More great photos from Jan:
http://janpix.smugmug.com/Boats/Three-Tree-Point-2012/22099660_vhJv3b#!i=1763886201&k=Dz8pT8c
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Chaos, Carnage and Spectacular Beauty
Wow, what a nice day for sailing. Sunny, windy, and glorious with a fresh coat of snow on the mountains looming over the Sound. And the racing wasn't bad either.
We had a bit of a scare before the start. Our spinnaker got loose as we were just about to hoist and it ended up going under the boat rather than up in the air. Got some pretty good wraps around the keel, rudder and sail drive. Luckily it was banded, and didn't get shredded. And really lucky that it was our heaviest kite. I think anything else would have vaporized under the pressure we exerted on it as a sea anchor. But finally we wrestled it aboard, with everyone fishing, pulling, and praying. With a big sigh of relief we headed back to the starting area in time for a nice start, right where we wanted to be at the boat end of the line. Way to focus, team!
The run down to Three Tree Point was interesting, with pretty much our entire fleet lined up around us. Except for Dos, that is. The little 26' 400lb boat got up on plane and was gone. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the first boat to round. And just after crossing under our bow, Karma (the well sailed Dash 34 from Port Madison) lost her mast. Not sure exactly what happened but it looked like the backstay let go and the mast slowly went forward before landing in a heap on deck.
Adding insult to injury, Wasabi blasted down to Three Tree Point and plowed into the sand bar just inside of the mark. This left a narrow, constricted path for the other 50 boats to squeeze through while changing sails. We powered past Invader, who glared at us and said "you shouldn't go in there" but they had their hands full with their own sailing and we were by before they could tell us why. Our kite came down, a bit slower than we would have liked, and we held a thin lane on the uphill beat until we were clear of the point and could tack in. Elusive was right there with us, as was Different Drummer. Familiar faces, with both boats near the top of our class and with Drummer in the hunt for the overall win as well. Let the battle begin!
Kotuku rips uphill in a breeze. With our short, squatty rig and good sails, we don't need to reef until the wind gets up to 25 knots or so. Drummer was reefed, and still flogging the main. It took a few tacks, but we put her in the rear view mirror. After that we focused on Elusive.
We stuck a lee bow on her, and had a number of close crossings. Ultimately they got a tack and a shift and slipped by us, but what fun! Well sailed boat that also gets up and goes in a breeze. Thankfully they owe us time, and on a 30 mile course we were able to stay close enough that we ended up beating them by a minute on corrected time. At some point during our tacking duels, we also noticed Eye Candy motoring north. Apparently their jib cars had pulled off the tracks. Too much power in the new sails, I guess. Tough day on the race course.
We ended up finishing a couple of boat lengths behind Dos, who beat us handily on corrected time. 2nd place for the race, but good enough for 1st in our class for the series.
What a great accomplishment. How did we manage to do it? We were lucky with weather, but in the end it is the crew and the boat that wins races. Start with good people who are fun to sail with. Work hard as a team on improving the boat and on being consistent. Put yourself in a position to be competitive. Easy to say, but hard to do. A big thanks to Nick, Kenyon, Scott, Joe, Charlie, Christian, Ashley, Trent, Eli, Emily and Al for the hard work, focus, and commitment that allowed us to win! And a big thanks to Alex as well--week in, week out he is working on the boat, the sails, and the master plan. Thanks again everyone!
We had a bit of a scare before the start. Our spinnaker got loose as we were just about to hoist and it ended up going under the boat rather than up in the air. Got some pretty good wraps around the keel, rudder and sail drive. Luckily it was banded, and didn't get shredded. And really lucky that it was our heaviest kite. I think anything else would have vaporized under the pressure we exerted on it as a sea anchor. But finally we wrestled it aboard, with everyone fishing, pulling, and praying. With a big sigh of relief we headed back to the starting area in time for a nice start, right where we wanted to be at the boat end of the line. Way to focus, team!
The run down to Three Tree Point was interesting, with pretty much our entire fleet lined up around us. Except for Dos, that is. The little 26' 400lb boat got up on plane and was gone. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the first boat to round. And just after crossing under our bow, Karma (the well sailed Dash 34 from Port Madison) lost her mast. Not sure exactly what happened but it looked like the backstay let go and the mast slowly went forward before landing in a heap on deck.
