Shifty, gusty NW wind, 8-20 knots. Current ebbing hard all evening. Sailed up to nuke plant and then reached across the bay a few times.
Frank and I decided to go out and tune up again this year. I always find the more I can sail before a race the better. I am rusty in the spring. Walking around down below while the boat is pounding is tougher than last fall. The gear needs some tweaking here and there. It is nice to get a feel for the boat again and not be dealing with other boats and race situations. This tune up allows us to keep our heads IN the boat. For the next 20 Wednesday's, our heads will be out of the boat much of the time as we analyze the tactics and strategy.
The forecast looked pretty good, but the conditions were lousy all day. Rain fell right up to the point I got to the boat. Luckily the forecasts were spot on. The NWS called for the rain to end at 17:00 in Haverstraw and the rain obliged. Looking at the wind charts and radar images, I would see the forecast was going according to plan and we would have a nice breeze and a dry boat to sail on. I have attached pictures of what I saw at my desk around 15:00. About an hour before I left the office.
Once on the boat, I had to prime the secondary filter. I have a small leak in one of the bleed screws and the replacements are lost in the new house. So are my sailing shoes, but that is another matter. After priming the fuel, the engine started right up. We prepped the boat and were out sailing by 17:45.
The wind was from the NW and the current was ebbing, so we decided to work our way North while the breeze was good. We played around a little in the B mark area south of Stony Point. While John Nonenmacher was about to give his excellent presentation on the Haverstraw Bay quirks and such for a second time, we were out there experiencing the same effects he had described. What he laid out in the course was unfolding on the river before us. Knowing the pulses coming form the passing clouds and the effect John described, it was clearer why boats that hugged the shallow water by B usually did better. We were in less foul current and had some nice lefties to get us up to Stony Point.
We continued on past Stony Point, but turned around near Indian Point since the breeze was getting less steady. We then took some lazy broad reaches back and forth before tucking into the East shore. There we saw another phenomenon John had made clearer. The NW breeze near B was gone. We were now in a light NE breeze, almost a 90-degree change in direction from one shore to another. The issue in here was that the NE breeze was light and fluky. When we gybed back out to the middle of the river, the current and breeze were strong and the breeze was back to the North. The normal dilemma boats face heading into C and D was there. Go left and stay in the big breeze and big current. Go right, eat the header and take less velocity for less current and a favorable right-hand shift.
Overall it was a great night on the river. Dry conditions, steady breeze, and the boat was dancing with its spring bottom still smooth. The temperature was an uncomfortable 45, but we were dressed well and it did not bother us. There were not many boats out yet. Just one sailboat sailing, an anchored cat from Montreal, and some patrol boats. We had the river to ourselves and Jazz seemed to be happy bounding from side to side in the fresh breeze.
So with the river somewhat explored and some questions from John's seminar answered, we headed in just after sunset. After putting the boat away and double checking everything we headed out to dinner. We ended up going to two places that did not work out and gave up. A rather unceremonious ending to an otherwise great evening.
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