In nearly 30 years of racing this race, I have always found this race to be a difficult one to place well in. Many boats from the host Port Madison Yacht Club participate in only this race of the series and frankly, they know these waters better than us. This is my least favorite race of the series.
The forecast was for 10-15 knot winds rising to 15-25 knots later in the day. The temps were still in the lower 30's and there was a potential of snow showers.
We got a OK start and started the beat up the shore toward the first mark off Eagle Harbor. Most boats stayed along the shore to avoid a predicted ebb current. A few boats went farther off shore and did appear to get a port tack lift. Maybe they were smarter, or just lucky? And sure enough, later in the beat when we stuck our nose farther offshore, we actually found favorable current and closed up some on the leaders. We also seemed to have a bit of trouble getting the boat up to speed. But we did stay ahead of another of my fast J-boat brethren, Dulcinea(J105) and actually rounded just ahead of them at the first mark.
On the reach to the West Point mark, the wheels came off our program. It took us three tries to get the spinnaker up. Each time it was either fouled or badly hourglassed. When we finally got the spinnaker hoisted cleanly, then it took a long time getting the jib down, finally getting it down just as we rounded the West Point mark. We probably lost 5-10 minutes on that leg. Tantalus(Express 37) even passed us after we rounded the first mark well ahead of them.
The second reaching leg went a lot better. We gained on Tantalus who jibed late stayed too far to the right. We seemed to close on the boats ahead, but it was hard to tell since we had fallen so far back. At the last mark, we carried the spinnaker longer then Tantalus and then they rounded the mark wide and we were able to round inside them and stay to weather of them. We gained on Tantalus on the final beat and saved our time on them.
We were sixth in our class and ninth overall. Not a great showing, but it is the first race of a long series. It is not the end of the world. Remember, I said that this race is not easy and most of the boats from this club do not race the rest of the series.
Although it was cold, the wind stayed steady all day and the race was completed quickly. I had a great time and my crew of Walter and Jim did well and it was a pleasure to sail with them. I don't have any great pictures, it is too hard to sail the boat and take pictures. I don't know how others pull it off. Maybe they are better than I am!
Results: http://www.wscyc.net/WSSA/2011/Race1portmadison.pdf
Here is our track for the day. The course was 16.5 nm. We started at Pt Monroe and sailed clockwise.
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