What an amazing year! To do all the sailing we did and to cap it off, The Van Isle 360!
Learnt alot about the boat and myself in the process. Also that sailing is truly a team sport and you are only as good as your team, so thank you to everyone who I got to sail with this year.
We finished off the season last weekend with 2 light air races in Pt Roberts. We scored two 2nds on the day and managed a 2nd in the series, and that after we missed a race and had to keep the DNF in our scoring.
Enjoy the holidays everyone and I look forward to seeing everyone out on the water in the new year.
CdM
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Day 9 Ucuelet to Victoria
After a great lay day where we got the boat back together and ready to race again, day broke with an absolute perfect forcast - sunny skies and 20 knot Westerly!
A peaceful parade out from the dock took us out to the awaiting 8-10 foot swells. This is what the West Coast is all about!
We ran the line and got our bearings early. Remembering that dip starts were all right we knew this start was going to be hairy, though which one hasn't been I guess.
We could start down at the shore and run the line on starboard on a broad reach but would be run over by the faster boats and pushed up into a real mess. We decided to hang around the heavily favoured pin end and try and find a lane over it. We were on time but as predicted the big boys were coming fast from below and behind and we had no option other than to peel away - do a 360 and take second row - which as it turned out was a good place to be.
Just after we started Havoc took a competitor up and nearly forced them into the bell buoy only to have the Sjora brush against them.
So we were off, surfing along at 7-8 knots with jib and main up, weaving between traffic. We were a little slow to get the kite set as we didn't want to push our new sprit too much.
Once we did get things set we took off doing 9-12 knots of boat speed for what seemed like hours, actually it was hours. We were with all of our competition but again, we were not going to win this waterline race. The pole boats could go slightly deeper so we decided to take a bit of a flyer.
We jibed over to set up closer to the Canadian side at the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Straits. This was going to be Night Runners day as she just poled back and went deeper and faster than anyone. We were all playing for 2nd. We could see others and for a while it looked like we were good but as it turned out we were about 15-20 minutes behind them when the lights went out and we started our approach to Race Rocks.
We had switched to the A2 in the late afternoon as the breeze went a little light near dinner time. We also found reception to listen to game 7 of the Canucks vs Bruins game, though as you all know, that wasn't much fun.
This was a glorious sail, I can't say I have ever enjoyed sailing more than this leg. We were moving along at 8-9 knots in 15 knots of breeze effortlessly. Guys were lounging on deck eating and talking, we were in heaven.
Now back to the race, as we approached Race Rocks the tide had turned and we made the mistake of getting too close to shore too soon - roughly 7 miles from Race Passage. We were passed by a couple of boats. And our weather reports were for 25-30 knots coming up in Race Passage. We continued on in low to mid teens of breeze now completely in the dark.
Shortly there after the kite started to flutter telling us the breeze was up, and sure enough we had 20 knots TWS. We called to peel the kite and put the jib up. We jibed out to get a good angle to go through the pass and put the A3 up.
We had an excellent line and didn't jibe again. The wind topped out at 26 knots and we blasted through with no problems.
We had a full moon out, very little sea and slight current against us. We were reaching now @ 9-10 knots of boat speed in 15 - 18 knot of TWS..... the boat was just perfectly balanced. We went from Race Rocks to the finish line and it took us 55 minutes, a distance of roughly 10 nautical miles.......again, the best sail of my life!
Pierre met us at the dock, we tied up across from the Empress and had warm pizza and beer. The perfect end to a perfect days sail.
We finished 8th in this leg and after all we went through, it was a great 8!
A peaceful parade out from the dock took us out to the awaiting 8-10 foot swells. This is what the West Coast is all about!
We ran the line and got our bearings early. Remembering that dip starts were all right we knew this start was going to be hairy, though which one hasn't been I guess.
We could start down at the shore and run the line on starboard on a broad reach but would be run over by the faster boats and pushed up into a real mess. We decided to hang around the heavily favoured pin end and try and find a lane over it. We were on time but as predicted the big boys were coming fast from below and behind and we had no option other than to peel away - do a 360 and take second row - which as it turned out was a good place to be.
Just after we started Havoc took a competitor up and nearly forced them into the bell buoy only to have the Sjora brush against them.
So we were off, surfing along at 7-8 knots with jib and main up, weaving between traffic. We were a little slow to get the kite set as we didn't want to push our new sprit too much.
Once we did get things set we took off doing 9-12 knots of boat speed for what seemed like hours, actually it was hours. We were with all of our competition but again, we were not going to win this waterline race. The pole boats could go slightly deeper so we decided to take a bit of a flyer.
We jibed over to set up closer to the Canadian side at the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Straits. This was going to be Night Runners day as she just poled back and went deeper and faster than anyone. We were all playing for 2nd. We could see others and for a while it looked like we were good but as it turned out we were about 15-20 minutes behind them when the lights went out and we started our approach to Race Rocks.
We had switched to the A2 in the late afternoon as the breeze went a little light near dinner time. We also found reception to listen to game 7 of the Canucks vs Bruins game, though as you all know, that wasn't much fun.
This was a glorious sail, I can't say I have ever enjoyed sailing more than this leg. We were moving along at 8-9 knots in 15 knots of breeze effortlessly. Guys were lounging on deck eating and talking, we were in heaven.
Now back to the race, as we approached Race Rocks the tide had turned and we made the mistake of getting too close to shore too soon - roughly 7 miles from Race Passage. We were passed by a couple of boats. And our weather reports were for 25-30 knots coming up in Race Passage. We continued on in low to mid teens of breeze now completely in the dark.
Shortly there after the kite started to flutter telling us the breeze was up, and sure enough we had 20 knots TWS. We called to peel the kite and put the jib up. We jibed out to get a good angle to go through the pass and put the A3 up.
We had an excellent line and didn't jibe again. The wind topped out at 26 knots and we blasted through with no problems.
We had a full moon out, very little sea and slight current against us. We were reaching now @ 9-10 knots of boat speed in 15 - 18 knot of TWS..... the boat was just perfectly balanced. We went from Race Rocks to the finish line and it took us 55 minutes, a distance of roughly 10 nautical miles.......again, the best sail of my life!
Pierre met us at the dock, we tied up across from the Empress and had warm pizza and beer. The perfect end to a perfect days sail.
We finished 8th in this leg and after all we went through, it was a great 8!
How we fixed the sprit
So as mentioned our sprit broke and as it turned out it was a flaw in the pole itself that caused it to break.......but that didn't matter at the time.
The old addage of when the going gets tough, the tough get going, well this is where the Cinco team won out hands down.
Before we even finished leg 8, guys were putting there heads together to figure out how we can carry on in the race. As soon as cell service ( god bless the i phone again ) was found we started making calls and by the end of the day a fellow PRYC club member and his company had an alluminum tube made and ready to ship DHL that night to Nanaimo.
Now you think, Nanaimo, what good will that do? You are right, and thus Cindy's parents who live near Duncan, went down, picked it up and then drove all the way to deliver the new pole and would barely accept a thank you! Again, what great people!
Don and the boys went to work stripping off all the hardware from the old pole, while Sparky ( nick ) had at the electronics again. After a long afternoon, and to the surprise of many on the dock, we had power, full instruments, and a brand new pole ready to go for the next 2 legs.
For not racing all day, today was one of the most satisfying days of the entire race!
The old addage of when the going gets tough, the tough get going, well this is where the Cinco team won out hands down.
Before we even finished leg 8, guys were putting there heads together to figure out how we can carry on in the race. As soon as cell service ( god bless the i phone again ) was found we started making calls and by the end of the day a fellow PRYC club member and his company had an alluminum tube made and ready to ship DHL that night to Nanaimo.
Now you think, Nanaimo, what good will that do? You are right, and thus Cindy's parents who live near Duncan, went down, picked it up and then drove all the way to deliver the new pole and would barely accept a thank you! Again, what great people!
Don and the boys went to work stripping off all the hardware from the old pole, while Sparky ( nick ) had at the electronics again. After a long afternoon, and to the surprise of many on the dock, we had power, full instruments, and a brand new pole ready to go for the next 2 legs.
For not racing all day, today was one of the most satisfying days of the entire race!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Day 8 - Winter Harbour to Ucluelet
Today got started very early. We needed to leave the dock by 6:00 am to make the start line on time.
The motor out was peaceful, as I said, Winter Harbour is a beautiful bit of rugged country!
The breeze was out of the North East today, light, maybe 7-8 knots shich meant a spinny start. We got a very good mid line start and had the kite up in short order.
As mentioned earlier, the RC and PRO wanted us to get out and around Brooks before the forcasted Gale was to arrive later this morning. Only the very fastest boats were able to sail through the transition zone just a couple miles up from the start. The rest of us were left with very light conditions and even drifting for a good hour.
Finally we managed to get a breath of air and were off, slowly at first but within an hour or 2 it was blowing 20 and out to sea we headed.
We were one of only 4 boats in our division to escape first, with Kiva / Kotuku and that darn Hobbie chasing hard but we had a good head start on the rest of the boats.....actually they were never to be seen again till morning.
We planned to head out to about 30 - 35 miles offshore to get some current help. We were not alone as it seemed everyone else had the same plan. We were pacing Kiva, sailing slightly higher but they had some speed on us, but net result was even. We would be sailing with them all afternoon and into the dark of night.
The breeze continued to build it was a steady 25 maybe gusting to 30 but managable. The bigger issues were the seas. They were quite short and steep, and very confused. They were coming from 2 and sometimes 3 different directions. This made driving very difficult and the boat was left to just slam hard from wave to wave, shuttering every 30 seconds it would seem.
At around 11:00 pm, we were going along when our instruments decided to fail again. So now we have no vision, no numbers, a reef and #3 up in what seems like a building storm. Down below we have very cold crew, some sick, some unable to function. The little voice inside me reminds the boat will always take more than what the crew will so I am quite confident in the ol' girl. She is doing great, and so are we.
We do our midnight check in ( we are required to check in to the Coast Guard every 6 hours with a positional grid system provided to us the by the RC and a status report ) We hear of some boats really struggling with sea sickness, one boat hit a whale and had to return to Winter Harbour, one boat lost power and feared they would lose instruments - we laughed at that one as we already had that issue - many boats taking on water, boats losing wind vanes ect.........but none the less, most were coping.
