There was wind! Spinnaker start, I was going upwind/downwind for the start, timing myself to be on the line at the right time, on starboard tack ready to hoist (pole up, etc...) so I hoisted as soon as the gun went off.
A little late compared to two boats but I got good boat speed downwind and the wind increased to some 15+ knots at some point, just much lighter at both ends.
My boat speed was greater than any other boat in the division and I crept up on everyone. Good gybe and good layline call, which made me rounding the first mark (leeward mark) with a 90% overlap with Ergo, closely followed by Shenanigans - all three of us first to round!!
My spinnaker went down as quickly as everyone else's and in close quarter with literally a few feet between Elise and the next boat. So much for wanting to give myself plenty of sea room at the mark, I was the inside boat with an overlap! Perfect position with a crew but screwed my rounding as my jib got a hank hooked up and I couldn't just walk to the bow to fix it, I needed full control and be close to the helm.
So crappy rounding, starting the upwind leg with a jib 3/4 of the way up, had to wait for more sea room to hoist it completely, then tacked late to the VMG tack.
The wind also picked up quite a bit but it was clear that it was lighter near the finish so I decided to stick it with the big sail (a #2) which was tough to trim upwind...I decided to minimize the number of tacks as maneuvers is really where lack of crew hurts you, it took me longer to be up to speed upwind as I had to trim each sail in sequence (to perfection).
Lack of weight on the rail was a killer and the other boats kind of took off. I fumbled a little bit more with both sails and managed to get my boat speed up and started to creep back up on the fleet, despite the lack of weight.
Then botched a tack (ended up hove to...stupid me) - good layline calls and I was back to the middle of the fleet, and then light wind killed me...I messed up this time!! Losing three boats at the last mark rounding before the finish!!
doh!
Post finish, heading back home!
What a beautiful day. Good showing on the downwind leg and crappy upwind and awful finish, overall a fabulous fabulously fun day on the water though. Really cool. And hey, it is only my first race single handed against crewed boat, so great that there is some room for improvement :)
The reward
So warm that the jacket did only half the day on my back
That too is single-handed sailing
And Serge captured the arrival back at the dock
Packing the spinnaker back up
Enjoying a glass of wine at the end of the day
Serge is fishing out some goldfish out of the sheet bag
A thank you gift.
No comments:
Post a Comment