First Race 2008

The first event of the racing season is the Spring Round Centre Island race. It isn't really around since there is a restriction on sailing through the Western Gap, the waterway that separates the western end of the Island and the mainland. This year the race was on Sat., May 10. Chris, Janet, and David were signed up as crew. Charles had to do some home redecorating and was replaced at the last minute by Emi.

The weather was very cooperative with a 10-12 knot southwest breeze. The start was at Dufferin Buoy so the course would be a counterclockwise circumnavigation of Centre Island. The finish was just east of the Western Gap. The race is about 8 miles and takes about 2 hours to complete.

We had a bit of sorting out to do before the start. The mainsheet wasn't threaded through the blocks properly and had to be re-threaded. The outhaul was caught on the topping lift fitting on the boom. We also had to figure out how to run the new compass. All was sorted in plenty of time before the start.

The start line was badly skewed, with the boat end favoured. Unfortunately, perhaps fortunately, I was confused by the start line's location. We did an unnecessary 360 which prevented us from being over early. It meant we were late and away from the fleet. We managed to avoid the foul air of the other boats and go to windward of the fleet. Our 'bad' start was 'good'. We managed to pass most of the fleet by the first mark. One of the Melges was the only boat clear ahead.

The wind direction and the course to the second mark made flying the spinnaker problematic. We did not fly the chute while others in our fleet did. Our course was slightly windward and we were eventually in a good position to make good use of the chute. Just after the third mark Jazz caught up to us. The course to the next mark was almost directly down wind. We stayed on a broad reach. Our speed was faster than it would be under a dead downwind course. Jazz followed a similar course and stayed slightly ahead of us for the rest of the race.

It was a beautiful day to be on the water. The wind was brisk enough to be interesting but not too challenging. We didn't win (the results won't be known until Monday). The whole point is that we had a good time.