[Public-List] Last night's race

[Gordon Laco]

So there we were…  heading out for the start last night, light NW breeze about 6-8 knots threatening to get lighter but holding for now.

We hove to off the start and admired the wisdom of the race committee of the night who set up Course #1; the good old fashioned Olympic triangle.  I much prefer that to the straight up and down that seems to be going out of vogue.   The hoots counted down the start sequence and we got away with a very good clean start on starboard tack with clear air.  Our arch rival SUNDANCER to leeward, EVERGREEN to windward and us in the middle.    The breeze built and we were doing very well.

Both our near rivals tend to be better upwind than we, so deciding that trying to outpoint them was a mug’s game I tacked onto port and fled over to that side of the course intending to keep clear of them while rolling  the dice for a favourable shift.  Well guess what - we got it.  When we tacked back onto starboard on the lay line, up they came on port themselves and the whole mob but for one now behind us.  We were in second place in real time, and all of them owed us time on PHRF.  I began chortling which drew sharp looks from my crew.  This was only the first beat of the race.

The windward mark was set close under the trees on the northern end of the bay, a dent in the shoreline called Mundy’s Bay.   There is a story gaining prevalence here that the Mundy the bay was named for was ‘Mrs Mundy’, operator of a house of ill repute which catered to lumberjacks in ages past.  What I find hilarious is the fact that a local school is now named ‘Mundy’s Bay School’, the name correctly recalling an early name for Midland Bay… oh how I hope the story about Mrs Mundy setting up shop across the water from the wharf is true.  Back to the race.

That windward mark was set close to the northern side of the bay, solidly in the wind shadow of the trees and hills up there.  So here we came (me still chortling) at about 4knots gliding along to windward on starboard tack, laying the mark… then as if someone turned off the fan we were in zero wind.  The genoa blew back against the mast by virtue of our forward movement in the still air… speed dropped, dropped…a motor boat wake came... and then there we were without steerage way, 50 meters from the mark, unable to keep the bow pointing toward it.  Up came the fleet, carrying a new zephyr… and the whole mob of them glided by us.  When the air that carried them up came to us, it was a bad header and we couldn’t lay the mark.  We tacked onto port as soon as I could steer again to take a zig up and around we went after the herd.  From second to second last in one quick jolt.  Ah yacht racing.

We caught up considerably during the rest of the race, but never to the glorious second we’d briefly enjoyed during that first beat.  Once again I had the thought I so often have had ‘gee, if only we’d held onto our earlier position, coming up like this would have put us far ahead!'   At the finish we were in a savage battle with TRAVELLER, skippered by my friend Chris Gooding.  TRAVELLER is a very light MORC racer displacing less than 2,000lbs with mylar sails and a good crew.  As each puff of air came to us, he’d shoot ahead… Poor old five ton SURPRISE would slowly notice the puff, very slowly accelerate up to something like 0.4 knots, and then the puff would die.  TRAVELLER would promptly stop; but being heavy we’d come gliding up, sails slack.  We did this to each other three times in the last 100 meters of the race.  At the finish, we were neck and neck, speed 0.2 knots with the finish only boat lengths ahead, another puff came - TRAVELLER perked up and came on… but what ho… the puff was from port and now TRAVELLER, close alongside to starboard, was in our wind shadow… SURPRISE promptly asphyxiated TRAVELLER and deprived of air, they stopped.  But as they stopped, SURPRISE wearily gathered way and slashed across the finish at 0.5 knots, her bow a hands-breadth ahead.    There was a roar of triumph from us, overlain by a similar roar of outrage from TRAVELLER’s people.  We’d exchanged the lead three times in that last hundred meters… we laughed and laughed.  Oh what a battle.   It completely made up for the horror we’d experienced at that first windward mark.

How did we finish in the standings?  Don’t know yet, but regardless with side of somewhere in the middle we were, we had a lot of fun.


Gordon Laco
426 Surprise