a great call. There was more wind at the pin with a left shift.

For Sail was the first boat to tack, we were second. We were higher and faster. I don't know why, but I'll take it. When we got to the Starboard layline we decided to go past Slice, a mistake, we were all over stood. This let Cow back into the race. After the rounding we gybed our way down the right side of the course. The wind was a little lighter but we were in favorable current.

Cow gybe out early, made some gains and crossed us just before the finish. We kept our time and ended up third.

Rig tension: I added 2.5 turns to the head-stay. I still haven't measured it. Otherwise the rig is still at base 36/33.

Crew

Jack Buzzi
Chris
Neil
Laura
Bob
Eric O
Craig
Charlotte
me