Saturday was the Poulsbo Invitational Race. This was the 4th race in the seven
race West Sound Sailing Association(WSSA) series. This race starts just north of
Battle Point and with a south wind it heads to a temporary buoy near University
Point, then north to the #6 navigational mark near Pt Bolin and then follows the
shoreline to a finish off of Poulsbo Yacht Club in Liberty Bay. This course was
9.6 miles. In case of a north wind, the race is run first to #6 mark, University
Pt and then PYC for a distance of 11 miles.
On Saturday, as we motored to the starting area, the wind was from the SW at 12-16 knots with gusts in the low 20's. We waited until close to the starting time to see what the wind was going to do before deciding on a headsail. The wind dropped into the 8-12 knot range, so we set the No. 1 jib. The starting line was set such that a boat could cross the line on starboard, but it was skewed such that a starboard start took up about half the length of the line after clearing the committee boat end. Everyone was lining up for a starboard start and just as we got ready to make our last tack to the line, we lost a jib sheet and had to hold off our tack until we could rerig the sheet. The crew took care of the problem rapidly and we tacked to the line. We owned the boat end and had a slightly slow but on time start. We continued on starboard rather than tacking immediately to port to look for the header under Battle Pt. Sure enough we got a header, tacked to port and had a nice lift.
On Saturday, as we motored to the starting area, the wind was from the SW at 12-16 knots with gusts in the low 20's. We waited until close to the starting time to see what the wind was going to do before deciding on a headsail. The wind dropped into the 8-12 knot range, so we set the No. 1 jib. The starting line was set such that a boat could cross the line on starboard, but it was skewed such that a starboard start took up about half the length of the line after clearing the committee boat end. Everyone was lining up for a starboard start and just as we got ready to make our last tack to the line, we lost a jib sheet and had to hold off our tack until we could rerig the sheet. The crew took care of the problem rapidly and we tacked to the line. We owned the boat end and had a slightly slow but on time start. We continued on starboard rather than tacking immediately to port to look for the header under Battle Pt. Sure enough we got a header, tacked to port and had a nice lift.
Our earlier reconnaissance showed us that the wind was blowing SW near Brownsville, so we continued on port tack toward the west shore until we got another header and then tacked to starboard. We were lifted on starboard in the gusts and worked the right side of the course to the mark. The mark was set well to the west of University Point where the wind is very fluckey. We managed to get around without too much trouble and jibe set the spinnaker for the run to the mark at Pt Bolin.
We had a nice reach until halfway to Battle Pt where we jibed to starboard and had a straightforward run to the mark. We rounded the mark and sailed close hauled high enough on one tack to clear the shallows off Pt Bolin. As we headed toward Keyport, the wind came aft enough to set the spinnaker. We tried something fancy on the spinnaker set, lost the guy and had the spinnaker flying off to leeward. I am sure that there are photos of our problem somewhere but I have not seen them yet. The crew recovered nicely and we were heading off to Lemolo.
Sailing past Lemolo into Liberty bay the wind became lighter and shifty and it became an exercise of trying to follow the shifts and keeping the boat moving. Races have been won and lost here. After finally sailing into Liberty Bay, the wind came aft, increased and it was a straightforward run to the finish.
We were first to finish and corrected to first in our class. But the entire Division II corrected in front of us. This is often the case with this race. With only about 1 1/2 NM of beating and 8 NM of reaching and running, this race favors the smaller and slower rated boats.
Results can be found here: Poulsbo Invitational Race 2013
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