260709 EYC Long Distance Race

Creation: 260710 0607 Last Modified: 260710 0607

Crew

Position	Person
Helm	Lynn Ellwood
Main
Middle 1	Steve Ellwood
Middle 2	Melissa Ella Warren
Mast
Bow	Howard Whittaker

Course

Long distance race. Mouth of BQYC harbour, west to mark near the bridge Q54/Qm (upwind), then long trek to the mouth of the Telegram Narrows, Q46. And back to the Q54 and around again. 26nm miles approximately

Weather

Wind from the west, low of 8, high of 22. Shifty, streaky, oscillating - challening.

Race Result

Race Review

Starting with the result, Yes, we were 2nd in our division of 3 boats. That doesn’t sound like much but there was great pleasure in sailing side by side boats in you are competing with. We were 108 PHRF, so the ‘slowest’ of the three. Overall we were beaten on corrected time by

• War Paint (David Lanning PEYC) 2 corrected minutes
• Blaze J30 by 12!! corrected minutes (PHRF 130 - ya right)
• Crusader J30 by 2 minutes
• Qualicum Abbott 33 by 1 minute corrected. PHRF racing sucks. But it is the racing we have. So we are 5th overall.

We know where those 2 minutes were that were required to beat War Paint. But I don’t think Russell Coutts or Jimmy Spittal could have found 12 corrected minuted to beat Blaze. Blaze was sailing with 7 people on the J30 (like last year) and were able to carry a lot of sail area. Full main and #2. With only 4 we were full main and #3 strapping in FLAT. Backstay maxed, halyard tension maxed, outhaul cunningham, maxed maxed maxed. We were flat. We were the last start, first start had a 10-minute head start, second fleet had a 5-minute head start. We started with DIV1 and DIV2. So there were boats on the line, not just the three of us. We were late to the line. My fault I delayed too long in turning around. We got behind a J24 that had some main problem and they trapped us beneath them. 2nd or 3rd last off the line. Damn!. But the silver lining was our plan to go right to a wind line was foiled, Howard Whittaker made the brilliant suggestion to tack out. And we did. The fickle wind gods smiled on us. We were boat for boat with War Paint at the first mark, windward Q54, having recovered lost ground from our annoying start. Way to go Howard! We hoisted and started to chase down the J35 Barrel of Moneys and War Paint. Happily the first long leg was down wind a long, long way. We were light, with 4, but that was to our advantage. We worked through the fleet quickly and we had more than half of them behind us when we got to the opening to Big Bay. We were neck and neck with War Paint and Monkeys - not only staying with them but going faster. The Big Bay sleigh ride was terrific. Constant trimming from Howard on the spinnaker and me on the main, Melissa running around sorting things out and making adjustment, and Lynn learning to drive in the chop. This run was 10-15 knots. We were well ahead of our two competitors when we got to the Q46 leeward mark. Remember we started as pretty much the last boat and this photo was less than half way down the first long leg of 4. The Ranger 33 Mike Bowland was inside us at the mark. We held the spinnaker a long time to maximize our speed. We got there and dropped the chute and nearly dropped Howard in the water. So Howard is on the low side as we round, he slips (something about the glassy smooth surface of the foredeck - I don’t blame him) and he is body and soul wrapped around the stanchion at the shrouds - those parts of him that weren’t in the water. Mike is inside us and close abeam. I call for Lynn to come up, but she is concerned about the proximity of Mike to our weather. With a little very subtle shouting I was able to both convince Lynn to head up to flatten the boat and at the same time give Mike notice that we were coming up - a 2-fer. Some may remember my vocalizations differently. Howard recovered himself before we could come to his rescue - and miraculously claimed no significant injuries. It hurt just looking at him wrapped up down there at the time. We got the boat rolling again and we quickly climbed above and ahead of Mike. The J35 and War Paint were off to the south side of the course. We felt good on the north side, thinking about the forecast of the wind moving to the north (spoiler - it didn’t). Nonetheless, we played the shifts and stayed close.
The waterline length of both boats, and the Abbotts, and the sheer body weigh on the rail of the J30 Blaze and its #2, instead of a #3, put us behind them all - not by much as we got to the pinch between the two bays. In the Belleville bay we were making some gains and rolling one of the two Abbotts, Maia. War Paint and the other Abbott Qualicum stayed high and we just couldn’t get up there - perhaps a slightly lifted wind line closer to the south shore. So Maia and us were lower, and eventually we tangled with the Laser 28 course racing fleet that was set perpendicular to our track between the pinch and Q54 (Qm). With the excitement, we did not run the spinnaker tapes pre spin launch. In fairness, we almost never do after a take-downon course. It goes down straight so it goes back up straight - except when it doesn’t. At the hoist around Qm we got it up and found a wrap from hell. 3 times around? 4? After the standard methods failed, we took it down and Howard, Melissa and I (yes all three of us) manually unwrapped it and re-hoisted - only to find we missed a 4th (or 10th?) wrap - but that happily came out on its own after Howard threatened it. The issue costs us - 20 boat length? 30? We were well away from the turning mark before we got our spinnaker back on and the gains we had made on the upwind evaporated. War Paint, the J35 and Qualicum were gone. Happily Maia was still well behind us.

