2014 Fall Series - Regatta 4 - 10/25/14
Race Summary - 10/25/14
Racing at IMYC
has entered the Atomic age!
We began using a new method for race timing utilizing “atomic clocks” (actually the
clocks just receive a radio signal several times a day from the US time
standard which uses an actual atomic clock). At the skippers meeting we
had atomic clocks from Rendezvous, from my home, four that I had ordered from
Amazon and two that Ron had ordered all side by side. They all displayed
the same time within a fraction of a second.
The new process
requires much less work from the committee boat, making it possible for the
committee boat to race while still having accurate race start timing and finish
times. Utilizing a pre-selected VHF channel (usually 71), about ten
minutes prior to the race the committee boat announces the course and the race
start time. He then polls the racers to confirm that they have the
information correctly. Once this is done the committee boat has no
other role until after the race, so is free to participate. Each racer is
responsible for recording their time as they finish. After the race the
committee boat polls the racers for their finish times. I found the
process to be very workable. I hope the others did too.
Racing at IMYC has entered the Atomic age!
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| Great to see Celerity on the water again |
We had a so-called "new" racer competing today. John Bomar raced his Sonar 23 Bonny Wen here back in the 80s. Over the last year he has crewed with Roxanne and Bill aboard Lil Girl. Today he is taking the beautiful Islander 32 Celerity out for a test race.
With wind from the west, mark "J" was set, and "D" was used for one end of the starting line. This allowed the flexibility for windward legs toward J, B and F if the wind changed directions.
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| Course layout |
Race 1 Course: D-B-D Wind: W @ 6
Most
of the fleet was in tight formation for the start. The season has provided many lessons that it is very
hard to make up for a late start - especially on a short course. The better-than-usual
wind for a race had the eight boat fleet approaching the start at a healthy 4+
kts for a change. Fun, and a great opportunity to practice boat handling.
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| Pipistrelle leads Rama and No Lizard off the start in Race 1 |
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| Most of the fleet marches off to the southwest |
Rendezvous' long waterline and 11 kts
apparent wind helper her eke out a small lead as the fleet worked its way
upwind. Rama had boat speed as good as anyone, but she was
not pointing as high as the others. Rendezvous and Rama reached
the top mark first with No Lizard and Lil Girl barking
at their heels.
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| No Lizard and Lil Girl round "B" |
Rendezvous rode a gybe too far south and
opened up a hole for Rama. Rama left the mark swiftly wing and wing
and headed directly downwind toward the finish, making up ground on Rendezvous. When the wind lightened a bit and shifted more southerly it put Rama in perfect position.
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| By this point Rama had Rendezvous on the ropes and was headed for home |
No
Lizard popped
her chute and Lil Girl winged it right behind her.
Ron had his hands full single-handing with a spinnaker… and a wind shift or
two. While he was struggling with the chute Lil Girl cruised
past her.
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| No Lizard having fun with the beast while Lil Girl heads toward the finish line |
Rendezvous gybed back toward the center, but could
not cover the extra distance quickly enough to stay ahead of the swift Rama.
For the last 500 yards Rendezvous tried to take Rama's
wind, but Rama is good at playing keep-away.
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| Lil Girl passed No Lizard on the downwind leg and held on to her lead |
Rama finished first, 20 seconds ahead
of Rendezvous. Lil Girl finished next with No
Lizard just 16 seconds behind. In this race those who
headed dead downwind prospered over those who gybed wide. Race 1 to Rama.
Race 2 Course: D-F-D Wind: W @ 9
Lil
Girl had an
excellent start. Rendezvous could not fetch the port end of
the line and had to tack onto port just below the line, losing speed and then had to duck Lil Girl and Communion.
No Lizard was also on port about two boat lengths ahead, and was just barely able to cross in
front of Lil Girl who, in the spirit of an open
learning environment, reminded Ron that Lil Girl had
right of way.
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| No Lizard works her way upwind on the first leg of Race 2 after dodging Lil Girl's anchor |
Celerity got knocked below the starting line buoy by a
well-timed wind shift, and again had to dodge the starboard gaggle driving
toward her.
