Two down, Three to go

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun, but who goes out in the dead of winter? Why, Sailors of course.

Last week was the coldest we’ve had so far this year. The skies were clear, the air was relatively still, and the docks were icy. In other parts of the country, this kind of weather finds boats swaddled in shrink-wrap on the hard and sailors swapping tales in the warm glow of their favorite tavern. In the Northwest though, true sailors brave the elements not wanting to squander the opportunity for a good day out. The Shilshole Bay Yacht Club helps support those sailors with the Snowbird racing series through the short days of winter. Saturday, December 12th was the second Snowbird race of the season and saw Tim, Phil Osborne, Paul Kent, Rob Johnston, David Lee and Jeremy Court (Laura was hobbled by a nasty cold this time) heading out to trade tacks with a fleet of like-minded lunatics.

Preparation took a little longer than normal this time, since Frog Prints was dressed for the Christmas Ship Parade from the night before. I’ve been trying to find a lighting design which would hold up to boisterous sailing, but it’s not there yet (we’re still finding bulbs knocked out from last year’s attempt). This year the lights were rigged for speedy conversion from a glorious beacon which lights the cold winter darkness to the swift wind chariot we all know and love. The crew was industrious in their efforts, and we departed the dock with plenty of time before our start.

Leaving the marina, the wind was not looking promising. The forecast was for anything between “light and variable” (NOAA) to “0-10” (Sailflow) and the current observations were leaning towards the low side of both. We hoisted the main and headed over towards the committee boat to see what we had in store. The Race Committee appeared to be more optimistic than the meteorologists. They had posted the course: NMWNLN (Start to Meadow Point, to West Point, through the line, to the South Mooring and back to the finish). The course could be shortened, but Meadow to West seemed like a pretty long stretch for the light conditions.

We unfurled the headsail and with Phil at the helm, began milling about with the fleet to get a sense of the conditions at the start. There was enough wind to move us, but nothing like the last race. We picked out our four competitors for the day and began lining up our start as the minutes ticked away. The wind would allow a good starboard reach along the line where we’d harden up at crossing time. The other boats were spaced well enough in their pattern to make it a less nerve-wracking start than the summer races usually had.

As we set up for the last tacks, the wind picked up slightly – not much, but just enough to make us faster than planned. We dumped as much wind from the sails as we could, but we were going to need a spin around to keep us in line for the start. Unfortunately, this ended up costing us a good 30 seconds or so as we jibed down and tacked back up to kill some distance. We crossed the line just behind Sublime. Phil was definitely irked that he mistimed the start. I, however, felt we did quite well (but then I’ve been known to misjudge the start by a minute or more). It would still prove to be good enough.

On the windward leg, we took an outside line looking for better wind, while a good number of the fleet took the more traditional in-shore line trying to avoid the flood current. It was difficult to estimate the efficacy of either tactic – the in-shore boats were ahead of us, but it was unclear if that was from better conditions, or the gap from the start. Breeze was well ahead of us this time, and was definitely the boat to beat. The rating difference between the boats gave us a big buffer, but the light conditions could be very favorable for a racier boat. This could be seen as the light boats from the Flying Sails divisions rapidly gained on our class (it was going to be a busy rounding).

Our outside line gave us a little more situational awareness as we tacked in towards our appointment with the Meadow Point buoy. We could pick our holes in the parade of inshore competitors and see how their lines were combining with the shifty wind and the current. In light winds or heavy tides, the current can radically change the actual line past the buoy. The flooding tide had moved the buoy a bit south and east from its charted position, and would require some extra clearance to avoid being set onto the mark.

We were lining up for our tack to the mark, which gave us a marvelous spectator’s seat for one of the more impressive roundings of the day. A J-boat had run out of water and was forced to tack out well before the buoy. However, they didn’t let that stop them. They took advantage of a little better wind outside and came barreling in on port tack as a parade of starboard-tack boats were fetching the mark more sedately and safely above it (remember, stiff current). The J came inside, tacked over and managed to round at remarkable speed with only a few feet between the boat and the cheese-grater-like hulking mass of the buoy. It was all kinds of gutsy to pull that off (their approach left them with no rights at the mark, and the navigational buoys can do significant damage with the slightest touch), but pull it off they did. I’m not sure I’d ever push it that hard though.

