Conditions were fabulous - in short a blast. Now onto the details.
Most of the boat had been set up the night before. All I had to do in the morning was to run the lines, bring out the horseshoe + strobe and tow line, hoist the main, pick my headsail and put it up.
I connected the autopilot (and turned the switch on so it basically could be turned on and off from the driver's seat) and put away docklines and fenders. I checked in around 8am. I asked Nathan for the latest forecast (I still left early and I wasn't getting the latest, NOAA typically updates the forecast every hour or so)
10-25 NW all the way. Flood on the way out and likely flood on the way back.
I also tried the autopilot (and it has a handy remote control so you can steer the boat from the bow) as I exited the harbor and set up the headsail. It was behaving beautifully.
Looking at the wind conditions right outside the harbor, I opted for the jib, instead of the genoa. I could probably have held the genoa right at the start but changing down immediately afterwards would not have been worth the time gained. Wetsu did a perfect start at the pin and bang on the gun. I started a few seconds later having to carve my spot in-between two other boats (nice racing boats...). Also started at the pin, tacked as soon as I got clean air.
It was flooding so I tacked back toward shore as soon as I hit the current line. I was monitoring current through GPS (comparing speed over ground on the GPS and speed over water with the boat's speedo: if GPS speed is greater, then current is helping you, if it is the same, there is no noticeable current and if it is less than speed over water, you're in adverse current).
I stayed out of the current until the South Tower and then crossed over to the North shore. Most boats seemed to have picked that route. I was catching up Wetsu and I had left the two boats that had started with me well behind by the time I was near Point Bonita. I opted to go way out instead of going north because the breeze allowed me to steer about 240 / 250 west which was basically the best VMG I could get. Not being sure how the wind would change (it was supposed to veer more West later in the day) I decided to increase the distance there. There was plenty of wind where I was and I wasn't sure I'd get much wind benefit by going further North. I was still North of the gate - but South of the islands.
Wind was about 17 knots at that time. I saw a couple of boats take a reef but I just put on a bit more backstay and Elise behaved beautifully, staying at a nice 15 degree of heel angle max. I was very happy with the way the boat was pointing and I concentrated on steering through the waves which were the major cause for slowdown. Not huge huge, but a few of them were pretty high and steep and caused the boat to go up a small mountain before falling back in a splash, with the bow airborne for a short period of time.
I tried to go up the waves at an angle and quickly adjust to get the most distance on the way down. That seemed to be working. My average boat speed was about 6 knots. Wind picked up a little bit to about 19 knots, gusting over 20. A bit more backstay was all that seemed necessary, Elise was very stable and comfortable.
Loads of water gushing over the bow with the waves and flooding the entire boat. 2 hours into the race I was pretty much soaked...But my foul weather gear held out perfectly and my 'city' clothes remained dry. That's the drawback of not sailing with a crew...There's no one to take a shower in your place. I was sitting forward of the traveler to keep the stern out of the water and was up on the rail, steering by hand.
I clipped myself onto the boat as soon as I went under the gate. I didn't have to use the autopilot when tacking. I would do a slow tack, bring in the jib before it filled again and hardly ever needed a winch handle. If I needed to get a winch handle to do fine trimming, I would easily block the tiller with the tiller extension. Knowing that the boat will want to go more upwind as I bring in the jib, I made sure the tiller would counter that and positioned it that way. It worked like a charm. I used that trick to adjust the cunningham (to flatten the main sail ever further) and to give a little pull on the jib halyard which seemed to have slipped a little bit.
By clipping myself behind the main sheet post, I was able to adjust pretty much all the working lines from where I was, without ever having to engage the autopilot. Granted, with the autopilot, I could have been further out and up on the rail. But given the swell, I think it was better to have an active driver than rail meat.
Looking around, I was able to point higher than most boats, yet keeping up nicely or overtaking boats. I think that I overtook Wetsu shortly after Bonita Point, then lost sight of the boat. I even overtook boats that rate less than Elise (eg. that are faster) and I was beating them boat for boat as we were traveling alongside for a while.
The Coast Guard were out on a boat and tagged me for a while - not sure if it was because they thought I was in danger or because they liked my hair style but I certainly preferred clean air and I was rather pleased when they moved downwind of the boat...(they checked out all the boats that were sailing their way)
Had to tack out of the way of a big ship (way out of the shipping channel, to the North of it, never seen a ship there before) and I sailed alongside it for a (very short) time as it was zipping forward at 15 knots and I was still doing about 6...
Wind remained stable more or less throughout the upwind, oscillating between 17 and 25. No need for a reef, Elise settled in a really comfortable groove, I got a good handle on how to deal with the swell (I could tell because at times, up one of these big waves, boat speed would slow down to 5.60 or so, but after a while I didn't go below 5.85. Not much but I call this progress.
The tack up to the island (West) was definitely better both from a wave and a VMG/point perspective so I stayed on that tack longer than on the other tack (North) - it was also easier to call the layline when close to the islands so I did most of my tacking up there.
The autopilot seemed to still be working upwind as I used it before my visit to the quintessential bucket. It was set on wind mode as that seemed to be the most effective way of steering if I was going to be away from the helm for only a short period of time (Vs being loyal to a compass course). Just for fun, I played around with the remote which I was wearing around my neck when inside the cabin and felt the boat turned slightly. You feel powerful :-)
I was really quite impressed with how the autopilot was handling the waves, some of which were definitely quite big as well as handling the gusts. I had released the main slightly by lowering the traveler before engaging the autopilot to allow for a wider range before the boat would feel over powered, to make Nick's job easy but I am not sure it was entirely necessary. Nick is Elise's autopilot. He's definitely a pretty good driver.
