CYC Home
March 6, 2010
By Peggy Johnson
Corinthian Yacht Club's Center Sound Series began with a bang on a stunning Saturday full of sunshine and good wind. For days, the NOAA forecast was for little breeze, right up until the Friday night tactics session, during which Bruce Hedrick presented NOAA and Navy model forecasts as part of his popular Secrets of Center Sound talk. He discussed what we could expect for Saturday's race and some strategies that would work well in light air and an ebb which would last the entire race.
Then dawn broke the morning of the race, and those who checked NOAA before the race were pleasantly surprised that the 3 a.m. report had changed for the better— 10-15 knots were forecast for the day. I was happy to see this! Cautiously, with a certain Zen-like acceptance, I approached the race. I've been around long enough now to know that the weather forecast may not pan out-but I still can't help but get excited and remain optimistic.
Photo by Bruce Sherman
Flash, foreground, and Neptune's Car begin the run southward to Blakely Rock
What a contrast with last year's Blakely Rock Race. Last year, the wind varied wildly over the race course. For the beat to Blakely Rock, the wind moved from S to SE and was very shifty, with large shifts up to 50 degrees. Heading north near West Point it moved to the E and then up at the mark near President Point, a cold front and its associated instability moved through, bringing a strong northerly of 20-25 knots and gusts up to 30 knots. In contrast, this year we were delivered a fairly steady NNW wind at 6-15 knots all race long (Class 9) and 10-14 knots for much of it.
The wind was blowing 10-13 knots NNW as boats headed out early to practice their tacks and sail hoisting. The race was postponed. It was unclear why. Exuberant crew were chomping at the bit to get a race off while there was wind. There is rarely an assurance that the wind will last, and we were concerned it wouldn't. In the meantime, the wind continued to build.
We on Wings, a J/29, took advantage of the extra time. We practice tacked. We changed sails. The wind increased to 13-15, so we got out the No. 2 and raised it, testing both the second halyard and the starboard track of the headfoil, neither used in at least a year.
By the time we had satisfied ourselves by raising the No. 2, we were more than ready to race, and shortly thereafter the race committee dropped the postponement. The big boats crossed the start line—and they are headed south, downwind! This is not what we had expected. Normally, we start to weather, so we expected to go north to President Point, then south to Blakely Rock. As we sailed past the RC boat and read the course: KMW. This will be different! Starting on the run to Blakely Rock, then up to Meadow Point Buoy, down to West Point, and then to finish. The course distance was 18.4 nm, a bit shorter than the usual 21 nm.
Just off the start line, Neptune's Car, a Santa Cruz 70, saw their maximum wind, 17 knots true. The critical thing for them was boat speed and the shortest possible time on the race course. Since they had only three boats in their class, they did not have tactical considerations such as fighting for clear air. They could focus almost exclusively on sailing as fast as possible. All three boats of the big boat fleet, Class 1, ran the rhumb line all the way, the fastest possible course for the wind. Neptune's Car made one jibe, less than a half mile from Blakely Rock.
Once they rounded Blakely Rock, they stayed on port all the way across the Sound until Magnolia Bluff, coming out just north of Fourmile Rock. They tacked to starboard to take advantage of the lift under West Point. After they cleared the West Point buoy, a tack on the first available header about 1/4 mile northwest of West Point allowed them to lay Meadow Point on a single port tack. From there, it was the rhumb line to West Point and back to the finish.
The eleven boats in Class 9 split up on the run to Blakely Rock. About half went east, the rest took a westerly course, with about 3/4 mile of separation between the two groups. For a time, Kowloon (Olson 911), Symbiosis (S2 9.1), Wings (J/29), and Blue Martini (Olson 911S) were within a few boat lengths of each other, all jockeying for first. As we (Wings) approached the Eagle Harbor area, it was Symbiosis and Wings within a boat length of each other. As the depth shallowed to 11 feet, we were forced to jibe. We headed to Blakely Rock, doused, had a little trouble, and lost time on the other three boats.
On the beat north to Meadow Point, the boats in our class that stayed to the west were faster. Kowloon gained greatly on us because they stayed long to the west while we had gone to the east. When we tacked to starboard and they to port and we reconverged, Kowloon was quite a bit ahead. At that point, had they tacked back to starboard and stayed with us, they would have kept a great lead on us. Instead, they continued easterly and we were able to continually gain on her, particularly on the run to West Point. However, in the end, it was not quite enough to catch her on corrected time.
In class 3, Jim Marta, owner of Eye Candy, the new-to-our-area Farr 395, opined that this race seemed to be a race where you had to be in the right place going to the Rock.... It was not just about boat speed. "Alas, our strategy to the Rock involved the critical decision to go west, not east. The west course was not a dramatic course variance from other boats, just a half mile of separation made a difference near the Rock. Boats that ran down to the Rock staying outside the Rock did better than those who tried to get some tide relief by heading inside the Rock by heading to Eagle Harbor buoy. Western boats saw a decrease in wind strength as well as a wind shift of about 15 degrees."
Several sailors I spoke with really enjoyed the alternative course of Saturday's race, and Jim concurred. He liked it because sail handling and passing lanes developed as important criteria in doing well.
Back in the clubhouse after the race, we got the story on the postponement. Despite pre-race preparation on Thursday, ensuring that all race committee boats were running smoothly and all equipment was ready to go for the season's opening race, come Saturday morning, George T the whaler would not start. There was a problem with the ignition or elsewhere in the electrical system. Kevin Cunningham, our Race Manager, managed to get it started before he headed out to the start area in YC5, the RC boat. Once in the start area, he anchored and as he prepared to set up the course for 75 boats and 13 starts, a call came in from the dock that George T again would not start. Kevin had to pull up the anchor and head back in to the clubhouse dock. This time, they couldn't get it to start, which meant they could not set the north, windward mark off President Point. But implementing a sudden course change is no big deal for Kevin. He adeptly changed the course to a downwind start. I cannot imagine the pressure, as 75 boats are sailing around in 12-15 knots, eager to get the summer racing season started, but Kevin is cool, level-headed, and truly a professional. We are fortunate to have him at CYC.
Three boats did not finish. Two boats struck hard at Blakely Rock. Karma, a Dash 34, hit the rock and was taking on water at the rate of 10 gallons/minute. She was rescued and given an escort home by the Coast Guard. Stomp Dancer, the new-to-the-area Melges 30, a beautiful bright red boat whose name derives from a Native American dance, hit the reef on the northwest side. She suffered no damage to the hull, only to the keel bulb and keel gasket. She was able to sail home under a reefed main. The third boat that did not finish was Blue Jeans.
In Class 1, first, second, and third place went to Flash, Neptune's Car, and Artemis.
In Class 3, first, second, and third place went to Shrek, Kahuna, and Eye Candy.
In Class 9, the largest with 11 boats, first, second, and third place went to Gaucho, Rubicon, and Kiwi Express.