Forecast: winds of 7 from S (increasing through evening to 8 or so) with gusts of up to 11
Observed: fairly light winds (4-8 knts) from W (over the ridge), shifting to coming from S (upriver) as the night went on. A few patches of better wind (8-12 knt). Wind was very shifty early on, but eventually stabilized direction. Flat water.
Game plan: Initial plan was to play the gusts. On the water, playing the shifts proved very effective at first, but once the wind stabilized focused on boat speed.
Results: first race I started 1 minute early, and had to circle back and started 4/4 place. By paying attention to the shifts (and not losing speed on my tacks) I was able to tack to take advantage of about 6-8 shifts and made up positions to round the first mark 2nd behind Ken E and Corrine C in their Albacore (we were about the same boat speed upwind, but they could point a heck of a lot better in the light air). Held position for rest of race.
Second race I had a better start and rounded upwind, gybe mark, downwind mark and upwind (again) in 1st place. Rudder downhaul broke though, and the mainsheet got tangled around boom on second downwind leg (fairlead was broken). Ken was able to get inside me at 2nd downwind mark. I should have slowed down and got inside him, but...
Anyway, Ken able to get to finish line before me for the upwind finish.
So two 2nd places. Considering the conditions, not bad, but this was a small fleet.
Lessons learned: don't sail with a broken boat. Pay attention to the shifts. Start of race sequence starts 1 minute after AP goes down, not when AP goes down.
No comments:
Post a Comment