ONE CLOSE RACE
Tuesday August
12,2014
Another great night for sailing with plenty of wind coming
from the northwest. It was good to see
Iris back out after a couple of weeks off.
Diver Down, Aeolian, Pacific Spirit and Katrina were also out for the
fun. Since we had used Course 1 the last
two weeks, we decided to mix it up a bit and used course 2: Start, Wharf, Mile,
Gov, finish. On Pair A Dice we saw more
wind on the inside and decided to start off on port tack. We were a little late to the start and had to
duck Diver Down who started on starboard tack with Pacific Spirit. Aeolian and Iris went inside with us. When the outside boats and inside boats
merged at wharf, it was a pretty even draw.
Pair a Dice rounded just ahead of Pacific Spirit and Diver Down followed
closely by Aeolian. The same order was
followed around Mile, though Pacific spirit had closed the gap on us and was
right on our stern. The reach to Gov was
very exciting with Pacific Spirit first trying to pass us to windward, then to leeward. The boats were so close we could have
exchanged drinks with each other!
Sailing Pair A Dice was barely able to break the overlap at the 3 boat
zone and Pacific Spirit swung down to take our stern. Right after rounding Gov, Pacific Spirit
pulled a brilliant tactical move and swung very high to pass us to windward
effectively stealing or wind. We
attempted a similar move, but were unable to effectively steal their wind. It was a drag race to the finish mark with
Aeolian closing the gap and establishing overlap at the start/finish mark. The order at the finish was Pacific Spirit,
Aeolian, Pair A Dice, Diver Down, Iris and Katrina. I guess it was even exciting to the
spectators on Chardonnay as they shadowed us at the finish.
Tactics:
When approaching a mark, the three boat zone is a critical
time. If planned and played correctly,
you can break the overlap and have a huge advantage when rounding the
mark. Pair a Dice pulled this off when
we rounded Gov, but we were slow defending our position. We thought we could set a pole for an
advantage, but it was not effective.
While we were “playing with our toy” (whisker pole) Pacific Spirit
sailed right over us, a great move on their part. We love these tight races!
Another perspective:
Diana of Pacific Spirit sent me their recap of the race as
follows:
Since Jeff was at the helm I had my hands free to take some video. For
those not present, it was a great race. We started very well, and
immediately split tacks with Barry (Pair-A-Dice). When we crossed again we
were extremely close to them and Aeolian. Both of them were on starboard
and we were on port so we tacked, not sure if we were on a lay line to the
first mark yet. Fortunately we made it without tacking again but not by
much, rounding in 2nd place. We were still 2nd after Mile mark, and almost
caught Barry on the way to Government (where the video starts). We passed
them just past Government and held them off until the finish.
The video continues past the finish, with the 4 top finishers heading back
to the harbor with great wind.
Chardonnay was hanging around the whole time, giving us bad air but a great
show for the crowd on board.
Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po_ti07K_Gk&feature=youtu.be
- Tom
It was a very fun, close race!
Congratulations to Pacific Spirit and Aeolian for superior sailing.
Looking forward to next Tuesday.
Barry L.Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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