CREW
Foredeck - Pam, Kathleen
Main sheet & timing- Susan
Jib Sheets - Jay & Steve
Tiller - Skipper Ron
Nansi was being a responsible home owner and Chris L was off drifting on Dragonfly on Lake Huron.
WIND
It was out of the south and light and forecast to get lighter. Before the start it was variable between 5 and 7 knots. We went with the light #1, again.
THE RACE
Graham set up a buoys to port windward/leeward course 3x around. During the early starts the line was pretty square but the wind shifted to the west making it boat end favoured.
We started well, a few seconds late but right beside the committee boat. But was we were coming up to the line Blue Streak snuck across our bow and started immediately in front of us. We stayed in her dirt because we wanted to sail into the island shore and hoping she would sail away which she eventually did but it seemed forever.
Veloce and Abra were to leeward at the start and tacked away onto port early. Alpha was even further to leeward and well behind due to the skewed line. We lost track of Amelia and Kokoro.
Blue Streak tacked on to port about half way to the lay line. We carried on further before we tacked over. But the wind was shifty and at times we were actually laying the mark but in a dying breeze. Alpha tacked over last on what she thought was the port lay line and picked up a nice breeze and came charging in. But I’m guessing she had actually over laid the mark as the wind shifted and was reaching in at speed and got ahead of us. Abra came in on starboard before the lay line and we ducked her but she tacked over right away.
This is when Skipper Ron blew it.
We were still on port approaching the starboard lay line with Abra a couple of boat lengths to windward and slightly behind. I knew if we tacked too early or right on the lay line we would be squarely in Abra’s dirt when she tacked and wouldn’t lay the mark. So I waited until I thought we were safe and tacked expecting Abra to tack immediately as well. But she didn’t she hung on for a couple of boat lengths before tacking which put us squarely in her dirt and as feared, unable to lay the mark in a very light breeze. We were too far away to head reach it (which Abra had to do - so there must also have been a wind shift). So in a very light breeze we had to throw in two additional tacks at agonizingly slow speed. Alpha and Abra sailed away and Veloce closed much closer.
We rounded well behind Abra and Alpha but they were pretty much stopped dead in what was now a very light beam reach (I guess the wind did shift) so no pole work required. Our light #1 performed its usual magic and we slowly but steadily reeled them in. We never got ahead of them but did manage to close to less than a boat length on each and were back in the race.
But then we realized that Graham had shortened the course and this was the finish. We finished at the committee boat about 10 feet behind Alpha who owes us a tiny bit of time. Jay counted 7 seconds between us.
RESULTS
Blue Streak won it again (and the jug) but not by much. Alpha hung on to get second and we had to settle for another 3rd. Veloce got the 4th, Amelia (who cleaned her bottom before the race) picked up the 5th. Abra finished 6th and Kokoro 7th.
Based on the official results Alpha beat us by 11 seconds on elapsed time and 8 seconds on corrected time. So all Alpha gives us on that short 26 minute race is 3 seconds. Blue Streak beat us by 19 seconds on corrected. So even if the eleven second number is incorrect and Jay’s seven seconds is more accurate (which I think it is), it wouldn’t have changed the results. The damage was done at the windward mark. We almost caught up but not quite. Another time around would have been better.
So after four races and one drop Blue Streak is in 1st with 4 points, Circe is again solidly in 2nd with 7 points, Abra 3rd with 9 points, and Veloce and Alpha tied for 4th with 10. There are seven races this series with one drop race.
Again, well done Circe Crew – except for a slight miss call at the windward mark.
Skipper Ron