260610 PEYC Spring 4 of 5

Creation: 260611 0606 Last Modified: 260611 0606

Crew

Position	Person
Helm	Lynn Ellwood
Main	Steve Ellwood
Middle 1	Anik Karimjee
Middle 2
Mast	Joel Massicotte
Bow	Steve Ellwood

Course

J3, windward leeward about 1 nm between marks

Weather

12-15 knots SSE, as low as 8 as high as 18

Race Result

title: "Sailwave results for 2026 PEYC SPRING SERIES at PEYC 2026"
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description: "sailwave results"
url: "https://www.sailwave.com/results/2026%20PEYC%20SPRING%20SERIES.htm"
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Race Review

Just the four of us this evening. Sue is gallivanting in Halifax for the SailGP event, and Howard is away in Ottawa. Good breeze, warm, flat water. A lovely evening for a sail. We went, after much consideration, with the #3 Jib. This turn out - almost all the time over the course - to be the right sail. The improvements to the backstay purchase and shortening of the mainsheet tether all added to the boat’s performance. And a whole spray can of Sailkote…

For the start the wind looked better on the right. Lynn was confused at my tactic of allowing the GC to get and stay directly on our bow, leading us to the start line right at the RC right side. We were pushing the GC, forcing them forward to avoid getting hooked. BUt sadly we were all late for the line, about 5 seconds late, and so the risk I wanted to put on the GC didn’t materialize. If they were closer to the line pushing them would have either caused them to be over early or see them drop down and run the line. So we crossed 1 and 2 stern to bow at the RC. We executed our plan and tacks to port immediately at the boat. The GC continued on stbd for a bit then flipped over too. We were essentially match racing, leaving the two Sharks and the Ranger to sail their own races. When the GC tacked, we tacked back on to stbd and forced them over as well. They should have ducked us. Now we were above them and they were stuck in our disturbed air. They fell farther behind as our boat speed was great. We took them out to near the layline and tacked, they were forced to follow. Again bad air for them. I ran the traveller and sail trim as Lynn drove. We worked to maintain steady heel of about 15 degrees and tried to keep weather helm off Lynn’s rudder with traveller work. I closed the upper batten with mainsheet pressure and slide the traveller up and down as the gusts came in and dissipated. Lynn did a good job of communicating how her tiller felt. With 4 we didn’t have the weight to really keep the boat down, even with the #3, in the gusts. We managed with the traveller and Lynn would take a bite up to weather. Back and forth with this pattern kept the boat moving fast, between 5.9 and 6.1 knots, all the time. Anik handled the break and trim of the jib with alacrity, doing both jobs. We had the rare moment where a skirt was needed but Joel was right there every time. Lynn’s tacks were for the most part clean. She changed her chorography for one tack, moved in a different way - and blew the tack! So much for improvisational dance. At the windward mark, Joel and I went to work. I found that I should start a hoist process with my back to the mast, green guy in hand, twist around to take the pole, connect the green to the jaws and push the pole forward. Being on the outside of the pole was clutter of improvisational dance… So little positioning changes made all the difference, one piled on top of another. Joel connected the pole to the mast and set the pole up. I pre-fed the spin tack (green) out as much as I could - to help it get under the jib and around the pulpit. I was now on the low side and grabbed the cloth of the chute and hauled it out and up from the deck as Joel worked the halyard. I crossed the boat and pulled the guy back with the pole. I think in future, after the halyard is confirmed up, Joel should grab the pole and help get the chute set by pulling back and allowing the trim team to catch up (trim team in this case JUST Anik) was busy with the spin sheet. We found on each rounding that the jib was ‘in the way’. The reason for that is that Anik released the jib sheet. Not a crazy idea, we are going downwind and that’s what you do with sails…but with the jib well out two bad things happened. (1) The spin had a harder time getting out from underneath the jib. When it’s tight in, the passage is much easier. (2) The jib itself, when we turned downwind, was now loose and on two hoists is wrapped itself around the forestay. With the battens in the sail that wrap was a nightmare to unwind, and the sail would not fall when the halyard was released. The other point about keeping the jib trimmed in, a tight jib drags the bow downwind as the main is released. This change in balance helps turn the boat downwind requiring less rudder (braking). So the trimmer needs to lock the jib sheet in the cheek block in the cockpit before unloading the active jib sheet of the winch. Easier when there are two people in the cockpit doing the work. Aside from these issues, the hoisted were pretty good. We were flying 4-6 boats lengths from the mark each time.
We want to get the hoist started as we round the mark with the goal of having the chute drawing immediately and set within 1-2 boat lengths of the mark - practice, practice.

Downwind we sailed deeper than the GC, who was not far behind us. The GC really hit the eastern shore - too much I thought. It hurt them with less pressure and a lousy angle for their asym.