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| Celerity finally gets things sorted out and sets her sights on Rama |
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| Pipistrelle, Lil Girl and Communion march to the north |
Pipistrelle's shallow draft allowed her
to line up on the north pin and head toward the north shore in less
than 5 feet of water, away from the crowd and off to a great start. She
sailed north toward Lizard Shoal, getting pretty close with less than
three feet of water but had good clean air. The others had to tack away.
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| A couple of images stitched together showing Celerity, Lil Girl, Rama, and Communion giving chase after they tacked to the south. |
Though
the wind was fairly steady there were a few shifts and most of the fleet seemed
to stay toward the center of the course. Rendezvous led No
Lizard toward the left side of the course, and was feeling pretty
good about her lead until No Lizard tacked and they began
approaching. That lead turned out to be only a boat length
when No Lizard passed close astern.
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| No Lizard is giving Rendezvous a run for her money. |
Aside:
The voice in my head (you know the one – your own personal tactician and second
guesser that won’t shut up) told me it was clear that No Lizard was
actually ahead. I have to give her time but here we are even.
Crap. Now what? I have a “faster” rating but I am not pulling away
upwind, which means I’m losing ground. And he she will fly a spinnaker on
the long downwind leg. Oh yeah, and I was also beaten across the finish in
the first race by Rama - another boat that I have to give time to. This group of
sailors has really improved their skills during the year or so that I've been
off the course. This is gonna be fun!
Continuing the upwind leg Rendezvous tacked to port to cover No
Lizard and they worked their way toward “F”. Rendezvous slowly
began to pull ahead of No Lizard, but would it be
enough? The relentless Rama was closing the gap.
Rendezvous rounded “F” first followed
by Rama then No Lizard. The breeze had
picked up a bit so Rendezvous changed her strategy and
headed dead downwind, ready to gybe, head up and bring the wind forward as
soon as the speed dropped. Fortunately it did not.
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| No Lizard finally got the chute sorted out and crossed the finish ahead of Rama and Lil Girl. Ahhhh the joys of single-handing |
Pipistrelle also had spinnaker problems,
with it twisting around the head stay. She tried but could not get it
corrected so half way down the leg she gave up and went wing on wing.
Eddie was getting tired of fighting it. Rendezvous held on to her
lead. Race 2 to Rendezvous.
Race 3 Course: D-B-J-D Wind: W @ 8
Rendezvous had to drop out due to commitments at home. Thanks to Rama for taking over committee boat duties for the last race and to everyone who helped get the buoys set and retrieved.
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| The last known image of Communion before she started the third race |
Pipistrelle utilized her shallow draft to pass close to island "B" ahead of Bogy - a lead she held for the rest of the race. After rounding the final buoy "J" Rama was in the lead, closely followed by No Lizard and Lil Girl.
On
the downwind leg, No Lizard got the chute up OK. But a wind shift more
to WNW caused some problems. There are normally 2 types of spinnakers,
symmetric and asymmetric. On that final leg, No Lizard flew a novel,third type of spinnaker called an 'hour glass'. It is something she doesn't
want to fly again. Unable to correct the problem, but with it still half
filled, she left it alone and finished the race. Lil Girl beat No
Lizard to the finish by 11 seconds, and Celerity was only 37 seconds
behind them. But Rama avoided the drama (...sorry) and cruised in
two minutes ahead of everyone else. Race 3 to Rama.
The
racing out here just keeps getting more competitive. The proof is in the numbers. Today there were SEVEN times that boats finished within 45 seconds of each other, making for
some close, exciting racing. FIVE of the final corrected time positions were
decided by less than 10 seconds. And EVERY boat had at least one
corrected time that was within 30 seconds of another boat. Just one missed
wind shift, one bad tack or a little bit of unnoticed sail trim could have changed
the results quite a bit.
Overall the day goes to Rama, but only by one point over Lil Girl. Congrats to Julie and Bob for battling out the win, and to everyone else for making it so hard for them.
Kudos
to John Bomar aboard Celerity - Not bad for having no engine, on a boat he had never
sailed, with jammed roller furling and with a crew who had never sailed before. I
can't wait to see what it will do when the bottom is clean.The Numbers
