It was a very very light wind day.   Nevertheless, the cranes were working and the water temp was up to 60 degrees so 16 boats launched and with the help of the flooding tide slowly made their way up the river.

The winds were forecast to be light and from the NW and eventually clocking to the east and picking up.  But they were not.  Any puff of wind that was came from the WNW.

The RC decided to spare the sailors trying to get all the way to Haines Point where the winds were no better, and set up a course on the other side of the airport landing pier.    That despite only four feet of depth but with the hope that as the tide continued to flood the depth would get better.

The first race was declared a W-2 but the RC decided to shorten at the leeward mark with the hope the wind was going to clock to the north.   The RC reset for a more northerly wind but, alas, it came back to the WNW.  So race 2 was a port tack start and a reach-reach course.  Oh well.   The RC was still hoping for that north wind to fill in for a third race, but it was not to be and the sailors were sent home around 2:30.

RC was Nabeel Alsalam, John Hart, and Henry Rood on the 19 and Michael Bors and Peter Pietra on the 17.

2022_Spring_3_Albacore

2022_Spring_3_Buccaneer

2022_Spring_3_I20

2022_Spring_3_Laser

2022_Spring_3_Lightning

It was a cloudy chilly day with air temps in the 50s.   That, cranes that don’t work, a small craft advisory (winds in the teens with gusts up into the 20s), and a scary email about the dangers of falling into cold water (about 52F) kept sailors away.

Nevertheless, Stew Harris, Barney Harris and a team of I-20 sailors took the two skiff out and set up Olympic courses for the two Lightnings, one Albacore, and one Laser.   We all started together.  The Lightnings did not fly their spinnakers.

The wind was a combination of a westly off of the airport and a northerly.   In race 2, Frank Gallagher in Lightning “Resistance Is Futile” couldn’t make the pin and so was very late starting but nonetheless got to the windward mark first because he worked those two winds well.

Barney followed us around and took video with commentary about our sail trim.  That will be posted soon for your education and amusement.

Tyler Philips and Laura Windecker in Albacore “Free Ride” had a classic capsize to windward at the gybe mark in race 3 as they were bearing off for the gybe and were hit by a puff.  I think they should have delayed their gybe until the boat was up to speed in the puff.  But, hey, Monday morning quarterbacking is easy (and fun).

We are using the 3-minute sequences and with higher winds and flapping sails it is easy to miss the sound signals,  So I used my watch as backup.

The results aren’t very interesting with only 1 Albacore and 1 Laser so I won’t post just yet.

The day started off with no wind, but at 1100 it started to build and built quickly.  By the time of the first start at 1130, it was in the upper teens and gusting into the upper 20s.

Jim and Susan Graham were on the signal boat and Dan Miller and Kailyn Lucey were on the mark boat.   They gave us one T-2 race and we all decided that was enough and sailed home.

Only four boat made it to the start area.  I was on a Lightning and we had the vang, cunningham, and backstay on very hard to flatten the sails and the traveller down (like easing he main without letting the boom rise).  The jib lead was back to open up the top of the sail and keep the bottom flat.   And we still had to ease both sails to keep the boat flat.

On the reaches when a puff hit, we’d plane and the bow sprayed water like we were on a Laser and Farley on an Albacore did the same but more often.   Our GPS’s recorded a top speed of 12.6 mph.   Exciting.

Afterwards, we had a nice cookout.  Aaron Boesenecker had the grill fired up and Melissa Morgan/Phillippe brought down delicious marinated chicken, homemade humus, and leftover goodies from her birthday party.

(Photo by Kaitlyn Lucey)

Results:

2022_Spring_1_Albacore

2022_Spring_1_Lightning

Changes for the Spring Series:

We are using RRS Appendix U  or the 3-minute sound-based starting system.   Flags are optional, but I’m guessing RC will put up class flags so people know which fleets are starting and maybe postponement, OCS ,and General Recall flags if necessary.

So you don’t need to set your watch but don’t stray too far from the starting area.