The Long Distance Race

I didn't have time or energy to drive to Austin for a 2 day regatta this weekend. Instead I was subject to the allure of Seabrook Sailing Club's Long Distance Race in Galveston Bay. This is an annual dinghy event with a total distance of about 12 miles. The start is staggered by handicap so that we would all cross the finish at the same time in a perfect world. The allure for me - competition, exploring the bay, and endurance.

The turn out for the race was less than expected - maybe that's because most people were scared off by the forecast. Wind forecast was 8-12 knots which is actually perfect - any lighter and the race would be long and boring, any heavier would be exhausting. A chance of thunderstorms in the forecast so I checked the radar map. It looked like the storms would pass to the north of Galveston Bay. The Sunfish would start first, followed a minute or two later by the Lido. As the only Radial, I would have the third start 10 minutes and 7 seconds after the Sunfish. The Lasers would follow me another 10 minutes later.

The course was shown to us on the chart, but I wasn't sure I would recognize the marks when I saw them. We were using fixed navigation marks - start line to Clear Lake channel mark 2, then the low range mark just past the ship channel, back to channel mark 2 and finish. I was hoping there would be boats in sight ahead to show me the way. I think there were only two Sunfish, but maybe there were three. One of them got off to a great start, while the other seemed to struggle. I don't remember seeing the Lido start. I crossed the start line at full speed on time and then tacked on to starboard for the reach to channel mark 2. I had by then lost sight of the first Sunfish.  It was a nice reach and I was hiking, but the wind was fairly steady so it was manageable.

As I approached the channel mark, the number 4 became visible on it and I realized I had been heading for the wrong mark. Mark 2 was even further out so I didn't sail very much extra distance detouring to 4.  As I was distracted by all of this, a gust hit and I capsized. Clearly I am out of practice, although I did manage to climb over the top onto the centreboard. To no avail, as the boat tacked while I was righting it and promptly capsized on the other tack, dropping me into the water. At least the water is warm here. I eventually got back up and on my way, but the second Sunfish was gaining on me. It started out to be a lovely downwind from channel mark 2 to the low range mark. The wind was just a touch too light to really surf the waves. Looking back at the club, the Lasers were not yet in sight but a nasty looking black cloud loomed over the shore. Hmmm...this is consistent with the radar map, it should go along the coast and pass north of the bay. They say the storms always go around the bay.

I decided this would be a good time to drink some water. I had two water bottles clipped to the hiking strap line and one tied on with a bungee. I struggled to free one with one hand and eventually had to put the mainsheet between my knees to allow both hands on the job. I freed a water bottle, but the carabiner got a little messed up. I drank half of it and tried to clip it back in with one hand. The wind seemed to be shifting so that my dead run was oscillating with by the lee on starboard tack. The second capsize of the day occurred because I was trying to clip my water bottle in. The bottle fell out and started floating away while I righted the boat (in one go this time). I decided since it was still in sight to attempt water bottle retrieval - water is a very important thing in this heat. I made several attempts and actually touched the bottle 3 or 4 times, but it is like bobbing for apples and I couldn't actually grab it. The second Sunfish passed me and I knew the Lasers wouldn't be far behind so I abandoned the water bottle and got back in the race. It was one of those poisonous BHA ones anyway.

Sailed on and managed a jybe when the wind said it was time and then the reach began. As the wind built I began to plane. At the beginning it was shifty and I was throwing my body in and out, and driving the boat under the wind to stay flat. Occasionally a wave would slam into my body, dousing my face and blinding me. I didn't really know where I was going, but it was approximately where the Bayport channel meets the ship channel so I was heading in the direction of freighters and tankers and keeping an eye on the giraffes. Once the giraffes were lined up, the mark should be in sight and about 25 yards on (what's a yard again?). Then the rain began and visibility diminished. I could see a really tall structure and I was heading for that. The boat was surfing almost out of control. I kept the main in tight to keep the centre of effort close to the mast - I didn't want a repeat of San Francisco's crazy reaches. I was flying along and kind of enjoying it while vaguely concerned that a wrong move would lead to a violent tumble. As I got closer, it became apparent that I had been aiming for the high range mark and I altered course to starboard for the low range mark, now in sight as a shadow in the downpour. The storm began to get serious. I had never sailed this part of the bay before and the chart had shown all kinds of marks in the neighbourhood of this one. I would need to jybe to round it, and jybing would be difficult. The boat would need to be by the lee at top speed and I would need room but I wasn't sure what was there. Streaks of water were being blown off the tops of waves and the rain was stinging my face so I stopped. I needed to wait for this to calm down. I went into irons and waited. As I drifted closer, I could make out the safety boat next to the mark.

