Friday (Prep)
What fun is having everything ready on race day? After the failed attempt to get the boat ready for a Coastal Cup, Elise was resting over in Pt. Richmond, anxious to get back in the game but in need of some prep work.
The first step was to get her into the water and tune her rig. We'd stood the rig back up again over the previous weekend, but the rig tensions are different when the boat is supported by water (versus a trailer) so tuning was deferred until the morning of the racing. With the rig centered port/starboard, we were ready to begin performance tuning.
The first step in tuning is to set the rake, and it became apparent that in the past we may have had the mast too far forward by about an inch (measured along the headstay). This could be a partial explanation for our previously poor upwind performance compared to the rest of the fleet. With the rig in place, we then tightened her up for normal settings according to the Easom guide. We did two slightly nonstandard things: we have both a rod and wire Loos gauges and so were able to set specific tensions on the uppers more specific than "tight", and we kept the aft lowers fairly tight but still reasonable for an all-purpose setting. Comparing to a few other boats, our rod uppers are more consistent P/S and slightly tighter.
It was Roger's turn to drop the outboard's gas cap into the water while unscrewing it (now we have spares at the bottom of the harbour in both Pt. Richmond and at the St. Francis, the latter courtesy of me). As a makeshift solution, he wedged in a slightly different spare from WestMarine.
Heather and I doublehanded the boat over to the racing venue (Tiburon Yacht Club, located far north of the downtown Tiburon near the Corinthian Yacht Club, not too far from San Quentin). For reference, the leg Pt. Richmond->TYC is about an hour and a half in an Express 27 with a modest outboard.
Once there, we met the rest of the crew and weighed in. We were a bit light on weight but not worried because the committee had selected TYC for a lighter-air, more tactical Nationals than would have been expected on the cityfront.
Friday (Racing)
Crew (front to back): Heather, Eric, Nick S., Nathan, ~700 lbs
Friday was scheduled to include 3 races, including a long distance event. Instead of the expected light to medium air, we received an extremely heavy-air day. After one broken mast, a pair of broken booms, and at least one broken spinnaker pole, the race committee sent us in for the day. Out of 21 racers, 5 did not finish the first race. Elise's finish was 13 out of 16 finishers, which doesn't quite reflect our elation at our upwind performance. In spite of being light on weight, we were competitive on both speed and pointing with the fleet. Elise did not fly her kite on any of the downwind legs, which we'd like to remedy for next year but were considerably less disappointed about that after watching New Wave's rig disintegrate a few boatlengths in front of us.
Thanks everyone, for our first really competitive upwind sailing in Elise when the breeze is up!
One final note on the venue: TYC was doing a great job for us, but you have to be careful on entry and exit of the harbor because the wind is very strong and shifty, with an added challenge when the dredging barge decides to enter or exit the narrow channel at the same time as the racing fleet.
Saturday
Crew (front to back): Heather, Nick B., Nick S., Eric, Nick S., Nathan,
~850 lbs
The second day of racing also began right after lunchtime (to assure wind). As it turned out, fears of a lack of wind were quite unfounded and the day proved reasonably heavy but not brutal. I wasn't doing as good a job on the starting line as I should have been, but we still managed to hang in on the upwinds. Unlike Saturday, we were able to fly the kite and even got in a few gybes.
The highlight of the day was the long distance race (second out of three races). The start was near TYC, followed by a quick upwind to the TYC marker itself, a run to the Brothers (lighthouse on two islands at the entrance to San Pablo Bay), another downwind over to the Sisters, and then an upwind fight back to TYC. The race was a particular challenge because many of the racers (including us) don't regularly race along the west side of the bay between the Sisters and TYC.
We had a good upwind, arriving at the windward mark in competitive shape. Quickly getting the kite going, we maintained a slightly hot angle with one group of boats (the other cluster staying slightly lower but appearing to be making about the same VMG). Elise enjoyed stretching her legs on her first extended downwind since the Ditch Run, and we had a good time in close quarters with Opa and Great White. At the Richmond bridge, Great White went slightly out of her way to stay upwind of the nearest supports while we went below. We knew that windward was the side to be on (versus underneath with blocked wind) but didn't quite have the courage of
conviction that Rusty did to sail greater distance and away from the cluster of boats we were with.
Further down the leg, we started to lose ground as the fleet gybed back to the left (facing downwind, we stayed high on the right, towards the Richmond shore). We sailed past the Brothers and channel marker, continuing off to the side of the course. This was seriously incorrect, and we paid for it. By the time we gybed over and reached the Sisters, we we were only ahead of two boats (one of which was shorthanded and without a headsail for much of the Brothers->Sisters stretch).
The upwind was an excellent chance for us to prove what we'd suspected from Friday: that Elise, with rig tuned, crew trained and slightly but not badly below the class upper weight limit of 880, and sporting her 3DL #3, was now competitive upwind. The winning strategy proved to be staying close to the San Rafael and then Tiburon shores, concentrating on boatspeed and tacking with the puffs when a header was too extreme to justify on the grounds of staying out of the channel to avoid the flood (most of the leg was on port tack, with occasional forays out towards the channel on starboard). Elise was well-managed tactically on this leg, and also ground down a variety of competitors on pure speed when they were close.
There were a few clusters of boats, with the leading packs virtually untouchable given our disastrous downwind. Nevertheless, we managed to chew up 4 boats before the finish line for a 13th, far better than we deserved going into the final upwind. A few other boats were tantalizingly close, but there's only so much ground you can make up in one leg.
Sunday
Crew (front to back): Eric, Nick B., Nick S., Nathan (~700 lbs)
Once again, the wind did not disappoint: a possible third race was abandoned after consultation with several of the fleet representatives.
The two races we did get in were good, fun round-the-buoys action. Repeating our Friday pattern of not setting the kite, we suffered a bit downwind but focused on grinding boats down again on the upwind. With one poor start and then a good one, at least we finished on a high note.
After abandoning the intended final race, TYC served food and gave out awards. Unfortunately, because of throwouts, our final place was worse than any of our individual finishes (17).
With the wind gusting up to 43, it was time to decide whether to attempt the delivery back the St. Francis or to hole up and return for the boat later. Eventually, it seemed like too much of a hassle to coordinate a delivery back from TYC and the sail back won out. Unfortunately, I'd spent too long thinking about it to keep Eric as return crew, and had to singlehand. With help from Opa pushing off from the dock (Thanks!), Elise made it out of the harbor safely and made for Raccoon Strait in heavy wind and chop with a reef in her main and no headsail. To say that she was overpowered would be a bit of an understatement, but Elise held course well and managed the gusts admirably. For a little while in Racoon Strait, the breeze was even a bit light. Opa (doublehanding) had almost caught up by the GGYC/StFYC breakwater, and helped catch me at the dock (thanks again!). Elise now lies at St. Francis, awaiting the completion of her trailer project.
Unfortunately, another competitor was not so lucky on the return trip, and lost her rig when the chainplate tore out of the deck (surprising since I thought she'd have a downwind trip to Pt. Richmond versus my upwind slam over to the cityfront).
Overview
Over the course of the this event, we have been making a lot of progress in staying competitive on the upwind legs. The big areas for improvement now are starts, downwind, and consistent tacking.
In the heavy breeze, being light on weight hurt speed but was not disastrous. The crew did a great job, and the "must do" list for Elise for bay events is dwindling.
Thanks everyone, and let's enjoy the heavy air part of the season!