To sail at night is quite an experience! To do so with no instruments in a gale in large confused seas is another. We keep track of a port bow light of a competitor. By keeping it in the same spot under the main sail we know we are sailing high enough or too high. We can see the luff of the main and keep it with a nice speed bubble or back wind to help understand heel and boat speed.
At around 3:00 am we see a bright light on the horizon. At first we think it is the sun but it is too early for sunrise. We then figure it must be a cruise ship, but we are 40 miles off shore, really a cruise ship out here????? It is getting closer and Don and I can't tell if it is going to cross us or not. We try to slow the boat up but again that is hard to do without crash tacking. Then we hear there horn, is that for us? We are with Cu Na Mara just to leeward of us and are watching them as well. Finally we can tell they are not going to cross us but it was a nervous few moments! A second ship came shortly after but followed the others path and there were no issues.
Finally the lights turned back on around 4:15. We had survived and actually done quite well. At 6:00 am for the roll call we were rewarded with news that we were in the grid closest to the finish for division! Bot bad for a bunch of blind sailors!!
Then it happened, around 6:30 the forcasted switch to a westerly came and we were set up perfect for it. We had 32 miles to go, straight down wind and the breeze was down to a nice 15 knots or so. The bad news was the sea state was both for and against us.
We scrambled to get more hands on deck and get a kite set up. We did so and were off, surfing along doing 10+ knots! Then the unthinkable happened, the sprit broke off after just 15 minutes of down wind fun! It broke roughly a foot in front of the exit point of the boat. We were dejected, that's it, were done I thought. Well I have to say the guys did an amazing job getting the boat back to Uecuelet, under jib and main only! We couldn't surf the boat beyond hull speed to protect against water pouring inside. So we watched painfully as boats sailed up from behind us and either pass us or make up time to correct over us.
We finished the leg in roughly 31 hours, we lost at least an hour as boats that we saw when we first put the kite up finished an hour or more ahead of us.
We still finished 6th for this leg, just 12 seconds back of Night Runner.
But the real story is of how our crew pulled together and came up with a plan to get a new sprit built to allow us to continue on with the race and how our fellow PRYC club members back home made it happen!
The motor out was peaceful, as I said, Winter Harbour is a beautiful bit of rugged country!
The breeze was out of the North East today, light, maybe 7-8 knots shich meant a spinny start. We got a very good mid line start and had the kite up in short order.
As mentioned earlier, the RC and PRO wanted us to get out and around Brooks before the forcasted Gale was to arrive later this morning. Only the very fastest boats were able to sail through the transition zone just a couple miles up from the start. The rest of us were left with very light conditions and even drifting for a good hour.
Finally we managed to get a breath of air and were off, slowly at first but within an hour or 2 it was blowing 20 and out to sea we headed.
We were one of only 4 boats in our division to escape first, with Kiva / Kotuku and that darn Hobbie chasing hard but we had a good head start on the rest of the boats.....actually they were never to be seen again till morning.
We planned to head out to about 30 - 35 miles offshore to get some current help. We were not alone as it seemed everyone else had the same plan. We were pacing Kiva, sailing slightly higher but they had some speed on us, but net result was even. We would be sailing with them all afternoon and into the dark of night.
The breeze continued to build it was a steady 25 maybe gusting to 30 but managable. The bigger issues were the seas. They were quite short and steep, and very confused. They were coming from 2 and sometimes 3 different directions. This made driving very difficult and the boat was left to just slam hard from wave to wave, shuttering every 30 seconds it would seem.
At around 11:00 pm, we were going along when our instruments decided to fail again. So now we have no vision, no numbers, a reef and #3 up in what seems like a building storm. Down below we have very cold crew, some sick, some unable to function. The little voice inside me reminds the boat will always take more than what the crew will so I am quite confident in the ol' girl. She is doing great, and so are we.
We do our midnight check in ( we are required to check in to the Coast Guard every 6 hours with a positional grid system provided to us the by the RC and a status report ) We hear of some boats really struggling with sea sickness, one boat hit a whale and had to return to Winter Harbour, one boat lost power and feared they would lose instruments - we laughed at that one as we already had that issue - many boats taking on water, boats losing wind vanes ect.........but none the less, most were coping.
To sail at night is quite an experience! To do so with no instruments in a gale in large confused seas is another. We keep track of a port bow light of a competitor. By keeping it in the same spot under the main sail we know we are sailing high enough or too high. We can see the luff of the main and keep it with a nice speed bubble or back wind to help understand heel and boat speed.
At around 3:00 am we see a bright light on the horizon. At first we think it is the sun but it is too early for sunrise. We then figure it must be a cruise ship, but we are 40 miles off shore, really a cruise ship out here????? It is getting closer and Don and I can't tell if it is going to cross us or not. We try to slow the boat up but again that is hard to do without crash tacking. Then we hear there horn, is that for us? We are with Cu Na Mara just to leeward of us and are watching them as well. Finally we can tell they are not going to cross us but it was a nervous few moments! A second ship came shortly after but followed the others path and there were no issues.
Finally the lights turned back on around 4:15. We had survived and actually done quite well. At 6:00 am for the roll call we were rewarded with news that we were in the grid closest to the finish for division! Bot bad for a bunch of blind sailors!!
Then it happened, around 6:30 the forcasted switch to a westerly came and we were set up perfect for it. We had 32 miles to go, straight down wind and the breeze was down to a nice 15 knots or so. The bad news was the sea state was both for and against us.
We scrambled to get more hands on deck and get a kite set up. We did so and were off, surfing along doing 10+ knots! Then the unthinkable happened, the sprit broke off after just 15 minutes of down wind fun! It broke roughly a foot in front of the exit point of the boat. We were dejected, that's it, were done I thought. Well I have to say the guys did an amazing job getting the boat back to Uecuelet, under jib and main only! We couldn't surf the boat beyond hull speed to protect against water pouring inside. So we watched painfully as boats sailed up from behind us and either pass us or make up time to correct over us.
We finished the leg in roughly 31 hours, we lost at least an hour as boats that we saw when we first put the kite up finished an hour or more ahead of us.
We still finished 6th for this leg, just 12 seconds back of Night Runner.
But the real story is of how our crew pulled together and came up with a plan to get a new sprit built to allow us to continue on with the race and how our fellow PRYC club members back home made it happen!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Day 7 - Port Hardy to Winter Harbour
Tension is in the air to start today's race. We are now setting out to cross the infamous Nawhitti Bar and rounding Cape Scott. These waters have been known to blow the windows out of boats, proving a piece of water to show a lot of respect for.
The start line today is huge, probably 1 mile long or more. There is tug and log boom that delays the start by 10 minutes followed by yet again another general recall. The port side of the line is heavily favored but you need to cross it on port. Our second start was maybe our worst of the entire race, we are probably the last boat to cross the line.
The breeze builds to a nice 10 knot Westerly and many of the boats hit the shore early. We don't think this is right as the tide is pushing us out so we stick to the middle of the bay, and quickly find ourselves mid fleet. By the time we round the corner and enter Goletas Channel we are in 2nd place, a great recovery.
We have about 15 miles of upwind sailing till the bar. We can see in the distance a dead spot and what we think is a big leftie coming out of it. Well being out front we get to be either hero's or zero's and though we do ok, boats that were well behind us took the right side and came out ahead.
We hunker down and work the shores till we get to the bar. Well once we are there the breeze is at best 5 knots and the seas flat, oh as we turn left, so does the breeze, we are still going up wind! Will this race ever have a different point of sail? Jockingly we re name the race - the UPWIND van isle 360!
The breeze completely dies, we are drifting with about 10 miles to go to Cape Scott. We have caught our fleet with only Rubato and Kiva ahead, but not by much.
The wind does fill in and we enjoy a great dinner and gorgeous sunset rounding Cape Scott. We turn left, find the Coast guard vessel that will escort the fleet down the treacherous West Coast and begin to settle into night sailing. Oh did I mention we are still going up wind.
As night comes we are solidly in 3rd, sailing with Kotuku. We decide to head out to see if we can find more wind.
The night is rather uneventful, the breeze is light, maybe 5-10 at best ( remember we still don't have any instruments, we are navigating by paper charts and an I Phone! Around 2:00 am Kotuku lee bows us so we tack away and that was the last we saw of them.
As day broke we struggled to find boats. We could see a large number behind us but we were missing a few. A few, namely Opus and the Hobbie had taken the shore route and snuck past us. We tacked into shore ASAP and got a nice lift to pass Karina II but the leaders were in and we finished 6th.
We motored into Winter Harbour and found our private dock and the owner's Pat and Phil of Winter Harbour Cottages. The met us, got us power and water and showed us to our cabin.
The weather couldn't have been more peaceful and scenic. A great meal ready to go by Nick had the guys full of food and we began to work on the boats electornics again.
We walked down the boardwalk to the general store ( also the post office and liquor store )that afternoon where the local merchants put on a great bbq for all.
Talk that night was that a gale was forcasted for tomorrow's leg down the graveyard of the pacific past Brooks Pennisula so we were going to start an hour earlier to get around safely.
The start line today is huge, probably 1 mile long or more. There is tug and log boom that delays the start by 10 minutes followed by yet again another general recall. The port side of the line is heavily favored but you need to cross it on port. Our second start was maybe our worst of the entire race, we are probably the last boat to cross the line.
The breeze builds to a nice 10 knot Westerly and many of the boats hit the shore early. We don't think this is right as the tide is pushing us out so we stick to the middle of the bay, and quickly find ourselves mid fleet. By the time we round the corner and enter Goletas Channel we are in 2nd place, a great recovery.
We have about 15 miles of upwind sailing till the bar. We can see in the distance a dead spot and what we think is a big leftie coming out of it. Well being out front we get to be either hero's or zero's and though we do ok, boats that were well behind us took the right side and came out ahead.
We hunker down and work the shores till we get to the bar. Well once we are there the breeze is at best 5 knots and the seas flat, oh as we turn left, so does the breeze, we are still going up wind! Will this race ever have a different point of sail? Jockingly we re name the race - the UPWIND van isle 360!