2009 Icebreaker and D5 Championship

Saturday

I was tired and hoping it would not be windy, while at the same time fearing defeat at the hands of Hannah in light winds. In the morning, races were postponed on shore and I napped. As we were having lunch, the wind picked up and we hurried out after lunch. Full rigs started, radials started, and then things started to calm down. X-class started. Full rigs drifted, radials drifted. I had a great start - moving quickly over the line in clear air closer to the pin while the rest of the fleet bunched up at the boat end in dirty air. My lead was lost for a while as the wind died and puffed on the others. I was patient and focused and saw the shift and adjusted quickly, quietly regaining the lead. I was pulling away when they sent Ian out on the red rib to say that the race was abandoned. Certainly the sensible thing to do, but disappointing. Lesley was willing to keep racing to the mark, but she was unable to gain ground. Another false start, this time I wasn't at the line. The race was abandoned quickly and we spent the rest of the afternoon drifting and playing in the puffs until the race committee abandoned at 3:30.

Perhaps it was a sign?

Temperature: an optimistic 1 degree Celsius
Wind speed: 20 kph gusting to 40.

Today is the last weekend day in October and that means the last chance to sail the reservoir until May 1. The morning was written off for lack of wind and sub zero temperatures. I arrived at the res early afternoon after sitting in nasty traffic jams and realizing that I forgot my roof rack to take Fionnlagh home afterwards. Definitely not worth going back for it in that traffic. Assembled the dolly, which I have been taking home to avoid theft or vandalism and unloaded the boat. Rigged part way, got dressed up in slightly damp sailing gear, and then tried to finish rigging. I had everything done except the vang and the mast tie down. Strangely, the mast tie down seemed too short. Or was the mast too tall? Hmmm...maybe something is in the mast step? But what? Did Janet drop something in there yesterday? Weird. Is the mast really not in the step? Wear marks are visible on the mast above the top of the tube. Definitely not in right. Wiggle, wiggle. Nothing. What the? So I leave the boom attached and lift the rig off. Remove sunglasses and peer into the mast step. It occurs to me that I left water in the mast step after yesterday's sail and it has been below zero since then. Yup. Ice. I squeeze my hand in but can't reach it. I look in the car for a long stick and come up with only a wrench. Then I realize there is an easy way to get the ice out. I grabbed a water bottle and poured water into the mast step. Then refilled the bottle in the lake (brrrr!) and poured again. The ice floated to the top and I scooped it out. Then I spent five minutes warming my hand back up. I don't think I've ever had ice in the mast step impede my rigging before! Maybe it is too cold to go sailing? Is there enough wind to make it worthwhile? It was not nearly as wild as yesterday but there were some serious gust patches out there. Speed could be found.

Ready to launch. The boat patrol were taking the arms off of the dock as I launched. Hopefully they wouldn't take the dock out. They usually left this one until last and the other docks were still in.

It was a good sail. Although it was cold, it was still a beautiful, sunny day. The reaches were fast, planing in the gusts. It was gusty and shifty like yesterday, but the wind strength was less. I was cautious as I didn't want to fall out of the boat again and I didn't want to capsize. With the sun in my eyes and glaring off the water on port tack, I couldn't see the gusts coming. Still managed to stay upright today. With the spray from planing, I did get wet. I lost feeling in my fingers and toes after about 45 minutes. The last 15 minutes getting back to the dock, my left hand hurt it was so cold.

I arrived at the dock just as the boat patrol was towing it away. Thanks a lot, Janet. The wooden dock was still there, but closed and the ramp jammed up with the grey dock cubes and heaps of driftwood. Not an appealing option. The Opti dock was still there so I sailed over. I've never used the ramp there. It was clear of driftwood so I docked and hopped out to make sure the ramp could be used. It appeared to be long enough. Next hurdle: could I get the dolly over there and get the boat back to the racks?