Adding insult to injury, Wasabi blasted down to Three Tree Point and plowed into the sand bar just inside of the mark. This left a narrow, constricted path for the other 50 boats to squeeze through while changing sails. We powered past Invader, who glared at us and said "you shouldn't go in there" but they had their hands full with their own sailing and we were by before they could tell us why. Our kite came down, a bit slower than we would have liked, and we held a thin lane on the uphill beat until we were clear of the point and could tack in. Elusive was right there with us, as was Different Drummer. Familiar faces, with both boats near the top of our class and with Drummer in the hunt for the overall win as well. Let the battle begin!
Kotuku rips uphill in a breeze. With our short, squatty rig and good sails, we don't need to reef until the wind gets up to 25 knots or so. Drummer was reefed, and still flogging the main. It took a few tacks, but we put her in the rear view mirror. After that we focused on Elusive.
We stuck a lee bow on her, and had a number of close crossings. Ultimately they got a tack and a shift and slipped by us, but what fun! Well sailed boat that also gets up and goes in a breeze. Thankfully they owe us time, and on a 30 mile course we were able to stay close enough that we ended up beating them by a minute on corrected time. At some point during our tacking duels, we also noticed Eye Candy motoring north. Apparently their jib cars had pulled off the tracks. Too much power in the new sails, I guess. Tough day on the race course.
We ended up finishing a couple of boat lengths behind Dos, who beat us handily on corrected time. 2nd place for the race, but good enough for 1st in our class for the series.
What a great accomplishment. How did we manage to do it? We were lucky with weather, but in the end it is the crew and the boat that wins races. Start with good people who are fun to sail with. Work hard as a team on improving the boat and on being consistent. Put yourself in a position to be competitive. Easy to say, but hard to do. A big thanks to Nick, Kenyon, Scott, Joe, Charlie, Christian, Ashley, Trent, Eli, Emily and Al for the hard work, focus, and commitment that allowed us to win! And a big thanks to Alex as well--week in, week out he is working on the boat, the sails, and the master plan. Thanks again everyone!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
A bit of everything on the Islands Race
The race report from Al. (It was Talia's 6th birthday party, so I was unavailable. But the drama and challenge of the race is all here, without the rain.) Well done, team Kotuku!
The day started with rain, cold and 15 knot northerly at Shilshole. On the drive down to Gig Harbor we could see it would probably be quite a variable day as by the time we got down to the boat it was still rainy and cold but now the wind was light out of the south which confirmed the forecast of southerlies in the south sound and northerlies north of Seattle.
When our class started it was blowing 8-10 out of the south with shifts to both the east and west. Playing the middle of Colvos most of the way north under 1/2 oz. runner we hung with Flim Flam and Absolutely leading the way. The rain started letting up by 1100. Towards the north end of Colvos we ran into the first big shift to an easterly, we changed to the A3 and closed on some of competition and even started seeing some sun here and there.
At Blake we peeled to the russian for the short run down to the turning mark and a quick change to the heavy 1. Nice douse and rounding, with a few quick tacks to clear Blake and settled down for a long port tack run down Colvos. West of center worked well for us passing Flim Flam and closing on Absolutely, until about 1/3 of the way down the wind started dying. Shifted to the light 1 and carried on for a while until the wind died completely. It was weird looking at the windex pointing one way and to sails filling another. It was apparent there was lots of wind shear with some air at the surface going one way and air up top going the other. S
hortly we felt the first breaths of a northerly, up with the finger and we carried on. Reaching pretty hard back and forth chasing the wind patches, we missed the action close along the Vashon shore where the B25 made some huge gains. Jibing back and forth we missed a couple of shifts here as well. The northerly then gave way to a quickly building southerly and the first boats to get into that stretched out some. The southerly had some shifts and fighting the building ebb while staying out of the wind holes along the shoreline made for some interesting sailing. We had a mini fight with Darby on the last stretch. They were the instigators by tacking on us but we fought our way through and then laid a couple of tacks on them before finally getting to the finish line. Current was ripping at the finish line of almost 2 knots against us.
