Day 3
With the event being in jeopardy as being a non-event, the Race Committee has us at the club for a 9:30 first gun. Upon arrival, there is a light, but steady, breeze from the SE. We splash the boats and off we go to the race course. We test the sail settings and head back down to the start area. Unfortunately the winds go lighter and at 9:30 disappear altogether. The Race Committee puts up the postpone flag and we head back to the club to wait ashore. The wind goes to nothing so the fleet is towed back in, except for 3 die hards who insist upon sailing in. (Cramer is last to get in by 11:00)
The Race Committee postpones for 2 hours (until 12:30). Stu Hebb decides to pack up and leave. At 12:30, still only a zephyr of wind so we get postponed for another hour. Arthur Anisov and Dave Caesar, decide to go for a swim around the first club racing mark (about 600 yards offshore) The zephyrs start to fill but not enough so we are postponed again for another hour. At 2:15 the postpone flags are dropped and we head back out to the race. The seabreeze wind has filled in from the SW . As we check in, the Race Committee asks permission to start early so we start at 3:15.
We have a good first race in about 8-10kts of wind. We get to the first weather mark in about 7th place but lose a couple of places to finish 10th.
In the second race, we get stuck at the start line with no wind but are able to tack out and get some clear air. Unfortunately a boat tacks on our line and heads up too high so is too slow and gets rolled by a couple of windward boats so we get pinned in and cannot get out. By the time we are able to tack, we take the transoms of 5 or 6 boats. We round the first mark in last place. We are able to pass a couple of boats on the next upwind and downwind leg to finish 24th, just as the sun goes down. We haul and clean up the boat in the dark.
Day 4
We again are required to arrive for a 9:30 first gun. The water is glassy smooth, not even a hint of wind. We are postponed on shore. Some boats have launched but we decide to keep our boat out and if there is no wind at noon we will take apart the boat and get it ready for transport. 12:00 still no wind but we decide to wait as the wind is starting to fill in providing a glimmer of hope. The Race Committee does not like the direction so continues the postponement.
Arthur Anisov and Dave Caesar decide to go out for a swim. Tom Londrigan and Bill Allen decide to go with them. They arrive back ashore at 1pm, just as the postponement flag is dropped. We have 1 hour to get out to the race course. We quickly launch and go.
Good 10+ its of wind enables us to get to the course quickly. The Race Committee again asks for permission to start early so we are off. The waves build to about a foot.
We are doing pretty well until we get to the windward mark and a couple of boats tack in front of us so we are very slow getting around the mark. The downwind run now has some waves to sail down.
Barbara Vosbury is taking some penalty turns and hears a loud bang at the spreaders and thinks that her rig has broken. They check it out but nothing seems to be broken. Upon closer inspection she realizes that the spreader bracket has broken. They finish the race but head back to the club and skip the last race.
On the upwind, we go left but right gets a right shift so we end up nearly last to round the mark. We get a good wave and a puff of breeze to be able to pass a boat right at the finish to salvage a 19th finish.
In the second race, we get a good startd and get to the first mark in about 10th spot. The waves have grown to about 2 feet so there’s better opportunity for speed downwind. About half way down we cross gybes with Jon Vandermolen. As we separate, there’s a crash and his rig has come down. On the second upwind, we go left again but right turns out to be slightly favoured so we lose a couple of spots. On the second downwind we go wide for the bigger waves and pass a couple of boats to finish 13th.
Congrats to George Szabo and Mark Strube for winning the event with an impressive 3 bullets on the last 3 races.