The dolly fit between the posts on the bike path, but only just. It was quite a long walk. Longer on the way back with Fionnlagh in tow, up the hill. At least I was getting warmed up. I left Fionnlagh on the grass in front of the club and went in for dry clothes.

I felt that I should have some sort of ritual for putting things away after the last sail. I thought about when I might sail next. If Fionnlagh goes to Victoria again this winter, then I should take all of the lines off in preparation for the trailer ride. If not, then I'm just wasting my time. It felt better to take all of the lines off and quite deliberately make sure I didn't lose any of them. Sort of a way of saying goodbye to the season. Even though I want time for other things now, I will miss sailing around the reservoir.

Red Boats Go Faster

Last night I packed Fionnlagh up on the ASA trailer and sent him off to Kingston (via Halifax). I really felt sad that it would be two weeks before I could sail him again.

Fortunately, Wayne is on call this week and can't sail. He was kind enough to offer me his full-rig. I was pretty excited to see how I would do against the guys in the full rig, but it wasn't to be. Super gusts were rolling through and there were white caps everywhere. Kevin offered me his radial bottom section and I accepted - no sense in sailing horribly overpowered.

Wayne helped me rig and then we went up to make sure race committee had what they needed. By the time I launched, the wind had died down. And it continued to die. Bill sailed by and told me I had the wrong sail! I even thought through how to change it out as quickly as possible - but even that wouldn't be quick. I was stuck with it.

Billowing clouds loomed all around the lake - maybe the wind would be back. And back it was! By the time we started the first race I was glad for the Radial sail again! By the second race I was overpowered with the outhaul, vang, and cunningham cranked. It seemed to me that I wasn't able to get the vang very tight- the lines didn't look as they did on Fionnlagh. Approaching the windward mark, I tacked and my lifejacket was caught on the mainsheet under the boom. I couldn't sheet out fast enough to recover in the heavy wind and over she went. I became convinced that Kevin's bottom section was flawed. He mentioned that he thought the boom was lower on the Radial than on the full-rig. That shouldn't be, but maybe his gooseneck was mounted too low. I righted in a tangle and then flipped right back over. Eventually I got back up - after most people had passed me! I made up ground on the downwind. Lizie's vang was too loose and she was having trouble keeping control. A number of others capsized and I was able to pass them. At the leeward mark I gybed as I rounded. The gybe was late and I was reaching as the sail came across, resulting in another capsize. Lizie yelled encouraging words as she chicken gybed and then roared past. Back up and sheeting in as fast as possible, I knew I had to be good to win this race. I kept the boat flat, sheeting out instead of pinching but being careful not to foot, and tacking on the shifts (and keeping low when doing so!). We still had another lap around 6 and 3. It was close, but I edged her out in the end.

Can we start again, please?

I began the day mildly sore all over from yesterday's water workout. I also had a headache developing. I was hoping it would disappear, but it actually got worse as the day wore on. Today was cloudy with some sunshine. The wind was very light to begin with, with puffs and shifts and built a bit over the day. It was never consistently all out hiking condition.

The first drill was start and stop on the whistle. I think I was doing better at this than I have in the past. The key was Erin's reminder to bear off a bit before sheeting in and then roll, sheet, flatten and steer to close hauled. The timing is really important. If I flatten after fully sheeting in and steering close hauled, I don't feel I get as much power as if I'm off the wind a bit. I need to spend more time playing with this and practicing to get it right. I think it would be best practiced on a day with light, steady wind. On the downwinds back to the start, we did a bit of gybing on the whistle. Once again, my gybes are in rough shape. I'm too chicken to roll properly and I was catching the mainsheet on the transom frequently. Tomorrow I should work on that if there is some time.

The second drill was lining up on other boats for a start. They split us into two groups. It wasn't clear to me why or how, but about half of the radials were with the full rigs and the other half were with the Bytes. I was with the Bytes and it was a nightmare - although good practice because the same situations occur frequently on the start lines in Alberta. We spent a lot of time waiting for people to get on the line. This was complicated by the fact that there was only one end to the line and the wind was shifting. The main frustration was the people constantly trying to squeeze into tiny holes and ending up in collisions. I was having trouble manouevering through all this. I did not defend my position well, I often ended up sailing backwards, or stalled in the wrong place, or drifting down onto boats. I really lacked focus and the enormous time it took to get every one lined up caused my focus to drift further.

