April 7, 2015
BLUSTERY RAINY NIGHT
With a dark wall of rain clouds looming on the horizon, we
were all wondering about what sailing would be like tonight. Despite the foreboding conditions, we had 6
boats show up for the race and even more out for the sail. Aeolian, Diver Down, Kicks, Makani, Perfect
36 and Sailing Pair A Dice showed up for the fun. We called course number 2 and a start time of
6:10.
At the start, Pair a Dice was charging the line on starboard
tack with Diver Down close behind on our starboard hip. Perfect 36 was coming in from our port as the
three boats crossed the start line nearly simultaneously. Pair A Dice was very close to lee bowing
Diver Down but could not succeed in this move and Diver Down ultimately rolled
us to windward. We tacked over in front
of Perfect 36 and Diver Down tacked to cover us again and quickly left us in
the dust. No sooner were we free of
Diver Down’s bad wind than we had to deal with the same from Perfect 36. Diver Down rounded Wharf well ahead as Pair a
Dice and Perfect 36 dueled their way to the mark in the peppering rain. Ultimately Pair A Dice rounded Wharf just
ahead of Perfect 36 and Makani just behind.
Pair A Dice was able to fend Perfect 36 off and rounded Mile ahead, but
on the way to Gov, Perfect 36 passed us to windward. After Gov, we were not
able to keep up or pass Perfect 36.
Diver Down horizoned the fleet and rounded the finish line well ahead as
Perfect 36 rounded second with Pair A Dice and Makani following. Aeolian and
Kicks had a little drag race coming into the finish with Aeolian squeaking
ahead for the finish.
We had an interesting dinner at Crows Nest with over 20
people showing up for the comradarie.
Strategy:
In any sail boat race, keeping clear air is essential. This is often easier said than done. This evening Pair A Dice spent too much time
in bad air and could not shake the cover of other boats. Possibly,
we could have tacked over earlier right after Diver Down passed us on
port tack. We could have cleared Perfect
36 and succeeded in following the often repeated axiom: “stay between your
opponent and the mark”. When we returned to the slip, we noticed an 8 foot
strand of kelp that had caught on our bob stay tang at the waterline of our
bow. We felt that the boat was not up to
its characteristic speed and have no idea how long that kelp was there.
Other racing:
Keep in mind the other racing that is coming up. There is the Commodores cup on this Saturday,
the SCORE series and the Leukemia cup coming up on May 3.
See you next Tuesday.
Barry L. Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
No comments:
Post a Comment