The breeze completely dies, we are drifting with about 10 miles to go to Cape Scott. We have caught our fleet with only Rubato and Kiva ahead, but not by much.
The wind does fill in and we enjoy a great dinner and gorgeous sunset rounding Cape Scott. We turn left, find the Coast guard vessel that will escort the fleet down the treacherous West Coast and begin to settle into night sailing. Oh did I mention we are still going up wind.
As night comes we are solidly in 3rd, sailing with Kotuku. We decide to head out to see if we can find more wind.
The night is rather uneventful, the breeze is light, maybe 5-10 at best ( remember we still don't have any instruments, we are navigating by paper charts and an I Phone! Around 2:00 am Kotuku lee bows us so we tack away and that was the last we saw of them.
As day broke we struggled to find boats. We could see a large number behind us but we were missing a few. A few, namely Opus and the Hobbie had taken the shore route and snuck past us. We tacked into shore ASAP and got a nice lift to pass Karina II but the leaders were in and we finished 6th.
We motored into Winter Harbour and found our private dock and the owner's Pat and Phil of Winter Harbour Cottages. The met us, got us power and water and showed us to our cabin.
The weather couldn't have been more peaceful and scenic. A great meal ready to go by Nick had the guys full of food and we began to work on the boats electornics again.
We walked down the boardwalk to the general store ( also the post office and liquor store )that afternoon where the local merchants put on a great bbq for all.
Talk that night was that a gale was forcasted for tomorrow's leg down the graveyard of the pacific past Brooks Pennisula so we were going to start an hour earlier to get around safely.
Day 6 - Telegraph cove to Port Hardy
This next leg seems strange for some reason, oh that's right, it is because a weak low pressure system has developed and the sun has gone and so has the 15 knot NW breeze.
We mill about looking for the best place to start today's race. The left side is favored as it closer to where we want to go by about 1/2 a mile, but the right side has some inflow breeze.
We practice putting the kite and decide that a middle start is best and as soon as possible will try the kite.
As predicted the rigth won out and a few of our boats screamed away while others sat going no where. We were in the middle.......After about an hour we finally cross the start line and are starting to get the kite filled. Finally we feel we might be able to make some hay in the race.
After about 3 more hours we have moved up and only one boat is ahead of us but we have only gone 3 miles. This doesn't look good. We slowly start to see and hear boats dropping out. In this race if 50% of the boats that start do not finish the leg will not be scored.
Lunch comes and goes and we are passed by Kiva. Normally this wouldn't surprise us but he did so going backwards! At 1:00 it seemed that like everyone had the same feeling and the iron lungs were tunred on. We had better that 22 miles to go and only 4 hours or so to do it.....racing for today was over.
A few competitors however got themselves in hot water as they broke a safety rule in that you need to carry enough fuel to power yourself to the next port. With today's technology on board, the trackers didn't lie and you couldn't hide the facts. Boats were turning back, going to other ports and even one had fuel delivered to them. Needless to say a few harsh words were spoken that night at the awards ceremony.
Port Hardy see's a lot of new crew arrive, so is the half way point of the race. The so called " easy legs " are done and now we head off shore!
First up - "THE BAR"
We mill about looking for the best place to start today's race. The left side is favored as it closer to where we want to go by about 1/2 a mile, but the right side has some inflow breeze.
We practice putting the kite and decide that a middle start is best and as soon as possible will try the kite.
As predicted the rigth won out and a few of our boats screamed away while others sat going no where. We were in the middle.......After about an hour we finally cross the start line and are starting to get the kite filled. Finally we feel we might be able to make some hay in the race.
After about 3 more hours we have moved up and only one boat is ahead of us but we have only gone 3 miles. This doesn't look good. We slowly start to see and hear boats dropping out. In this race if 50% of the boats that start do not finish the leg will not be scored.
Lunch comes and goes and we are passed by Kiva. Normally this wouldn't surprise us but he did so going backwards! At 1:00 it seemed that like everyone had the same feeling and the iron lungs were tunred on. We had better that 22 miles to go and only 4 hours or so to do it.....racing for today was over.
A few competitors however got themselves in hot water as they broke a safety rule in that you need to carry enough fuel to power yourself to the next port. With today's technology on board, the trackers didn't lie and you couldn't hide the facts. Boats were turning back, going to other ports and even one had fuel delivered to them. Needless to say a few harsh words were spoken that night at the awards ceremony.
Port Hardy see's a lot of new crew arrive, so is the half way point of the race. The so called " easy legs " are done and now we head off shore!
First up - "THE BAR"
Day 5 - Hardwicke Island to Telegraph
The days are starting to all look a like now for sure. Not only because we have settled into a nice routine but because, honestly, every day is a carbon copy of the day before. We leave the fish farm and it is blowing about 10 TWS from the Northwest ( we are guessing as the instruments still aren't working ) and during the pre start the breeze builds to a steady 15!
Today we have a slightly confused start line and with some current behind us, we have 2 general recalls, did I mention the starts are very competitive! Unfortunately our first start was the best but as others got to see what some did getting right to the shore right after the start, it was getting more difficult after each re start to get our lane.
Well we did ok and as was the usual scenerio, after 5 - 10 minutes the fleet spreads out and we get to see where everyone stands. We look pretty good, but there is a big transition zone just ahead. Boats that look terrible to start with get flushed around the corner, others that looked great are stopped and the middle, well it wasn't much better.
We were unlucky here as we ended up with only 1 boat behind us after the restart, others that were just 100 yards ahead or less got away by like a mile, never to be seen again. But we dig in and remind ourselves that there are still 20 miles to go, there must be some passing lanes ahead and to stick with it.
Well the breeze builds to the high 20's and we make some nice gains, but today was just not our day. BUT today we were escorted by schools of dolphins and even a near by sighting of a hump back whale. It was spectacular to see the dolphins playing in our bow wave, litteraly so close we could almost grab them........but back to racing:(
As mentioned today was not a good day for team Cinco. We just couldn't get out of our way. Soon it became apparent that we were running out of time to finish the leg. After all that work today to get scored DNF would be awful. So we pushed and pushed and managed to squeeze in with less than 5 remaining in the time limit. This gets us 9th for the day with 4 boats scoring a DNF.
This stop in Telegraph turns out to be one of my favorites. Nice docks, we have a great cabin right on the wharf and Darcy has made us a roasted chicked dinner.
A tough day on the water is still better than most anything else!
Today we have a slightly confused start line and with some current behind us, we have 2 general recalls, did I mention the starts are very competitive! Unfortunately our first start was the best but as others got to see what some did getting right to the shore right after the start, it was getting more difficult after each re start to get our lane.
Well we did ok and as was the usual scenerio, after 5 - 10 minutes the fleet spreads out and we get to see where everyone stands. We look pretty good, but there is a big transition zone just ahead. Boats that look terrible to start with get flushed around the corner, others that looked great are stopped and the middle, well it wasn't much better.
We were unlucky here as we ended up with only 1 boat behind us after the restart, others that were just 100 yards ahead or less got away by like a mile, never to be seen again. But we dig in and remind ourselves that there are still 20 miles to go, there must be some passing lanes ahead and to stick with it.
Well the breeze builds to the high 20's and we make some nice gains, but today was just not our day. BUT today we were escorted by schools of dolphins and even a near by sighting of a hump back whale. It was spectacular to see the dolphins playing in our bow wave, litteraly so close we could almost grab them........but back to racing:(
As mentioned today was not a good day for team Cinco. We just couldn't get out of our way. Soon it became apparent that we were running out of time to finish the leg. After all that work today to get scored DNF would be awful. So we pushed and pushed and managed to squeeze in with less than 5 remaining in the time limit. This gets us 9th for the day with 4 boats scoring a DNF.
This stop in Telegraph turns out to be one of my favorites. Nice docks, we have a great cabin right on the wharf and Darcy has made us a roasted chicked dinner.
A tough day on the water is still better than most anything else!
Day 4 - Campbell River to Hardwicke Island
Today started out with a quick stop at the fuel dock to splash some fuel for the 10 mile power through Seymour Narrows as well as make sure we can get to Telegraph Cove, the next possible stop for provisions.
This leg takes us up through Johnstone Straits and we get the privilege of staying at a fish farm with a preparred salmon dinner. But first we have to get there.
We powered along and met up with the boats that left too early to get through the Narrows. We hugged the shore real close and were just able ( maybe 1.5-2 knots to spare ) to get through. Amazing to think that at some point this pass will run up to 16 knots!
The start is just around the corner in Deepwater Bay. We had plenty of time and proceeded to run the line and get a feel for the starting conditions. It was roughly 10 knots during the pre start but quickly became 15+ so we decided to reef to keep ourselves out of trouble. This proved the right move as being able to maintain control during these starts is key to staying out of trouble. Actually Dragonfly was hit by Night Runner just after the start.
This leg takes us through some very pretty country. It also makes for some challenging sailing as the breeze funnels and built to the high 20's and with a following tide, made for some very steep chop.
We ate it up and were doing extremely well. But these conditions were not for everyone and one boat, a multi named RUFF DUCK, loses her rig. They manage to cut it away but are forced to retire from the race and we see them heading back towards Nanaimo.
With about 8 miles to go we took a 6 foot square wave dead on and it blew the jib right out of the foil. The guys quickly got the sail down and we threw up the storm jib, only to have it peel out of the foil right away too. We bobbed up and down for about 15 minutes in total before we were able to lash the storm jib to the forstay and carry on. During all this the leaders got further away and many either passed us or made up time against us. We did manage to finish the leg in a softening breeze but ended up finishing a disappointing 10th just 19 minutes back of first, which we know we would have been close to had we not had our first bit of bad luck.
Also to note, when the wave landed in the back of the boat it shorted out our electronics, so we were without boat speed / wind / depth and electronic charts for the rest of the race.
The stay on the farm was fabulous. Our hosts were gracious and scenery spectacular.
This leg takes us up through Johnstone Straits and we get the privilege of staying at a fish farm with a preparred salmon dinner. But first we have to get there.
We powered along and met up with the boats that left too early to get through the Narrows. We hugged the shore real close and were just able ( maybe 1.5-2 knots to spare ) to get through. Amazing to think that at some point this pass will run up to 16 knots!
