An easy 2 nd?

There was a "thunder storm watch" in effect for Toronto. The wind was heavy but not over powering. Jack Rabbit was the only other boat that raced in our fleet. So an easy 2nd?

Elizabeth from the crew bank replaced unwell Chris; Janet did foredeck.

We had a pre race hoist which was interesting. I think the wind shifted 45 degrees as we prepared to hoist. I was confused about where the wind was coming from. We accidently gybed through the boats waiting in the starting area. I could 'hear' some people's thoughts: "That crazy J!". The wind died and we replaced the foresail: jib with genie.

Our start was good. We started level with Jack Rabbit (who had a nice new genie!) and drag raced them to the windward mark. We were to windward and covered them. We slowly gained and may have been a couple of boats ahead at the mark. Our hoist at the offset did not go well. We had to take down the chute and untangle it. We reset. Our gybe also did not go well. About half way between the leeward mark and the club, Dragon Lady came over and asked if we were withdrawing. What? Why! "This is just like the Kiwi's in the Americas Cup!" It was easier to douce on port gybe. We sorted things out and sailed back. At the offset we rounded and gybed hoisted and gybed again. Everything went well. Of course we were way off the pace. We hung in there and did not allow mishaps to lead to defeatism. How do you learn to ride a bike? When you fall off, you get right back on. That's in effect what we did and it paid off psychologically. Failure is part of the process.

Fortunately there were only two boats out. It was an easy second but we got it the hard way.

Spirit of Canada stability test

Photos of Spirit of Canada stability test, Toronto Harbour, June 2007

Spirit of Canada

Another beautiful day

On Wednesday night, the wind was about 10 knots from the south (185). We had a full crew; Charles replaced Mike from last week. I had Charles do 'tactics' and gave him my new handheld compass to take bearings (!). Janet packed the chute for the first time. She did a good job. The pre-race practise hoist was good.

Before the race I had a brief chat with Alf, Jack Rabbit, and we discussed last week's race. We obviously did well winning 3 out of the 4 legs. The last leg was what we had to win and we didn't. The little tacking duel, and the fake out tack indicated that they were pulling out all the tricks, even psyhcological ones. They were behind, they knew it but they weren't going to give up. It paid off with a bad call on my part on the last downwind leg. My intention was not to let him get away with that again. It was a nice chat; perhaps a bit of verbal joisting before the main event.

Tonight was similar to last week with nice winds and flat seas. We had good start with clear wind while Jack Rabbit was in traffic. As a result we were able to pull away. We were on the left side of the course and had to wait until the fleet tacked. The boat handled well and we were able to gain. We stayed clear of other boats and didn't cover Jack Rabbit. We watched the earlier started boats round the windward mark. We could see that the port gybe was favoured so that is what we did. We made it to the leeward mark on one gybe but it was slow going. I think the wind shifted to the west as we went north. We decided to douse on port and raise on port at the windward mark. Both leeward and windward roundings went well. On the last downwind leg the wind shifted to the west enough that we couldn't use the chute, so we doused. We finished well ahead of Jack Rabbit.

I was pleased with the race. Good boat handling, good tactics, good team work. A happy boat!

We sailed back to the club. The NOOD will be next weekend and some of the early arrivals were blocking access to the crane. The wind from the west meant that we couldn't head into the wind as we docked. A tricky docking given the limited space and wind direction but everything went well. Everyone was very cool, no comment, but I was pleased with my docking.

After dinner the PRO announces the results: starting with PHRF I and ending with our fleet, PHRF V. Janet asked the PRO, Harvey, to reverse the order of the results, since people get tried of clapping by the time our results are announced. Harvey didn't do that, but did make a request to for all to make an extra effort to clap! Fortunately I do not blush as much as I used to. We did get a suitable amount of applause for our season's first "gun".

Shanghaing the crew

On Wednesday, I was only certain that Janet and Chris would be available. The Club has a "crew bank" were skippers in need of crew can "shanghai" crew looking for boats. I don't like to use this service unless I have a good core crew (e. g. Janet and Chris).There is supposed to be a club volunteer to supervise but on this Wednesday it was pretty much a free for all. I got two good crew bank crew: Mike, who has experience sailing but not racing; and David who has dinghy experience.

