On the way out of Brenton Cove we were intrigued by how much east there was in the Southerly . Later , still well before the start , we were getting wind heading checks at 180 magnetic . As we were approaching the green can off the southwest tip of Goat Island on a pactice trip we saw a lovely puff filling in from deep on the east side of the harbor . Our thinking at that point was that we wanted to be in the outgoing “river” ie maximum ebbing current for the first part of the leg and then land near the port layline at the top . Seemed great .
Then the wind shifted to the right . Our World Class RC saw this and moved the windward mark to the right , from the aforementioned green can to the red nun ENE of Ft Adams . At that point our wind checks had swung right to 210 mag or thereabouts . Game plan shifted right . At the first start we noticed that many boats were going to be early near the boat with the ebbing tide so we stayed on port tack until about 30 seconds to go, tacked onto starboard and started at the boat at the gun . Looking good . The only boat near us at that point was 145 , who was clearly one of the OCS offenders causing us all to have a General Recall . Too bad for 217 .
Following that we were still getting wind shots right of 200 , most near 210 . Same game plan start near the boat , be able to go straight . Stay in the most visible wind and stay in the most tide as long as practically possible . So we set up near the boat , looking good . Jamie says , “I don’t think we’re going to see anymore of those big lefties we saw near the top of the course earlier “…. 20 seconds to go to the start and BANG , a big lefty comes through . Now we’re on starboard , can’t get to the line , looking at a bunch of transoms of headed boats in front of us . So we tack onto port , first boat to do so . Take the last boat on starboards transom . We’re not unhappy because we’re in phase (port tack in a left shift) and we’re in or near the max ebb tide and there was plenty of pressure apparent on the water in the East Passage . So we waited for the the next puff , which thank god , turned out o be a righty . Tacked onto starboard and bingo we look like smart guys !!!
The only issue then was whether to continue to protect the right after boats , 254 and 226 , crossed our transom or to keep going toward the center of the course . At that point we saw some pressure filling in near Ida / Harbor Court . 254 and 226 were wound up on our hip in a bigger right puff so there was no sense in tacking back at them to consolidate the gains that they’d made . They would have clearly been ahead of us . Luckily, the left pressure did fill in .254 and 226 started showing header on our hip , when they pointed down towards us we tacked and crossed in decent left pressure . We rounded the top mark first with 254 right on our transom .
254 was able to dig deeper sooner , on starboard gybe, so the once again were slightly ahead of us . We stayed on starboard gybe to avoid going out into the max ebb current , plus we saw some ok pressure filling in on our lane . We gybed onto port down near the Hyatt . 254 gybed as well ,consolidating their gains . We rounded right behind them at the bottom and rolled into a tack . We split tacks for a while , we on starboard 254 on port . 254 subsequently tacked on starboard . We stayed on starboard until we were going to hit the seawall on Goat Island . 254 crossed by about a boat length and tacked onto port on our hip . I think this was the critical part of the race for us . The key being that we got into more favorable tide first which pushed us up into 254′s lee , eventually they tacked away . We kept going straight . Then , more luck , a nice right puff filled in and , bingo , we were able to extend . Nothing much happened from then on other than Jeff Dionne telling funny jokes and Tim Healy trying to keep us focused . Normal SOP on 217 .
Rig settings ; We’d set the rig at Base Settings as per the North Tuning guide . Loos gauge 29 Uppers 14 Lowers . Our headstay was at 49″ to the datum. We used a 2005 jib a 2006 main and 2007 spinnaker .
All in all a beautiful night on the water and a great night to be sailing Shields .
Thanks to Robin , Michael Murray and the rest of the RC team for another World Class job . For those of you who don’t travel to regattas , I promise you ,you have no idea how good you have it and how spoiled you are where Race Committees are concerned . Thanks to Greenie, Jeff , Eric and Tim ,last nights crew on 217.
Best
Jamie
Jamie, great report, just what we are looking for in the “Bullet Blog”. Thanks for sharing with us “How We Did It!”
What was the thinking about going to the seawall on the 2nd beat, when you had done so well going right on the first? We were too far behind to see what might lead you to do this (but bowing to your proven wisdom, we followed you over there, only to see Ted in 145 do better on the right side of the course)
On another note, great to see Folly (143) do so well off the line and up the first beat. They took the start down the line to leeward of us, pulled away from everyone and were certainly pointing well. Nice job, Kim!
Reed Baer, on Grace, 107