It was two days of good racing. Saturday saw light and shifty winds but four races where gotten off. Sunday’s winds winds, contrary to the forecast, where better, and the race committee were able to get in five more. Local crews took second, third, fourth, and fifth! But a good time was had by all.
Morgan Conrad on Andiamo Again was out watching the regatta and got some great photos. You can see and download them here.
Sarah Kolbeck was on the committee boat on Sunday and also took some great shots. See them here.
There is also video available thanks to Dale Dunning who skippers Owl. The first race is up on his YouTube channel with more to come.
Here’s a recap of the regatta from Roland Nikles (results below):
Anatomy of a Fifth Place Finish
Golf, said John Feinstein in a memorable phrase, is “a good walk spoiled.” Spoiled by the frustration that comes from great shots and birdies followed by terrible shots and bogeys. One design sailors can relate. Like the manic-depressive bank robber, Baby Faced Nelson, in O’ Brother Where Art Though, in a two-day nine race regatta, we can be riding high on top of a wave one moment, only to crash into a deep trough the next. Unlike in golf, we get to throw out our worst result. Alas it was not enough to save fifth place Falcon from its sins at the 2021 Thunderbird West Coast Championship Regatta on this Labor Day weekend.
Anyone who has ever been involved in a protest hearing can attest, sailboat races are Rashomon events: any attempt to piece together exactly what happened is bound to be fraught with error. Your reporter is but a humble woodcutter…
Race 1: The wind was a gentle breeze from the south-east and the race committee set course B-1, the shortest course available: start, windward mark, offset mark, to L1 above the start line, back to windward mark, and a down-wind finish. We read the pin end as slightly favored, and Falcon managed to win the pin at speed for an excellent start. We worked up the left side of the course, but stayed more in the middle than some, and reached the weather mark in 3rd or 4th position. We maintained that approximate position after the first run, heading more less down the middle. On the second weather leg we stayed more to the right and managed to round in approximately third place. The wind lightened up on the final run. Falcon kept to the left side of the course, which allowed us to heat it up coming into the finish and eke out a narrow win over Raven (Peter Shorett) and Predator (Craig Burnell).
Race 2: The wind soon reasserted itself as a gentle breeze from a more easterly direction. The committee adjusted the weather mark and start line slightly and repeated the same course. This start did not go as smoothly for Falcon. We had planned for a mid-line start, but found ourselves back down at the pin end, to leeward and overlapped with two boats. We attempted to head up and assertively called for room. The windward boat was sailing right down the line towards the pin end and refused to give room. It’s hard to convince someone right on the line to respond to a hail to luff knowing they’ll be OCS! But that’s the rule (Rule 11). The windward boat should have responded but failed to. As a result the gate was closed at the pin end and we had to jibe around and start on port tack behind the fleet. We headed out to the right side up the course and eked out an 8th place. Lesson: assert your luffing right early; give yourself enough time; and be assertive. Gerry Gilbert and his Vuja Dé won the race, followed by Joe Daubenberger on Dorado and Dale Dunning on Owl.
Race 3: One more race with a gentle breeze from the east. Falcon had an uneventful start in the middle of the line. For reasons not clear to me, boat speed (?), shifts (?), some disturbed air (?) we found ourselves in the bottom third of the pack at the weather mark. On the subsequent run the wind lightened, then disappeared, then filled in from the north. Spinnakers down, genoas up. We were situated to the north of the fleet. That and a quick tack to the north turned out to be most fortuitous. The race committee shortened course to finish the race at the first leeward mark and Falcon salvaged a third-place finish. Better lucky than good, but we’ll take it. Peter Shorett won the race with Raven, followed by Hans Daubenberger on Possum.
Race 4: The wind changed to a light breeze from the northwest and the committee set course A-1, one lap of the course with a windward finish from L2 set downwind of the committee boat. Falcon headed out to the left side of the course to take advantage of potentially more favorable current. I’m not sure what happened with the current, but we caught a left shift on port tack up to the weather mark and found ourselves rounding the weather mark in first place. We managed to hold off the fleet down to L2 and the short beat home to win the race. Invader (Mike Dotson) finished second, followed by Predator (Craig Burnell).
