Last Wednesday Night Race

We had our last Wednesday Night Race in Annapolis this week, and I jumped at the opportunity to get back out on the Esse. Driving sportboats is so much fun. It is rather unusual to have a northerly on a WNR but that is what we had, and our course called for a downwind start on port with a broad reach to the first mark. The two Esses and the Melges 24s jumped out ahead from the start, and started working on the sort of upwind leg. It was a long port tack with a short starboard hitch. We took our hitch early which was a good move as we picked up a puff and gained to within a couple of lengths of the other Esse. Another broad reach to the day marker and a fetch to the dolphin. We decided to go low and get away from the J35s that started 5 minutes ahead of us, and the other Esse went high, and tacked when they had enough water. We gained again on this leg, and approached the mark on the port tack layline just ahead, but they had a little puff that got them around the outside of a bit of a pinwheel well, we tacked inside and just behind and launched the spinnaker. We worked off a few Etchells that started 10 minutes ahead, kept a very high lane to windward of everyone and kept the boat moving. The other Esse did the same, but in the creek, they dove below an Etchells, not sure why, but it was the break I was looking for. We rolled over both to windward, they jibed away, and we did as well to cover, went to the other side of the creek, jibed back, went hot right at the bulkhead, and then ran down to the finish. We beat them bt just under a minute in the end, and it was lots of fun.

Great to get out on bigger boats sometimes. Packing the boat up today to head to the District Championships in West River this weekend. Keep llooking for updates.

Day 7

It's all over, and Scott Ferguson is the 2009 Laser Standard Masters World Champion. It was a really tough fleet with several former world champions and national champions. Today there was no racing. We went out in a light and dying Northwesterly. By the time we made the committee boat, they had postponed the race due to no air. I promptly removed my lifejacket, neoprene rash guard and undershirt and took a nice nap in the cockpit in the sun. The wind started to fill around 2:30 p.m. from the north, and they moved us closer to the top of the bay. They tried to start the Apprentice Master fleet, and right after their start, there was a big right shift so they abandoned the race. The wind kept oscillating but slowly chunking to the right, but the RC refused to change the course, and when the wind came back left, they went into another sequence for the Apprentice Masters which was a general recall. Same thing, race abandoned, then general recall, then race abandoned again, and one more general recall, all for the Apprentice Masters and it was almost 4 p.m. the time limit to start a race on the last day, so we all started in, only needing a tow. Was towed in and got the boat washed off and packed up with Margaret's boat on top, and it was off to Halifax for the closing ceremony and party. Had a great time chatting with the South Africans there, especially Campbell Alexander who is Commodore of Point Yacht Club in Durban, the yacht club I grew up in and learned to sail as a junior.

What a wonderful experience this was, somewhat humbling, but everyone out there is a very good sailor. One does not spend the money to travel from Australia or New Zealand, or South Africa or Europe, if you're not a decent sailor, plus there was a level of qualifying for this Worlds. I am thrilled I did it. Lessons learned:

1. Get time in breeze and chop and sail upwind a lot, and then some more, and then some more.
2. My fitness levels need to be higher. I need to straight leg hike all the way up the weather leg, not just in stretches.
3. I still need more time in the boat, and better fitness so I can forget about sailing the boat and focus on course management, fleet management and tactics. I am not nearly close to where I was in this regard in 1981.
4. Get APS to give me a damn penney or whatever those things you wear over lifejackets are, with there logo on it. Every time I told someone I was from Annapolis, they said, "oh the home of APS".

Next year the event is in Heyling Island which apparently is close to Portsmouth. I definitely would like to do this again.

I leave tomorrow and hope to arrive in Annapolis some time on Labor Day (September 7). Take the boats to SSA, wash her off, and pack back up to go to the District Championships in West River next weekend. No rest for the weary (or the wicked). Keep checking back if you are interested, I will keep this blog updated with stuff from all the fall regattas the Dancing Bear Sailing Team will be participating in. Thanks for taking the time to follow along, and I really hope you enjoyed my somewhat warped view of the 2009 Laser Masters World Championships.

Cheers!

Day 6

Wow, tough day out there today. Beautiful day, sunny skies, and the sea breeze once again filled in strongly. Start was once again at 1 p.m. and I watched to two fleets ahead of us work up the windward leg, and it looked like the right side was really paying off. Set myself up perfectly on the boat for a good start and got fouled by a Dominican twice at the start. He did his turns, but it slowed me getting out to the right like I wanted. There were about 5 of us that worked the right side pretty hard, and early it looked good, but at the top of the leg, it was horrible as we all trailed the fleet to the mark. Held my position on the reach and passed a couple of boats downwind, and went for the right gate, and went hard left on the upwind. This helped as I was able to claw back about 12 or 13 boats on the upwind leg, and passed a couple more downwind to finish 26.