We got the chute pulling in 15-19 knots of breeze, our speed jumped from 6.2 - 8.2 and we were off. This was a ride you dream about. We steadily ground down the lead of the three boats in front. We never did catch them but we were well within our PHRF rating distance - so we were leading by the numbers. - Ok not the J30 Blaze stupid 12 minute lead numbers, but the two other boats in our fleet. We were surfing, we were planing, we were FLYING. Steady 9’s, frequent 10’s and the occasional 11’s, with a max speed of 11.5. Sure we broached once in a while, but the team was cool and collected. All the steps to recovery happened quickly and calmly. No drama. And we never slowed below 6 knots even while broaching. The pole was just off the forestay, so it was a tight reach. With the oscillations in the breeze it was too tight, so head down, or pretty far back so pole back and head up a bit. Trim trim trim - everything all the time. Lynn was more aggressive on the tiller to slap the boat back down when called for. That move saved us quick a few undesirable broaches. Howard was a champion, constant communication with Lynn about up or down, pressure or not. They would an amazing team. We almost caught up - Oh! was born to sail in this wind and water. Until the guy left the end of the spinnaker pole. We were perhaps 1/2 mile maybe more, from the leeward mark. Pop. On a close reach. This was the second time this happened. The first time I was able to get it back in the jaws, but this time, forget it. Getting it down was a mess. 20-22 knots, no head sail up because I wanted it down quickly and I feared as the head was now well behind the transom of a shrimping disaster. Again, Howard, Melissa and I wrestled the thing into the boat. Wet wet wet. We go it in and stowed and jib up. We were now dead down wind to the leeward mark, and slow. We went around with Qualicum just below us. They were calling for us to come up up up, it was nonsense, just bluster to rattle Lynn. Eventually I ducked my head belong the boom and side, ok guy bring it, come on up, let’s go. They laughed, they knew they would come to a stop and we would get over them if they tried. All good fun, smiles and shoulder shrugs on both sides. We sailed over them but slowly - they are fast.

After the spinnaker pole debacle we were well behind War Paint - that again went sought, and the J35, which continued to the north side. We too went north side again. With Qualicum so close we had a good measure of our performance - it kept up sharp. We used them to gauge lifts and headers, which were coming in oscillations - still. The wind had whipped up more chop. Which made the driving more challenging for Lynn. It might have been that going south side would have reduced the chop because the fetch would have been reduced, hard to think otherwise, but the danger was getting crushed by the wind shift to the north we were expecting. We played the shifts and foiled off of Qualicum, they cross us, we cross them, back and forth. Good racing. The RC shorted the course at the pinch between the bays. War Paint made out well. And the J35 with its water line of course crossed in front but not by much, give a 26nm race. And Qualicum had us on the last cross near the line, they headed off on starboard and we on port. We got a lift and were able to cross the line by tacking on to starboard right at the pin, besting them boat for boat by inches. But not by corrected, not by a country mile. Felt good though ;-)

Learning

Get the boat’s sail controls set at the end of the downwind run BEFORE engaging with the pole down. Maybe before the jib goes up depending on how close that will be to the mark.

Do carry the spinnaker in as close to the mark as possible - 10 knots toward the mark for 1 minute is better than 4 knots toward the mark for 1 minute, even if we are a little slow for the 1st minute after the rounding.

A Time for Aggressive Turning - To everything turn, turn, turn. Lynn needs to master the boat when steering downwind in breeze with waves. The waves are kicking the boat around, she needs to kick back. This isn’t universal. In flat water, the rudder is a brake. Body weight moves first then gentle helm to get the course you want.
But when the wind and waves are up - surfing opportunities pay the bills. Catch a wave and you’re sittin’ on top-o-world (its music lyrics day). Once on a wave the boat speeds up and it can head deeper and faster. When the ride is over, back up. to find the next ride.

Spin Pole NEEDs to be shot gun rigged so the mechanism closes fully when line hits it - or it needs to be pushed with the hand to close it.

Upwind Chop Driving - Super tight is not the answer - need power. We were super flat just to hold the boat down with 4 people - unlike the 12 correct minute J30 Blaze - we were de-powered to survive. Tack in flat spot if you can. Watch for shifts - always.

Boats In Front predict the Future - Don’t miss the opportunity to let them share their truth. Keep someone watching them.