Winds were light from the North around 6-10, quickly dropping to light and variable. Current was full ebb. Course for C was from H to C to 26 to 24 to H. A & B sailed to F in place of 26.
Tonight started off rough for me. I usually leave the office by 16:00, but got held up until 17:00. I rushed to the boat and we got to the line with 10 minutes to spare before the first signal. We quickly surmised that the line was square with a slight starboard end advantage. We thought the right side of the course would be favored due to less current and a possible NE bend in the wind there.
As the start approached, I was coming in on port and A-Train was setup well on starboard. We went to tack behind them with 45 second to go, but the jib got caught on the rigging during the tack and we stopped. Due to the light breeze and being 40 seconds from the line, this put us about 20 seconds late at the start. A-Train was much closer to the line at the start and had better speed.
Clearing the line, we both tacked and A-Train continued to maintain a loose cover for the leg. As the breeze died down, A-Train continued to stretch out on us. This is typical for Jazz. In light air, we have to win the start and cover our competition to have any chance of staying ahead for the first mark. With A-Train out ahead, they just stretched and stretched until they were ahead by 5 minutes at the mark.
We finally made it around C and stayed very high to make sure we did not lose bearing on 26. The GPS can be very helpful here as can a sight of the mark against land. We had to head 15-20 degrees high of 26 to make a course over ground (COG) straight at it. We managed to make the mark before the wind died. Only three C boats made it to 26.
Getting to 24 was easy thanks to the current. We pointed the boat straight at it and the current carried us there. A-Train again rounded well ahead and they reached out to the East side looking to catch a light easterly that had filled in. We tried to do the same, but the easterly was gone by the time we reached the spot where it had been.
After floating away from the finish, we finally dropped anchor. This improved our boat speed, but the COG was zero. We stayed on anchor for about 10 minutes before a light SW breeze filled in. This was enough to get us moving again, but with an ETA at the finish of 20:43, we knew that we would miss the time limit.
The time limit expired and we motored in to the finish. It was a disappointing night. I blew the start as I left no wiggle room should something go wrong and of course something did go wrong. In light air, I really need to focus on staying on top of the competition and making sure we get a lead right away. Once A-Train was ahead, we needed a mistake and they did not oblige. Even when they were ahead, I went a bit nuts trying to get to one side of the course while they sailed to the other, but that meant that I was not playing the shifts properly. Next time I will accept being behind and try to keep it close. We can close distance on A-Train in light air when the boats are sailing downwind. We ended up so far behind that there was no chance of catching up.
The weather was at least nice so that anchoring was enjoyable. We got to watch the sunset. Blah, blah, blah. We had a bad race, so everything else was bullshit. See you next week.
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