We gybed, keeping the wind mostly in the chute got onto the other tack to bring ourselves into the leeward mark about 1/2 way down the track. The gybe - Lynn squared down wind. (She was already quite deep). I stood with the back to the mast on the on the ‘sheet side’ (leeward side) before the gybe. Joel released the pole from the mast and handed me the pole. As the pole moved inboard, the outer end of the pole (attached to the spin tack - guy line) also came IN to the boat. Obviously this is bad. The movement disturbed the sail, nearly collapsing it. And it reduced the power in the sail.
We must run our gybes like we run out leeward takedowns. The chute has its pole removed at the mast and from the guy without any movement imposed on the chute itself. Don’t let the spinnaker know the pole is gone. (1) Center-ish the main before the pole removal to maximize the airflow filling the chute on both sides. (2) Open BOTH jaws of the spin pole at the same time. The trigger line is continuous for that reason. Pulling the line down opens and locks open both ends. Drop it off the mast and the guy, let the sail settle still full, move the pole over. The leeward side person (me) takes the pole from Joel and ensuring the jaws are open (I have just ordered a replacement fitting). My job is to catch the leeward sheet into the open jaws (the fitting should snap closed when the line hits it), and them push it out to allow mast attachment. MADE is called and the boat can move from DDW to broad reaching or whatever the course is to be. (3) Last night my role then changed, I moved from bow to pit / main. I should tighten the pole down as I go by. I also should blow the jib halyard. I also break the backstay and make sure the main is set the way it needs to be. (4) Joel’s jobs are to ease the main’s outhaul and cunningham, and check the vang tension is right. He hauls the jib down and secures it. Then he becomes the wind line guru.

Side Note about Spummaniti At the windward mark, inflatable, middle of the bay, we caught Trevor and Jake (again) on their C&C 32. I might be mis-remembering this was either the first lap or we caught them on our 3rd and their 2nd.
Anyway they were ahead and tacked short of the lay line. We sailed past their line and tacked - and we forced them to tack again back to stbd again below the lay line - they were not pleased. Their right move would have been to duck us. Later after at the club I approached the team with an offer of an explanation of the situation (we aren’t after them) and offering a round of drinks for everyone - but Trevor was unhappy, he wouldn’t talk to me. Although the crew did warm to the idea of free alcohol.

Leeward Mark

We got into a pattern, or back to the pattern, that worked really well last year. Once we are on our final gybe, jib up 2/3 of the way down the leeward run (usually). Jib set in the check block jammer. Sail controls, outhaul and cunningham of main back on, backstay back on. Mast person needs to ensure the spin halyard will run free at this stage in preparation for the drop. As I go back to the mast I should break the pole down to allow us to get the pole off the mast. Lynn should be high on the mark as she broad reaches in. When we are ready to lose the pole, she will turn downwind to near DDW. I push the guy out as far as I can and Joel removes the pole, and if there us time, he tucks it away on the boom.(If not time, let her swing suspended by the pole up) Since I have my hand on the guy, and we almost always do a windward take down, I call for the drop. (Normally I would call for the drop but I’d be in the back of the boat). Joel releases the spin halyard, Anik first eases the spin sheet to allow the spinnaker to come around the forestay. I jump, legs in the fore hatch and pull the guy then the body of the spinnaker into the hole. As I’m pulling, we are almost at the mark. Lynn needs to trim the main to close hauled as she turns. Anik is focused on (a) ensuring the spin sheets run smoothly for the take down and (b) trimming the jib to close hauled. We round. Clean up, fast. The jib halyard is probably not as tight as we want. Anik brilliantly cross sheeted to free up the jib halyard winch. Otherwise, we live with it until we tack and clear the winch. OR we cheek block clutch the jib sheet, unload the winch and us it to bring the halyard up. The path through the water Lynn has driven as she rounds a mark has been good. We can work toward wide and close a little more, traffic permitting. But overall the turns are smooth, and she gets us onto the closehauled course quickly. When the sails aren’t right, out too far, halyards not up enough, etc, the inclination is to sail to the settings the sails currently are in - that’s of course wrong - we want to go upwind, point the boat upwind on closehauled and let us fix the sails. I saw several boats that headed off close reaching or worse when they had sail control issues they needed to fix.

This review has been not a turn by turn by a general overview of operations.

We found that we steadily pulled away from the GC, often higher and usually faster all the way around the course. Our rating says we had to do that.

Muren on Bullet was a wildcard - was so far behind he was sailing in a different weather system. But the PHRF gods are not sympathetic. As per the result he bested us by 59 corrected seconds. Can we find those seconds - damn right we can! The rest of the results, put us on another planet. The GC was 4:09 behind us - after correction. Nice. Using the NFS PHRF ratings, Bear corrected out to 3 minutes in front of us, Lickety and Rebel as well. And the Shannon’s Hunter with the impossible rating of 198 - recall a Shark is 207 - also corrected out in front of us. So we have work to do.

But is was a great night for a sailboat race. A good time was had by all.