Dave Wilby injured his back so he and Terra were not with Derek, Lynn and I.
The three of us set off with a full main and #1.
The line was set so that it was impossible to cross it on starboard, in fact we couldnât even sail down the line on starboard. I had a choice to âdip startâ, meaning Iâd be over the line (on the course side), sail toward the line and cross it, then turn up and properly cross the line heading toward the first mark. All the fleet was huddled near the pin (obviously favoured with the way it was set - it was directly up wind) well back of the line. I decided to lead the fleet in from mid line toward the pin reaching down to create/maintain a hole and them turning up to cross the line. We were about 20 meters from the line when we did this manoeuvre. Amazingly none of the fleet were anywhere near us.
We cross the line 4-5 seconds late as we pushed toward the pin, the rest of the fleet were 20-90 seconds late - it was a very poor fleet start. We won the start and set off in high on the windward side in clear air. But for the 4-5 seconds, it was perfect.
We were close reaching to mark #4 in 5-8 knots of wind. Some very soft, some pretty heavy. Jib and main trim were critical to keep the boat rolling.
Derek was the trimmer and he worked very hard and continuously.
After their Vanderbilt start Rebel managed work work its way through the fleet and join us. Half way up the first beat, say 3-4 minutes, we had both caught the white sail fleet.
They had a 5 minute head start.
Rebel has a brand new head sail - beautiful. We stayed high of their line so as not to offer a target for them to try to take us up. But they decided to approach us and they literally sailed us up and off the course. They themselves also went up and off the course to do it. Pretty much 90 degrees to the course.
With the new head sail I couldnât match their speed.
As soon as I was able I came up head to wind, slowed and ducked their transom. They bore off and we both were running (wind from well behind us) toward the âwindwardâ mark.
Why did they do this?
Perhaps they wanted to ensure that we would not win this race. The move certainly did not improve their chances of winning the race (no results yet - Lynn and I had to dash to Toronto right after the race). But it reduced our chances against the GC21 who was leading the series.
So strategically (if Rick wasnât thinking with his dick) their move was to hurt us at all costs, regardless of how it effected them. We did not have a drop so whatever happened to us in this race we have to eat. The higher the score the more pain they can inflict. They may have also been signalling that they were prepared to take us up any time they could and would not hesitate to do so - a warning to us for the future. âIâm a bully and I will beat on you if I can watch out for meâ. Of course I knew that already.
Sure it is pretty ruthless on Rebelâs part. But it is an allowed part of the game. We will up our strategic approach against the fleet, in particular Rebel, when we encounter them - but it doesnât happen very often - we are gone.
So we go to the mark inside the whole fleet right behind Rebel. The GC21 was right beside us on the outside. Rebelâs move worked to give the GC an advantage.
The âdownwind legâ was from #4 to #2, a long leg. We were close hauled and close reaching - again. So more work for Derek.
We cross sheeted with Lynn and Derek on the rail. This meant poor Derek was on the rail and off the rail all the time for sail trim.
We used jib halyard tension changes, backstay, Main Cunningham, main outhaul in addition to sheets and traveller changes all the way down the ârunâ.
Rebel out distanced us. They were sailing with 6 and we had 3. Maybe they were better able to make adjustments, maybe their new sail was the key. Generally we have been able to stay right on their tail so something was different.
The shifty wind and a miscalculation on Lynnâs part had us too low of mark #2 as we approached. So we should not have been close reaching very much, we should have stayed high. We had to put in two significant tacks to get back up to the mark to round it. This cut off our time to prepare the chute.
At the âleewardâ mark, #2, we rounded but there was ZERO opportunity to head off on starboard. The spinnaker was set up on starboard and by â the way back to #4, I directed Lynn to give up trying to reconfigure the spinnaker and we sailed down wind, on the âupwind legâ, as a reach with the #1 and main. Rebel and the GC popped their spinnakers. Rebel carried their chute but they couldnât head right to the mark, they were low of it. â âs of the way down the course they dropped the chute and headed up to the mark, well ahead of us.
The GC carried itâs a-sym without problems to the mark the whole leg. They passed us and gained steadily.
We were âwhiteâ sail the whole course. No spinnaker because we could not reconfigure it for a port side pole and hoist quickly enough.
After rounding #4 Rebel was long gone and so was the GC. We were well ahead of the rest of the fleet in our position. We had not yet caught up with Lickety either. They just got their boat back and put their mast up and re-rigged yesterday. This was their first sail in several weeks after a visit to the boat hospital to fix the leaking keel problem.
From #4 to #2 same thing again, although this time even at close hauled we couldnât lay the #2 mark and we, like everyone else, had to put in a few tacks.
#4 to finish we ran wing on wing straight to the finish, again no spinnaker. Rebel popped its chute up. For this short leg.
Overall Rebel accomplished what it set out to do, prevent us from winning the race, or even placing well. They used their new sail to give them an advantage.
We, with our 3 person crew, failed to deploy the spinnaker that might have save us a position or two.
Before the race I knew the wind was from the east moving south, which it did. I could have guessed (or worked out with a white board) that the pole would need to be deployed on the port side and had the spinnaker rigged for that. So my bad. But on the other hand, I could not have imaged that Tom would set such a terrible course. He should have run #3 to #1 - 90 degrees from the course he did set.
I miss real Windward/Leeward racing, where you look up to the windward mark and its straight up wind and you can decide if you are going to go left or right and have to tack on shifts and generally think your way up the course.
Drag racing reaching from the start to the mark around, reaching back, rounding and reaching again doesnât offer any strategic work (other than deciding to sail your opponents off the course - which you canât really do in a real windward course).
So that was the race, we might have been 4th, 3rd if we are lucky but I doubt it.
Our #1 leach is getting to be a real problem. As the wind went soft, the tension on the leach line needed to stop the leach from flapping was far too much tension for light wind and the leach curled in like a scythe. This âhookâ at the back of the sail is essentially a brake - spinning the wind off the back of the sail and creating a vacuum - very slow.
So we were trimming the leach line almost as much as the jib sheet. But even when it was trimmed as good as it could, there was still a hook in it.
It seems to me that the season we got out of this sail took it past its useful racing life. I will take it to North over the winter and get them to cost recutting the leach - so that it can be a delivery sail. But I also think, that we simply need a new #1, medium weight, to continue to be competitive.
On another note I got the notice last night that our new main is ready for pickup from North in Etobicoke TODAY!! Happily Lynn and I are in Toronto TODAY! Returning to PEC on Friday night. So I can collect the sail from North today and we can get it on the rig on Saturday and try it out. If all goes well, and it should, we can use this sail for the last race of the season on Wednesday.
Thatâs the debrief. No scores yet, we couldnât wait for them. Mike said he would email them to me.
S