The weekend started at 6AM with a long delivery by Eli and Al. Good old boat banging along at 7 knots or more. She went under the Highway 20 bridge right about when I went over it with the import from LA, Brandon, enroute to pick up our "competent Canadian" Terry. Long story short, the 5 of us ended up at the party at Anacortes Yacht Club just before dinner shut down. And just in time to hear that very little wind was forecast. We had a few free beers (thanks Ballard Sails, for the keg that we drank) and then headed back to the boat.
Got up in the dark now with 10 other sailors, several of whom straggled in late and wedged themselves around the boat. Then attempted to get everybody dressed, sorted, and back aboard by 6:30. Didn't quite make it but did get enough coffee in us to put the hammer down and got to the line by 8:15, giving us enough time to figure out that there was very little wind and quite a bit of tide against us.
Al and Stu did some huddling and decided a pin end start on starboard followed by a jibe to port at the committee boat was the way to go. I immediately tried to get us to head for the line, but Stu told me we'd be early (he knows I have a tendency to go over early if left unsupervised) so we waited. And then got there a tad bit late, but in perfect position for a beat to weather, and as the weather boat we got to the wind first and seemed to have current advantage too. Before long we were ahead of most of our competition except Reignmaker, who got to the wind first and legged out on the rest of the fleet.
We rounded Davidson Rock after testing our entire spinnaker inventory at least once. Settled on our beloved Russian kite, which pulled us across Salmon Bank, crossing the halfway line in about 5th place behind a couple of J-109s and a couple of C&Cs, all of whom owed us time. We carried it as long as we thought prudent, then switched back to the #1, then the A-sail (which is a terrible light air reacher, oops!) and then back to the #1. We held the shore, and clawed back to third after a good tactical decision at the finish. Not bad for day one. 15th overall, with lots of big boats behind us.
The party that followed lasted well into the night. Spectacular food, and a decent result assured some late night drinking aboard after the bar closed at 10. 11 of us woke up on the same boat the next morning, which although it was 6AM, actually felt like 7. A rainbow greeted us when we finally poked our heads out the companionway.
Day 2 also started really light. We chose the correct end, and sailed a great line due to a fit of indecision followed by a little gut instinct and ended up with decent position at turn point. Much better position than Jack Rabbit, who tried to cross inside of us while our depth gauge was protesting. They bounced into a rock at about 9 knots, we think The sound was memorable. And the foredeck crew was launched, I hear, but I didn't notice because I was trying to dodge a 40 foot boat suddenly bouncing back at me while simultaneously questioning Stu about water depth.
The run, the Great Spinnaker Change, the Canadian shoreline duels with cats and dogs, and the romp up to Patos Island Light holding the kite up in a tight reach as long as we could while threading between the red freighter and the green all made for good fun. Even better fun for me was watching the team dial the boat in once we started upwind. Stu once again kept me off the rocks. Al kept me from crowding the competition, and we gradually, painstakingly rolled over the bad guys (C&Cs, Shock 35s, and Beneteaus) by sailing higher and faster than they could.
The last phase of the race was grueling. The wind got fluky, the tides were turning against us. We were tired. And we had a race to win. This is where the crew came into its own. Terry leading the crew in roll tacking. Spider monkeys running from windward to leeward to keep the boat heel accurate and fast. Al, Eli, John, and Matt sweating and questioning wind shifts, footing in the soft headers to maintain speed and then following the lifts as best we could. Al finding the seam through the Pea Pods that led to golden, beautiful, constant wind. Sailing into the final header and tacking over onto the last ripping good ride to the finish. Watching the boats inside us struggle to get out to our line. Only to get there too late to do anything but watch as Kotuku rode that breeze to victory.
It was a shame that the whole crew couldn't join us for the trophy presentation. Dropped folks off at Orcas just as the ferry was coming in. Headed to the Orcas Island Yacht Club for a funky BBQ with linen table cloths. And big trophies, as you may have noticed.
My call home to Janna afterwards went something like this; "Holy Shit, we won! they gave us a trophy that you could fit a small child inside of. We put beer in instead." And that was not the end of the evening by any means. Terry was dead to the world the next morning when we motored out in the dark. And not much better off when we left him in Friday Harbor, with Kotuku bound for home across the Straits.
Thanks to everybody for their efforts. It was an amazing race, with great weather, and a crew that came together and clicked. The results speak to the effort we put in, and the success we achieved is due to everyone stepping up to do what needed doing. To Trent helping Brandon get that kite up the last few feet. To Al and Stu doing what they do. And to the rest of us figuring out how to help each other, to get better with every tack, and to do what was necessary...to win.
Results are here: http://oiyc.org/race_book/race_book_2010/RTC/RTC2010results.html
Pictures of us
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38131227@N06/galleries/72157625218046461/
http://wallisphotography.photoshelter.com/image/I0000vcTX1psXedU
http://www.mattwallisphotography.com/image/I0000YJk7udj.pRY
No comments:
Post a Comment