Wow - What a Saturday

After more than three months without sailing, we picked a perfect day for Laura and me to get back out there. Last Saturday was the Sloop Tavern Yacht Club’s Fall Regatta, and it was just awesome.

The Friday-night storms (over 30 knots) died off a little later than expected – it was still blowing when I arrived for the Skippers’ Meeting at 0830, but it died down to something more normal very suddenly afterwards. By shortly after 0900 when the crew began arriving, wind on the water was in the 15 knot range from the southwest, and it felt like a gentle breeze within the confines of the marina. The forecast was all over the place (as usual) with NOAA calling for 10-20 (with showers in the afternoon) and Sailflow calling for 5-15 dropping to light as the winds shifted to the north by evening. It turned out they were both wrong.

The winds had blown many of the clouds clear, so the sun was shining and warm as we set out for the day. Garr Youngren, one of our long-term crew members, was along for the day, as were David, David, Craig and Megan. This would be Megan’s first day out on one of the larger boats, and she was in for a treat.

The fleet was looking a little lighter than expected – only three of the five boats in our class showed up. Perhaps they were afraid of the rain or the wind, but no matter – we would still have good competition. We faced Marty Bower’s Amoretto (a Jenneau 30) and Whiskey Run (a heavy cruising cutter) in our class, with some of the other familiar boats like Greyling and Breeze in the second NFS class. Amoretto is a relatively close match for Frog Prints, rating roughly 10 seconds slower than us. Whiskey Run rates almost a minute slower, which always makes results a toss-up due to the adjusted times.

The race committee set the first race as a relatively short course given the way the winds had lessened, with a single time around the south mooring bouy and Meadow Point. We hoisted sail and worked around to prepare for the start as the fleet meandered. They were being surprisingly kind, keeping clear of the line while the three of us in the first start prepared our positions. Amoretto and Whiskey Run were going to make port-tack runs for the middle of the line to get the better wind angle for a long tack, while we planned to come in from the outside on starboard to cross near the pin. The wind wasn’t completely accomodating – we ended up crossing close to the committee boat and tacking on the line – but we timed it well and kept the other two boats clear. This was to be the first of three of the best starts I’ve done.

The wind was holding steady, and we were keeping up with Amoretto. Whiskey Run fell away as they couldn’t point as high as the other two boats. It was going to be two tacks and around on this leg. I handed off the helm to check the course – almost everyone would get a turn driving today. The wind was holding up surprisingly well in the lee of Discovery Point, butwe still planned to leverage the outside as much as we could today.

We rounded the mooring bouy right outside of Amoretto, leaving them to risk catching the mooring line floating in the water behind it. From there we parted ways as we headed outside while Amoretto took the more traditional inside line on Meadow Point (perhaps to minimize the flood current). It was a relaxing downwind cruise, with the wind moving us along around 6 knots or so. While the other boats poled out wing-on-wing for a more direct line, we sailed a little higher to keep out boat speed up. It paid off as we reached Meadow Point and turned up for the finish. We had pulled clear ahead of Amoretto and were set to take line honors as they scrambled to make up the difference. They were hot on our tail, but we crossed 16 seconds ahead – a win at the line, but not enough for corrected time. We took second place in the first race by a mere 6 seconds – what a race.

The first race finished fairly quickly with all boats over the line in a little more than an hour. The Race Committee set a longer course for the second race - around West Point and Meadow Point this time. We nailed the start again and headed out for the mark on a really good line. Amoretto tacked in to use the typical local technique of following the lift along the point but they were missing out on the outside wind. As we emerged from behind the head, the apparent wind rapdily built to over 28 knots – quite a blow.

Here’s where we took advantage of some heavy-wind wisdom from Jim last winter – depower the main to keep the boat flatter and the weather helm under control. When the boat is heeled way over, the keel loses its grip and we make more leeway. When the helm is fighting the sails, the big rudder is dragging through the water slowing us down. We eventually threw in two reefs, but we were still doing well over 7 knots and pointing high. Everyone else left full sail up and started to fall behind.

When we came around the mark and headed back for Meadow Point, we shook out the reef for a great sleighride. It wasn’t as much as we got during Swiftsure, but we did break 8.3 on the downwind. We were clear ahead when we rounded and finished a minute and a half ahead of Amoretto – enough to win by 6 seconds! We even crossed ahead of almost the entire fleet (except for Grayling and Breeze).

The sky was something to behold that day (of course – I forgot our camera). The clouds to the south stayed to the edges of the Sound, to the North was a black wall of rain, and above us was clear, blue sky. As long as the south wind held, it would keep the rain at bay. This is what makes winter sailing worth it.

During the race, one of the battens had started to come out again. We took the break between races to try to get it back in, but it flogged itself out as we lowered the sail. The change in sail shape didn’t hurt us too much, but I really need to come up with a solution for these battens – it’s been a regular occurrence for years now.

We expected we’d have a heavy blow for the third race, and so did the Race Committee. They posted a long course, but used short notation since the RC boat was only a Catalina 27 – NWM2N. Since I’d paid attention at the Skippers’ Meeting, I realized what the 2 meant - it would normally be NWMNWMN: twice around West and Meadow point with a crossing through the line so they could shorten the race if necessary. It turned out many of the other skippers hadn’t been paying attention, since very few boats crossed the line before beginning the second lap. Apparently the Race Committee ended up throwing out the DSQs, but it didn’t end up hurting us.

We started with one reef in and set out for West Point. Our strategy was working well, and we made good time the first time around. On the second lap, we went outside from West to Meadow points, while many of the other boats went in to try to get more moderate wind and smaller waves (it was wind against tide). This turned out to be our best bet of the day. About half way down, the wind died off as the new weather from the north started to reach our area. We could see the wind line coming down, and it wasn’t the usual straight line across the Sound. This time, it lagged along the shore, so the wind shift would reach us first. It was an odd one – all swirly and random along the boundary, but it got us moving while the rest of the fleet was waiting for the inside to re-fill. By the time the race was over, this luck had not only countered the extra distance at the second lap (Amoretto skipped crossing through the line), but we finished ten minutes ahead of them (almost 15 ahead of Whiskey Run). The Race Committee was a bit slow with the horn at the end, but we were very appreciative – it had been quite a day out.

The rain held off until well after we were back in and all tucked away. The sun had shone most of the day (I bet everyone got a little bit fo sunburn), and we had a complete variety of sailing conditions. It was a fantastic day. To top it all off, when we stopped by the Sloop for the results later that evening, we had not only taken First in Class, but First Overall for NFS – a wonderful finish.

Now, this means we’re going to have to sail the rest of the Admiral’s Cup races in 2010 to defend our position.