Pretty sure we ended up second again to Absolutely. We went in and dropped most of the crew at the town dock. Matt and I had a nice ride home on the boat motoring along at near wind speed, saw some fireworks from the Clink (go Sounders!), before hitting the northerly in Elliott Bay, brrrr. More wind shear evidence the smoke from the fireworks was going north but we we motoring into a 10 knot northerly. All in all not a bad day's work, crew did well with new trimmers in the cockpit, with Alicia and Wes becoming almost old hands by time we were done. Matt got some more learning in to the main sail. Kenyon and Emily holding down their usual good jobs at mast and pit respectively. Alex did a masterful job keeping us in the right place with the right sails. Thanks to Graeme for letting us take Madame K out on the dance floor.
Photos are here: http://janpix.smugmug.com/Boats/GHYC-Islands-Race-2012/21986132_MFp8hs#!i=1753723719&k=mS8vbSF
Thanks to all of you for fighting the good fight in tough conditions. We finished the series second in our class--kudos to Absolutely, who beat us every race. Lest we feel sorry for ourselves, it looks like they finished 1st overall. And wonder of wonders, it looks like we finished 4th overall out of 86 boats. Persistence and consistency deliver for the team. Well done, people! I am seriously proud of our efforts. Thanks to everyone who participated in a great season of winter racing!
The day started with rain, cold and 15 knot northerly at Shilshole. On the drive down to Gig Harbor we could see it would probably be quite a variable day as by the time we got down to the boat it was still rainy and cold but now the wind was light out of the south which confirmed the forecast of southerlies in the south sound and northerlies north of Seattle.
When our class started it was blowing 8-10 out of the south with shifts to both the east and west. Playing the middle of Colvos most of the way north under 1/2 oz. runner we hung with Flim Flam and Absolutely leading the way. The rain started letting up by 1100. Towards the north end of Colvos we ran into the first big shift to an easterly, we changed to the A3 and closed on some of competition and even started seeing some sun here and there.
At Blake we peeled to the russian for the short run down to the turning mark and a quick change to the heavy 1. Nice douse and rounding, with a few quick tacks to clear Blake and settled down for a long port tack run down Colvos. West of center worked well for us passing Flim Flam and closing on Absolutely, until about 1/3 of the way down the wind started dying. Shifted to the light 1 and carried on for a while until the wind died completely. It was weird looking at the windex pointing one way and to sails filling another. It was apparent there was lots of wind shear with some air at the surface going one way and air up top going the other. S
hortly we felt the first breaths of a northerly, up with the finger and we carried on. Reaching pretty hard back and forth chasing the wind patches, we missed the action close along the Vashon shore where the B25 made some huge gains. Jibing back and forth we missed a couple of shifts here as well. The northerly then gave way to a quickly building southerly and the first boats to get into that stretched out some. The southerly had some shifts and fighting the building ebb while staying out of the wind holes along the shoreline made for some interesting sailing. We had a mini fight with Darby on the last stretch. They were the instigators by tacking on us but we fought our way through and then laid a couple of tacks on them before finally getting to the finish line. Current was ripping at the finish line of almost 2 knots against us.
Pretty sure we ended up second again to Absolutely. We went in and dropped most of the crew at the town dock. Matt and I had a nice ride home on the boat motoring along at near wind speed, saw some fireworks from the Clink (go Sounders!), before hitting the northerly in Elliott Bay, brrrr. More wind shear evidence the smoke from the fireworks was going north but we we motoring into a 10 knot northerly. All in all not a bad day's work, crew did well with new trimmers in the cockpit, with Alicia and Wes becoming almost old hands by time we were done. Matt got some more learning in to the main sail. Kenyon and Emily holding down their usual good jobs at mast and pit respectively. Alex did a masterful job keeping us in the right place with the right sails. Thanks to Graeme for letting us take Madame K out on the dance floor.
