[Public-List] WNR 9/3/04: The view from the FRONT

[J Bergquist]

Folks,

After 7 years of pursuing it, and countless reports written with
perspective of the view from the back, I am pleased to be finally
reporting to you the view from the front.

There were some skeptics in the Wednesday night racing crowd that
tonight might not hold sufficient breeze for a race to be completed.
It was a beautiful, warm, late summer evening with a 3-5 knot
southeasterly breeze blowing. 5 boats showed up for the race including
Andrew Cole on #152 Andante, Tim Williams on #244 LinGin, Brian Palmer
on #288 L'Espirit, and Jonathan Adams on #197 Laughing Gull. Our pre
start numbers were 215 on port and 115 on starboard so the breeze was
pretty clearly oscillating around 165 degrees and very light. Timing
was critical in the start and the boat end of the line was quite
favored. We opted for a somewhat conservative start several lengths
down from the favored boat end but away from traffic and bargers. We
tacked from a port reach to starboard with 3:30 to go and I realized
pretty fast it was too early so we let the sails out and luffed until
about 2:00 till the gun. Then we started to sheet in. Brian Palmer on
l'Esprit was directly ahead of us and my plan was to build speed and
coast through his wind shadow on momentum. As it was, with 0:35 till
the gun we were still in his wind shadow and well away from the line.
So our race had already started as it was clear we would get to the
line late. Jonathan and Andrew opted for a more risky boat end start
and it looked like they encountered some slowing traffic, Brian and I
started more or less on the same ladder rung, but I think we had a bit
of a speed edge as we were walking away from him. Tim was directly
behind us and in a lot of dirty air.

The fleet determined pretty quick that port was the favored tack and
as boats on our hip started to peel away we found a lane and went with
it. Jonathan, Andrew, and Brian had all tacked prior to us. We wound
up right on the line off Jonathan's transom and following behind by
about 100 yards into the right corner. Tim opted to continue on
starboard hoping for pressure or a lefty, neither of which
materialized and I think by the time he arrived at the top mark he was
wishing he had tacked out earlier.

Brian was the first to tack back onto starboard and crossed ahead of
us by less than a length. We felt that Jonathan and Andrew were
digging too far into the right corner and were overstood so we tacked
back above Brian's line, but below theirs and this proved to be just
about right. Brian was barely laying and I daresay he had to pinch a
bit to make it but he did nose around the top mark in first, with us 2
lengths behind, Jonathan behind us, Tim and Andrew a few more lengths
back.

There was some other traffic which I felt was going to camp on our
breeze and port appeared to be the headed gybe going down, as well as
some pressure appeared to be filling in on that side so after sailing
a couple hundred yards on starboard we elected to gybe over to port.
Jonathan had done this almost immediately after rounding the mark and
I was worried that he would make a big gain and pass us by doing so.
However, that would not be the case. Brian gybed after us and had a
tough go at it which was good for us and we wound up being able to
nose out ahead of him (but not by a lot) in the course of the gybe and
the ensuing port gybe run to the nun. Andrew gybed with us as well,
but Tim again decided that he wanted to occupy cornersville and
continued on starboard looking for pressure that never materialized.

Coming into the nun, we were still quite headed on port which allowed
us to avoid a 2nd gybe. We had a catalina 27 come in on starboard at
the nun which required us to leave them some room but we executed a
good windward takedown possible in the super light air, but maybe not
such a good idea had it been breeze on. Kudos to my crew for showing
the rest of the fleet how that is done. We came around the nun in
first place and watched Brian continue with his spinnaker sailing
lower and lower and I was wondering to myself 'why isn't he turning to
head for home?' No matter, Jonathan came around the mark with good
form in 3rd and quickly became the competition we were worried about.

It was at this point that I said to my crew to look back and take note
of what it looks like to be viewing the race from the front. I also
pointed out that our competition was not far behind and anything can
happen in the harbor.

Our harbor strategy was to go all the way through the mooring field to
the wall and then come out on starboard. This would minimize the
number of tacks and the amount of 'going slow' time we would have to
absorb. However, it was not to be as when we arrived at the can, we
owed room to a catalina 27 who proceeded to cause the inflight oxygen
masks to deploy from our boom as they parked right on our breeze,
going slow and with no oxygen. To make matters worse another catalina
27 pinched up on us from below after the mark and after sailing a mere
100 feet we were forced to tack out. The good news is we had a lane
with some clear breeze and when we got back onto port, we managed to
pass the catalina 27 who had put us in the gas chamber clear ahead on
port so we felt good about that. Nevertheless, 2 extra tacks is not
fast in the superlight and the competition was creeping up. Once we
got back to port, we were on a mission to get to the seawall and this
time we made it with some luck and some great sail trim on the part of
the crew. We nosed over a couple of moored boats and had to plant a
leebow on an etchells to get there but we made it and as we came back
across the fleet on starboard at the marina, we were still clear
ahead. Victory was in our sights!

But it was not over yet. Wily laser sailor extraordinaire Andrew Cole,
with his quiver of seemingly octogenarian sails, had managed to work
himself within 50 yards of us and had already tacked onto port for the
last leg to the finish. We still had one more tack to complete and the
breeze was dying. There were bigger, faster boats with huge wind
shadows everywhere so it was not a foregone conclusion at all. We went
all the way to the chart house dock to secure a clear air lane and as
we tacked for home our lead looked less and less impenetrable. After
the tack, we were dead in the water and I watched in dismay as Andrew
coasted in with speed. I was frantic to get the boat moving, but in
the superlight there is just nothing you can do. But fortunately we
got a puff and started to move. It was a drag race to the dock, and I
told my trimmers to be on their game and keep everything flowing. As
we accelerated the speed delta decreased but now Andrew was overlapped
to leeward and still gaining gauge. Our lead was less than a length
with 10 lengths to go. As we came to the line, we were less than half
a length ahead when we heard them call '287' and blow a horn.

And then I yelled in a most un-yachtsmanlike manner. And it was over.
We got the horn. Wish they still shot a gun, but there you are. We'll
take the horn!

What a way to close out a great season of Wednesday night racing!

We'll do it all again next summer, so if you are around, please come
out and race with us. It is great fun!

Congratulations to Jonathan Adams who won the 3rd series, Tim Williams
who won the 2nd series, and Harry Gamber who won the first series. 3
series, 3 different winners. What a great statement for the health of
racing Alberg 30's in Annapolis! Full series results are available at:

http://www.annapolisyc.com/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=250686&ssid=108393&vnf=1

Sadly, I can't make Oxford or Queenstown because of my exam schedule,
but I will definitely see y'all at PSA for the Canadian Races!

Ciao!

JB

-- 
J Bergquist
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