Summer Race #1

Winds were light from the NW between 4 and 8 knots.  Current was flooding hard all night.  Skies were clear and the temperature was warm.  Course for C was from H to 26 to 24 to H.  A&B sailed to K instead of 24.

The area has been blanketed by a heat wave for almost two weeks now.  Wednesday was a hot day and the wind forecast predicted southerlies.  When we went out of the harbor, winds were light and variable.  We motored up current of the starting area and took a swim to swipe the bottom and inspect the speedo which has not worked all year.  After some brushing and forced spinning, the speedo was still not reading our speed.  At least the water was somewhat cool and it felt nice to swim around a bit.

As the start time approached, an unexpected WNW breeze began to fill in.  We sailed over to the line and were surprised at its length.  We knew the start would take place near the committee boat since the line was heavily favored to that side.  As we got set for the start, most boats were late, so we were able to make our own comfortable approach to the line and start 10 seconds late, but ahead of the competition.  Off the line, we footed for speed and raced to the west side of the river.  That was the plan all along.

We took starboard tack all the way to the port layline before flipping over.  Most boats had already gone back earlier, but a J/24 followed us to the layline.  We overstood a bit since the 24 sails higher than our boat and in the light air, their speed was just as good.  We thought it best to make sure they had to overstand or sit in our bad air.  This worked out as we were able to foot again and keep good speed to 26.  Overstanding also helped us stay to windward of all the A&B boats that were coming at us on starboard.  With clear air and a nice angle, we rounded the mark a minute ahead.

The next leg was a broad reach.  Sometimes the wind swung ahead and we had to tighten the sails.  During the leg, our speedo came to life for the first time all year.  As we approached 24, I took the initial part of the rounding wide since the current was pushing us into the mark.  It was wide enough, but I still had to turn the boat hard at the mark to get the stern to swing out and avoid it.  With the current ripping, I did not want to waste any distance against it.

Once around the mark we headed low of the finish as the current was trying to pull us high of it.  We got a land mark and made sure we were steady against it.  In the puffs we took the opportunity to head down even lower with speed.  When the lulls came, we headed up to keep the speed going, but lost some gauge on the mark.  We crossed the finish first and sailed around for a while after the race.

Sunset over Haverstraw

It was great seeing all the boats sailing after the race.  It was just a nice lazy night on the river and having sailboats outnumber the stink pots was very cool.  The sunset was nice, but the harbor was still hot in the twilight of the day.

The race committee did an excellent job tonight.  The courses were the perfect length for the fleets.  Everyone finished within the time limit and that was not guaranteed in the light conditions.  With A&B on the longer course, their finishes were mixed into the C finishes.  Unfortunately, the line was set so that the boats finished from opposite sides, but there were no issues from that.  Hopefully we can continue to get races in despite the summer doldrums.