The start is just around the corner in Deepwater Bay. We had plenty of time and proceeded to run the line and get a feel for the starting conditions. It was roughly 10 knots during the pre start but quickly became 15+ so we decided to reef to keep ourselves out of trouble. This proved the right move as being able to maintain control during these starts is key to staying out of trouble. Actually Dragonfly was hit by Night Runner just after the start.
This leg takes us through some very pretty country. It also makes for some challenging sailing as the breeze funnels and built to the high 20's and with a following tide, made for some very steep chop.
We ate it up and were doing extremely well. But these conditions were not for everyone and one boat, a multi named RUFF DUCK, loses her rig. They manage to cut it away but are forced to retire from the race and we see them heading back towards Nanaimo.
With about 8 miles to go we took a 6 foot square wave dead on and it blew the jib right out of the foil. The guys quickly got the sail down and we threw up the storm jib, only to have it peel out of the foil right away too. We bobbed up and down for about 15 minutes in total before we were able to lash the storm jib to the forstay and carry on. During all this the leaders got further away and many either passed us or made up time against us. We did manage to finish the leg in a softening breeze but ended up finishing a disappointing 10th just 19 minutes back of first, which we know we would have been close to had we not had our first bit of bad luck.
Also to note, when the wave landed in the back of the boat it shorted out our electronics, so we were without boat speed / wind / depth and electronic charts for the rest of the race.
The stay on the farm was fabulous. Our hosts were gracious and scenery spectacular.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Day 3 - Comox to Campbell River
So if you couldn't guess by now, the days are starting to blend together. Weather is excellent, wind is very consistent, 10-20 knots from the NW.
This leg 2 things were discussed at the docks. First, that the RC and PRO need to get a longer start line or we would start losing some boats due to collisions. Second, that at some point, the tide was going to switch directions. Just prior to Campbell River the Flood and Ebbs switch directions!
We prepared for the start but just prior to leaving the dock a request was made from Icon if we had any spare crew! We looked around almost in disbelief and then we figured out that they were short and they wanted Ivan ( Reebooook to us later re named Icon ). Well how could we deny Reebooook so off he went to live the dream.
We could start on starboard tack but barely. We wanted the left side and as it turns out, not many others did too so we had some room today for the first time. Our plan was to get left and find tide relief and hopefully a lift up the beach, and our plan worked as we were nicely placed with bigger faster boats at the corner.
We started to work the beach but eventually were ground down by all the 40+ footers in our fleet. Being 4-7 feet shorted and lighter we need the breeze to be under 10 knots to against these well sailed boats. Well eventually it was time to head out and when we did we were 3rd boat out with just Kiva and Kotuku ahead. We had Opus and Rubato just behind us, nipping at our heels for sure.
Eventually we flopped over to starboard and with the predicted right shift we were left with a 10 mile, no more tacks beat. This was not good news for us as the longer guys could waterline us and we couldn't make up any more ground on the leaders. All we could do was hang on and sail our best and look for a change.
Well no changes came and we basically sailed up to finish line with Opus just ahead and Rubato now even with us and just nosing out, however we owe them time so we weren't looking to place again today. We held off Karina and the rest but Ion, another big boat ( Beneteau 43 ) got us on corrected to finish in 6th today.
The tide really rips in here and Amazing Grace had to towed in as they fouled the pin end on there prop.
At the dock we were welcomed with native local dancing. Another great day of racing, perfect conditions for sure.
This leg 2 things were discussed at the docks. First, that the RC and PRO need to get a longer start line or we would start losing some boats due to collisions. Second, that at some point, the tide was going to switch directions. Just prior to Campbell River the Flood and Ebbs switch directions!
We prepared for the start but just prior to leaving the dock a request was made from Icon if we had any spare crew! We looked around almost in disbelief and then we figured out that they were short and they wanted Ivan ( Reebooook to us later re named Icon ). Well how could we deny Reebooook so off he went to live the dream.
We could start on starboard tack but barely. We wanted the left side and as it turns out, not many others did too so we had some room today for the first time. Our plan was to get left and find tide relief and hopefully a lift up the beach, and our plan worked as we were nicely placed with bigger faster boats at the corner.
We started to work the beach but eventually were ground down by all the 40+ footers in our fleet. Being 4-7 feet shorted and lighter we need the breeze to be under 10 knots to against these well sailed boats. Well eventually it was time to head out and when we did we were 3rd boat out with just Kiva and Kotuku ahead. We had Opus and Rubato just behind us, nipping at our heels for sure.
Eventually we flopped over to starboard and with the predicted right shift we were left with a 10 mile, no more tacks beat. This was not good news for us as the longer guys could waterline us and we couldn't make up any more ground on the leaders. All we could do was hang on and sail our best and look for a change.
Well no changes came and we basically sailed up to finish line with Opus just ahead and Rubato now even with us and just nosing out, however we owe them time so we weren't looking to place again today. We held off Karina and the rest but Ion, another big boat ( Beneteau 43 ) got us on corrected to finish in 6th today.
The tide really rips in here and Amazing Grace had to towed in as they fouled the pin end on there prop.
At the dock we were welcomed with native local dancing. Another great day of racing, perfect conditions for sure.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Day 2 - French Creek to Comox
So after an exciting day of short tacking the beach going through all our working sails, more than once for a few of them, and paying off the Tantivity guys for our near t bone, we were ready for Day 2.
For this start it was just off the breakwater of French Creek and we had very similar winds as yesterday, solid 15 knots out of the NW. The only real difference was the start line was about 1/3 of the size and one end - the port end, was heavily favoured but on shore ( meaning hard water ahead ).
We again called for a second row start at the starboard end to stay away from trouble. A side note, these starts are just crazy. 41 boats including machines like ICON and Dragonfly that are going 2 and 3 times as fast as you in very tight quarters is not for the faint of heart.
Well as expected there was lots and lots of yelling, even one boat - GEM that tried to port tack the start. After all was said and done, 5 minutes into the race the divisions start to take shape and we are off. We short tack the beach and then take the long port tack all the way off to the Sisters. Going between Denman and the mainland is just too risky we feel.
The breeze builds to about 18 knots so we change to the #3 and are cross tacking a few competitors, namely Dominatrix and California Girl. At Sisters we see our lead boats heading down the middle in what looks like good pressure. We don't want to go to the edges so off we go to chase the bigger faster boats.
Well after lots more tacking and about 8 miles to go in a 5-6 knot NW breeze we hear the unthinkable over the radio.......all of the slow rated boats that went all the way to the edge got lifted, never had to tack and were now fetching the finish line better breeze than the rest of us are letting the RC know they are less than an hour out. We are left to drag race Opus and Night Runner home with Night Runner finishing just ahead of us but not enough to correct over us, and Opus 2 boat lengths ahead ( they rate the same so they get us. )
Comox is a beautiful place. The snow cap mountains seem remarkable low and we enjoy a great meal and a few drinks on a patio near the marina.
We ended up with a 9th place finish but spirits still high and looking forward to Campbell River tomorrow.
For this start it was just off the breakwater of French Creek and we had very similar winds as yesterday, solid 15 knots out of the NW. The only real difference was the start line was about 1/3 of the size and one end - the port end, was heavily favoured but on shore ( meaning hard water ahead ).
We again called for a second row start at the starboard end to stay away from trouble. A side note, these starts are just crazy. 41 boats including machines like ICON and Dragonfly that are going 2 and 3 times as fast as you in very tight quarters is not for the faint of heart.
Well as expected there was lots and lots of yelling, even one boat - GEM that tried to port tack the start. After all was said and done, 5 minutes into the race the divisions start to take shape and we are off. We short tack the beach and then take the long port tack all the way off to the Sisters. Going between Denman and the mainland is just too risky we feel.
The breeze builds to about 18 knots so we change to the #3 and are cross tacking a few competitors, namely Dominatrix and California Girl. At Sisters we see our lead boats heading down the middle in what looks like good pressure. We don't want to go to the edges so off we go to chase the bigger faster boats.
Well after lots more tacking and about 8 miles to go in a 5-6 knot NW breeze we hear the unthinkable over the radio.......all of the slow rated boats that went all the way to the edge got lifted, never had to tack and were now fetching the finish line better breeze than the rest of us are letting the RC know they are less than an hour out. We are left to drag race Opus and Night Runner home with Night Runner finishing just ahead of us but not enough to correct over us, and Opus 2 boat lengths ahead ( they rate the same so they get us. )
Comox is a beautiful place. The snow cap mountains seem remarkable low and we enjoy a great meal and a few drinks on a patio near the marina.
We ended up with a 9th place finish but spirits still high and looking forward to Campbell River tomorrow.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Leg 1 Nanaimo to French creek
After a great party on Friday and welcome reception, getting boat and crew sorted, we set out on leg 1 right on time. It was a picture perfect day, blue skies and about 15 k of wind for the start. Most boats hoisted kites for the first leg out of the harbor. We decided it would be better to stay on whites, had our #3 genoa up to the first turn, passing about 10 boats at the first turn left around protection island. Winds built to around. 18 k and we kept going fast and fat. Tacking up the beach, just staying outside the 15 feet depth line made our way towards the finish. Kotuku came awfully close, showing us what their anker roller looked like nearly ending our endeavor early. Another close encounter with night runner shortly thereaftter had Pierre jump out of the way when tier bowsprit seemed to take out his knee just inches inside the pushpit. Disaster avoided by the breadth of a hair. After cooling down for a few more tacks we came up on port to another boat, ducked and kept going only to end up having to duck Tantivy. Well we tried hard, but the boat being overpowered by a gust and our mainsheet guy Tony battling with a knot in the mainsheet we were unable to turn down. Don yelled to them: we can't do it, you tack...! and so they did, close call number 3, we are alive to race another day.
Lots more tacks followed, seeing raven high and dry left us rethinking our strategy of going close to shore and make some good calls instead. We sailed as fast and Hightower as we could, changing eventually up to our #2 and then going to #1 shortly before the end of the leg. We finished just behind Havoc, ending up a 3rd in our division.
A great day to be on the water, perfect conditions and lots of excitement.
We live to race another day - comox will be our next destination.
