Another beautiful night out on Narragansett bay. Wind was Southerly. Current was ripping upwind. It was a long trek down to the course and hard to stay under the line. In the first race, we fought for a lane near the pin end and were fortunate that the boats on top of us were also identified as OCS. The upwind current was best in the middle of the course and then slightly right of centerline, once the fleet passed under the bridge. In our region, there were big moves on the first downwind by playing long starboard into a slow lefty and perhaps some current relief on course left. Meredith kept her hand steady on the helm of 226 and guided us to a 3rd place finish.
Race two seemed promising, but the wind did not entirely cooperate. The strong ebb combined with the “U” flag, made a short race for some. The rest of us slogged through a single lap windward leeward. The first upwind had streaky wind and a strong ebb current. The winners played middle left for best puffs and current. Boats were tacking more than usual to keep up with wind streaks and best current position. On the first upwind, we briefly crossed into slack water on the middle right and then got out of there before we lost our shirt. At the windward mark, we exited on starboard in good pressure, but the big gain was for those who gybed right away. They caught the beginning of the flood phase on the course right and also a little drainage flow off the land as the wind vacated the middle of the course. We had to watch as the whole fleet sailed around us on port gybe. Ouch!
There was great turnout in Shields numbers and well managed races by the RC. Thanks Fleet 9.
—Stu McNay
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