No one likes Southern Straits. It is long. It is cold. It blows like stink. It doesn't blow at all. The litany of reasons not to do the race goes on and on and on. Still, this is an iconic race in the PNW because it demonstrates the best and worst of sailing up here. And so north we go. 95 miles to win, lose, or quit. This year tested our will and our skill once again.
In stark contrast to last year, where it was blowing in the high thirties on the way out to the start, we left the harbor at West Van in glassy conditions and the weather report was for more of the same. John and Becca had a long but pleasant delivery up, and Eli, Trent, Alex and I spent what seemed like forever in traffic. So getting the whole crew (along with Terry, our token Canadian) together on the boat and headed out to the line felt like a decent accomplishment in itself.
There was a light breeze out of the east at the start which switched around to the west about 5 minutes before our horn. We changed strategy from a spinnaker bear away to a light beat to windward and managed to avoid the cluster of chaos at the committee boat with a clean start more or less on time, with Astral Plane (J-109) just to leeward of us.
We beat slowly out the channel, holding the middle of the course, fighting to keep our lanes, and trading tacks mostly with the slower boats as the better light air boats slipped away from us. Eventually we chose the north side of the straits, and pressure built along Bowen Island to perhaps 10 knots. This caused a painful shift from the light #1 to our medium/heavy #1, with one bad tack thrown in for good measure. With only 7 people aboard, we were a little shy on crew, and sail changes were rougher than we are used to these days. A few more boats slipped by us, and some fervent swearing was heard in the back of the boat. Sorry folks!
The good news was that with the right sail combination up, and pressure finally up to Kotuku's preferred range, we started to engage our fleet again, and before long we were passing Rubato, and then Kiva, and the C&C 115s. We continued to do well on the beach, and over the course of the afternoon we could finally see the leaders again, mostly close to shore and working the north side. The part of the fleet that went south and west early got further and further behind.
Alex did a great job of forcing us to keep Kotuku's nose down and her boat speed up as the wind speed eased off in the afternoon. We actually did the first leeward end-around on Cu N Mara, a C&C 115, but it was a move that we would use again and again along the course. Good sailors don't pass to windward, apparently, if the the breeze is less than 8 knots and they are driving cruising boats. By the time we got to the first mark, Ballenas Island, we were in a mixed fleet of big and little boats. Even though it was dark--or perhaps because it was dark--it felt like we were in the middle of things as boats large and small went slipping by with their red or green lights indicating whether they were concerning, or whether they were just out with us enjoying the meteor showers.
"All hands on deck, we are rounding" calls Alex. Sleepy hands pile out of bunks as we hoist the Finger and begin to work downwind. I plot a rhumbline course for Entrance Island and we begin to show the fleet that while Kotuku may be sticky in the light stuff, she is dangerous downwind in any conditions.
We found ourselves passing big boats, (Beneteaus, Aerodynes) small boats (Olsons) and at one point getting rolled in the most awesome fashion by Strum, a modern 50 footer that somehow tangled with a flea--a french ultralight that thought they could hang with the big dogs tried to take them up. Or not. Some words were exchanged, and Strum disappeared in the dark, never to be seen again. What a fun run!
Dawn found us beating slowly up to Halibut Bank, having lost a couple of places to our fleet on a bad sail change in a big header that caused us to go from a spinnaker reach to a head sail that we could not seem to get up in the dark, tired as we were. Mojo (J-109)and Havoc (33' sport boat) ahead of us and Kiva too had slipped us past. Damn, work to do.
I could see that the boats ahead were being set massively low of the island, and so we fought to stay high, and still be fast. Kiva got below us, and we slipped by her and when we rounded we were on Havoc's heels and Mojo was just starting to leg out on the 22 mile reach to the finish. Then it went light, ultra light again.
The good news was that we could see our competition. Even Manana and Diva, the leaders were on the horizon. Ptolemy, the other Express 37 who had been way ahead was just to ahead and to windward. The C&Cs were not far behind us. And Dominatrix, the X-119 that Brandon and I once made an offer on was off the stern. Just not far enough.. Astral Plane, who we had struggled to stay close to in the daylight, was nowhere to be seen. (They packed it in and headed home under power, succumbing to the pull of a warm bed and some actual boat speed)
My vote was to stay high and protect the north, where I thought the wind was likely to come from. Alex was driving, although we were swapping helm regularly throughout the race with one of us navigating and the other driving. We found thin lanes of air that allowed us to protect our lead on Kiva, but Merlin came up on a hot tack in good air underneath us and cleaned our clock. Icon went with her, and we followed slowly behind them.