It was getting tough out there, and I forgot my protein bars on shore. Mistake as I could feel I did not have the energy I needed out there. Wind seemed to increase a little to 17 or so in the 2nd race, and I went for the pin, and went left, but would you believe but the right side paid of big this time, and once again I was in a position with lots of opportunity ahead of me. Once again worked through the fleet through the race, only to find out when I got ashore that I was over early on the start. From the pin end it is impossible to hear the sounds from the signal boat, and with everyone over your shoulder, there is no looking back to the boat for the X-Ray flag. Ah well, not like I was doing that great anyway, and if I am never over early I guess I am never close enough.

Once again the plane in was awesome, that is one of the reasons I love to sail Lasers so much. Tomorrow is not looking great with regard to wind, so who knows what will happen. I am not sure why they don't think the sea breeze will fill since it will be about the same high temperature as today, and sunny skies (I think). Should be prime for a sea breeze. Ah well, we will see. I am going to pick up the trailer on the way over tomorrow so we can pack up right after racing. The closing ceremony is in Halifax at the Cunard Center starting at 8 p.m.

South Africa playing Australia at 7 a.m. tomorrow again, a win secures the Tri-Nations title for South Africa.....Go Bokke!!!!!

Day 5

Finally the famed St. Margaret's Bay sea breeze came in solidly today, with steady winds around 15 knots and gusts as high as 20. It was quite choppy and the waves definitely built as the day went on. The decision to start at noon was a good one since we were able to finish two races and be back at the club by 4 p.m. The weather mark was toward the mouth of the bay, and the sea breeze tends to be a little right around the mouth. I felt the left side would be good for the bottom part of the upwind with the right side paying off up top.

Since I wanted to go left, I should have set up closer to the pin, but in both starts I was too close to the middle of the line. After a few tacks to find a clean lane, I ended up further right, but came back with a nice lift on starboard tack to work into the middle of the fleet. My upwind speed felt bad in the heavier breeze and chop, particularly the chop, but when I looked around, most everyone else was slow too. You could get patches of really good performance upwind in a little flatter water, but pounding into those waves was slow going for everyone. Rounded the weather mark around mid fleet, and launched on a fun plane to the next mark, then a tricky downwind, with surfs and a few capsizes, I was able to pass a few boats on this downwind. I rounded the right gate to go left early on the upwind, but when I tacked back, I had lost all the boats I had passed that went to the other gate. Arrrrr, more work to do. Worked a few boats back on the upwind, passed one more boat on the down wind, but as I got toward the leeward mark, I picked up some weed on my rudder, and that allowed a big gain on the boats behind. I had to park after the leeward rounding and clear the rudder, and lost another two boats. Nice plane again to the last mark, and actually passed two boats on the last upwind, just nipping a Swedish boat at the finish.

We were lucky to have about 10 minutes between races because the fleet ahead had a general recall. The RC was popping the races off as quickly as they could. Again with the poor start in the middle of the line, and again hunting for lanes upwind, and said what the heck and went hard right. Not a huge mistake as I came back about mid fleet at the weather mark. Reach was a lot of fun and passed two capsized boats, then downwind was lots of planing and surfing, again lots of fun. Went around the right gate, started left then went right again, not bad, solid downwind, held my position, and then planed by a Japanese boat on the reach leg, held the upwind to the finish, and ended the day with a 24 and a 26. Not bad, as it leaves me in 23 in my fleet with opportunity to improve my position into the teens.

We got in early, and it looks like tomorrow my bring similar conditions, sounds good to me. The plane into the club was awesome, never got off a plane from the finish mark all the way to the flag pier at the club. FUN!!!!!

Rest Day

Well I decided to use our "rest day" literally and rested. Spent the day wandering around Halifax which was lots of fun, then planned to go back to the club for the dinner and band. I left with plenty of time, and promptly cruised into some pretty horrible traffic. about 40 minutes of sitting in traffic and still being in Halifax, I decided there was no point in going to the club, so instead I took Samson back to Point Pleasant Park.

Took a nice walk with him down to the water and lo and behold, stumbled on a beautiful vantage point to watch the Halifax Wednesday Night Races. Saw 30 to 40 keel boats racing on a beautiful crisp evening in about 12 knots of breeze. Then just turning a little and glancing up the river past a marina or two and there were smaller keel boats racing there. Great place!

