Summer Race #7

Wind was light from the ENE.  Current started flooding after the start.  Course for A&B was from H to 26 to 24 to H.  C skipped 26.

My father and twin sisters joined us for the race this Wednesday.  It was their first time on the boat and unfortunately, the wind was very light.  We headed out to the course and sailed a bit in the shifty conditions as the wind went from due north to southeast in 30 minutes, before finally settling in at ENE.

We had a decent start near the boat end and hoped to get right early.  We had one boat on top of us and I waited too long to tack in front of them.  Another boat in our division was less cautious and went right in front of this starboard boat.  I saw the starboard boat change direction, yet the port tack boat insisted this was done for no reason since they saw trees coming from the bow.

Making Trees

When two boats are coming together on opposite tacks, it is common for a racer to gauge the crossing on whether the bow of the upcoming boat is making or losing against the land.  If the boat seems to be moving forward against the land, then they will probably cross the observer.  If the bow seems to be losing land against the observer, then the observer will probably cross.

While this is effective in lakes and bodies of water without current, the current renders this method less effective since both boats will have some movement against the shore regardless of their own speed in the water.

In the end, it did not matter as the other boat blew by us upwind.  We have little chance of keeping up with some boats when the wind dips below 8 knots and this was the case on this race.

We got to the weather mark in a bit of traffic and sat for a few minutes while boats piled up to the east of us.  Since the wind was from the east, we headed due south to get away from the disturbed air and finally got clear after 7 minutes of idle floating.

The rest of the race was pretty stretched out.  Xanadu made a nice northerly move on the downwind leg to make up some serious ground on the C1 fleet and win C2.  Most boats finished within the time limit, but 4 C2 boats were OTL.

We sailed a bit after the race before heading in after dark.  It was a nice night out on the river and my father and sisters had a good time racing.