After our more sedate rounding, we trimmed for down-wind and picked our line towards West Point. We decided to stay outside in the higher wind and stronger current while some boats (including most in our class) decided to hope for something better inside. This was going to be a long stretch, and the right choice here could make or break the race for us. We were behind Breeze and Sublime, but we were enjoying the sunshine and the temperatures were rising towards the upper thirties. Once settled in, David switched to the helm, and I went below to start working on lunch (bean soup and croissants).

The downwind leg took considerable attention from the crew. The wind shifted everywhere from abeam to abaft, but we kept our angle and our boat speed up as much as we could. We seemed to be gaining on the inshore boats, although the cross-track can always be deceptive. Our line would take us out towards the outside of the course first, which meant we’d have to cover the distance back towards the center and the mark. If the conditions are just right, they may not have to cover as much perpendicular distance across the course – distance that can rapidly consume the gains we were seeing. When we gybed over to work back towards the center of the course, we could see the gap we had opened closing again.

The wind got quite challenging as we came closer to West Point, but we kept up with the trim. Breeze and Sublime were still ahead, although we clearly had closed the gap somewhat. We stepped from one point of sail to the next – from a port tack, to wing-on-wing, to starboard – as we curved in for our rounding. We were rounding close with another boat on our heels so we had to nail the rounding to keep them from running up on us. We came around the buoy, hardened up, and took off for the line.

The upwind was a good bit speedier than the down, and the wind seemed to settle in somewhat. There was a good gust coming out the ship channel as well which helped out as we headed for our first tack at the channel edge. From there we tacked out until we lined up for our run at the line. We aimed slightly inside as we’d want to round the pin on starboard for the best route to the final downwind mark (the south mooring buoy).

This last downwind leg kept us a little more inside. We continued focusing on boat speed, since often the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line when sailing. Breeze remained ahead, although the gap was closing. We were coming in on the mooring buoy on a good line, and the wind was right for a fun trip to the finish. With clear air and no traffic around, we rounded the buoy tightly. This would seem to be a safe approach with a flood tide – the current would be pushing us away from the buoy giving us a little extra clearance. However, the south mooring has a big warp hanging off of it (for the convenience of the tugs) which was streaming out in the current. We managed not to snag the line on our underside, but it was a bit close (it’s an awfully big line too).

As we made our way to the line, various obstacles conspired to frustrate us. Between the ship channel and various crab pots, we had to carefully pick our course to avoid getting snarled or needing to add extra tacks. We could see Breeze just slightly ahead, and I marked the time as she crossed the line. I wasn’t sure of the exact course length, but I figured if we could cross no more than six minutes behind, we’d correct out ahead of her in the results.

We tacked over for our final run at the line, and the wind was favorable. We could point above the pin if we needed, and the committee boat end was well below close hauled. This allowed us to sail fast for the finish and still safely adjust to any wind shifts. I watched the time tick away as we approached the line – one minute….two minutes… - it always seems to take longer than you think. Three minutes passed, and the tension was palpable. Four and a half and we were almost there. By five it was looking to be a squeaker. The bow reached the line as the final seconds ticked away. The committee finally sounded the horn – five and a half minutes after Breeze. We had beat them.

We knew we had made second (Araminta was far behind), but we had lost track of Sublime in the last couple of legs. With our first in the first race, we would still be in a strong position for the series overall. When the results were finally posted the next day though, we were in for a surprise. Sublime had not crossed ahead of us (as we had though), but came in slightly over 9 minutes behind. Being a theoretically slower boat (Sublime is a 27-footer who gets over a minute a mile from us), they would gain quite a bit in the adjustments. However, this time it was not quite enough. In the final results, we corrected to first place – by 21 seconds (in a two-hour race). The accomplishment was so surprising, Rob called around to share his amazement when he first saw (and people say sailboat racing isn’t exciting).

Thus ended the second Snowbird race of the season, and the last of 2009. As we go into 2010, Frog Prints holds a formidable lead in our class (three points ahead of both Breeze and Sublime). The others will be gunning for us in the next three races, but it’s all in good fun. Hopefully many of you will be contributing to a successful winter. We couldn’t do it without you.