RACE 1 (Practice) Race Report
CREW
Fore deck - Kathleen & Pam
Main Sheet and Timing - Susan
Winches - Trevor & Nansi
Tiller - Skipper Ron
For the first race we had a full crew, even though it was just a practice race. Trevor signed on via a phone call earlier in the day. He was much needed. Due to flooding there were no dry sail boats out.
THE WEATHER
Blowing 15 knots gusting to 20 out of the SW. Since Circe's wind indicator has mysteriously refused to function this year accurate readings were not available. But lots of wind for Circe's first sail of 2017.
THE WATER
Water water everywhere; on land that is. Circe crew had to wade though 9" deep water to get to the boat. Those with 10" high boots without leaks arrived with dry feet. Kathleen arrived with short boots and 2 wet feet. Susan and Ron arrived with one wet foot each due to leaks. Boots were stored below and sailing footwear donned on board. The bow of Circe is now about 4' above the wall. To gain access to the boat Skipper Ron fashioned a flight of stairs. They worked.
THE RACE
High water and resulting general flooding of the club has slowed progress on mast stepping and maybe the high winds discouraged some, so only about 15 boats in total came out for this race and only 3 in our Division, Abracadabra, Veloce and Circe. Without any hesitation this night Skipper Ron went with the #2 and no reef. The course was windward leeward 3 times around with a decently long weather leg.
We got a good start right beside the committee boat and must have missed the jug to Abra by a fraction of a second. Abra started about 1/4 down the line and Veloce slightly late behind us. Both Abra and us went into the Island on starboard. Veloce tacked onto port early and went into the middle of the bay. Abra tacked across our bow and we carried on a bit before tacking on to port. Abra got to the mark first, Circe second and Veloce 3rd. It stayed that way for the rest of the race with the distance between each boat increasing with each round until the last weather mark. We got severely headed at the mark coming in on starboard and had to throw in two extra tacks in close succession resulting in an override on one of them. By the time we did the two extra tacks and dealt with the override Veloce had closed the gap but was still 10 boat lengths behind. the wind had gradually lessened all evening so by the time we crossed the line wind and wing our speed was down to 3.5 knots.
Considering it was the first race of the year the Circe crew performed near flawlessly. Trevor cranked the genoa winch like a man possessed; possessed with great upper body strength that is. Tacks were quick and smooth. Nansi did great work tailing upwind as well as rushing to the foredeck to assist with the pole downwind. Susan, as always, kept the main under control the whole night and kept Skipper Ron nice and dry. Kathleen and Pam did stellar work on the 45 degree sloping foredeck skirting the jib upwind and wrestling with the whisker pole downwind.
It was a great first night sailing.
THE RESULTS
Don't know. Graham forgot to post them. And it was only a "practice" race. But I'm guessing due to the dying wind after Abra finished that they likely got us on corrected time, but we certainly got Veloce by a good margin.
WELL DONE CIRCE CREW!
Skipper Ron