Ultimately though I decided that I was a better driver than Nick and I took the commands again. Kept myself hydrated and fed (did not feel sick the entire time even though it was pretty bumpy going up) - was not too hot or not too cold just wearing synthetics underneath the Elise crew jacket.
The weather was sunny, Elise was shooting through the water, I saw 4 or 5 boats on their way back as I was nearing the island and rounded the islands at the same time as one other boat. There was a big surf so I left a pretty wide margin between the boat and the island. Reaching while I was rounding the mark (that did not tip over thank God), saw a couple of seals looking bewildered. In the lee of the island, I was getting ready to set up the kite. Everything was ready to go, just had to bring the kite up on deck and hoist. We're talking a one minute job. Except that at that time, whenever I'd press 'auto' to engage the autopilot, I'd get nothing.
Hmm...going downwind in heavy swell (which I was looking forward to as this is a recipe for great surfing) you can't just leave the tiller still. It has to play with the swell or you jibe or round up, one or the other...Breeze was at about 16 knots in the lee of the island and the kite just felt right.
I tried to adjust the sails as well as I could to keep the boat stable (would actually have been easier with a kite) and took short trips down below to switch over to the second autopilot (the crappier spare one which was set up on deck but not turned on). It didn't start either. I went back down below, racing to switch over to the other battery, thinking that maybe there was an electrical/low voltage or connection issue. I never had enough time to take the multimeter and check before having to go back up to gently push the tiller...and I knew that the big battery was fully charged.
No autopilot and the display went blank in a beep...Probably some connection issues (the cables attaching to the big battery looked a bit corroded...) - shoot, now is really the moment when I need Nick and he goes on strike.
I looked at a boat behind me well in the distance that looked like Wetsu hoist a spinnaker (not entirely positive it was Wetsu, I couldn't remember exactly what Wetsu's spinnaker looked like) - a lot of boats had only white sails up.
Darn. I was fuming. The conditions were PERFECT. Nice stable 20 knots of breeze, lots of swell definitely pushing the boat around but in short great conditions for surfing. After about 5 minutes of swearing in every language I knew except sign language as that would have meant taking my hand off the tiller, decided that I should make the best of this situation and go on with racing. Crap crap crap. All of the sudden, Elise felt slow (even though she was going at a happy 8-9 knots)
Couldn't even switch to the bigger jib, it would have taken longer than hoisting the spinnaker and forced me to go barepole for a short while. I wondered if I should heave to and just try to sort things out that way...Decided against it. Not sure an Express 27 can heave to + given the not so friendly swell, if it can't be stable heaving to in the first place, it will NOT be in these conditions.
More crap crap crap.
Wasn't I glad that I was able to go to the bathroom on the upwind when the autopilot was working? ;-)
So I decided to continue like this and pray for the speedo and the electrical system to come back to life at some point...
I was steering 60 pointing right at the gate and I was at a pretty hot angle (barely sustainable with a spinnaker anyway) - so I decided to do what was going to make the boat get as fast as possible to the finish line
1- cut on distance as much as possible
2- use the swell to accelerate the boat (and Elise DID surf up to 12 knots with just the jib up!!!!)
3- keep a hot angle (broad reach) which conveniently pointed me right at the gate.
Getting closer to the gate (Coast Guard out again) I followed the current to take advantage of max flood wherever I could. I sometimes gained 2+ knots in current.
I passed the boat that had rounded the island pretty much at the same time as I started to see the gate (had two jibs up) - not a lot of spinnakers around, but a few, and the boat that looked like Wetsu had to go way South with the spinnaker, probably not able to stay at a high angle. This would also mean having to drop the kite at some point to come back up to the bridge.
I played the main on every shift, I tried to catch as many waves as possible and surfed for as long as possible (so even without the spinnaker it was fun fun fun) - Elise was going about 10+ knots over ground (my GPS was a handheld one on batteries and it worked the whole time) under jib and main!!!
Getting to point Bonita, the speedo decided to get back to life just like that, I hadn't done anything more to it. I shouted 'hooray' and tried to engage the autopilot. By then, there was 25 knots where I was. Stupid autopilot wouldn't start; Wondering if it was because it was drawing too much power and the battery just wouldn't give it...
More crap crap crap...
Wind actually didn't come from behind, shot up to 30+ knots at the gate; I had to do a short jibe out of the way of a ship, jibed back and then headed for the Club. I heard Mirage finish on the radio, then Wetsu (we had to announce our arrival) and I finished right next to Rainbow who had a spinnaker up.
In the Bay and right behind the South Tower, the wind dropped to 10 knots, then picked up again slightly. I finished around 8pm and got straight back to the dock.
I finished about 15 minutes behind Wetsu and beat Taz. With a kite up, I could certainly have found 15 minutes on the downwind. Basically all the ground I had made up upwind got lost on the downwind. Finished 5th (out of 10 starters, 14 registered) but could have been 4th easily.
Crap crap crap ;-)
Anyway! It was a ton of fun!!
Nick and I are going to have a short conversation about mutiny...
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