Lots more tacks followed, seeing raven high and dry left us rethinking our strategy of going close to shore and make some good calls instead. We sailed as fast and Hightower as we could, changing eventually up to our #2 and then going to #1 shortly before the end of the leg. We finished just behind Havoc, ending up a 3rd in our division.
A great day to be on the water, perfect conditions and lots of excitement.
We live to race another day - comox will be our next destination.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Launch sequence initiated...
The boat is on the hard in Steveston as of this afternoon, had the bottom cleaned and is being splashed tomorrow early morning.
We loaded all the safety gear, emergency rudder, sails, inflatable and other important things we need for the next 2 weeks at sea. It is unreal to think that we are just one sleep away from starting our trip to Nanaimo and spending the next 2 weeks on the water, competing and putting all our skills on the line to hopefully gain the edge on our competition.
The vibe is great, everyone is excited and preps are done, we are all ready to go.
The boat, skipper and delivery crew will leave Steveston around 8:30am to arrive in Nanaimo harbour at 1pm, doing last minute preps along the way to be ready for the safety inspections starting at 15:00.
Thanks also to our sponsor Biz Collection making our team outfits possible. Make sure to take look at Fashion Biz for their line-up and contact Damian if you need a hook-up.
We loaded all the safety gear, emergency rudder, sails, inflatable and other important things we need for the next 2 weeks at sea. It is unreal to think that we are just one sleep away from starting our trip to Nanaimo and spending the next 2 weeks on the water, competing and putting all our skills on the line to hopefully gain the edge on our competition.
The vibe is great, everyone is excited and preps are done, we are all ready to go.
The boat, skipper and delivery crew will leave Steveston around 8:30am to arrive in Nanaimo harbour at 1pm, doing last minute preps along the way to be ready for the safety inspections starting at 15:00.
Thanks also to our sponsor Biz Collection making our team outfits possible. Make sure to take look at Fashion Biz for their line-up and contact Damian if you need a hook-up.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Charts we got Charts
Had a great meeting last night with a ol' friend who gave me all the paper charts one could ask for getting around "our island"!
We race tomorrow night, take off all the bits and pieces stored away for home cruising......then off to Steveston for a quick trim....and add everyone's gear and provision the boat.
We leave for Nanaimo Friday morning, oh man it's close.
I would say 5 more sleeps but that would mean I can sleep....
We race tomorrow night, take off all the bits and pieces stored away for home cruising......then off to Steveston for a quick trim....and add everyone's gear and provision the boat.
We leave for Nanaimo Friday morning, oh man it's close.
I would say 5 more sleeps but that would mean I can sleep....
Friday, May 20, 2011
14 more sleeps
So were are really close to this big epic event and the boat is fully pimped and ready to go. Last crew meeting to be had and one more Tuesday night race then its off to Nanaimo.
Last minute details and such like safety gear and meal prep but otherwise we are set........and the sun has finally made an appearance!
CdM
Last minute details and such like safety gear and meal prep but otherwise we are set........and the sun has finally made an appearance!
CdM
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Can everyday be a Tuesday
So Race #3 went off and it was finally warm out this year......actually that's not completely true, I think we had a few nice days in January:(
Being short handed on the night ( just 4 of us in total ) we were able to get away from the dock early and dropped #2 mark for the RC. We motored back to the start line and shut off the iron lung ASAP and drifted in the calm waters waiting for the course instructions.
As we thought, it was 1-2-A x 2, quite ambitious with the light flukey winds but none the less we were determined to have a good race and do our best anyways.
Div 2 got off first and Toucan nailed the start.......there was a good 1 knot current going directly against the fleet so being early was key. We ran the line once and thought we could just clear the line on starboard but that the pin end was definately favoured.
A minute to go and we were mid line, with Avalanche below us, the three smaller J boats behind and a non factor but Jabiru was doing a port pin end start.
Avalanche had to tack and then duck the remainder of the fleet. We pinched up but just couldn't quite make the pin and Jabiru squeezed in, advantage them.
We flopped over and quickly sailed fat and fast and got through there lee, and were out in front. About half way down the leg, the boat felt really sluggish, Jabiru was killing us to windward, Avalanche was gaining fast and D9 was just flying up behind us.....quick, what's dragging in the water??????
We went all the way into the beach till the shore said "you have to tack". We were just going to make the mark but the once we got back out into the current we started to doubt ourselves. Were we gonna make it, were we not........last minute we tried to shoot the mark but to no avail, we hit it and the boats behind us let us know they all saw us do so:( No worries, only Jabiru was ahead so we gained some speed - maybe 1.5 knots and did our turn cleanly......
Well the wind completely shut off, mostly because we were floating in the current as fast as the actual wind was blowing, which wasn't very fast let me tell you! So after a quick refreshment, we decided to try and jibe, and low and behold, we found some pressure.......off to reel in Jabiru! Well we didn't, actually they got away on us and Avalanche was charging hard........what are we doing wrong out here!
The breeze was now at a whopping 3 knots as we rounded the mark. The guys did really well in doing a windward drop and we tacked right away. Jabiru was a good minute and a half ahead of us and Avalanche right behind. We trimmed like crazy and for the one and only time in the race, felt fast....we were actually reeling Jabiru in and left Avalanche for dead.
We finished 48 seconds behind the J 35 guys and corrected out 44 seconds ahead to take another bulleet, our 3rd of the series! We turned around and were sailing back to get the mark we dropped when I noticed something strange......the prop wasn't feathered! Ah now that makes sense, that's what were dragging out there! We quickly picked up .2 of a knot:)
Oh well, great night out! Thanks Andy - Keith and Don!
Being short handed on the night ( just 4 of us in total ) we were able to get away from the dock early and dropped #2 mark for the RC. We motored back to the start line and shut off the iron lung ASAP and drifted in the calm waters waiting for the course instructions.
As we thought, it was 1-2-A x 2, quite ambitious with the light flukey winds but none the less we were determined to have a good race and do our best anyways.
Div 2 got off first and Toucan nailed the start.......there was a good 1 knot current going directly against the fleet so being early was key. We ran the line once and thought we could just clear the line on starboard but that the pin end was definately favoured.
A minute to go and we were mid line, with Avalanche below us, the three smaller J boats behind and a non factor but Jabiru was doing a port pin end start.
Avalanche had to tack and then duck the remainder of the fleet. We pinched up but just couldn't quite make the pin and Jabiru squeezed in, advantage them.
We flopped over and quickly sailed fat and fast and got through there lee, and were out in front. About half way down the leg, the boat felt really sluggish, Jabiru was killing us to windward, Avalanche was gaining fast and D9 was just flying up behind us.....quick, what's dragging in the water??????
We went all the way into the beach till the shore said "you have to tack". We were just going to make the mark but the once we got back out into the current we started to doubt ourselves. Were we gonna make it, were we not........last minute we tried to shoot the mark but to no avail, we hit it and the boats behind us let us know they all saw us do so:( No worries, only Jabiru was ahead so we gained some speed - maybe 1.5 knots and did our turn cleanly......
Well the wind completely shut off, mostly because we were floating in the current as fast as the actual wind was blowing, which wasn't very fast let me tell you! So after a quick refreshment, we decided to try and jibe, and low and behold, we found some pressure.......off to reel in Jabiru! Well we didn't, actually they got away on us and Avalanche was charging hard........what are we doing wrong out here!
The breeze was now at a whopping 3 knots as we rounded the mark. The guys did really well in doing a windward drop and we tacked right away. Jabiru was a good minute and a half ahead of us and Avalanche right behind. We trimmed like crazy and for the one and only time in the race, felt fast....we were actually reeling Jabiru in and left Avalanche for dead.
We finished 48 seconds behind the J 35 guys and corrected out 44 seconds ahead to take another bulleet, our 3rd of the series! We turned around and were sailing back to get the mark we dropped when I noticed something strange......the prop wasn't feathered! Ah now that makes sense, that's what were dragging out there! We quickly picked up .2 of a knot:)
Oh well, great night out! Thanks Andy - Keith and Don!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Here Spot...........
So some great news came in today..........with the recent success using the SPOT trackers in both Patos Island and Southern Straits Races this year, the VAN ISLE 360 will have have them on all boats participating this year. So no hiding now!!!!!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday delight!
So this past Tuesday was Race #2 of the PRYC Walter Graf Spring Series. The fleet was out early and the RC was equally up to the task of having a nice 3-1-A x 2 course all set for us to go right on time.
As per the SI's, Div 2's warning sound and subsequent starting sequence was first and we set our wathches and deliberated our best course of actions. We wanted the pin end and to continue going left to get some current relief.
The breeze was light, but fairly consistent at 4-5 knots, so this was going to be tough night for us being heaviest by far in our division of some well sailed J 29's and of course the J 35 and E 37.
So at 2 minutes prior to our start and on port still going away from the line we notice the prep flag come down. We argue on the boat how much time is left and before we know it, we are starting a minute late! The RC had messed up Div 2 start and we failed to notice. Oh well, we just have to make up the time.....lots of passing lanes out there tonight!
Being late meant we had a pretty clean lane off the start, so we got to go left as planned. We went further than any other boat, stopping only when it looked like the breeze was lightening up. When we flopped over it quickly showed gains against others......
We ground out a few more tacks, reeled in a few more boats and before we knew it, were right on Jabiru's transom heading to the first mark with Avalanche just a few hundred yards ahead, we felt very good, the boat was going very well in the light stuff tonight!
We jibed set at the mark and made short work of Jabiru who had done a bear awaway set, now just Avalanche remained ahead of us. We slowly picked away at there lead, sailing to pressure all the time. Finally, after sailing into another soft spot we decided to jibe first and it was perfect as we found a little more pressure right and made up our last bit on Kelly and Jason.........now was it enough.
We did a nice Mexican take down around #1 and had a one tack beat home. We trimmed and tweaked right to the end.
We finised second over the line but took first for the night again. That's three bullets in the last 5 races, not bad leading up to the Van Isle 360 just three short weeks away!
Thanks Don - Nick - Val - Pierre - and Andy!
CdM
As per the SI's, Div 2's warning sound and subsequent starting sequence was first and we set our wathches and deliberated our best course of actions. We wanted the pin end and to continue going left to get some current relief.
