Lest you think we have been taking time off, I thought I would do a brief update on what we've been up to since Southern Straits. Pretty much non-stop projects, with Kotuku gaining a few pounds every day. Highlights:
1) Boat came out of the water. Dug into rudder bearing figured out what we want to do, decided to put it off till June. Put the boat back in the water.
2) Put new prop on. Old one spit or split the gear teeth that engage the blades.
3) Non-skid. Kiwi Grip tested and approved. Going on the next dry day we have.
4) SSB Installation + Pactor modem. Nearly complete...except for that antenna thing. And testing. And...
5) Radar re-installation. Building a pole that comes off an existing stern mount. Installing.
6) Working on new Spin pole. Carbon....
7) Fixing leaking hatches.
8) Adding 400' of 9/16" rode + 80' of 3/8" chain. Required by Pac Cup!
9) Added new propane tank, re-plumbing propane system.
10) Sailing...haven't gotten to this yet.
The goal is to get most of our major projects done (except for the rudder and watermaker which we will do in June) by Race To The Straits. This will maximize boat weight and keep the handicapping as fair as possible, while giving the other NFS boats a real chance to beat us up to PT. Got to do our part for the Sloop.
See you out on the water, one of these days!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Southern Straits 2012: Like last year, but better!
Southern Straits has a reputation for being either a light air race, or a big air gear buster. Kotuku is not a light air boat, but she loves racing in Canada and we enjoy the competition when we make the trek north to battle with our neighbors. The fleet for Straits was particularly good, with lots of boats we have seen in border races like Round the County, Swiftsure and the VanIsle 360. We knew we were lining up against well sailed, dangerous boats like Future Primitive (J-37), Astral Plane and Mojo (J-109s), Ptolemy and Manana (Express 37s) plus Havoc, Merlin, Kiva, Rubato (from the VanIsle 360)and the turbo’d Dash 34 Absolute Kaos—13 boats in all. Lots and lots of strong boats and great sailors. Lately Kotuku has been winning her share, so there was lots of ribbing and elbowing at the bar the night before the race.
The start was light, with plenty of current. Our original plan was to go left, but it looked like there was more pressure on the shore so we stayed over close to land and it worked OK. We were probably the 4th or 5th boat in our class when we got to Pt. Atkinson. Pretty good considering most of the other boats are faster in the light stuff.
We had interesting tacking duels with a variety of boats, but generally followed Manana, Ptolemy, and Merlin while the rest followed along behind us. Afternoon turned into evening, the wind got lighter, sometimes leaving us altogether. Still the first mark, Ballenas Island was a long way off.
The night brought some relief from the sunshine, but not much in the way of wind. Kiva was catching up; the lightweights (Olsons, the Dash, and the Grand Surprise) passed us. Often more than once. Not sure when we rounded Ballenas finally, maybe 2AM? When we did, we had lots of company, with Future Primitive, Kiva, and others right next to us.
Al finally took his one hour nap right about the time the wind got really fluky. Alex and I called for 6 or 7 sail changes and just as many gybes in the course of that hour, including an A3/Code 0/light#1 double gybe fiasco as the wind rotated 180 degrees and we went from passing the fleet to parked to passing again. I doubt Al slept a wink.
Aside from the sail changes, the race was pretty special. Not just for the close racing and spectacular views, either. Turns out we had a gourmet chef aboard. Matt’s concoctions, quinoa with tuna and cranberries, chili, smoked salmon, the great food just kept coming. Thanks Matt for feeding us all so well!
As Saturday went on, the wind finally filled. The fleet was still pretty compacted at Entrance Island when we got there, so the beat up to Halibut bank was a steady stream of medium course boats. We held our position on the uphill leg, and most boats didn’t set spinnakers on the downhill reach back to the Island, but we set our A3, and this allowed us to gain on the boats in front and maybe even pass a boat or two. But when we got around the island the last time a beautiful thing happened.
Down came the A3. Up went the new A2 (Talia’s kite). And off shot Kotuku. We reached up above Merlin and Ptolemy, fended off a charge from Fortissimo, and proceeded to show our fannies to most of the fleet. Only Kiva went up with us, and they made it a 20 mile dogfight on the way home. Longer and faster in medium air conditions, we had to fight for every wave and every surf. At first they gradually pulled abeam of us. But we just kept working for waves. Working as a team, Nick or Matt on the mainsheet. Pole back a titch, up a little. Rotating drivers or trimmers to stay fresh. Boat speed rising from 7s to 8s, with surfs getting longer in the 9s and building up in the 10s. Eli finally spelled Elishia as a grinder, but not before we had fought back ahead of Kiva. This crew would battle and work and fight to the end. We even tried to hold off a late charge from Neptune’s Car. (Unsuccessfully, but at least they got some nice pictures of us!)
In the end we crossed the line ahead of everyone but Merlin and Dominatrix, who both sailed great races. We were hot on their heels though. And because we were the slow boat in our fleet, we corrected over them. By something like 10 minutes. What an exhilarating ride, and a great win for the team!
We got our sails down, and as we headed back to the dock for post race safety inspection we noticed our old friends on Red Heather were not able to start their engine. So we towed them to the dock. They thanked us with a partially drunk bottle of Bushmill. As we drove off I heard one of them say “Nice guys, those Americans.“ The other said “That might be the fastest boat in Canada right now.”
(Er, thanks guys. Let’s not let the whiskey go to our heads now, eh?)
Thanks to everyone who made this happen, Matt, Nick (Mr. Delivery), Elishia, Emily, Eli, Kenyon, Al and Alex. Great team, great fun. Let's do it again soon, shall we?
Results are here: http://southernstraits.ca/results/Straits2012MediumCourseResults.htm
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