Leaving the dock in the morning. A little scare timewise as the key to the hoist and the mule was nowhere to be found. Serge came to help and we set the boat up on the trailer so all we would have to do after the key was (finally) found was to splash her and go.
Pretty brutal upwind - took a reef in. Good boat speed. I actually still saw an ebb most of the way to Alcatraz and I followed it. Was only turning into a flood a little ways into the race. Made good progress on the other boats when I got to Alcatraz. Couple of tacks too many close to the island cost me 5 boats.
Good sailing until Little Hardin. Caught in a middle of a regatta for the 505s and a bit of a mess as my course took me straight where their leeward mark was but still worked.
Definitely heavy flood at the mark, as planned but because I dipped below the leeward mark of the 505s, out of courtesy as well as to stay out of a mess of boats rounding a mark, I had to do one extra tack right by the mark.
At some point the DD-AP just stopped working by just turning itself off but it was the only glitch in the entire day. The rest went perfectly smoothly.
Light winds in the straight and nice little current push on the far shore which I headed toward as quickly as I could. Huge mess of fishing boat in the middle. None of them were anchored but super tough for them to move with a tangle of fishing lines all over the place. Crazy.
Hoisted the kite in Racoon Straits. On the steps of Diane on my way to the brothers.
Few gybes, one with the kite full the entire time. Proud of self because it wasn't super heavy air, so harder to do. I left the autopilot do a lot of the driving and concentrated on trimming that kite. Tough in light winds.
Hooked up with Erik Simonson to take delivery of an envelope for Serge
Flood hadn't fully built so was monitoring current and moved to the main channel when the flood had built
Some boats went way left and did better so I think that in hindsight that wasn't the best move.
Following pictures and until indicated otherwise courtesy of Benoit
The brothers was the last mark of the course before the finish. Took me a little while to get the kite down as it got caught in one of the battens of the main, not a big deal, just had to release a bit, let it fill a little again and then drop but cost me a little while.
Archimedes caught up with me then and sailed a much better short tacking course to stay out of the fast building ebb on the way to the finish via Red Rock.
Short tacking close to shore to stay out of the heavy current. Winds lightened up a lot.
I hate driving in light air...But staying close to Archimedes (and Starbuck)
But still happy to be on the boat...What a beautiful day to be outside.
Good boat speed. I ran out of battery on my Speed Puck but the current lines were really easy to see.
Just sailing to the current line and then tacking back
And then, the worst happened...the wind died and I watch Archimedes just sailed by carried by the last bit of wind I was hoping to catch
Made it this close to the rock and then lost all my progress in heavy flood with no wind or little wind...trimming jib and letting autopilot drive.
Looking in frustration at the bridge disappearing in the horizon...alongside the wind.
My sub 5 knot face. Not a nice one.
Sails flapping no wind...
Should I take out a book, take a nap?
Shrugging my shoulders... no wind... and I am back way behind...
Finally the breeze filled in again for a wonderfully enjoyable reach?
Catching up fast the other boats but sailing with Catalinas means I am not doing well in the overall results!
On the way to the finish. I stopped by at RYC to clean up a little bit and get ready for a comfortable delivery back to the St FYC
I took a reef in the main and set up the #4 jib to have a comfortable ride. It was nice up until Angel Island with about 15 knots of breeze.
became a little bit more agitated in the slot, with gusts up to 27 knots. Fortunately it was an ebb. Still fairly slow progress as it was super choppy. Very wet deck afterwards.
Heading back to the Club.
And eating dessert and drinking hot chocolate with Serge post hoisting of the boat.
Overall a great day on the Bay! - and it goes to confirm that I a better sailor in mid to heavy air than I am in light air. Archimedes just flew by in the light stuff...
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