The breeze was light, but fairly consistent at 4-5 knots, so this was going to be tough night for us being heaviest by far in our division of some well sailed J 29's and of course the J 35 and E 37.
So at 2 minutes prior to our start and on port still going away from the line we notice the prep flag come down. We argue on the boat how much time is left and before we know it, we are starting a minute late! The RC had messed up Div 2 start and we failed to notice. Oh well, we just have to make up the time.....lots of passing lanes out there tonight!
Being late meant we had a pretty clean lane off the start, so we got to go left as planned. We went further than any other boat, stopping only when it looked like the breeze was lightening up. When we flopped over it quickly showed gains against others......
We ground out a few more tacks, reeled in a few more boats and before we knew it, were right on Jabiru's transom heading to the first mark with Avalanche just a few hundred yards ahead, we felt very good, the boat was going very well in the light stuff tonight!
We jibed set at the mark and made short work of Jabiru who had done a bear awaway set, now just Avalanche remained ahead of us. We slowly picked away at there lead, sailing to pressure all the time. Finally, after sailing into another soft spot we decided to jibe first and it was perfect as we found a little more pressure right and made up our last bit on Kelly and Jason.........now was it enough.
We did a nice Mexican take down around #1 and had a one tack beat home. We trimmed and tweaked right to the end.
We finised second over the line but took first for the night again. That's three bullets in the last 5 races, not bad leading up to the Van Isle 360 just three short weeks away!
Thanks Don - Nick - Val - Pierre - and Andy!
CdM
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday night race #1
We had our first Tuesday night buoy race last night. The RC did there very best being out early to set up the course and leave itself plenty of options but as with any best laid plans, you can't control mother nature!
After meeting at the boat and getting her all rigged up we headed out early to practice as this crew was completely different from last weekends team.
The breeze was great, a steady 10 knots gusting to 13......so the very end of the range for the #1.
We got the course from the RC and just as the AP flag came down the breeze clocked west, resulting in a 50 degree TWA beat to the first mark. With it being an evening race there wasn't sufficient time to reset the course, we had to live with what he had.
Div 2 left first and then we entered the starting box and we knew it was all about starting on time and with speed as this was going to be drag race, and whomever got out first was going to control things. We timed things perfectly hitting the pin end just as the horn went and fully powered up. We had the Express less than a boat length to weather of us but we were bow out, which meant we had them just where we wanted them.
We rounded first, and jibed and unfortunately it was too hot an angle to get the kite up. EX - J 29 tried but it definately was the wrong thing to do.
On the second leg there was now traffic to deal with as we were catching the boats that started earlier......We managed to get 3 of the 5 on this leg but it was close as when we rounded and headed back to #3 we were having to weave between the oncoming boats. We managed to put Avalanche a little further back and Jabiru - J 35 was also slipping back!
We picked off another boat on the 3rd leg and now just need a clean mark rounding and we should be good......then we saw the D9 boys and thought, uh oh, they are awfully close to us, they may get us on time. So we pushed and trimmed hard all the way to the finish, passing the last of Div 2. Avalanche tried one last ditch effort to catch us by getting there kite up but that just slowed them down.
We finished and got the watches out and low and behold, we got 1st by just 10 seconds of the MH J 29 District 9!
After meeting at the boat and getting her all rigged up we headed out early to practice as this crew was completely different from last weekends team.
The breeze was great, a steady 10 knots gusting to 13......so the very end of the range for the #1.
We got the course from the RC and just as the AP flag came down the breeze clocked west, resulting in a 50 degree TWA beat to the first mark. With it being an evening race there wasn't sufficient time to reset the course, we had to live with what he had.
Div 2 left first and then we entered the starting box and we knew it was all about starting on time and with speed as this was going to be drag race, and whomever got out first was going to control things. We timed things perfectly hitting the pin end just as the horn went and fully powered up. We had the Express less than a boat length to weather of us but we were bow out, which meant we had them just where we wanted them.
We rounded first, and jibed and unfortunately it was too hot an angle to get the kite up. EX - J 29 tried but it definately was the wrong thing to do.
On the second leg there was now traffic to deal with as we were catching the boats that started earlier......We managed to get 3 of the 5 on this leg but it was close as when we rounded and headed back to #3 we were having to weave between the oncoming boats. We managed to put Avalanche a little further back and Jabiru - J 35 was also slipping back!
We picked off another boat on the 3rd leg and now just need a clean mark rounding and we should be good......then we saw the D9 boys and thought, uh oh, they are awfully close to us, they may get us on time. So we pushed and trimmed hard all the way to the finish, passing the last of Div 2. Avalanche tried one last ditch effort to catch us by getting there kite up but that just slowed them down.
We finished and got the watches out and low and behold, we got 1st by just 10 seconds of the MH J 29 District 9!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Semiahmoo Part 2
So Sunday dawned and we lost 2 regular crew members for the day so we knew we needed to get away early and do a quick review before the start of two short w/l races for the day.
The RC started the races right on time and had a fairly square course set. However the breeze was coming directly from the East, and your trusted skipper new that it was going to go south at some point, but when was the question.........
We started well, mid line on time with 2 boats to leeward of us. The breeze was light though. After about 10 minutes of racing that new breeze could be seen coming in fast to the right of us.......and all those that started behind us, including the latter divisions starting got it first....axe murder job in full effect!
Needless to say the race became a fetch back and forth with no passing lanes and those that got the 1st mark first won, and we weren't won of them.......finished 6th:(
Race 2 saw the RC move the marks around we got underway in nice 6-8 knot breeze. We had a choice to make again in this race, go left or go right after the start. Well we couldn't quite get our bow out in front of the leeward J 36 so we tacked away and went right......well that turned out to be wrong as those that continued left won big time, getting to the first mark ahead of us by 1-2 minutes.
After rounding mid pack we ran our polars downwind and made up some good time on the leaders. We did an early windward takedown to be safe and tacked rigth at the mark. We left Karina and SilverWing behind and now we were hunting down Joy.
We managed to keep up with Joy upwind to the mark and then had one last chance to get them on the last downwind run. We jibeset at the mark and were linging up our angles to the finish. We were making up ground on Joy but was it going to be enough to correct out.......Well as it turns out it was and got a well earned 3rd place finish.
Because of our terrible morning race we lost out on the podium but came away happy with our boat speed for the weekend.
Thanks to Tony - Val - Nick - Andy - Dave - Darcy for a great weekend.
The RC started the races right on time and had a fairly square course set. However the breeze was coming directly from the East, and your trusted skipper new that it was going to go south at some point, but when was the question.........
We started well, mid line on time with 2 boats to leeward of us. The breeze was light though. After about 10 minutes of racing that new breeze could be seen coming in fast to the right of us.......and all those that started behind us, including the latter divisions starting got it first....axe murder job in full effect!
Needless to say the race became a fetch back and forth with no passing lanes and those that got the 1st mark first won, and we weren't won of them.......finished 6th:(
Race 2 saw the RC move the marks around we got underway in nice 6-8 knot breeze. We had a choice to make again in this race, go left or go right after the start. Well we couldn't quite get our bow out in front of the leeward J 36 so we tacked away and went right......well that turned out to be wrong as those that continued left won big time, getting to the first mark ahead of us by 1-2 minutes.
After rounding mid pack we ran our polars downwind and made up some good time on the leaders. We did an early windward takedown to be safe and tacked rigth at the mark. We left Karina and SilverWing behind and now we were hunting down Joy.
We managed to keep up with Joy upwind to the mark and then had one last chance to get them on the last downwind run. We jibeset at the mark and were linging up our angles to the finish. We were making up ground on Joy but was it going to be enough to correct out.......Well as it turns out it was and got a well earned 3rd place finish.
Because of our terrible morning race we lost out on the podium but came away happy with our boat speed for the weekend.
Thanks to Tony - Val - Nick - Andy - Dave - Darcy for a great weekend.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Semiahmoo Regatta Weekend
This past weekend we participated in the Semiahmoo Regatta, a 2 day event featuring a 20+ mile distance race and 2 short W/L races.
Day 1 was the distance race and 5 of our crew for Van Isle were out on the boat plus 2 fill ins so we were pretty pumped for a good race. The course is pre determined, it is a square so you are guaranteed a wide variety of sailing conditions.
The start line was placed and we were in the second sequence. We tried to run the line on Starboard but just couldn't so opted for a port start.....hoping no one would dip start on Starboard and ruin our plans. Well as it turns out we nailed the start and led the parade of boats to the first turning mark just off White Rock Pier......close behind us SilverWing - C&C 115, Avalanche - Express 37, Joy - J 36, and Karina - Arcona 37 and fellow competitor for the Van Isle 360 this year and others.
Once around we started the long 7 mile beat. The question was do we go into shore for tide relief and the hope for a shore "lift" or go out and search for the forcasted freshening breeze.
Well we went out and after about 10 minutes, though we had 2 others following us, thought we better compress with the others soon. So when we did we quickly found out that the beach was the place to be as both SilverWing and Avalanche were ahead of us. We were holding our own against the Joy and Karina though so we new it was tactics not boat speed that cost us.
Well after about 45 minutes and few more bad decisions, we were about 1 mile off the next turning mark.....when the bottom fell out on us. After watching boats make continuous gains going in, we decided to try it ourselves, albeit in a dying breeze. Just then those behind us were heading out.....did they know something we didnt'.....appparently yes as within 20 minutes the breeze went southerly and those on the left - further out, were able to fetch the mark in a nice 8-10 knot breeze while we struggled up wind in 4-5 knots to get into it.......net result, we rounded 8th of 9 boats:(
So with the now building breeze we hardened up for the one tack beat to the Pt Bob bell buoy and managed to pick off Whirling Dirvish - our sistership, and Joy, that pesky J36.
We turned the corner and launched the circus tent and hunted Karina down.
This 6 mile run was great practice for our new polars to sail downwind and they didn't dissapoint. We were slightly faster than Karina managing to get along side of her and at one point pass her but then the breeze oscillated to the west and she got her lead back. We did a quick jibe and held those charging from behind off and set ourselves up for good starboard tack to the mark, with those in front approaching on port.
