Summer Race #5

Winds were between 12 and 18 from the NNW.  Course for all divisions was from H to C to 22 to H.  Current was flooding early going slack around 20:00.  Skies were overcast.

Another nice windy Wednesday night was on tap for this evening.  We left the harbor around 17:30 and hoisted the main close to shore in the lee of the land.  We then cruised out to the starting area under main only.  With the winds up, the current flooding and a presumed course to 26, we decided not to sail around and try the course.

We watched the race committee set a tough line for the fleet.  Under main only, we ran the line in 25 seconds.  It was short, especially for the light conditions.  The boat was on the wrong end of the line (the port end).  The port end was heavily favored.  I have written about this before in the past and this night the line was dangerous.  With the line being short and the port end favored, the RC became a big obstacle for boats running the line on starboard. 

The dangerous line was evident in both starts.  Boats crossing on starboard were unable to clear the RC and their long scope.  Since the port end was favored, boats piled up there and were soon forced to tack onto port and face the other starboard boats coming at them.  Because the port end was a boat and not the mark, it was very difficult to get around the boat to either side.

Taking all this into account, we ran the line with 15 seconds to go and tacked onto port right after the start.  We were far enough ahead to clear any starboard tackers, but there was chaos on the line behind us.  We moved out quickly towards C which was almost a one tack beat.  We made sure to protect the left side of the course as it seemed to have better wind and current.  By the time we rounded C, we had already passed two boats from the B division. 

Rounding C and heading down to 22 was nice.  It was a long leg and the wind was strong enough to keep the boat moving above 4 knots the whole time.  We got to 22 and hardened up on port.  Kohlinar was just ahead of us at this point and we began to slip into their bad air.  We tacked to get back to the left a little before settling in to a nice long port tack.

Interesting note on the last leg.  Kohlinar was sailing good upwind.  They had a small jib, but were moving well enough that we could not escape their bad air.  After we split out to the left, we ended up finishing over 7 minutes ahead.  Some of this was due to a jib change, but it also showed how favored the left was for both upwind legs.

We finished and sailed around in the fresh breeze.  As the sun set, the wind began to settle down to a light 4-8 knots.  At this point, we doused the sails and headed in to the Hudson Water Club for food.