We needed the extra crew to help manhandle the boat. The drysail dolly was out of commission. The dolly acts as a 'third wheel'. It supports the trailer's tongue. My boat is not well balanced on the trailer and is bow heavy. The dolly makes it much easier to move. Fortunately the boat is near the crane and we now had lots of able bodied crew.

The winds were very light and I was convinced that there would be no racing. In late afternoon the 'sea breeze' sets in and counters any wind coming onshore. There can be very little wind in our racing area for a few hours before sunset. You can avoid this problem by going south into the lake. That's what the Race Committee had us do. There was a nice easterly wind once we got about 2 miles south of the shoreline.

The wind wind was from o45. We had a good start and managed to stay clear of the bigger boats in our start. The conditions were excellent for people new to the boat. We were ahead of Jack Rabbit at the second leeward mark rounding and on the upwind leg there was a bit of a tacking duel. I did a loose cover, since I wanted to stay south; in the better wind. After a couple of tacks I let JR go north while I stayed south. With our inexperienced crew and JB's experienced crew there is an advantage to JR. At any rate our strategy was good and we gained. The downwind leg winds were difficult to read. I chose a hotter sailing angle than JR and as a result we lost to JR. Very frustrating but still a good race.

Good Luck Paula

Aristosera wishes Paula and crew of CAN 16 all the best as they compete for Canada in the ISAF world championship in June. She will be part of a Yngling crew. Paula: Have a great time and good luck in the regatta!

It's OK but I am not happy

Well my 'thinking' didn't amount to much as we did very badly on Wednesday. We went to the wrong side. Very shifty conditions and I didn't know where the wind was coming from. Once we chose a side we kept with it even when it was no longer favoured. We overstood the layline to the windward mark on the last windward leg. Our windward douces went well (given our level of experience!). Generally a very bad race. We could improve on technique, but I think the big problem was that we were unwilling to challenge our perceptions.

America's Cup thoughts

I watched the first three races of the America's Cup and it looks like the kiwis will have another chance to win the cup. The first race saw a dramatic 30 degree shift which helped TZ. Luna could rationalize that "we kept it close, so we did OK". The second race was a TZ start and cover. However, in the third race Luna won the start but lost. Wind shifts? Luck? Well yea, it's sailing! However, after three races the excuses become irrelevancies.

I thought the commentary on the third race was a bit silly. "TZ is ahead. It was all in the prestart."? Luna won the prestart! " TZ never made a mistake". Once again the start! What can you say after 60 minutes sailing? It must be hard to sound exciting and you have to say something. You go on auto pilot and say whatever is on the tip of the tongue?

In one of the starts, TZ bore away on Starboard and Luna went downwind. Does a ROW in the start sequence have to sail it's proper course; so once the Giveway boat goes on a run the ROW boat has to head up and can't penalize the port tack boat? My understanding is that the ROW can protest; in this race they weren't allowed to.

All that Jazz

Once again light winds led me to believe that there would be no race. Crew was on time but Charles was not well. He helped with launch but didn't sail. To fill out the crew I used the crew bank and Chris joined Janet and Paula. Light winds meant we had to motor off the dock. Peter was PRO and had us head out, way out: first to 'o' then a little over a mile due east of Gibraltar. The wind filled in nicely; more or less east and about 6 knots. Gibraltar was the windward mark.

Janet did a good job doing foredeck during our pregame hoist. Jack Rabbit showed up for it's first race of the season. Their jib was badly delaminated. A bit more work to get the boat race ready? We watched the 1st start fleet and decided to head over to the island. Lots of time as Peter did a general recall. We had a good start; Jack Rabbit didn't and tacked. We followed our plan and had good wind.

Unfortunately Jazz somehow was ahead. On our last upwind leg they were several boat lengths in front. I was annoyed by this, since by this time they should be well behind. Doing a match race with a slower boat is not my idea of a good race. Our outhaul was not trimmed properly and the rig may need to be tensioned. I tried to get over my annoyance on the last leg. Much better performance. We passed to windward and finished a minute ahead. If we had done all are windward legs like that one we would've had a first! Corrected time was very bad. Our third 2nd! I checked the AHMEN results and I could see that we have preformed well against Jazz so what is the problem? Analysis: tension and trim should be improved and I should stay focused on driving the boat.