[Public-List] FW: Raced last night...

Gordon Laco via Public-List public-list at lists.alberg30.org
Sun Jun 14 15:40:11 PDT 2015


I assume you mean about foul language?

Gord #426 Surprise


On 14/06/15 6:17 PM, "Ron Walker" <rwpsw at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Probably learn more in one night that I have the last five years.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jun 14, 2015, at 5:51 PM, Gordon Laco via Public-List
>> <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
>> 
>> And last Wednesday¹s heavy air race, as reported last Thursday....
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ------ Forwarded Message
>> From: Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net>
>> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2015 11:40:36 -0400
>> To: Public-List <public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org>
>> Conversation: Raced last night...
>> Subject: Raced last night...
>> 
>> Hello there - 
>> 
>> We raced SURPRISE last night... A series of terrific thunderstorms with
>> their squalls swept through here in the afternoon, but the weather radar
>> showed no more coming so out we went.
>> 
>> The wind was solid 25knts gusting higher as we motored out.  I turned
>> SURPRISE head to wind in the lee of some trees and we snapped in a reef in
>> the main.  Before we left the jetty we changed headsails from our genoa to
>> our jib (which we¹d never used).
>> 
>> Once the main was up with it¹s reefs in, a process which took only seconds,
>> we switched off the engine and broad reached away to the east where the
>> start of the race was to form up.  Once we unfurled the tall narrow jib, our
>> boat speed shot up to 8 knots and I could tell that the single reef in the
>> main wasn¹t going to be enough when we tried sailing upwind.  Halfway out to
>> the start we rounded up and hove to, stopping the boat while we pulled down
>> the second reef.  Because two reefs leaves a lot of loose sail under the
>> boom (this is called the Œbunt¹ of the sail) we very loosely tied in two
>> reef points in the middle fo the bunt to hold it up close to the boom.  We
>> made certain that neither point was tied so tightly that it pulled at all on
>> the working part of the sail.  This is important so as to prevent damage...
>> Points are not made to take any load...they¹re just for tidying up.
>> 
>> We were only stopped for few minutes, once the guys were back in the cockpit
>> we tacked the jib, got some headway on, then tacked the boat and started
>> galloping toward the start again... Even with only handkerchief of main
>> showing, we still plowed along at maximum speed.  SURPRISE was tucked down
>> deep between her bow and stern waves charging along.  She had breaking
>> quarter waves on either side of the stern ­ the sound and look of them were
>> dramatic.   The steering was stiff from the power of the water sliding past
>> but our directional stability was very good.  We were well balanced under
>> the jib and double reefed main, although our sheeting on the jib was not
>> good, the most forward end our rail track being too far aft for the sail.
>> The inside tracks would have been better, but I¹d taken those sheet cars off
>> and remounted them on the rail tracks where they normally do duty barber
>> hauling the genoa sheet when reaching in light air.... Oh well.
>> 
>> One of the Sharks in the fleet broke its rudder and had to retire... Our
>> arch rival SUNDANCER came to their rescue to tow them in and that eliminated
>> them from the coming battle...rats.  Coping with the high speed traffic
>> around the committee boat required a lot of attention, particularly as one A
>> Fleet boat, the C&C 36 THE PERK (which because of the nature of the graphics
>> by which her name is applied is called by all ŒThe Pork¹) was barely under
>> control.      They¹d tied a very loose reef in their main resulting in a
>> baggy sail, and had rolled up half of their genny also resulting in a baggy
>> sail ­ the two together making her wilder to manage than if they hadn¹t
>> reefed at all.  We laughed that once the start came that would be a relief
>> because the traffic would be all going the same direction.
>> 
>> In due course A fleet started... Then we in B.   On the first beat to
>> windward our diminished fleet strung out in the first minutes into an order
>> that didn¹t change over the whole race.  SURPRISE finished second to a CS27
>> she¹s an annoying and perplexing boat in that she¹s either first or last but
>> never anything in between.  We haven¹t seen a pattern yet...
>> 
>> We found that while double reefed in the very heavy air,  playing the
>> mainsheet to keep SURPRISE on her feet in gusts had a very detrimental
>> effect on speed and pointing.  We found that easing the main caused her head
>> to fall off (the wind was over 35 in the puffs) and I was fighting to keep
>> her at her work.  We found it was better to feather up in the puffs thereby
>> maintaining sail balance without loads of helm up or down... And we actually
>> stole a few meters upwind every time we got clobbered.    The double reefed
>> main was so flat that it coped with feathering up without complaint.
>> Interesting, that.  As things turned out, I¹ve never seen SURPRISE maintain
>> such high sustained speeds to windward as she did last night.
>> 
>> By the end of the race we¹d shaken out both reefs and stampeded over the
>> finish in normal heavy air.  Nothing broke, nobody got hurt, and we had no
>> close calls with a MOB (man overboard) until one of my guys nearly went over
>> backwards while putting the cover on the mainsail about 200 meters from the
>> entrance to the club.
>> 
>> What a night.
>> 
>> Gord #426 Surprise
>> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>> 
>> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> These businesses support your Association:
>> http://www.alberg30.org/store/A30supporters.html
>> Please support them.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Public-List mailing list
>> Public-List at lists.alberg30.org
>> http://lists.alberg30.org/listinfo.cgi/public-list-alberg30.org





More information about the Public-List mailing list