Race write up by Dave Burrows and Jeff Brantley
At 17:00 the Bay was windless, but outside the Bay there were boats sailing in ruffled water to a North-ish breeze. The CB crossed towards the tower to wait. When the wind line reached the CB the RC checked its direction and set the Leeward mark then the Windward mark. On the way to set up the S/F line the wind shifted and strengthened so the Leeward mark was moved to align and lengthen the course.
The S/F line was set square to the 285°M breeze. The start of the first race was delayed by 25 minutes by the set-up. The first course was SWLF, once around. The wind at the start was 12-14 kts.
When the starting horn sounded, the majority of the fleet was jockeying at the pin end of the line and looking to head out to the left side of the course to take advantage of more wind pressure. As the lead boats concentrated on holding lanes on starboard tack, several boats on the front row got rolled. This provided the opportunity for some to split from the group of battling boats and sail in clear air. Also, the the big puffs of breeze rolling down the left side of the beat were favoring the port tack boats by offering port tack lifts along with the aforementioned clear air. CORVO took advantage of this and crossed the fleet at the upper part of the beat and rounded the mark with a solid lead. The next four boats had worked the left side of the course and rounded together in a fairly tight bunch before the rest of the fleet made it to the mark. The new style longer first beat produced its desired effects of fleet separation to make the roundings more spread out. The downwind leg did offer some differing tactics which did provide some passing lanes to the leeward mark. The beat back to the finish line was relatively short but also provided for some good racing with CORVO completing the course in about 20 minutes. The rest of the results are posted below.
For the second race the course set was SWLWLF (this is the same as SWLF2 except there is no requirement to cross the S/F line between laps…great reminder to double check the posted course to ensure proper understanding!). The wind was 13-15 kts and had backed by 20°, favoring the pin. The first start sequence was abandoned due to flag confusion aboard the CB. The restart was good. After the start the wind returned to 285° and continued to build, by the time the last boats finished it was blowing 17-19 kts and gusting to 25.
Once again, all the action was at the pin. Owl was looking to port tack the fleet and was almost able to pull off this classic maneuver. One of the 5oh5s shut that door and the race was on! The big left shift made it difficult for some of the fleet to even lay the pin, so many boats immediately tacked to the favored port tack. Leading the port tackers off the line were a pack of three including OWL, POSSUM, and CORVO. CORVO lead most of the beat but OWL was able to pass at the very top of the course and rounded first with CORVO hot in pursuit. Once again, with the distinct puffs of pressure rolling down the left side of the course , there were different approaches to the downwind leg- deep with the jib wing and wing or a more direct course to the leeward mark. After a long battle down the run, CORVO managed to get inside of OWL to gain the necessary overlap for Mark Room. After some less than optimum leeward mark roundings, there were more passing opportunities. Also, since the Start Finish line was NOT part of the course, the fleet was able to spread out and work both sides of the course on the way back up to the windward mark. The fleet did split reflecting the different views of the skippers- some seeing more pressure to the left while others working the middle of the course. Difficult to say which tactic was better but safe to say that the decisions were affected by the proximity of the competing boats and their desire to cover or sail for clear air. The lead three boats maintained their order to finish a really fun and exciting (and beautiful) night of racing. Thanks Race Committee!
Results below.
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