AHMEN 2008 II

I was planning for another light wind day. Once again I was surprised. We had good winds for the whole afternoon.

The start was somewhat squewed with starboard tack being favoured. We manged to just squeeze between the Committee Boat and Balance. Balance's foredeck wasn't happy but we were not protested.

I had a good discussion with Adrian about the situation. My objective is to have crew who are aware of what is going on and can provide informed insight. (It might be surprising but I am frustrated if I have to 'instruct' crew during a race; the role of being "boss" is counterproductive.) A discussion clarifies my thinking about what is happening. It was my view that since: we started, luffed beyond close hauled, Balance didn't alter course, and we avoided contact; there was no valid protest. I accepted Adrian's point that we could not use the Committee Boat as an obstruction. All of this discussion was moot since there was no protest flag.

The start put us windward of the other boats so we had clear air. The course basically was T1 (green Harbour entrance buoy), Dufferin, and start/finish. We had a good hoist at the first mark and went on a downwind course to T1. This perhaps was slow as Balance definitely gained and they were well ahead at T1. The other boats in our division, Windlight and Burnin Rudder, were not able to keep up to us.

At Dufferin we had a bit of a problem with traffic. A non racing sailboat was nice enough to get out of our way. Not so for a "Party Boat". We had to luff and duck. I hailed the passengers on the cruise boat's stern to pass on my "Thanks" to the skipper. We still had a good race and a second place finish

Persistence pays

AHMEN I was on Saturday. The crew and boat were sorted for a 10:30 takeoff; plenty of time for the 11:30 start. The winds were very light. The course was basically to Gilbraltor, then Dufferin, then Finish. I was mistaken in my belief that it wouldn't rain. The other crew members were better informed. Fortunately Emi had extra foul weather gear: a dingy top. I got drenched but my upper body was OK. We had a good start and were able to hoist the chute for the run to Gilbrator. The wind dropped and at one point we drifted. Where was the wind? Adding to our misery: boats to windward and leeward had wind. Eventually I decided to take over handling the spin sheets as well as steer. Who ever handled the sheets had to be able to move the boat. I was able to find some wind and keep the chute filled in the very shifty and light conditions. We were of course now behind the fleet at the start of the next leg. Unfortunately as we went closer to shore the wind died. We decided to takedown the genoa. The concept is that in light winds the saggy genoa can not get any shape. In our search for wind the boom was manhandled from one tack to the other. Eventually we found that the main sail would fill on starboard. The genoa went up as we headed for the next mark. As we approached the next mark we noticed a large black cloud on the western horizon. We could also hear thunder. We slowly made our way to the finish. Gun! The light (no) wind and rain did not discourage us from finishing. Persistence pays!

Anger

On Wednesday the winds were from the west at around 270. The wind seemed to be stronger near shore. The plan was to go right; to take advantage of this apparent stronger wind. JR once again was ahead at the start and stayed ahead unitl the first leeward mark rounding. We had a good spinnaker hoist. Our downwind leg went well. We sailed on a hotter angle and seemed to be able to catch up to JR. At the leeward mark, the plan was to do a windward douse. The douse went well and we were able to take the lead over JR. JR didn't have a good douse. After the race I talked to JR's skipper. They had a problem with one of the spin sheets; they couldn't douse properly and couldn't sail their preferred course on the first downwind leg. Everything went well on the second upwind, until one of our last tacks to the windward mark. We had an override with the Genoa sheet. We had to douse the Genoa to recover control and, with the traffic at the mark, fell badly behind. This made me very angry. We had overtaken JR only to fail with what should be a basic capability: tacking. Anger is an interesting problem. To give into anger only makes things worse. It can appear when you feel completely helpless. I think I kept things under control; but there was no avoiding my 'vibe' of being very unpleased with our performance. I am completely focused on sailing when I am racing and expect other crew members to stayed focused as well. The reality is that problems occur regardless (see JR above). We had a good race to this point. Hmm... my anger was put on simmer. Hopefully I didn't make things worse. We got things back in control and had a good downwind leg to clinch a 3 rd (!) place finish.

Doing a Janet

Wednesday race night started off with a splash. After the pre race sorting out on the foredeck, Janet was on the far side of the pulpit. The crew reacted well. No panic. We were the centre of attention with a circle of boats standing by. We manged to get Janet back on board with lots of time to change out of the wet clothes. (Update: apparently some skippers are admonishing their foredeck with : "Don't do a Janet!".)

The wind was from the south. Peter, the PRO, did his usual delay in starting the 2nd and 3rd divisions. We had a poor start; we were tucked in bad air behind Avra. JR went left as I planned to do. (I later learned that JR would've tacked sooner but were blocked by Avra.) We tacked even though we had to duck Foehn and Polaris. Near the windward mark layline JR tacked and crossed just in front of us. We opted to continue to layline and at the next crossing we were clear ahead. We had no problems with the spinacker hoist. JR took awhile to get its chute working. (I later leanred .had a noob on foredeck.) I used my favourite boats ahead as tacticians to direct me on my downwind course. We stayed on a hotter angle than JR and probably gained with light winds. On the second circuit we just covered JR.

We got a first, Windlight 2nd, and JR third.