After lunch I was one of the first few back on the water. Dave E, Hannah, and I sailed out to the end of the bay. I tried to use this to relax and focus me and get back into the feel of the boat. Then we all gathered for death circles for a while. With a much larger number of boats than yesterday, it was quite crazy. I was cautious at times and aggressive at other times. Notably, I was not stearing with my body enough and not rolling enough. I really need to focus on that againg. It's becoming almost automatic on windward mark roundings but there are so many other times I need to think about it. I had an interesting moment this afternoon at the windward mark. I was a little too close but managed to wiggle round moving the boat with my body. I'm not sure how, but it seemed to some naturally.

In the afternoon, the split was better with Bytes separated from the rest of us. The first drill was a start line with a race to a line a short distance away. The goal was to accelerate off the start a get in front. Anyone not doing this gets buried in bad air. There were variations on this for hours. Sit on the line, 2 minute starts, mystery starts, pin end boats go and try to squeeze in at boat end. At times I was good at finding a position and I was defending that position at times. It really was mixed afternoon. When I had space below me on the line, and no one rolling me from above, I could accelerate well and get a good start. Drills like this with this number of boats are rare and so I'm glad we spent so much time on this one. It's only practice in these situations that teach you to put it all together.

We wound up the day with some practice races. The Gatekeeper drill. Start, through a gate, round windward mark, round gate, windward, through gate, over the finish and round up. Again, I was really inconsistent. I had a few good starts but lost some ground on the upwind. There was one particularly unhappy upwind where I was pushed to the left by three different sailors. Steve R. was the last one and he pushed us way out past the lay line for the mark. By the time he finally tacked, there was a train of boats heading downwind from the windward mark. Steve headed into them, hoping to find a hole to go through. I followed. Big mistake. We were both on port tack and had no rights. As we approached, the boats bunched up and although I found a hole and crossed in between two boats, I then found myself with a hole too small to cross in front of two more boats. The only way to avoid collision was to head downwind and this I did suddenly, but surprisingly well. I really expected to end up in a collision. Glad to avoid a collision, but in a really horrible situation. pinned with one boat upwind and two downwind, going in the wrong direction. Blah. Even slowing down wouldn't help as there was a whole train of boats behind. The hazards of a short race course. It wasn't possible to go back and round the mark, so I just kept going. I think the only time I could have prevented this situation was when I was heading for Steve on port. I should have ducked instead of tacking, but I didn't see him until it was too late. A question I hope I never need to know the answer to: could I have sailed past the mark on the wrong side and somehow gone round? Would I have to dip the layline on the other side?

This generally wasn't one of my better days, although it did have a few good moments. Mentally, I wasn't in the game today and physically I was a little tired and the headache didn't help. How do I maintain the focus I had yesterday?

No sense of place or time

Today was spectacular. After a frustrating week at work, I was ready to strangle someone. Since that's not really acceptable, I was looking forward to being aggressive on the water.

We began with 3,5,7 windward leeward tack and gybe drill. My tacks were going well and I was flattening the boat quickly. The gybes felt rusty and need work. I was also overshooting the windward mark a lot.

Then we did the spin drill with a 360 round the middle mark. This was chaotic, but went reasonably well.

Particularly memorable was when we were doing practice starts and short races. I was finding a good position and accelerating well. The only problem was that I was over early most of the time. We had a lot of general recalls, but there were times when I was over early and we just kept going. I think there were also times I thought I was over early but wasn't. In any case, I was accelerating well and maintaining speed over the course. I beat every one in one race, including about 5 full rigs. I was consistently beating the radials and some of the full rigs. I was a little concerned that being over early was an unfair advantage, but the coaches seemed to think I was sailing well and the advantage couldn't be maintained if I wasn't. They were glad to see me being so aggressive as last year I was consistently getting buried. It's partly a matter of the mood I was in today, but it is also due to increased confidence in boat handling and starting. The over early stuff was simply because 10 seconds is longer than I think, and the boat accelerates quicker than I think. Maybe my sense of place and time was thrown off by the fact that yesterday I was in the office in Calgary and this morning I landed in Victoria and was on the water before 11am. I mean, it's a whole different time zone out here!

