Shields Fleet 9

Course 81, 2x SW 12-14 RC duty 217 z flag , 34 boats

Notes

I’m leaving for Bermuda today so this will be short . The title is “The Rich Got Richer-This was Good for 217″

We had the starting line square to 225 magnetic . We were getting wind readings at 210 to 206 minutes before the start . BIG incoming tide . Weather mark off the grave yard at Hammersmith . Not normal afternoon SW’trly . Wind is showing left with leftish puffs . All that considered ,plan boiled down to start near the pin go left get relief from tide , hook in to left puffs . We were the second boat up from the pin at the start , with 17 below us . We were able to live off their hip long enough to out of the current . When we got in behind Ft Adams and tacked on to port we were able to cross any starboard tackers . From there on it was a matter of staying ahead of the conga line tacking up the shore . With the breeze more left than normal the port tacks were much longer than the starboard ones . It also seemed as though with the breeze a bit left of usual , the corner bangers on the right , who looked ok for a short bit by Clingstone/Ft Wetherill, would be unlikely to send in a winner.

We set without the pole at the weather mark as we were in a right shift . Gybed straight away onto port and got out into the current as soon as possible .

From there not alot happened . It did help that we were able to stay clear of the PHRF fleet the 2nd time up . It was definitely a night where all the conditions were favorable to being in front , so the rich got richer.

We were a little tighter on our lowers . We had them set at 21 on the Loos gauge . Headstay was at max long setting , 49″ , I think. Cap shrouds at 29 on Loos gauge .

Thanks to Jeff Dionne, Tim Healy, Eric Hanson and Chris Greenman the crew on 217 last Wednesday .

Cheers

Jamie Hilton

Shown here with race 6 results, and overall points, 2 throwouts.

For full results sheet, Click Here

Division: Shields (34 boats) (top)

Course 62, twice, gate SE 6-10

Notes

Race 4
At 4pm it was hot with no breeze. Off the porch in t-shirts and shorts was the call. Would we have yet another cancellation? As we realized nobody brought along foul-weather gear, we chuckled about the time last year (or the year before) we paddled off the mooring in similar conditions, but was hit with a good 18-20 knot blow in a matter of 10 minutes. Robin announced.. “Better to have one good one than two bad ones, so we’ll give it a go”. We came around the corner in a nice 6 knot Southerly, with super flat seas. Alright !!, finally.. our conditions! (Equus seems eerily fast the lighter it gets — don’t ask us.. we don’t know why.)

So we get a reading… and wait.. spins coming toward us from both directions? Big righty? RC boat moving again?.. the westerly finally fills in. With the flooding current, it seemed that the boat would be favored.. but a few top boats are hanging around the pin anyway. Hmm. We attempt a mid-line / clear air / running start.. but pushed too far and ended up in the pin end group. We had good speed and we were particularly pleased that a few of the leeward boats were over, giving us a pretty good lane. We march on over to the left, with Stubby on our hip, but are stuck over there until all the boats phase over, and a few just didn’t want to. So against our pre-race call, we made some good headway on the left, being conservative, minimizing tacks, and keeping clear air. Then, while anticipating the developing pile up at the mark we overstood just enough to have a fast approach, a little high, and we rolled over several boats all stalled together trying to round. Nice move Jed! At this point we hit our high of about 6th place. All downhill from there though. Our run wasn’t so hot. As they say, “we’re stuck in the middle…”.. as we tried to keep clear behind us, I think we might have been digging a bit too deep for the velocity, because the fleet compressed on both sides of us sailing at hotter angles. Or, the wind just did a nice job of super compressing us. We loose a few boats. With that, we found ourselves at the bottom pinwheeled on the outside and loose a few boats. We come out of the turn and… what’s this? The main won’t sheet in.. UGH.. it’s tangled tight in the blocks. We loose a few more boats. Our final blow to a decent finish? As we kept fighting for clean air, we committed to the pin end … with a heavily favored boat end finish. Final tally? Fro m 5th to 15th place. That was only our second outing on the boat this season.. and “Wow.. we are rusty!” It’s not bad to start at the bottom and work your way up to lower mid-fleet.. but to be upfront and go so far backwards… that hurts the most.

I couldn’t tell, but from the standings I see 226 and 224 fought it out for 1-2. Congratulations to both on what must have been a great race to the end. (I think we were dousing our spin at the time.) After we crossed the line, the talk on 222 immediately switched from the race.. to phrases like… “What a beautiful night?!” , “Ah what a great day for a sail?”, “Well that was fun, wasn’t it?!”.. “What’s for dinner?” and.. “So how was work today..?” and in the process, we covered just about all of the euphemisms for … “Dang we sucked, didn’t we?”

