Oct 10, First Day of Vallejo 1-2 2009

(map from NOAA)

Map:
1 ~ Start (Berkeley Circle)
2 ~ Finish (Vallejo)
A = Richmond Fuel Dock
B = Pt. San Pablo
C = Pt. Pinole

The Vallejo is a there-and-back pair of races beginning in the vicinity of Berkeley, stopping in Vallejo, and returning to Richmond. Typically, the trip there is downwind and the trip back is upwind. The Berkeley->Vallejo leg is sailed singlehanded, and the trip back optionally double-handed. This year Nathan raced there and Nathan+Nat raced back.

To avoid needless buildup, the result Saturday: DNS (checking in before the start helps...)

The event is run by the Singlehanded Sailing Society, and used a borrowed RYC committee boat for the start at the edge of the Berkeley Circle.

One prep decision which I believe had a slightly adverse effect on speed: I left the engine mounted on the stern, which is a good amount of weight aft. On the other hand, when single-handing, it's hard to get it up and mounted in short order if you get into trouble (no wind and a ship coming or drifting towards rocks) so there's something to be said for having it handy.

Elise was racing one design (6 Express 27's raced) but starting with the sportboat division. The race being singlehanded, the committee set a very generous starting line. Further, unlike the full crew Vallejo race there is no initial turning mark to guarantee an initial upwind leg. The wind was pretty much at right angles to the start line (the line being set perpendicular to the first leg).

I was at the favored (towards the Golden Gate) end of the line but not right on it as the gun went off. It was definitely a reasonable start, though- preferable to being down the line. The wind angle didn't initially justify a kite and the breeze wasn't all that strong, so everyone was pretty much under #1's. Manueverability without a crew being impaired, it was mostly a timed start with everyone picking a lane and then just trimming up with a minute or minute thirty to go. Elise crossed the line a little behind Wetsu (Phil K) and ahead of Taz (George L).

After the start, Elise and Wetsu (Phil K) stayed quite high and were the first to set kites. Phil hung in at a very tight angle, while I sagged off towards the shore for best speed. I also didn't mind the idea of being relatively close to the shore for current relief. The fleet split a bit between people out in the center of the bay (I expect for better breeze and the current relief downstream of Red Rock) while some of us headed down low towards the Richmond shore.

Elise's autopilot had only just been tested a few days previously after some very slow repairs following the 2008 Pacific Cup (not major, just near the bottom of the todo list). It holds course for a little while but doesn't respond very effectively to things like puffs (which should be correctable with some calibration). During the race, it hurt speed and heading a bit to leave the helm for extended tasks such as sail changes but a quick break to trim jib or adjust the spinnaker wasn't a problem.

As we reached the Richmond fuel dock (the area nearby being restricted), Elise and Moxie (Jason) were fairly close with Moxie leading. In a recurring theme for the day, I was adjusting sail trim and spinnaker pole more frequently than the other E27's within view. Sometimes that was helpful, while sometimes the "quiet and smooth" approach seemed to be better- in the light breeze, shifting weight around to reach lines and then making changes to trim can dump wind out of the sails and hurt speed.
This was a low point in the race for Elise, position-wise: being a little bit off the pace left her with the back of the fleet, boat for boat.

Elise sailed fairly close up the restricted area with a couple of other boats to get as far out of the channel as possible. The wind angles were slightly tighter here. Upon reaching the bridge, I went fairly hard to the right towards the shoreline and disused docks between the Richmond Bridge and Pt. San Pablo. There was good current relief there but slightly less wind, and I traded positions with Moxie several times weaving back and forth- up for speed, back down to get out of the current.

There were a couple of other boats doing the same thing, such as Ben Mewes in his Black Soo, Mirage. Others chose to stay in the center. For most of the leg, it was a losing move, but as you near the Brothers (pair of islands near Pt. San Pablo with a lighthouse on one) there's some relief and even a bit of countercurrent. I think the best move is to know exactly when to change lanes from right to left, but in this case most people picked one or the other. At the end, some apparent gains were quickly erased as the group on the left zipped around the corner.

Upon entry into San Pablo Bay, the next decision comes up: the water to the right (shore side) is relatively shallow with less current. Elise picked a course to the right but not an extreme one. Wetsu, for example, was significantly further right. Great White (Rachel) and Diane (Steve) also came back a bit so that most of the Expresses were competing more on boatspeed than position.

I was quite satisfied with Elise's boatspeed during this section of the race (Pt. San Pablo to Pt. Pinole), gaining back significant ground against Dianne and Great White. At Pinole, I lost a bit maneuvering.

Phil broke hard left first, to get to the other side of the bay. In retrospect, he seemed unhappy with the decision.

The current didn't seem very bad, so Elise stayed moderately right but didn't sail significant extra distance to hug the shore (as one or two others did). The E27's having started to split up left and right again, it was a slotcars situation for a while: you'd picked the lane and now lived with the consequences, coaxing whatever speed you could get out of the boat.

Toward the end of the leg, Elise was leading Wetsu and Taz while trailing Diane, Great White, and Moxie.

As I reached the corner to turn and head for Vallejo, two more decisions were tested. Almost always, the wind direction changes from a deep spinnaker run to a tight reach or upwind leg as you enter the strait between Mare Island and Vallejo. The choice of jib had been made well before: I had stayed with the #1 rather than change down to a #3 during the long downwind. A significant stiffening of the breeze would have punished me harshly (no weight on the rail and an oversized genoa is not a fast way to sail a light boat). I also held the spinnaker around the corner and for several minutes after (though I'd seen the other boats rounding dousing as they got close). Keeping up the kite up as long as possible definitely paid off. Phil kept it up for a little longer than I did, but in the net I think my timing was pretty close to ideal.

The trip up the channel was mostly a match race between Wetsu and Elise: the leaders were too far ahead to catch and we had enough of a lead on Taz to not let her govern our decisions. Phil initially tried working up but Elise was able to stay ahead. My main worry was the shoreline and in particular the "Artship" (ex Golden Bear), which is moored on Mare Island and creates a massive wind shadow. As we got close and I could start to feel the hole, I started to bear off a little to concentrate on boatspeed rather than position. Elise was then able to stay ahead the boatspeed race to the finish. The finish line was the entire channel (sighted from the race deck through a pole on the breakwater) so there weren't any possibilities for action at the pin. Finish position, 4/6.

It was a fun race and a great day, but refer back to the punchline: checking in before the start makes for much better points.