Mojo, who had been sailing low but directly at the finish came up suddenly and decided to try and roll us to windward, but Alex had seen enough. We rolled up our sleeves and got into a fist fight. With me trimming the kite, and John trimming the main, we somehow managed to have enough up when we needed it to close the door on them. Once, twice, three times, four times they tried to go above us. Head faking, swooping under us, rushing, threatening us with the long prod and their huge red kite. Never more than a pole length or two from our stern. But we were fired up and fighting and Alex was on them with every move. Between scraps he sat slumped casually over the wheel like he was tired and oblivious, but shifted gears fast as a cat when they powered up for a run at us. Finally they gybed away and I handed the sheet to Eli, my arms were Jello. And that was the last we saw of them, as their gybe out put them into bad current and our rear view mirror.
We finished at 12:56PM, after 26 hours of constant racing. Yes it was slow, we probably never saw hull speed. But it was sustained racing for 95 miles. I can't remember a race where we were head to head with such good competition, in such challenging conditions, for so long. We finished a few (70') boat lengths behind Neptunes Car, proving that this was truly a race to remember.
We finished 4th of 14 in our class, behind a J-109, an Express 37, and that C&C 115 that clobbered us in the final leg. We corrected over Ptolemy, and beat the rest of the class boat for boat even though we were slow boat in the class. We were 8th of 34 for the medium course race. Not a podium finish, but nothing to be ashamed of either. Every crew member contributed to our effort. Terry and Eli were relentless trimmers in the physically demanding work of fighting big sails in light air conditions. Becca's lasagna evaporated, as did her eggs and 7 of the 8 cinnamon rolls that she managed to cook before we ran out of propane. Trent kept us on course and pointed at the mark, and fought sails up and down the mast at all hours. And John trimmed main for pretty much the entire race without a break. Alex was Alex, and if this report doesn't make it damned clear, that man can sail.
Exhausted. Exhilarating. Worth every minute. We'll be back, in spite of good advice to the contrary.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Southern Straits Annual Yacht Race - Easter Weekend - West Vancouver Yacht Club, Canada
Here is the list of competitors so far. Some good boats for us to race against!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Tom and Talia Bring us a Second
OK, so you won't see Tom Cawrse or Talia Cawrse Esarey on the crew list all that often. But on a shifty day like Saturday's Blakely rock benefit Regatta, youth and experience are a potent combination. With a combined age of less than 75, they average out in the middle of the normal Kotuku crew range. Except that Tali just turned 5.
Against my better judgement I entered Kotuku in the Blakely Benefit Regatta after my mom said
"Sure we'd like to go sailing." Janna's folks were game too even though their daughter was up on Whidbey Island for a 4 day writer's conference.
So after realizing that it wasn't going to rain too hard, and after racing back to the house to get the dacron #2 because the #1 was in the sail loft we loaded up the girls from 2 to 67, plus the dads from well, let's just say old to older, and headed out to the race course.
We got a nice conservative start with decent boat speed, crossed the line first with Eye Candy above us sailing higher and faster. (It was light, and this was a family race for God's sake!). We tacked and crossed the fleet resolved to follow Eye Candy. Turns out even with Tom driving well and us tacking furiously we just didn't have the power in the light stuff to stay with them. We sure did miss having the #1...
We rounded Blakely Rock second, which was nice for a change, and proceeded to sail into a monster hole.
Pretty much the entire fleet caught up to us under spinnaker while we flopped around with our "windseeker" (aka the #2). Luckily the wind died for most of them at West Point, and we had a hard slow beat back against tide and light fickle breezes. But we got there, drifting across the line more than an hour after Eye Candy crossed. Tom drove most of the way, but Talia did a couple of the final tacks to the committee boat, and we crossed the line with three generations of sailors smiling and exhausted. We all slept well last night.
