The winds were light(3-4 knots) from the NW. The direction was really unusual for this area. Usually the wind is more N to NE. On Great White(J35), we got a good, but somewhat late start. We started to leeward of Dulcinea(J105) who was barging and we squeezed them outside the pin. Sweet Spot(J35) came right behind us and kept Dulcinea out of the starting area forcing them to circle around. Tantalus(Express 37) started at the other end of the line, but no earlier than us. We had clear air and tacked to port toward Bainbridge Island. As I said, the wind was unusually far toward the west and we sailed one tack to Arrow Point. Normally with a northerly, we cannot get around Battle Point without tacking. We put more distance on the rest of the fleet. Near Arrow Point we tacked toward the middle of Agate Pass as did Sweet Spot. Some boats thought that was a mistake. A strong ebb was flowing and I was concerned about getting swept past the mark. We stayed in the middle of the pass and upstream of the day mark at Pt Bolin. Some boats stayed adamntly on the right side and my hope was that the wind would die for awhile and let them get flushed past the mark. Reign Maker(C&C37XL) stayed on the Bainbridge Island shore and gained on us. At first it looked like they had passed us, but when they crossed Agate Pass, they were swept north and way overstood the mark. They were forced to sail downwind against the current.
We rounded first just ahead of Reign Maker. We jibeset onto starboard, but after Sweet Spot did a bear away set and headed left, we jibed to port and headed left. Sweet Spot got ahead of us and then the wind switched SW, so we went to the jib for a while and caught up to Sweet Spot. As we approached Battle Pt, the wind filled in from the N and we set spinakers again. We jibed to starboard looking for a little bit better wind(not the best idea), but jibed back to port to sail along the Bainbridge Island shore. The wind started getting spotty near University Point. We could not find a racing buoy set near University Point, so followed Sweet Spot around a mooring buoy. This met the definition of the mark: P-Buoy off University Point.
Sweet Spot was able to close reach to the start/finish line at the marina. We had to tack once. At the finish the crew of Sweet Spot was able to convince the RC that the mark was missing and the race was shortened. At least it was not thrown out and all the boats behind us rounded the mooring buoy(later Sweet Spot found the race buoy about 2 miles south near Illahee). The wind at the finish had risen to around 7 knots, so at least one more lap could have been completed.
In class, Sweet Spot was first. Dulcinea finshed close enough to us to correct on us by about 39seconds. Overall, Egress (Hotfoot27), a division II boat finished close enough to win 1st overall.
Our crew of Peg, Curt, Bob and Brendan did a great job and we had no sail handling errors. Bob and Brendan were from Tantrum II(Schock 35). Bob did not race Tantrum II because he was short of crew and came over to fill in for some of my missing crew.
For overall series results:
Egress 18 points- First Place
Falcon(Cal 9.2) 18 points- Second Place(after tie breaking process)
Great White (J35) 19 points- Third Place
The series was really tight this year. I was glad to see a division II boat win the series after many years of dominance by division I boats. Steve on Egress sailed a great series. Bryan with Falcon was leading the series up to the last race. In fact any one of four boats(Great White, Emerald Lady(Catalina27), Falcon or Egress) could have taken the series with a good showing in the last race.
Complete results can be found here:
http://kitsapsailing.com/wssa.html
Light winds after the start. Reign Maker behind us.
Light air spinaker reach. Reign Maker still behind us. Curt trimming the spinaker.
Our course for the day.
Good call on the shortened course? They made it sound like there wasn't much depth at all... without seeing it for myself, I felt like I had to trust them... otherwise I'm sure positions would have changed on the next lap.
ReplyDeleteGood thing the bouy was found. Don't know what the deal was, Jim said he thought he saw a small boat take off with it. The tide was going out, so I doubt it got lifted... but I didn't set it either, so I don't know how deep it was.
-Gerry
There is a deep hole of about 75 feet right near the point. How much line did the buoy have?
ReplyDeleteThe mooring buoy had a lot of water around and under it. Did not know that was part of the issue too.
I would have liked to have raced another lap, but it was your call.
I dunno. I think the lines are only about 50-70 feet or so. Brian set that mark, don't know what happened. When they found the bouy, did it still have line on it?
ReplyDeleteI was conflicted because I knew Sweetspot was lobbying hard because they were in the lead and wanted to keep it that way. I'd just gotten back to the breakwater from getting a sandwich, and was looking to see if the wind would hold more than anything. At risk of having the whole race protested over the mark, I felt that was the only thing I could reasonably do... although I dispise shortened races, when there is actually wind.
First time doing committee, tried my best to avoid a major screwup.
BTW, I was thinking your thoughts exactly on the Agate pass mark... I checked out Reign Maker before heading to the mark to watch the fleet round... he looked like he was well ahead, but he hugged the shore a lot longer than needed, and ended up well high of his layline with the current. I was impressed as heck when you slipped in and beat him by a boat length.
Gotta say, it was pretty cool watching everyone round and set spinnakers. Really wish I had remembered my video camera.
-Gerry
Gerry
ReplyDeleteYou did well. I don't blame you at all. This is not the first time that racers have influenced the out come. Once in a race at PO, the Gorst buoy was missing and since I was in first, I spent a lot of time sailing around looking for it assuming the race was dead. The other competitors sailed close to where they thought the buoy was supposed to be and then completed the race. A lot of people lobbyed to keep the race which left me in last place because of spending time looking for the mark. Next time if I feel that I have been prejuidiced some way, I will file for redress.
I thought I could catch Sweet Spot on the next beat and was disappointed that we did not have the chance. Oh well, it all came out OK.
There is that deep hole just north of University Pt. I remember once as a kid trying to anchor my sailing dinghy there.
Some thought that I was wrong in sailing toward the first mark the way I did and they blamed their poor performance on following me. Hmmm!
Thanks Dan