Port Madison Race-WSSA #1

Today was the first race of the West Sound Sailing Association (WSSA) 2009 series. This is a series of seven sailboat races in the West Sound area(Bremerton, Port Orchard, Brownsville, Poulsbo and Port Madison). It continues through June.

We got underway from Brownsville at 0800 for the 1-1/2 hour motor to Pt Madison. It was cold and clear, 36 degrees when I left the house and some frost on the dock. Our start was scheduled for 1010. Our class consisted of an electic mix of boats: Mumm36, Schock35, 6meter, Sierra 26, Express 37, C&C43, another J35 and a few others.

This race is 16.5 nautical miles long. It starts at Pt Monroe near the south side of Port Madison. First mark is a club bouy near Presidents PT on the north shore of Port Madison. From there it goes across Puget Sound to a navigational bouy at West point, back across Puget Sound to a red nun at Wing Point at Eagle Harbor. Then back to the finish at Pt Monroe.

The winds were from the north at about 8 knots at the start. The weather mark was on the north side of Pt Madison near Presidents PT. We had a great start, stayed high and squeezed up on "Dos", the Sierra 26 forcing him to tack. The Mumm36 went low and fast, and overstood the mark. We were first around with the Mumm and the 6meter close behind.

Next was a 6 mile run across Puget Sound to the buoy off West Pt. The wind built to 14-16 knots and we had a nice fast broad reach. "Dos" started planning and past us before the mark. The very well sailed C&C43 started closing on us. The Mumm went way to the left and gave up a lot of distance. We gained a little on the Schock35.

We pulled off a good jibe and into another broad reach to the red nun bouy off Wing PT at Eagle Harbor. "Dos" went high, but we stayed lower. I had trouble picking up the mark. Also the current was ebbing from left to right forcing us higher. We should have gone lower and did as we approached the mark. We gained some on "Dos", but the C&C43 went low early in the run and gained some more. We still rounded second. During the run, we changed headsails from the Light No.1 to the Heavy No. 1

The beat to the finish was fun. The wind stayed in the 12knot range and for once, we got to play the middle of the sound instead of the edges looking for current relief. We gained on the Mumm, Schock 35, C&C43 and closed up some on "Dos". Near the finish at Pt Monroe, the wind started lifting and we cracked off some. As "Dos" got close to Pt Monroe at the finish, they had a big knock and had to tack. We stayed high and avoided the header and finished about a minute behind "Dos". There always seems to be a bit of a suprise with the finish of this race! We owed time to "Dos", so they corrected on us and probably corrected first. The Mumm finished a couple of minutes behind us(they owed us time) and the C&C43 finished about 3 minutes behind us. We owed them time, they may have corrected on us. The Schock35 finished close to the C&C43. We rate the same as them. There was a big gap to the rest of the fleet, so results are difficult to determine.

When results are posted, they can be found here: http://kitsapsailing.com/wssa.html

It was a great day to be on the water. The crew did a great job and everyone seemed to have a good time. My only regret, is I wish I could post some photos, but I am always too busy to get the camera out. The tactician might yell at me if I tried too!