Winds were 13-15 at the start, and built during the race, to be an even 15, per the RC. All from the South, so we started at A and tacked South to C. Stayed to the left side of the course, but with only three of us in the boat, got knocked a lot and had to ease main to reduce heel. Let traveller out mid to all of the way, dependimg on wind intensity. Once we rounded C, went wing and wing for about 100 yards, and then decided to deploy the spinnaker. The highest wind we'd ever surfed in, and we were able to control it, but we only jibed once, since control was not that great. Spent most of our time dead down wind since if we were above that we had issues staying in control. Team Fiona has really improved, though, to the point that we were able to even entertain puttng up the spin in such wnd. Dowsed early since there was a parade of big boats headed for A and we didn't want to be in that mess with a spin up and very little control. Had to jibe anyway to round A, and then tacked fairly soon to get back upwind to B. Contemplated raising the spin again on the way back to A, but it was a beam reach, and we were able to go 5.8-6 without it, and with that wind, it was too much for a spin. Came acros 12th, and corrected over several boats to end up 10th out of 16 boats who started. Not as good as last week, where we were 2nd, but that was mostly a fluke -- the good news is that we beat all the otherr boats in our start. Job well done by Team Fiona, especially given that we were late arriving -- got there during the starting sequence, which started at 6:10 -- right on time.
Century Club: Richard Turman
12-14 mph from the South gave me a good opportunity to run a course from E to N and back to A to B and A again, with serious upwind. Wished I'd had some passengers to help me flatten the boat, but good wind for practicing my tacks and getting layline estimates for the marks better. Beautiful night, with speedy downwind wing-and-wings!
Rainy and cold (high of 54! )on Friday and Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Monday finally heated up to low 70's. After spending the afternoon helping hang things on the wall at my daughter's apartment, got home at 7, and then took the sailboat out. Sailed until after sunset, and then came in. Nice breeze from the South. Gotta love summer sailing!
Nothing like getting off a conference call at 7 and taking the cover off the boat and gettng underway on by 7:15 and staying out until 8:30. On a weeknight! Light winds from the S allowed me to run a course from E to B to V to N back to E. Ran into someone from a boat I race against on Wednesday nights, which is always fabulous to have happen on Round Bay!
Thunderstorm predicted on radar for 5:45, so the Round Bay Sailing Association wisely postponed our normal start time from 6:15 p.m. until the thunderstorm threat passed. We all assembled off Long Point, but there wasn't enough wind to start for about 15 minutes. There were 3 mph when RC started the sequence, but once our start took off, the wind died back. We moved forward about .7-1.1 mph for about 20 minutes, not getting very far from the starting line as the next two waves of boats joined us in the race -- and not moving much. We started with the wind on the North, but it moved to West after a short bit, and eventually filled in from S, so we put up our spins and finally made it to the original windward mark, going downwind. A bizarre race, but our Harbor 20 had line honors, which has only happened once before in the 5 years I've been racing here. I'm now just hoping for a finish in the top third of the fleet once the handicapping math all gets done. Pretty cool, though, for us to end up looking back from the finish line at all the spinnakers coming at us!
I'd not been on it since we'd finally managed to get it running a month ago, so after working on the sailboat to replace the mainsheet block on the barney post, came to check and see if the powerboat lift would work, since a plastic motor cover had been broken. It worked, so I then needed to see if the boat would start. It did, instantly and easily, so I then took her out for a spin. 70 degrees and 12 from the S, so took her out in Round Bay. Pounding all the way down to Long Point, and then took a wide turn and came back around. Kept her around 28-30 mph the whole time, and she purred right along. Great to have her out for a spin!
Wind from the N in the ~12 range, with gusts to 15, and 80+ degrees. Took my brother out on his last day before he flew home to MN, and had the most wind in the week he'd been here. Reefed the main and took off downwind to N, and then turned up to return to A. Quite glad we were reefed once we came upwind, since the water down there was beginning to whitecap, and without a third body, we had a hard time keeping the boat flat. Beautiful, zesty ride back upwind, and then turned home to get him back to his evening dinner appointment. Wonderful afternoon on the water with my sibling!
Managed to get two trips in on Saturday afternoon before our family had our first post-covid get-together. 8 of us, all vaccinated, in one room. How amazing it was to just hang together, for the first time in 18 months.
And to go sailing to boot was a bonus. Wind from the N was light and variable. First went out with my brother, and then came back to the dock and picked up our sister and took her out. Two hours each trip was great, though with it being 90 degrees we had to stay hydrated.
Managed to get out on Friday afternoon with my sister, who had not been able to join me at all in 2020, so we had a great 'get re-acquainted with the sailboat' time for 2 hours on Friday afternoon. Winds 7 with gusts to 10 from the S; air temp in the 80's.
With that practice under her belt, my sister then joined my brother and I to race in the first Friday Night series of the Round Bay Sailing Association. Joined by two other boats, a 31 footer and a 39 footer, we had a leisurly sail from Lindstead pier to Long Point and back. The 31-footer had line honors, followed by the 39 footer, but I'm waiting for the handicapping math to be done, since it is conceivable that we might end up on top. Was a lovely evening in any event, and pretty darn special to be able to sail with my brother and sister, and to race with them for the very first time ever. And the first time I'd ever had my spin up without my normal Wednesday night crew, since my brother learned how to get the spin up -- and jibe with her! Wind S and pretty light, but enough to get the big boats moving.
And this time we had enough wind to finish the course, but not too much, as has happened twice before this season. Finished mid-fleet among about 15 boats, and still waiting for the results of the handicapping math, which I'm hopeful puts us in the top 40% of boats. We'll see. Light winds from the South, but steady enough to keep us moving well except for the last 150 yards, which were excrutiating. We had four on our boat instead of our usual three, but with additional hands were even better able to stay in trim going upwind, which helped on our performance. Wind picked up after the race was over, so held spin practice for another half an hour, which was glorious. Most boats stayed out to sail afterwards, too, since it was such a pretty evening. Wonderful all-around!