Cognitive error

There was a brisk east wind. We had a good start, ahead of Windburn but not Windlight. We seemed to sail slightly lower and eventually fell behind Windlight's stern. Windburn was able to catch up and crossed in front of us. I am not sure why things went so badly but clearly not a good upwind leg. As a result of the tacks we were on port with the next windburn crossing and had to duck.

It is not a good idea to follow the boats and we gybed first. I headed for what I thought was the leeward mark. It was in an odd position south but east of the committee boat. Windlight and Windburn went to the other mark; but that would be the start pin? What should the leeward mark look like? As we approached my 'leeward' mark it became apparent that it was the wrong colour. We rounded the other mark well behind Windlight and Windburn. The adage "Don't follow" doesn't mean to not follow the course!

After rounding we kept more in the centre. Windlight was clear ahead while we caught up to Windburn. On the downwind leg we simply stayed in front of Windburn. I did not understand why our second upwind was so good while are first was so bad when the boat was sailed the same both times. Possibly we got bad air from Windlight and I should stayed clear.


I was a bit annoyed at blowing a great start. The only positive is that when finding ourselves behind we didn't panic and did what we could to recover.

Spring Round

Jeff and Melissa wait for the 'Start' signal

We had great weather for The Spring Round Island Race; a steady east wind. Janet was PRO and set a course with a start at 'Spadina'. The upwind leg would be through the habour and the downwind leg would be on the south side Centre Island from the Eastern Gap entrance to Gibraltar buoy.   The finish was near 'Dufferin'. The wind direction made for an excellent alignment for a race around Centre Island.

The class boats, e.g. Sharks, started first. The second division was for white sail. The third and last division was for boats flying spinnaker. We would be the little boat in the third division. I wanted be to close to the committee boat and stay windward of the bigger boats at the start. Our start was good but we were overtaken by the late but faster starters. We did make several attempts to tack towards the centre but we could not get clear enough ahead to avoid the need to tack back. It was only when the bigger boats had all tacked that we were clear to go on an extended port tack.

The spinacker hoist went well. We had a nice run to Gibraltor. The course after Gibraltor was a shallow broad reach. Division one and the faster boats had finished. We had caught up to the white sail division and the slower boats in our division. We kept a course windward of the remaining racers as did Jazz. We found ourselves clear astern but overtaking Jazz on the windward side of the course. I didnt want to go below them and they would not allow to pass to windward. Jazz headed up when necessary to prevent us from passing to windward, so we covered a bit of extra distance. There was a bit of banter between skippers as we scooted past Jazz to windward AFTER the finish.

Our division consisted of three boats. Diana finished first and Silver Lining was second. It was close on corrected time; if we weren't blocked by Jazz, we might have had a better placing. I would describe the Spring Round as a friendly competitive race. Although we weren't first we were competitive and we were friendly. It was an all smiles day.

Spring Series 1

David and Janet decided not to join the crew this year. The crew bank is a good source for potential crew. James, the crew bank boss, does a good job of matching up available boats with available crew.  Johan sounded like a good prospect since he had experience with Lasers. We did a bit of boat and crew introductions. I had the most difficulty in adjusting to the new situation as I always have a difficulty remembering new names. Not Juan!

The winds were from the north; fairly strong at around 20 knots. Gusts were more intense. The fairly strong winds, our first race of the season, and with new crew were reasons to be conservative. The jib was selected.

By the time we got sorted and underway we were pressed to get to the start. We motored (yes, the motor worked!) to the RC Boat. The line was clearly boat favoured. Windlight and Windburn started by the boat while we were more on the pin side. The line meant that our competitors already had a good lead. We followed them to the windward mark. The hoist wasn't prefect but we got things set OK. At the leeward mark we separated from Windlight and Windburn. They went right while we repeated the course of  our first up wind leg. I was not sure why they did that; my anxiety was that they saw something that wasn't evident to me.

Windlight finished well ahead. Windburn was close, but still ahead. The PHRF handicap meant that they were well ahead on adjusted time. So third. Johan adjusted well to the boat. A good start for a new sailing season.

the Unwrap

Ready for winter

Despite looking at other boats, which is a step beyond thinking (?), I have made no changes to my summer boating plans. The default plan is status quo.

This year's launch was on the April 28th and 29th. I like to let the bigger boats get sorted before venturing down to the club. The first order of business is getting the boat unwrapped and the mast stepped. The crew, Nick and Jeff,  agreed to meet on Wednesday, May 9th, i.e. a week before the start of regular racing.

There were a few hiccups: I broke my Windex and it started to rain just as we were about to prepare to hoist the mast. An easy thing to replace with a quick trip to West Marine except that one of my big lifestyle changes is that I am now car less. Fortunately Nick had brought his car so we were able to make a quick run to the store.We waited out the rain by having supper. There was just enough light to get the mast up and secured. On Thursday and Friday I finished off the rigging. On Friday, as part of  a car rental weekend, I delivered the motor and a full tank of gas.

The wood on the slider needs to be refastened and the motor needs to be tested. It wasn't working last year but it was (supposedly) repaired over the winter. We will know when I finally take the boat out on the 16th for the first regular race.

Unwrapped and ready for summer