Photos are here: http://janpix.smugmug.com/Boats/GHYC-Islands-Race-2012/21986132_MFp8hs#!i=1753723719&k=mS8vbSF
Thanks to all of you for fighting the good fight in tough conditions. We finished the series second in our class--kudos to Absolutely, who beat us every race. Lest we feel sorry for ourselves, it looks like they finished 1st overall. And wonder of wonders, it looks like we finished 4th overall out of 86 boats. Persistence and consistency deliver for the team. Well done, people! I am seriously proud of our efforts. Thanks to everyone who participated in a great season of winter racing!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Bird Likes the Breeze
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Well, it was a battle. I finished the race tired, wrung out, and not happy about the way I drove. Despite my best efforts to throw the race in the last few tacks, the crew and the boat did great. We had a good start, wanted the boat end and got it with clear air and a nice lane. Off the wind we sailed deep. Maybe too deep, according to some of our competition (that'd be Chris Winnard, who beat us to the leeward mark.) We worked hard to catch waves and surf ahead of Tahlequah, and then boat speed picked up a little. But it was hard work and boats were wiping out all around us. No panic on Kotuku, and even a few smiles. Pretty stoic bunch. GPS speeds were 9-12 knots for most of the ride down, and we still rounded the halfway point 4th in our class of 15. These are fast boats we race against, and Dos, Different Drummer, and Karma were all flying downwind.
As we got close to the buoy at Whidbey we could see chaos everywhere. Flash blew up a kite, and a minute or two later Neptune's Car lost theirs. Now each one of those colorful football fields of nylon costs about $15000. Ouch. Moment of silence please. Ok, nice mark rounding, let's beat back home, shall we?
Upwind in a blow, Kotuku doesn't get beat much. Still takes a lot of focus from main trimmer (Matt) and the job trimmers were active too. Al once again put us in the safe, favored place. We were able to get back to the east side of the sound and we began to march away from the competition. We lost a tacking duel at the end to Elusive but they owed us time. So we were pretty sure we won our class. Turns out we did, and finished we 2nd overall to boot. Some tired happy folks when we got back to the dock.
Thanks everyone for joining us!
Photos are here:
http://janpix.smugmug.com/Boats/Scatchet-Head-2012/21884571_gbtWT2#!i=1745064893&k=JPtc8Vj
Results here:
http://www.cycseattle.org/racing/results-and-registrants/
Monday, March 5, 2012
Photos From Blakely Rock
Some nice photos from Jan. Thanks again everybody!
P.S. There is a rumor that results may be changing...
CSS #1: Blakely Rock Debacle
What an interesting day of sailing! Started at the right end of the line (boat) but without much in the way of clear air. Footed our way into the lead. Lost the lead at West Point. Rounded the Rock in the back of the pack, headed west. Changed our minds, headed east. Passed pretty much the entire fleet, were caught by pretty much the entire fleet. The highlight for me came when we were basically dead in the water, about to be rolled by Different Drummer as we were between sail changes when a Puff from God comes. Oh the look of joy on my face when the A-sail went back up, the jib can down, and we shot away. Then the pressure built, and we finally saw the forecasted 15 to 25. Kotuku took care of the rest.
The real debacle is still happening, as they try and untangle race results. Not sure how it will all shake out, or who won overall. But our crew was top notch. Sail changes were sharp, gybes got better and better. The boat was reasonably fast in the light, considering the furniture we lug around the course.
And after the race, Matt took us out in a J-80 so we could plane around for a bit. Whoa Nellie, that was interesting!
Preliminary results are here:
http://www.cycseattle.org/racing/results-and-registrants/
Jan's fine photos are here, as well!
http://janpix.smugmug.com/Boats/Blakely-Rock-2012/21772383_7Mmd7b#!i=1735649325&k=nKjX6bH
The real debacle is still happening, as they try and untangle race results. Not sure how it will all shake out, or who won overall. But our crew was top notch. Sail changes were sharp, gybes got better and better. The boat was reasonably fast in the light, considering the furniture we lug around the course.
And after the race, Matt took us out in a J-80 so we could plane around for a bit. Whoa Nellie, that was interesting!
Preliminary results are here:
http://www.cycseattle.org/racing/results-and-registrants/
Jan's fine photos are here, as well!
http://janpix.smugmug.com/Boats/Blakely-Rock-2012/21772383_7Mmd7b#!i=1735649325&k=nKjX6bH
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