The early forecast for the day was rain with SE winds 10-15knots changing to clearing with winds 10-15knots sw. A front was suppose to be moving in overnight. On the motor to Port Orchard, I was seeing wind gusts to 21knots and rain squalls rolling through. It was a much better day in the PNW to be out sailing then sitting idle trying to varnish!
For this race on "Great White" all the crew except Jim and I were too busy doing something else or in Canada racing in the Southern Straits race. They all missed a good one!
Even though we were doublehanded, we started the race downwind with spinaker. We got a good start and had a good run to Rich Pass, sometimes hitting speeds close to 9knots. All the boats stayed close together until the entrance to the pass where the wind dropped and transitioned forward. The ebb current was a factor. Those that stayed to the right side of the pass had less wind and current. We stayed to the left of center and had a greater boost from the current and slightly more consistant winds. As we approached Pt Glover for the right hand turn in Rich Pass, "Reign Maker" (C&C XL37/40)was the only boat ahead of us. The wind was still gusting from 10-16knots, so we kept the heavy #1 up. "Reign Maker" was flying a #3 and could not point well. They were to weather of us, but kept slipping down toward us. A few words later and they tacked away. That was the last we saw of them.
The start!
Running toward Rich Pass. Left to right: "Tantalus"(Express 37), "Tantrum 2"
(Schock35) and "Great White".
The Division 1 fleet bunched together approaching Rich Pass. Left to right: "Tantrum 2",
(Schock35) and "Great White".
The Division 1 fleet bunched together approaching Rich Pass. Left to right: "Tantrum 2", "Great White", "Schock Therapy"(Schock 35), "Dulcinea"(J105), "Tantalus", "Reign Maker" and "Sweet Spot"(J35).
The wind lifted an unusual amout toward the SW and we had a great course out of Rich Pass to a point about a 1/4 mile to the north of the west end of Blake Island where we had our first tack. We then short tacked the south shore of the island for current relief. We led around the island and set the spinaker for the run down the east side of the island followed by the reach toward buoy "R4".
We pulled off a good jibe, but had a little trouble taking the spinaker down. Still in the lead, we sailed past "R4" and reentered Rich Pass against the still ebbing current. We close reached to the south shore to avoid the current and stayed close to the shore around Pt Glover. We initially gained on those boats in the middle of the pass, but at Pt Glover the fleet compressed some. From Pt Glover, we crossed the main stream of the pass and short tacked the Bainbridge Island shore.
After clearing the pass, we short tacked the Manette shore and tucked in toward the Bremerton Marina for a boost from the still ebbing Pt Washington Narrows. From there it was a fairly normal beat to the finish.
We finished first, but "Dulcinea"(J105) finished around five minutes behind us to capture first in class(we owed them 6 mins, 40 seconds). The class 2 boats made out well with "Falcon"(Cal 9.2) correcting 1st overall, "Emerald Lady" (Catalina 27) getting second overall and "Egress"(Hotfoot 27) correcting out to 3rd overall. We corrected out to 5th overall.
The wind blew the whole day from 10knots to gusts to 20. With just two of us on the boat, we were light and could not hold the boat down as well as we could have with more people onboard. The selection of the heavy#1, for us, was the right sail choice. We were fast in the lulls and by depowering in the gusts could keep the boat moving. Those with #3's did not seem as fast.
Thanks to Bryan M's daughters for the photos.
We pulled off a good jibe, but had a little trouble taking the spinaker down. Still in the lead, we sailed past "R4" and reentered Rich Pass against the still ebbing current. We close reached to the south shore to avoid the current and stayed close to the shore around Pt Glover. We initially gained on those boats in the middle of the pass, but at Pt Glover the fleet compressed some. From Pt Glover, we crossed the main stream of the pass and short tacked the Bainbridge Island shore.
After clearing the pass, we short tacked the Manette shore and tucked in toward the Bremerton Marina for a boost from the still ebbing Pt Washington Narrows. From there it was a fairly normal beat to the finish.
We finished first, but "Dulcinea"(J105) finished around five minutes behind us to capture first in class(we owed them 6 mins, 40 seconds). The class 2 boats made out well with "Falcon"(Cal 9.2) correcting 1st overall, "Emerald Lady" (Catalina 27) getting second overall and "Egress"(Hotfoot 27) correcting out to 3rd overall. We corrected out to 5th overall.
The wind blew the whole day from 10knots to gusts to 20. With just two of us on the boat, we were light and could not hold the boat down as well as we could have with more people onboard. The selection of the heavy#1, for us, was the right sail choice. We were fast in the lulls and by depowering in the gusts could keep the boat moving. Those with #3's did not seem as fast.
Thanks to Bryan M's daughters for the photos.
More pics on: Rich Passage Ramble
And results on: http://kitsapsailing.com/wssa.html when posted.
Log for the day: 42.2nm
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