Finally!l

Dave Sincox photo
Shields fleet 3 actually had a race Saturday! Well, about 3/4 of one, but it was still pretty sweet.

Conditions started at around 10 kts, but built to the 20's, all out of the west with some good puffs. I recall us, 196, 130, 45, 67, 249 and 39

We wanted to start to windward of the pack, but as close to the pin as possible, and mostly pulled it off. Upwind speed was only ok, as we weighed around 550lbs (me, Niki, Katie and Jen W) and had the old sails on, but we were looking ok, leading the pack right and waiting for a rightie. It never really happened, and as the breeze built it went left. We looked like crossing 196, our nearest competitor who was on our windward hip, but after we tacked he leebowed us, and our tack was a bit off so we had to tack away. Next time we came back it was in front, but we overstood a bit and 196 made it to the mark before we did. We figured out later that we were tacking through about 75 degrees, which is higher than I'd expect, but I guess it was breezy and flat, and since we were light I was feathering early.

On the downwind we initially looked great, as we sailed lower and got a nice spot even and 6 lengths to leeward of 196, but then a very strange puff came down, and both 196 and 130 shot past in it, while we were light. It was a tough one, as the breeze was about 100' away, but never made it to us! Setting up for the rounding I wanted to round behind 130, as we can usually make bottom turns well, and this time worked out pretty good as me had a nice rounding and ended up to ww of Mike. Both he and 196 were in pinch mode, so we tacked out and went left. Overstood (again!) and started following 196 in on port lay. Once we made enough forward on them, I started to lay down so they couldn't tack and force us further out. As we approached the windward mark, we asked for room, and rounded first, only to find that the RC had finished us at the top mark! We were looking forward to the run, and were a bit bummed to only get that 1 race in, but still had a good time. We had no idea who crossed the line first, as we didn't even know there was a line, but 196 was sure they got it. The RC apparently, called us first, and last thing we heard 196 was asking for redress, so no idea how that turned out! It was great racing any way it shakes, and it sure felt like summer started for me that day!

Setup and lessons learned: we were at 48" on the headstay, which was good for the lulls but a bit much helm on the way in (crib reports 33kts, but I think we probably were in 25) uppers were at 850ish, lowers around 400. The mast was straight as a die, so that seemed like a good setting. Sailing with 3 girls, while fun, is not the fastest way around the course, and I wish we'd found a 5th for the day. We're working on getting a decent way to tack the jib in that much breeze with Katie, and are going to try cross sheeting next time, with the handle in the top of the winch, as the 2:1 is not enough for a 120lber! On the way back in, we tried supertwist in the main, with the trav way above center, and to my surprise it worked a lot better than I recalled from my days trimming. Guess Jen knows a thing or two about that sort of thing!

Great day to be sailing!