Best part of the evening was when Burke texted us with the pleasant news that the family effort, while not pretty, was good enough for 2nd in our class. That was a nice bonus, appreciated by all. Except Talia of course. "Second again Dad, can't we do better?"
Where does she get that anyway?
Against my better judgement I entered Kotuku in the Blakely Benefit Regatta after my mom said
"Sure we'd like to go sailing." Janna's folks were game too even though their daughter was up on Whidbey Island for a 4 day writer's conference.
So after realizing that it wasn't going to rain too hard, and after racing back to the house to get the dacron #2 because the #1 was in the sail loft we loaded up the girls from 2 to 67, plus the dads from well, let's just say old to older, and headed out to the race course.
We got a nice conservative start with decent boat speed, crossed the line first with Eye Candy above us sailing higher and faster. (It was light, and this was a family race for God's sake!). We tacked and crossed the fleet resolved to follow Eye Candy. Turns out even with Tom driving well and us tacking furiously we just didn't have the power in the light stuff to stay with them. We sure did miss having the #1...
We rounded Blakely Rock second, which was nice for a change, and proceeded to sail into a monster hole.
Pretty much the entire fleet caught up to us under spinnaker while we flopped around with our "windseeker" (aka the #2). Luckily the wind died for most of them at West Point, and we had a hard slow beat back against tide and light fickle breezes. But we got there, drifting across the line more than an hour after Eye Candy crossed. Tom drove most of the way, but Talia did a couple of the final tacks to the committee boat, and we crossed the line with three generations of sailors smiling and exhausted. We all slept well last night.
Best part of the evening was when Burke texted us with the pleasant news that the family effort, while not pretty, was good enough for 2nd in our class. That was a nice bonus, appreciated by all. Except Talia of course. "Second again Dad, can't we do better?"
Where does she get that anyway?
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Spring Race Results
South Sound Series
2nd In Class, 6th overall (out of 94 boats)
Center Sound Series
Currently 4th
Coming up next: Ballard Cup 4/18, then Southern Straits 4/22
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Great Day Except for the Wind
The last South Sound Series race was a bit different than the others. Lots more sun for one thing. We woke up to the sounds of the Tantivity crew rafted next to us falling all over our icy, slippery deck. Hmmm, that was not in the forecast...Wonder what else the weather gods have in store for us?
The delivery down was good fun. Got out and underway before the rain squalls hit. It was my first singlehanded trip on Kotuku and I really enjoyed it. Normally I prefer to have a friend along, but I was hardly lonely as the porpoise and eagles were out, the water was full of bait fish and the 20 mile slog in the rain passed pleasantly with me gawking, noting wind shifts, and puttering pleasantly.
Janna met me at the dock in Gig Harbor. She hustled down just in time to catch a line as I rafted up next to Duke, a Catalina 36. We had a really nice dinner at the Tides Tavern where we watched the Huskies beat Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Basketball tournament and then retired back to Kotuku where we had the "race" heating system installed. (A couple of terra cotta flower pots over the stove burners.) No idea it would freeze overnight, but slept nice and cozy with beers in our bellies.
Al, Stu, Scott, and Charlie showed up after breakfast. Brad, Burke, and the others we thought might show......didn't. Turns out it was just as well because it was very, very light day.
The start was pure chaos management. Something we aren't bad at, as it turns out. With a knot and a half current running down course and about 3 knots of apparent wind, we didn't want to be late, but didn't want to be early either. We threaded through the crowd at the milling around the start on starboard, got to the pin end and flopped over on port to try and negotiate a thin line across the fleet to clear air. We crossed, only ducking one or two boats and found ourselves windward and bow out on most of our fleet, with just a couple of boats ahead of us.
That soon changed, as we missed a big shift that the guys behind us caught, and soon the better half of our fleet was ahead of us. Not to be outdone, we then caught a monster shift going the other way, and put the two J-Boats (a J-92 and a J-105) in the rear-view mirror. Lest you think this all happened quickly, let me clarify that this happened after about three hours of slow tacking in a fading Northerly. The same un-forecast one that started at 3 knots.