We managed to get inside of Karina and Kaos at the mark but needed to jibe and we didn't execute as well as we wanted and both squirted by us. Now we had a 120 TWD run to the red nun and this is where we really shine. We were sailing lower but faster than our competitors just a few boat lenghts ahead and they were worried we would try to roll them to weather....as it turned out we just sailed faster and slid by to leeward and never saw them again on the 4 mile run to the finish. We now were just a few minutes behind the Express and the 115.......
We nailed our angles on the remainder of the run and made up all the distance we had given away on the beat, and finished knowing we had a 2nd at worst, not knowing where the 1d35 had finished.
Well as it turns out, we won the race by 4 minutes on corrected time over Karina.......with SilverWing getting 3rd!
Now on to Day 2........more to follow!
Day 1 was the distance race and 5 of our crew for Van Isle were out on the boat plus 2 fill ins so we were pretty pumped for a good race. The course is pre determined, it is a square so you are guaranteed a wide variety of sailing conditions.
The start line was placed and we were in the second sequence. We tried to run the line on Starboard but just couldn't so opted for a port start.....hoping no one would dip start on Starboard and ruin our plans. Well as it turns out we nailed the start and led the parade of boats to the first turning mark just off White Rock Pier......close behind us SilverWing - C&C 115, Avalanche - Express 37, Joy - J 36, and Karina - Arcona 37 and fellow competitor for the Van Isle 360 this year and others.
Once around we started the long 7 mile beat. The question was do we go into shore for tide relief and the hope for a shore "lift" or go out and search for the forcasted freshening breeze.
Well we went out and after about 10 minutes, though we had 2 others following us, thought we better compress with the others soon. So when we did we quickly found out that the beach was the place to be as both SilverWing and Avalanche were ahead of us. We were holding our own against the Joy and Karina though so we new it was tactics not boat speed that cost us.
Well after about 45 minutes and few more bad decisions, we were about 1 mile off the next turning mark.....when the bottom fell out on us. After watching boats make continuous gains going in, we decided to try it ourselves, albeit in a dying breeze. Just then those behind us were heading out.....did they know something we didnt'.....appparently yes as within 20 minutes the breeze went southerly and those on the left - further out, were able to fetch the mark in a nice 8-10 knot breeze while we struggled up wind in 4-5 knots to get into it.......net result, we rounded 8th of 9 boats:(
So with the now building breeze we hardened up for the one tack beat to the Pt Bob bell buoy and managed to pick off Whirling Dirvish - our sistership, and Joy, that pesky J36.
We turned the corner and launched the circus tent and hunted Karina down.
This 6 mile run was great practice for our new polars to sail downwind and they didn't dissapoint. We were slightly faster than Karina managing to get along side of her and at one point pass her but then the breeze oscillated to the west and she got her lead back. We did a quick jibe and held those charging from behind off and set ourselves up for good starboard tack to the mark, with those in front approaching on port.
We managed to get inside of Karina and Kaos at the mark but needed to jibe and we didn't execute as well as we wanted and both squirted by us. Now we had a 120 TWD run to the red nun and this is where we really shine. We were sailing lower but faster than our competitors just a few boat lenghts ahead and they were worried we would try to roll them to weather....as it turned out we just sailed faster and slid by to leeward and never saw them again on the 4 mile run to the finish. We now were just a few minutes behind the Express and the 115.......
We nailed our angles on the remainder of the run and made up all the distance we had given away on the beat, and finished knowing we had a 2nd at worst, not knowing where the 1d35 had finished.
Well as it turns out, we won the race by 4 minutes on corrected time over Karina.......with SilverWing getting 3rd!
Now on to Day 2........more to follow!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Pimped our ride
So we have finished with the updates to the boat and now the testing begins. We have already noticed a significant improvement in our upwind performance in both medium and heavy cnditions so it seems we are on the right track.
More to come shortly as we have less than 7 weeks till our big adventure begins:)
More to come shortly as we have less than 7 weeks till our big adventure begins:)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Check out the little video showing some of the racing action on Sat March 19th at PRYC, Cinco de Mayo was running the Race committee that day. As Cinco is on the hard in Anacortes currently getting new bottom paint and some other modification to make her ready, safe and fast for Vanisle 360 Terry, PRYC Rudderpost editor, was kind enough to take us out on his Catalina 400 to officiate and run the race.
It was a decent day, starting the first race with SE winds of 12 to 15kn, tapering down to 5 kn at the end. We started a second race, but winds died down to 0 to 2 knots with a strong flood flushing boats back through the startline. It looked like it was going to be a really long day with Jabiru, Div 1, Vampire, Div 2, and Toucan Div 3 being the only boats still out on the water at 2:45pm. We decided it would be a good idea to shorten the course and finish potential finishers at the first mark, but no one made it. Vampire and Jabiru got on the radio at 3pm, and decided to call it a day, finally. Race for Toucan was declared abandoned.
Good day to be on the water!
Cheers...
It was a decent day, starting the first race with SE winds of 12 to 15kn, tapering down to 5 kn at the end. We started a second race, but winds died down to 0 to 2 knots with a strong flood flushing boats back through the startline. It looked like it was going to be a really long day with Jabiru, Div 1, Vampire, Div 2, and Toucan Div 3 being the only boats still out on the water at 2:45pm. We decided it would be a good idea to shorten the course and finish potential finishers at the first mark, but no one made it. Vampire and Jabiru got on the radio at 3pm, and decided to call it a day, finally. Race for Toucan was declared abandoned.
Good day to be on the water!
Cheers...
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Dates leading up to Vanisle 360
March 12th – 2011 – Delivery to Anacortes for bottom and rigging work
March 19th – 2011 – RC duties for PRYC races 4 & 5
March 26th – 2011 – Delivery from Anacortes back to PRYC
April 2nd – 2011 – BARC distance race
April 9th – 2011 – PRYC races ( 2 that day )
April 30th – 2011 – IYC regatta
May 14th – 2011 – BARC distance race
May 19th – 2011 – Round Saltspring Weekend
June 2nd – 2011 – Delivery to Nanaimo for Van Isle
March 19th – 2011 – RC duties for PRYC races 4 & 5
March 26th – 2011 – Delivery from Anacortes back to PRYC
April 2nd – 2011 – BARC distance race
April 9th – 2011 – PRYC races ( 2 that day )
April 30th – 2011 – IYC regatta
May 14th – 2011 – BARC distance race
May 19th – 2011 – Round Saltspring Weekend
June 2nd – 2011 – Delivery to Nanaimo for Van Isle
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Race 2 & 3
Raceday for March 5th dawned and we all awoke to fairly clear skies and a breeze of 5 k out of the SE.
Some confusion as to who is going to be committee boat for the day gave us a late start but with the sun being out this did not matter. Spellbound managed to get the course organized, marks set and all was good.
Course was set as 3A x2 for all Divisons and off we went. First start for us was a late one but we managed to not fall too far behind. Lots of "tactics" were pondered in the cockpit and it was decided to stay right as we had a strong ebb current ripping at 90 degrees through our W/L course.
Some tacks later we went around the top mark as last boat in Div but not far behind, opted for a gybeset and off we went. Turned out to be the right move, gained lots of ground back on the way down. Some traffic at the leeward mark kept us a bit to the outside. Again top mark gybeset and back down we made up more ground, but in the end could not get Jabiru and Danu coming in from the pin end and crossing well ahead of us. We were hopeful as we had timed about 66 seconds behind Jabiru in a 56 min race, very close - too close to tell who had his nose ahead.
Second race was much of the same. Same course, same laps, same wind, but the current had come to a near standstill halfway into the second race. Start was much better this time around, calling Jabiru up at the line, who in the end did go up as he needed "time and opportunity to turn" delayed reaction on Jabirus part as well as our part for not getting that little red thing out of a pocket. 2 well sailed laps with exceptional crewwork followed, in the end it was enough for a 3rd place finish.
the numbers:
1 sat spent sailing
2 3rd place finishes
5 kts consistent breeze out of SE
6 awesome crew
8 degrees C
18 sec separating 1st from 3rd in race 1
Check out the video from the day:
Our friend Arnie from EX, J/29 brought his GoPro HD out and put another neat video together showing the events from his perspective.
Cheers!
Some confusion as to who is going to be committee boat for the day gave us a late start but with the sun being out this did not matter. Spellbound managed to get the course organized, marks set and all was good.
Course was set as 3A x2 for all Divisons and off we went. First start for us was a late one but we managed to not fall too far behind. Lots of "tactics" were pondered in the cockpit and it was decided to stay right as we had a strong ebb current ripping at 90 degrees through our W/L course.
Some tacks later we went around the top mark as last boat in Div but not far behind, opted for a gybeset and off we went. Turned out to be the right move, gained lots of ground back on the way down. Some traffic at the leeward mark kept us a bit to the outside. Again top mark gybeset and back down we made up more ground, but in the end could not get Jabiru and Danu coming in from the pin end and crossing well ahead of us. We were hopeful as we had timed about 66 seconds behind Jabiru in a 56 min race, very close - too close to tell who had his nose ahead.
Second race was much of the same. Same course, same laps, same wind, but the current had come to a near standstill halfway into the second race. Start was much better this time around, calling Jabiru up at the line, who in the end did go up as he needed "time and opportunity to turn" delayed reaction on Jabirus part as well as our part for not getting that little red thing out of a pocket. 2 well sailed laps with exceptional crewwork followed, in the end it was enough for a 3rd place finish.
the numbers:
1 sat spent sailing
2 3rd place finishes
5 kts consistent breeze out of SE
6 awesome crew
8 degrees C
18 sec separating 1st from 3rd in race 1
Check out the video from the day:
Our friend Arnie from EX, J/29 brought his GoPro HD out and put another neat video together showing the events from his perspective.
Cheers!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Too cold for some
Well it looks like tomorrow's race has been cancelled! So hopefully we get in multiple races next weekend:)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Van Isle Competitors
The list of competitors has been posted and what a list it is.......they have managed to squeeze in a few extra boats too!