Race 5
But wait… there’s more!

Blue Square! Yippee! Time for some redemption. Robin and the tremendous RC team pulled it off. We were setting up for a second race. Same course. West wind. Thoughts on our boat? Well, whatever we just did.. do the opposite. We opted for a boat end start, but still fought for a good leeward space as momentum was going to be key. We flopped over heading for the current lee of Rose, but we were a bit too late. Our angle, even footed off a bit, along with a great lift, put us just outside of the island’s lee and into more current than we wanted. We hung on with 226 below us, but they were making much better speed in less current. As we tacked onto starboard toward the mark, we found a great lane as it seems the majority of the fleet went left this race. Okay.. what did we miss this time? Anyway, we’re getting lifted on Stbd, heading right for the mark, and moving fast. No sense tacking now as a slight change would put us above the lay line. We know we’d surely get set below it, but we just didn’t want to risk a corner spot this far out. So we mushed onward with clear air… and came into the mark about 6 boat lengths below and frantically looking for a hole over our right shoulder. This is the place you really never want to be… but there it was right behind Anthony K. sailing with the 224 guys and we’re pretty much within the top of the fleet !! (It’s been a while…) Bang, onto port in the hole just enough to cross the lay line and back to sbd. Again, we stayed high as the incoming fleet on port were all stacked up below us. We rounded about 5th. Now… let’s not blow it. Held on for more angles and this time went hard left at the bottom so we could come in on a tight, inside position, on stbd at the mark. Why didn’t we think of that last time? Anyway, with our heads a bit clearer, but still not quite 100%, we lost a few at the rounding but we were happy to just stay above Team FOX on 232 for the finish. Given our past season, we’re perfectly thrilled with an 8th place. Martini time on Washington Street was a bit sweeter thanks to that second race. Congrats to Team Edenbach on 36! Nice race — was anyone even close to them?

Thanks to Robin and all of our top-notch Race Committee for giving us yet another great night on the water.

Bill Doyle
Equus 222

Race 5

After the previous Wednesday’s cancellation due to no wind, and this Wednesday’s appearance of light wind, I was shifting nervously on the launch dock and assuring our guest on 36 from the Bay Area, Peter (and potential new Fleet 9 member– Are there any used boats available, anyone?), that we did in fact have breeze in Newport; I was vindicated as the breeze strengthened out of the west for our picture-perfect two-race night.

Race 4 was marked by an all-too-forgettable early start and missed layline at the windward mark (due to the strong outgoing current). After some good wishes from some passers-by we put together what could have been a boat-end-winning start in race 5, until we were given the opportunity to remind someone the windward boat is not entitled to bear down at a time of their choosing. Unfortunately that message to #17 wasn’t received, and we were quickly on a beam reach at the gun to avoid hooking our anchor chock on a shroud. This put us in a bail-for-clear-air situation and surprisingly made us the first to tack off towards Rose Island, we found decent boatspeed, and saw no need to tack since we were within the shadow of Rose Island’s current relief (where we thought race 4’s leaders made the time).

We sailed as far as we could towards Rose without hitting it, and tacked onto what we could only guess to be the layline, with 101 a few boatlengths to leeward, and 201 a short distance behind. Much of the fleet appeared to have taken the left side of the course. This put us first around the mark, with 101 and 217 giving chase. We managed to hold onto the lead, and halfway down the run, with the prospect of a first bullet for the crew of 36, all I could think was how bad the kite appeared to need replacement. I asked the crew if anyone agreed, and got a brutally unequivocal ‘Yes’ from Peter. I should have kept my mouth shut. On later relaying that anecdote to Rob MacMillan of Quantum Sails, I received an equally blunt “and that’s a sales order” (incidentally, that’s the answer to Reed Baer’s bullet blog 3 query as to whether we’d gotten any new rags yet).

Peter did a great job flying the kite, and on the leeward rounding just inside the mouth of the harbor, TJ and Jamie did a great job at bow and pit, with brother John driving and myself on main. We covered to finish, vindicating ourselves from race 4, and Reed’s prediction from that bullet blog.

Charlie Edenbach
#36

# 138 – race committee duty served

Race 4 Started at 1740 – first finisher at 18:11, last finisher at 18:15

Race 5 started at 1835 – first finisher at 19:07:45, last finisher at 19:16