We also did an interesting partner drill. At the windward mark, one boat was to sail the layline and the other was to tack in to lee-bow that boat. I was partnered with Max and I'm not sure that we got the positioning right even once, but I get the idea. If you are tacking in and can't get on the lay line, leebowing someone is the way to go. It should push you out in front of them and if done outside of 2 boat length circle, gives you the right to push the windward boat up so that you can shoot the mark and take the inside. The downwind leg was about speed control. Generally I was rounding windward better and was faster downwind than Max. I gave him feedback on vang and mainsheet but I still had to sheet in or over steer to slow down. At the downwind mark we were to approach side by side and the outside boat was to slow down enough to pull in behind the inside boat and then hopefully squeeze up coming out of the rounding to get upwind of the inside boat. Very good practice and a great demonstration of just how much this matters. I need to work on rounding tighter. The problem was mostly gybing too late and not approaching the mark close hauled. I need to think back to Noah's drill from the summer and position myself accordingly. On the upwind leg, we were to cross tacks and port tack boat was to duck starboard. This was frustrating as we often went too long on each tack or had interference from other boats. Max capsized at least 4 times during this drill. Usually I was coming out ahead on the crosses. This lead me to try to slow down which meant sloppy sailing. Let the boat heel, the the sheet out, that's all slow. This is a better drill if you have well matched partners.

When I was good, I was really, really good...

...and when I was bad, I was awful.

Frozen Assets, Day 2
BigWaveDave forecast 15 knots today and I think he was pretty close to the mark. Environment Canada forecast sunshine and 10 degrees and it really felt like they were wrong.

It was a bit windier than I would like on the way out to the start. There actually were waves. Ooops. I should have studied up on wave sailing techniques. I didn't sail very far up the course prior to the start because I felt tired and sleepy and wanted to save energy for the race. These were full hiking, grommet to the boom conditions. I would watch the Laser full rig start to see what the gents thought was the favoured side. Anne said she thought left was favoured. That made sense to me because the wind was coming over land from the NE and the left was not sheltered by the island.

I decided on a midline start because I wanted to go left and avoid crowds or sliding into the pin. This was lining up to be an excellent strategy. Lots of space left, 46 seconds to go. Adjust the controls, 46 seconds to go. Sadly, not lightning fast adjustments but a stopped watch. Argh! No way of knowing when the horn would go as the last signal was at one minute. I reached into position behind the line and watched the other boats. I would trust their timing. Unfortunately, it was already too late. As I checked, the other boats were sheeting in and nearer the line. I sheeted as fast as I could and was clear enough that I didn't get buried in bad air, but I was a boat length or two behind the line at the horn. I was sailing reasonably well mid fleet. I don't recall a lot of the details of the race. I do remember the first downwind leg.

As I approached the gate on Starboard tack, a full rig came in from Starboard on a Port tack heading in front of me. I called starboard. Unbelievably the guy responds by saying that he is trying to get to the other gate. He hits me, not hard, but enough to slow me down slightly. I tell him he still has to obey the rules of the road. He continues interfering and not giving right of way. I steer windward of him and say protest. He says whatever and sails to the other gate. Now a couple of the boats I passed downwind have passed me back. I work it upwind, sheeting to keep the boat flat, hiking hard. On the last downwind I had managed to be neck in neck with 4 other boats. Now a couple of strategic errors. First, I did not check out the position of the gate relative to the finish line in advance. Compounding that, I was outside of two boats for the left gate mark and the finish was a reach left of there. Even worse, there was a boat to windward of me. This is all hunky dory when we are on starboard heading for the gate. As we approach, though, everyone wants to gybe. The trick is that gybing loses you the right of way unless you are inside the two boat length circle. Given the pinwheel, I don't think I was ever within two boat lengths of the mark. I need to study the rules on this situation. the guy inside of me looked as if he was going to gybe. I saw that the angle was just good enough that I could sail by the lee to the finish so I yelled starboard. He didn't gybe. Then we were all round and a gust came through and we are roaring neck in neck to the finish. I'm not sure, because it was impossible to see but I think 2 of the 3 beat me over the line. Why? because the hand the inside which was shorter and when I sailed by the lee, they were in my wind. Blah.

I was determined to make up for that with the second race. I was in serious danger of losing my third place standing from day 1.

more later...
Regatta photos