2011 Van Isle 360 International Yacht Race
Click on a Boat Name to view Boat Profile
2011 Van Isle 360 International Yacht Race
Click on a Boat Name to view Boat Profile
| Boat Name | Boat Design | Skipper | Rating | Yacht Club |
| Dragonfly | Formula 40 Cat | Richard Ackrill/Pat McGarry | -105 | Royal Victoria Yacht Club |
| Icon | Perry 65 | Kevin Welch | -69 | Anacortes Yacht Club, WA |
| Flash | OD 48 | Steve Travis | -24 | CYC, Seattle WA |
| Dark Star | Bieker 44 | Jonathon & Libby McKee | -15 | SYC/CYC Seattle WA |
| Makika | F25 C Trimaran | Jude Stoller | -10 | NWMA Seattle WA |
| Ruf Duck | F9AR Trimaran | Martyn Adams | -6 | NWMA Seattle WA |
| Abracadabra | Farr 40 | Mark Cloutier | -3 | WVYC Vancouver BC |
| GEM | Farr 40 | Jim 7 Andrew Allan | -3 | RVYC Vancouver BC |
| White Cloud | Cookson 12 M | David Lynch & Stevan Johnson | 18 | CYC, Seattle WA |
| Madrona | Custom 40 | Carl Buchan | 18 | SYC Seattle WA |
| Raven | CM 1200 | Ian Lloyd | 24 | Tiddly Cove YC, Richmond BC |
| Kinetic | Ben. First 47.7 | David Sutcliffe | 27 | RVYC Vancouver BC |
| Radical Departure | OD 35 | Andre Wojcieszek | 33 | EHYC Vancouver BC |
| Anam Cara | J-122 | Tom Kelly | 42 | Portland Yacht Club, Oregon |
| Red Heather | Olson 40 | John Gugins | 51 | SYC Squamish BC |
| Tripp Tease | Tripp 40 | Frank Denton | 54 | Comox Bay Sailing Club |
| MY-TAI | Flying Tiger 10M | Darryl Homan | 57 | SNSYC Sydney BC |
| Bravo Zulu | Beneteau 40.7 | Denny Vaughan | 57 | CYC Seattle |
| Turicum | C & C 44 | Warren Hale | 60 | VRC Vancouver BC |
| Amazing Grace | C&C 45 Custom | Tim Rann | 63 | SCYC Nanoose BC |
| Havoc | C&C SR33 | Gunnar Jonsson | 69 | Vancouver Rowing Club |
| Tantivy | J109 | Stuart Burnell | 69 | CYC Seattle |
| Astral Plane | J109 | Adam Korbin | 69 | RVYC Vancouver BC |
| Diva | J 109 | Jim Prentice | 69 | Royal Vancouver Yacht Club |
| Mojo | J109 | Pierre Martin | 69 | WVYC Vancouver |
| Merlin | C & C 115 | David Wilson | 72 | EHYC Vancouver BC |
| Cu Na Mara | C & C 115 | Francis Walsh | 72 | Nanaimo Yacht Club |
| Night Runner | Perry Custom 42 | Doug Fryer | 75 | Anacortes Yacht Club, WA |
| Dominatrix | XYacht X119 | Richard Stewart/Neil Dayson | 75 | RVYC Vancouver BC |
| KIVA | Finngulf 41 | Julien Sellgren | 78 | |
| Karina II | Arcona 370 | Jorgen Bysse | 84 | PRYC, Squamish, BC |
| Opus | C & C 43.1 | Joe C. Da Ponte | 87 | Vancouver Rowing Club |
| Kotuku | Farr 1220 | Graeme Esarey | 87 | STYC Seattle WA |
| Cinco de Mayo | C & C 110 | John Peterson | 87 | PRYC Delta VC |
| Rubato | Hanse 400e | Steve Blaine | 90 | Vancouver Rowing Club |
| Blue Skyz | Hammerhead 34 Tri | Tom Speer | 90 | NWMA Des Moines WA |
| Por Favor | Hobie 33 | John Denny | 96 | SNSYC Sydney BC |
| Ion | Beneteau 43 | Bill Jones | 114 | Nanaimo Yacht Club |
| Sjora | Sweden Yachts 36 | David Almond | 126 | THSA Victoria BC |
| California Girl | Cal 40 | Timm & Victoria Lessley | 129 | Portland Yacht Club, Oregon |
| Blue | Olson 911SE | Eric Becker | 135 | CYC Seattle |
| Dolphin Dancer | Tektron 50 Cat | David Warren | 9999 | CNC Caledonia |
Monday, February 14, 2011
Van Isle 360 - 2011
It is official, we have been accepted into the 2011 running of Round Vancouver Island Yacht Race. This is arguably one of the best races in the world and to be a part of it with friends and family is just amazing.
The boat and crew have a lot of work ahead but somehow it seems minor in comparison to the rewards we are sure to find!
Is it June yet:)
The boat and crew have a lot of work ahead but somehow it seems minor in comparison to the rewards we are sure to find!
Is it June yet:)
Monday, February 7, 2011
First race is in the books
So the first race is in the books.......well almost as there is a slight delay in getting the results out but we are confident we took second, losing out by 5 seconds on corrected to the Express 37 - Avalanche.
The day was dry, that was good, but with it came no, and I mean NO wind. I think we saw a gust that lasted just a few minutes of 4 knots tws but for the most part it was 0-3 tws, with a tricky 1.5 knots of current travelling across the fleet.
After an hour delay and much deliberation on the RC's part they were able to set a course that was as close to square as one could manage and got all three divisions off promptly!
We were in the third start along with Jabiru ( J 35 ), Avalanche ( Express 37 ) Whirling Dirvish ( C&C 110 ) and Danu ( Bene 36.7).
We called for a pin end start and went roaring towards at 1.6 knots and tide slightly against us......could we actually be early.......yup, so we bore off and gave away some height but nailed the start, crossing mid line but right on time......other's weren't so lucky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmXyscp5wPQ
Well after about 10 minutes we started to catch the slower fleet(s) and were sailing directly into there dirty air, or what little air there was. We had good boat speed and and were footing off as much as possible to keep it but eventually the skipper called to tack ( mistake #1 on the day ). We did, and got clean air but lost about a half of our boat speed and never really got it back.
We were now through the major current line but about to get into a port / starboard with another div boat so we decided to get back into sinc with the rest of our fleet...........So we tacked, and probably lost another 50 % of our boat speed, which we never really got back..........Well guess what our fearless skipper thought to do again, think! And yes tacked twice more and gave away about 3 minutes to the leaders and fell back to the rest of the pack.
However that was the last mistake we made as for the next 5 legs we sailed well - sets and mexican take downs were perfect! The course on the day was 2 - A x2 - 3 -A. With the strong right to left tide many boats didn't allow enough room at the mark rounds in the light breeze with at least a few boats having to bear away, take down the kite and beat up against the tide to round properly or better yet, brust up against the mark - take your one turn penalty and keep going in the right direction.
We slowly clawed back on the leader ( Avanlanche ). After passing the committee boat we kept the A2 up but really should have either peeled to the A3 or gone to the genoa as we seemed to lose some ground, sailing a little past the point of effectiveness of the big red circus tent.
We managed to hold off Jabiru to take 2nd place, missing 1st by 5 seconds on corrected time.
Great job by MAD DASH getting in a very competitive race and I think a good shake down on boat handling and course management.
Unofficially Avalanche with 1st - CdM 2nd - Jabiru 3rd - Whirling Dirvish 4th - Danu 5th!
A pretty good start to the season............
Thanks to Andy - Keith - Tim - Lin - Ian and Joy........great first race of the year!
CdM
The day was dry, that was good, but with it came no, and I mean NO wind. I think we saw a gust that lasted just a few minutes of 4 knots tws but for the most part it was 0-3 tws, with a tricky 1.5 knots of current travelling across the fleet.
After an hour delay and much deliberation on the RC's part they were able to set a course that was as close to square as one could manage and got all three divisions off promptly!
We were in the third start along with Jabiru ( J 35 ), Avalanche ( Express 37 ) Whirling Dirvish ( C&C 110 ) and Danu ( Bene 36.7).
We called for a pin end start and went roaring towards at 1.6 knots and tide slightly against us......could we actually be early.......yup, so we bore off and gave away some height but nailed the start, crossing mid line but right on time......other's weren't so lucky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmXyscp5wPQ
Well after about 10 minutes we started to catch the slower fleet(s) and were sailing directly into there dirty air, or what little air there was. We had good boat speed and and were footing off as much as possible to keep it but eventually the skipper called to tack ( mistake #1 on the day ). We did, and got clean air but lost about a half of our boat speed and never really got it back.
We were now through the major current line but about to get into a port / starboard with another div boat so we decided to get back into sinc with the rest of our fleet...........So we tacked, and probably lost another 50 % of our boat speed, which we never really got back..........Well guess what our fearless skipper thought to do again, think! And yes tacked twice more and gave away about 3 minutes to the leaders and fell back to the rest of the pack.
However that was the last mistake we made as for the next 5 legs we sailed well - sets and mexican take downs were perfect! The course on the day was 2 - A x2 - 3 -A. With the strong right to left tide many boats didn't allow enough room at the mark rounds in the light breeze with at least a few boats having to bear away, take down the kite and beat up against the tide to round properly or better yet, brust up against the mark - take your one turn penalty and keep going in the right direction.
We slowly clawed back on the leader ( Avanlanche ). After passing the committee boat we kept the A2 up but really should have either peeled to the A3 or gone to the genoa as we seemed to lose some ground, sailing a little past the point of effectiveness of the big red circus tent.
We managed to hold off Jabiru to take 2nd place, missing 1st by 5 seconds on corrected time.
Great job by MAD DASH getting in a very competitive race and I think a good shake down on boat handling and course management.
Unofficially Avalanche with 1st - CdM 2nd - Jabiru 3rd - Whirling Dirvish 4th - Danu 5th!
A pretty good start to the season............
Thanks to Andy - Keith - Tim - Lin - Ian and Joy........great first race of the year!
CdM
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
First race of the year
The first race of the year is quickly approaching, Saturday February 5th.......we will be working hard to tweak the rig and make the adjustments we think are needed to squeeze out that little bit extra speed.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Cinco Sailing
This is the start of the 2011 sailing season for Cinco de Mayo, a C&C 110. We will be racing in mostly local events leading up to the grand daddy of events, the 2011 Van Isle Yacht Race.
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