Tomorrow the word is racing is to begin at noon instead of 1 p.m., and with the traffic I experienced this evening, I better leave myself plenty of time to get there. I hope that starting early is a good call and we get two races in earlier in the day.

Day 3

What a beautiful day of sailing, albeit a little frustrating. We were greeted at the club with beautiful sunny skies, crisp cool temperatures and a solid northerly breeze. We got on the water around 11:30 a.m. and for a change had a nice reach out to the race circles which they tucked away in the NW corner of the bay. I think they were concerned that the sea breeze would compete with the prevailing northerly, so they tried to set the course as far from where the sea breeze fills from as possible. It was a long sail to the course, but it was lots of fun, 15-20 knot reach planing all the way across the bay. The ride was so quick we got there 1/2 hour early. I ended up having a very nice conversation on the water with a local that was just getting into soft water sailing (he is a long time ice boater). I learned a lot about the area from him.

RC had a short postponent as the wind went to the right and set the course at 20 degrees. No general recalls, and I got a good start toward the pin end. I was able to pinch off an Italian at the start, and was treated to some delightfully colorful swear words in Italian, I wasn't sure if he was upset with me, but when I glanced back, he was clearly upset with himself and his poor start. We immediately saw a left shift, and tacked right away, in very good position, with most of the fleet to leeward on the right. It was quite shifty, and spent most of the first upwind crossing tacks with Andy Roy and a New Zealander. I went right at the top of the leg, and that was a mistake, as I lost about 10 boats, rounding the windward mark in 12 overall. Downwind was solid, held my position, and on the next upwind, playing the shifts kept pushing me to the right side, which is not where I wanted to be, and sure enough lost a lot of boats on that upwind. I was able to pass a couple boats on the reach, and took one more on the downwind, but then on the reach leg, which was very puffy, I sailed into a puff and jumped out to hike, unfortunately, I missed the hiking strap, and went in the water backwards. Not a pretty site! Lost two boats as I righted the boat, and ended up 36 in that race, disappointing because I was in good shape after the first upwind and downwind.

The next race was started shortly after we finished. For some reason, once again, we had a huge left shift at the start, and we could not make the line on Starboard. I tacked immediately onto port, and again had most of the fleet to my right. Again worked the shifts and rounded the windward mark in 10th. Much better, downwind was solid, held my place, and on the upwind, I worked the shifts, but made the mistake of going right at the top of the leg, and lost some boats. I went very low with Ari Barshi on the reach leg, and we passed about three boats, and started downwind. I was able to pass about three boats, and put some distance on the boats behind us downwind, and I was quite happy with myself, until I looked up and saw that Ari had launched on the downwind and had put a significant amount of distance on me. Wow, I thought I was doing well, and in fact was since I did pass three boats, but not nearly as well as he did. About half way down the downwind leg, I was to leeward of an Aussie, I pointed out, politely, that I was leeward and pointing straight at the gate so please don't come down. We both held our course, and there was no contact although we were close, and he started chattering away, and to be honest, I didn't understand a word he said (and I thought I was pretty good at understanding Aussie accents). Anyway that was fun for a while, and on the reach leg, a Swedish boat was able to work down on me with speed and just break the overlap. On the short upwind leg to the finish, I went to the left, and the Swedish boat went right, and I passed him before the finish, and ended 21.

Beautiful day of sailing, very challenging as it was quite shifty, but we had about 10-15 knots all day. We had a nice reach back to the club as well, after going around the Radial race circle, and got in at a very reasonable time around 5 p.m. Great day of sailing! Best of all, I was entertained by a frustrated Italian and his colorful language, he was not very loud, but he talked to himself for quite a while, fun! Then I learned a lot about the local area from Bob (the ice boater), and he has invited me up for some hard sailing (ice boating) some time. He races DN ice boats, and builds everything except the spars and sail himself. He even builds his own blades (skates). Oh, and I also apparently had a conversation with an Aussie, but didn't understand a word he said. All in all, a very fun international day.

Tomorrow is our "rest day", so no racing scheduled. I think I will take a ride down the coast of Nova Scotia and check out some of the lighthouses they have here, should be fun. Samson will get to come along, so he will be quite happy about that. Around 5 p.m. they have a band and social at the club tomorrow, so will try to make it back for that. Thursday we are back on the water for three more days of racing. Now let's see if I can find me a therapeutic massage somewhere tomorrow, I need it.