Contrary to all available forecasts Sunday brought a steady north wind, shifting to NW, and ultimately to the west without skipping a beat, allowing for five very competitive races.
Race 5: The fleet motored out at 9:00 a.m. with very little wind, but by 9:50 a light breeze had set in from the north and the race committee wasted no time and set course A-1 [windward, leeward to L2, with a beat to the finish]. Falcon started at the left third of the line lacking speed at the line. We were off the pace, finishing in 6th place. Listen to Greg Fisher: “Pay close attention to your placement relative to the lineup of boats close by. Especially watch the two to three boats to windward, always trying to maintain the same slight bow-back position throughout the entire starting approach. That will give you a runway to accelerate into so you can begin to trim before the competitors above do. If any of those boats to weather trims and begins to accelerate, trim immediately and match its speed, no matter where it is on the line or the time before the gun. If even one of those boats gets the jump and ends up on your wind after the gun, it can be game over.” Raven (Peter Shorett) tallied another win on the board, followed by Corvo (Stig Osterberg), and Kuma San (John Lynes).
Race 6: The remaining races were two lap A-2 courses: windward mark, to L-1 (up from the start line), back to the windward mark, and finally to L-2 (below the start line) for a windward finish. Falcon was first to the weather mark, but approaching on port tack. I was overly aggressive and tacked on the lee bow of Invader approaching on starboard; Invader had to head above close hauled. A violation of Rule 18.3. We completed our penalty in the space between the weather mark and the offset mark and while we were doing that half the fleet passed us by…. Lesson learned: when in doubt, don’t push your rule 18.3 luck. Play it conservative. Second is a plenty good spot to round an offset mark, and a lot better than 10th! In order to get a good night’s sleep, ease sails to pass behind the starboard boat and attack on the downwind leg. Invader (Mike Dotson) managed to maintain a top position, finishing second; Vuja Dé (Gerry Gilbert) won the race; and Dorado (Joe Daubenberger) finished third.
Race 7: Rinse and repeat; different detergent. The wind had shifted NW and marks were reset, otherwise the same course. Falcon arrived at the weather mark in the top half of the fleet, and we promptly set the spinnaker at the weather mark—starboard tack, before the offset—because we could. But we failed to look ahead. A slower (and inexperienced) boat was ahead rounding the offset mark on port tack. They refused to give room for us to pass the offset mark and we wound up taking the spinnaker down, tacking back up to clear the offset mark as half the fleet passed us by for another 10th place finish. Lesson learned: anticipate trouble! Look who is around you and what trouble you might get into. Use your imagination. More lost sleep. Dorado (Joe Daubenberger) won the race, followed by Invader (Mike Dotson) and Corvo (Blackbird Associates).
Race 8: The wind dropped to a light breeze at the start. The committee boat end was favored. Falcon got caught out in the second row at the start behind a crowd at the committee boat end. Corvo came in late and managed to squeeze in right next to the committee, but with no speed. Falcon was forced to wait it out, creep across the start line, and we ate dirty air the rest of the weather leg. Lesson learned: don’t get bad starts, especially in light air! Ha, as if we didn’t know. Predator (Craig Burnell) stretched it out for the win in the light air. Raven (Peter Shorett) managed to get out in front again at the start and finished second. Dorado (Joe Daubenberger) starting to hit their stride with consistent sailing finished third.
Race 9: The wind shifted westerly to the usual Port Townsend summer sailing spot. The weather mark was set up towards the ferry terminal with an elongated port tack course. Falcon started at the leeward end, behind Invader and headed out to the port lay line with Owl and Raven. We expected more favorable current on that side of the course, and this proved correct. Owl, Raven, and Falcon rounded the weather mark 1-2-3 and maintained that position to the finish. The rest of the fleet stayed more on the right side of the course and that did not pay.
Overall, a great weekend of sailing. Thank you to Eric Rimkus and Craig Daniels for keeping the races moving along, and resetting the courses on a constant basis. See you all next year.
Roland Nikles
