A Happy Canada Day

The penultimate 2015 Spring Wednesday race was held on Canada Day. There were a couple of J 22s and Windlight made its first 2015 appearance.  We went through our usual pre start practise. There was a new crew member on board so this was doubly beneficial. The split ring on the main sheet block broke so we had to do a quick repair. Everything went well and the crew was ready for the start.

The wind was from the north west at between 15 and 20 knots. A bit gusty. Dragon Lady was available so we had a 'Whiskey' course. The start line as long and fair. We had a good start slightly to windward of Jazz and Windburn and leeward of the J22. We seemed to gain on the J22 , we wee clear ahead at the windward mark. Windlight went into shore and seemed to gain on the first upwind leg but not enough to be a concern.

We just barely cleared the windward mark. Good hoist. I focused a bit more on gybe angles. It helped that Windlight chose not to fly their chute and Windburn had an hourglass. (We learned after the race that Jazz had chute problems as well.) We had a good downwind run. The crew worked well at the leeward mark and adapted to my constant plan changes.

The next up wind leg was pretty much a repeat of the first, except that we were clear ahead of all other boats. Our boat speed was good which is a bit surprising since we do not have the newest of sails. Kevin noticed a few more spots that needed patches (as always). We almost have new sails given all of the patching that has been done! Before the race Kevin had moved the genoa cars back and I had tuned the rig. This may have compensated our patchy sails. As I like to say: "The key isn't boat or sails but is a good crew working together".

Fortunately we had made a point of checking the course board. We had line honours; we didn't have anyone else lead us to the finish. We were well ahead of our devision so, even though we owe time there was no surprise when the results. Our second bullet. A Happy Canada Day indeed!

Threes Company means second best

When I arrived at the club there was very little wind. The forecast called for south west at 10 knots but that wasn't the reality. I loosened rig tension settings to 5 knots. However once we got clear of Ontario Place the wind was much brisker. The rig tension was tightened up to better reflect the actual wind speed of 15 knots.

We did a couple of wind checks. The readings were 210 and 199. The wind went back and forth all night. The RC set the course as 3 0 x 3. The windward mark bearing was 227, at 0.8 nautical miles. Port tack was favoured. We tried to do a port tack start but had to duck the starboard tackers. Unusually we were over early.

The fleet settled in. We were behind Threes Company all night. We owe them time with PHRF handcap. We rounded the upwind mark and headed back to leeward. We tacked away at the leeward mark but we we met again at the 2nd windward mark rounding and they were still a couple of boat lengths ahead. This pattern repeated for the next legs.

The winds died as we approached the finish. Notorious (in another division) caught us just before we finished. We had to gybe in order to keep in clear air. Threes Company was 1st; but we were ahead of 3rd place Jazz.

Link: RaceQs track

Holely Moly

Everyone was a bit late to arrive (except the skipper). I had the boat prepped for launch and even got the bilge pumped. Unfortunately I had forgotten about the lost shackle for the boomvang. We rearranged some shackles and eventually got things sorted. Given all this we were too late for a practice with the chute.

Dragon Lady was back in service. The start line was nicely set. There was an east wind at about 15 knots. Great seeing whisky back on the RC yardarm.

Unfortunately on the way out we noticed a hole in the genoa. I had not put the sail tape on board. There was no work around as there was with the shackle. A bit embarrassing; the boat seemed to handle OK.

We had a good start. There were boats to windward and we had to wait to tack back. That really wasn't a problem as there was a lift as we approached Ontario Place. We were first to the mark. We went deep downwind waiting for the others in our division to round the mark and commit to going on port or starboard gybe. I think this was a mistake; the boat was too slow sailing deep. Windburn caught up to us. We gybed south and crossed clear ahead; but had lost a lot. We gained some as we rounded the leeward mark; once again first.

On the second upwind leg we initially covered the J 22. They tacked to go on port but we elected to break cover and go on starboard. This was a good idea. We rounded the wind mark once again ahead.  We gained a lot on the J 22. On the downwind leg we gybed sooner and kept a hotter angle than on the first leg. Windburn may have made back some of what it lost on the 2nd upwind. We lead the fleet around the course; none of the later starters were able to catch up.

We finished as we should i e lowest PHRF boat first, but was it enough. We timed Windburn's finish and I wasn't optimistic (but still hopeful). Given the PHRFs we were either 1st or 5th.  It was 2nd (but Sirus wasn't scored).

I was happy that we handled the boat well. Helm needs to avoid the 5 degree lapses. We could do be closer to the start. I think we had good mark roundings,  hoists, and douses. Some more thought has to be given to downwind tactics. All in all a very enjoyable day.

After hauling out I found the sail tape. A holely sail is still a good sail with a good crew.