We noticed before long (a couple hours later) that the boats behind us had spinnakers up. Wait a second, the boats ahead of us have spinnakers up. We had been monkeying around with the #1, the drifter, and "screw it, I am pointing the boat at the mark" tactics. Then Zip, up went the kite, down came the drifter, and off we went. For about a half mile. Which was exceedingly painful, at 0.21Knots. I love the South Sound.
Finally, desperately we found a finger of the northerly wind and were able to drop the kite and gradually pull away from the boats behind us. 2 knots became 4 knots, and we were sailing. Interestingly, the boat that managed to hang with us was a Beneteau 10M(also a Farr design I think). After they slipped by us on a bad tack too close to shore where I pinched for too long before tacking out, I realized we had better get our heads back in the game. Newer, lighter, and very close to us on handicap, I quickly realized sloppiness might be painful. To make matters worse they had their sprit extended 6' in front of their bow, making crossing them a real gut check on the close tacks we were swapping with them.
I shouldn't have worried. Stu and Al called a masterful last series of tacks with a couple of pretty lee bows and we parked them behind us for good. Shame on them for bothering us while we were wallowing in light air misery. Just to seal the deal, Al called for the A-sail at the last reach to the finish (they shortened the course at Blake Island) and we beat them by a couple of minutes with our vaunted A3 hauling the mail. As I luffed up to shoot the pin as we crossed I nearly threw Al off the bow.
Just one of those days I guess. Sorry Al.
The delivery down was good fun. Got out and underway before the rain squalls hit. It was my first singlehanded trip on Kotuku and I really enjoyed it. Normally I prefer to have a friend along, but I was hardly lonely as the porpoise and eagles were out, the water was full of bait fish and the 20 mile slog in the rain passed pleasantly with me gawking, noting wind shifts, and puttering pleasantly.
Janna met me at the dock in Gig Harbor. She hustled down just in time to catch a line as I rafted up next to Duke, a Catalina 36. We had a really nice dinner at the Tides Tavern where we watched the Huskies beat Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Basketball tournament and then retired back to Kotuku where we had the "race" heating system installed. (A couple of terra cotta flower pots over the stove burners.) No idea it would freeze overnight, but slept nice and cozy with beers in our bellies.
Al, Stu, Scott, and Charlie showed up after breakfast. Brad, Burke, and the others we thought might show......didn't. Turns out it was just as well because it was very, very light day.
The start was pure chaos management. Something we aren't bad at, as it turns out. With a knot and a half current running down course and about 3 knots of apparent wind, we didn't want to be late, but didn't want to be early either. We threaded through the crowd at the milling around the start on starboard, got to the pin end and flopped over on port to try and negotiate a thin line across the fleet to clear air. We crossed, only ducking one or two boats and found ourselves windward and bow out on most of our fleet, with just a couple of boats ahead of us.
That soon changed, as we missed a big shift that the guys behind us caught, and soon the better half of our fleet was ahead of us. Not to be outdone, we then caught a monster shift going the other way, and put the two J-Boats (a J-92 and a J-105) in the rear-view mirror. Lest you think this all happened quickly, let me clarify that this happened after about three hours of slow tacking in a fading Northerly. The same un-forecast one that started at 3 knots.
We noticed before long (a couple hours later) that the boats behind us had spinnakers up. Wait a second, the boats ahead of us have spinnakers up. We had been monkeying around with the #1, the drifter, and "screw it, I am pointing the boat at the mark" tactics. Then Zip, up went the kite, down came the drifter, and off we went. For about a half mile. Which was exceedingly painful, at 0.21Knots. I love the South Sound.
Finally, desperately we found a finger of the northerly wind and were able to drop the kite and gradually pull away from the boats behind us. 2 knots became 4 knots, and we were sailing. Interestingly, the boat that managed to hang with us was a Beneteau 10M(also a Farr design I think). After they slipped by us on a bad tack too close to shore where I pinched for too long before tacking out, I realized we had better get our heads back in the game. Newer, lighter, and very close to us on handicap, I quickly realized sloppiness might be painful. To make matters worse they had their sprit extended 6' in front of their bow, making crossing them a real gut check on the close tacks we were swapping with them.
