AHMEN V

Kevin prepares to attach genoa

AHMEN V Sept. 22. The wind from from the southwest. Claudiu did sheets; Kevin was on foredeck. Claudiu took the photos; so none of him but good one's of the other crew.

The line was very boat favoured. I realized that we were over and managed to duck in time for the start. Jazz, which was near the committee boat and in traffic, wasn’t so lucky. The individual recalls meant that the proper starters had a better chance for clear air. A J22 had a very good start; near the committee boat and could easily tack onto port.

We stayed on starboard and followed a few of the bigger boats in our divison. We let Fifth Day tack before we tacked. The GPS said we were almost on the layline. It was still a long run to reach the next mark. We had a good rounding and kept south of the fleet.

Windburn on a beam reach to T1

The J 22 was now way ahead with a course further south; on a close reach. They tacked well south of T1 but with good boat speed. They gained. Windburn was a beam and also gained. Kokomo was behind but flew their chute. They were able to catch up to us at T1. We were just astern, i e a foot behind. I rounded, headed inside and went to windward on a close haul. This was not a good leg for us especially with Kokomo now (just) ahead!

We were able to pull away from Kokomo to windward. Both Windburn and Kokomo could not keep a close hauled course. They had to tack several times to make Gibraltar and so covered a lot more distance. We only tacked twice. At Gibraltar we were clear ahead of them but well behind the J 22. This was a very good leg. Aristosera seems to be able to sail well close hauled; not so good downwind. In our division, only Kokomo flew a chute during the race.

The committee boat had not moved since the start. How were we to finish? The pin was almost windward of the committee boat! My thought was that we were to keep buoys to port. That would mean we approached from the north east. Kevin said no it had to be from the south west regardless of what ‘should be’. I followed Kevin’s advice (since that was how everyone else finished) but it was annoying. We tacked onto starboard near the pin’s layline. Fantome, on port, had to tack away.

That was not the only reason to be annoyed with the RC. The finishes were not properly recorded. There has been an effort to salvage the race. We have been given a 2nd (the J 22 easily beat us). A very good race for us even though we were well behind the J 22.

On the way back we flew the spinnaker something that I enjoy doing. A fun end to another great day of sailing. Happy skipper and (I think) happy crew.

 

Fall II

Nick helms on our way to the starting area

There was a nice wind of 15 knots more or less bearing 180. We were a bit disorganized in getting set up for the start. I was on port tack facing a wall of starboard tackers. We did a 360. What not to do on a start? Do a 360! Most of the boats headed for the pin however they found there was a bit of a struggle to get sorted and into clear air. Our spinning on the start line meant that we were slow and behind but had a clear run on port tact.

We suffered from spinning on the start but unintentionally benefited from getting clear air. The result was that by the windward mark rounding we were not too far behind. The hoist went well. Our downwind performance was OK. As we approached the leeward mark I debated about gybing, so that the chute would be on side for a starboard hoist, or doing a windward takedown. I opted for the windward takedown. This went well.

As we approached the windward mark we were with the CS 30s, i e we were doing good. We overstood and I had a difficulty in trimming. The bad trim meant that the boat was very slow. Hardtack took advantage and passed us to leeward. Once again we had a good hoist. At the leeward mark we didn’t need to worry about rehoisting the chute but our leeward takedown did not go as smoothly.

It was a bit of a close finish. We were worried about Jazz and spent most of dinner trying to figure whether or not we beat them. We were about 5 mins. ahead in real time but was that enough? Nope, we were 2nd by 10 secs in corrected time!

AHMEN IV

We were late getting started. The crew was late. I hate being in ‘rush rush’ mode; much better to be early and check out conditions than arriving just as you go into sequence. The motor wouldn’t start. While the crew got the boat ready for a sail away, I continued to try the motor. It started. OK, finally now I can relax.

We made it in time to do a bit of sailing around the start area before the first sequence. The wind was from the south and the first mark had a bearing of 225. We were basically on the port tack layline. We had a good start. Fantome, who wasn’t starting, managed to get itself on the start line. Kokomo and Veloce were ahead. On the way to the first mark we were able to pass Kokomo to windward and hold off an R boat. The R boat went to leeward; we stayed in clear air.

We approached the mark on port. A starboard tack Tanzer was a few boat lengths away. The crew advised that I duck and prepared for bearing way. I decided to tack. The crew was a bit surprised but it worked well. We lee bowed the Tanzer. We had clear air.

It was about three miles to Gibraltor. It couldn’t be reached on starboard. The question was should we go towards the island or keep south. We kept south. Most of our division went north; most of the fourth division kept south. It seemed that as we went north the wind became less steady. Our last tack was on a knock and once we tacked we were in a nice lift.

No problem with the chute. The wind was easterly. In the lee of the island it seemed to weaken. As we appoarched the island the wind became stronger. We rounded Dufferin and kept the chute up.

Our start near the committee boat meant that we could tack and lay the line without worrying about traffic. The lee bowing of the Tanzer at the first was a good call. If we had ducked we would have been in bad air and a few boat lengths further back. We finished well ahead of the Windburn and Windlight. We had lost contact with Veloce, who had obviously finished first. So we were second. A good race.

Fall I

The fall series starts half an hour earlier than the regular season. On race day I was short a fourth. Jeff, Silver Lining, was not able to use his boat and I was glad to have him fill out my crew. Jeff, Wes, Kevin. and me.

A little bit of excitement prestart. We almost ran into a boat on our sail to the start. Port starboard. I started yelling starboard well ahead of time. The other boat’s skipper was sitting to leeward so had a clear view. Obviously not checking (but how could he not be?). As my crew know, I occasionally see red in these situations. My hails become somewhat more frantic until the ‘WTF’ as I went head to wind. My parting shot was “Why?”. Possible answer: complete incompetence, but I leave that to the offending boat’s crew. A crew member from the giveway boat did not admonish me, after the race, for making an untoward comment, as happened on a previous occasion!

We got to the start line just in time. The PRO went into AP. Coincident with the dropping the foresail I noticed that the motor had fallen off its mount. It was jammed between the mount and transom and was held upright by the lanyard. The motor was stored below. We got everything sorted in plenty of time thanks to the AP.

For some reason I started with the first division. Perhaps I wanted a practise. We did a proper start, which did not go as well as the practise, but was still good.

The fall series has all of the FS boats in the second start so we do have big boat little boat issues. We had good windward legs. The course was ‘V’ so we had a long downwind leg. A chute would have meant better downwind but the offset was a greater probability of screw. We didn’t try to fly the chute. Some boats did, but they had problems. Victory Dance did OK but only flew their chute well into the second downwind leg. Hardtack also did; but when they tried to gybe, broached badly.

The finish time was 17:30 just at sunset. We did well (I think). PHRF in this sort of multi division event makes the results uncertain and we still don’t have the official score.  We certainly had fun which is of course the main thing.

Switcheroo

Wes was surprised with the announcement that he would helm. The Crew Race is a great opportunity for everyone to switch positions. Wes was on helm and I was on foredeck. Derek did sheets.

We did not have a great start. Our wanderings to windward meant that we were OCS and had to do a quick dip. Not a good start. Our spinnaker hoist was delayed was we had to re do the lines. We did a windward douse while rounding the leeward mark. Our second hoist went well but we were well behind.

Not a great result but perhaps a useful event. Switching positions puts people in unaccustomed roles. Let’s call it a learning exercise!