I shouldn't have worried. Stu and Al called a masterful last series of tacks with a couple of pretty lee bows and we parked them behind us for good. Shame on them for bothering us while we were wallowing in light air misery. Just to seal the deal, Al called for the A-sail at the last reach to the finish (they shortened the course at Blake Island) and we beat them by a couple of minutes with our vaunted A3 hauling the mail. As I luffed up to shoot the pin as we crossed I nearly threw Al off the bow.
Just one of those days I guess. Sorry Al.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Kotuku Qualifies for the Dyneema Experience Challenge!
For those of you who haven't heard, Kotuku qualified for the Dyneema Experience Challenge. According to the website, that means they will be sending us lots and lots of high-tech rope for the boat.
Interestingly, one other boat from Seattle qualified, Terremoto. Scott and Susan Burbank also rallied their social network and earned themselves some new line. A third boat, one of the Canadian 6 meters from Victoria also qualified. Well done for the PNW!
for full details check out the site: http://dyneemaexperience.com
We are still waiting for full details, but there is an additional prize of a trip for two to Alicante and some time aboard a really swoosh race boat (TBD) there. When we know more, we'll post it here.
Thanks again everybody for your support. We are looking at dates for a big salmon BBQ on Blake Island to say thank you to all our crew, aboard and online. Couldn't have done it without you!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Center Sound Series Summary
Wanted to update folks who haven't been racing with us on the results so far.
Our class looked to be very interesting, but got even more interesting once they combined the J-109 one design fleet with the heavy displacement boats in class 4. J-109 Tantivity is real competition, and the crew of Absolutely and Different Drummer are always going to be tough. Shoot the Moon, the J-35 Tahlequah, and Illusionist have also proven to be a real challenge to beat.
So where are we after 2 of the 3 races? 4th of 14 in race 1, 7th of 14 in race 2. 5th of 14 overall, with 3 of the 4 J-109s behind us. Not bad, not great. Need some serious redemption in race 3. Let's all hope for a big blow, shall we?
Race #1 was a bit of everything. Light going really light following by big shifts and us being the winner of some, and the loser on others. We sailed well, and scored OK against a tough fleet. Zero to Hero to 4th, with tactics, luck, and light air work being the big keys to success.
Race #2 we measured in a new UK carbon tape drive main. Battens weren't perfect, and we took a 6 sec/mile rating hit but the sail was a nice improvement in the light stuff. Put a long, slow rip in the Russian kite when we couldn't keep it filled in a jibe and then put the prod through it when we sheeted on. After grinding our way back to contact with the leaders, the wind piped up to 15-20 we struggled to change gears uphill and lost them again. We finished overpowered in 20+ knots with the #1. Nice problem to have, looking back at it. The old main was really shy, and led us to carry the #1 longer than we should have. Finished 2 minutes out of 2nd place. (Others would say we finished 7th). Let's hope we can figure out a way to make up the difference in the last race, eh?
Our class looked to be very interesting, but got even more interesting once they combined the J-109 one design fleet with the heavy displacement boats in class 4. J-109 Tantivity is real competition, and the crew of Absolutely and Different Drummer are always going to be tough. Shoot the Moon, the J-35 Tahlequah, and Illusionist have also proven to be a real challenge to beat.
So where are we after 2 of the 3 races? 4th of 14 in race 1, 7th of 14 in race 2. 5th of 14 overall, with 3 of the 4 J-109s behind us. Not bad, not great. Need some serious redemption in race 3. Let's all hope for a big blow, shall we?
Race #1 was a bit of everything. Light going really light following by big shifts and us being the winner of some, and the loser on others. We sailed well, and scored OK against a tough fleet. Zero to Hero to 4th, with tactics, luck, and light air work being the big keys to success.
Race #2 we measured in a new UK carbon tape drive main. Battens weren't perfect, and we took a 6 sec/mile rating hit but the sail was a nice improvement in the light stuff. Put a long, slow rip in the Russian kite when we couldn't keep it filled in a jibe and then put the prod through it when we sheeted on. After grinding our way back to contact with the leaders, the wind piped up to 15-20 we struggled to change gears uphill and lost them again. We finished overpowered in 20+ knots with the #1. Nice problem to have, looking back at it. The old main was really shy, and led us to carry the #1 longer than we should have. Finished 2 minutes out of 2nd place. (Others would say we finished 7th). Let's hope we can figure out a way to make up the difference in the last race, eh?
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