Six boats ventured to
Coronado Yacht Club to compete in the Fall Dinghy
Regatta on South San Diego Bay. Those who raced were
treated to two days of terrific sailing conditions and
great wide-open courses. Saturday was particularly good
with winds in the 15 to 18 knot range. For some of us
it was a first opportunity to experience the thrill of
full-on wire reaching with the chute up - wow, what a
ride!
Unfortunately, a couple of teams met up with some hard
luck before the start. Carol Gallagher of the HOB team
hurt her foot in the rigging park on Saturday morning so
John and Carol were unable to compete. We wish Carol a
speedy recovery. John Huebner, sailing TAZ with big
Bill McKinney, lost their jib halyard just before the
start of the first race. The wire parted at a nicopress
fitting. Fortunately, John and Bill were able to keep
the mast up with no damage to the boat. So it shouldn't
be long before we see TAZ out again.
Saturday saw three races, with the South wind strongest
in the first two. Team Lucky (aka Team Old Farts) with
Dan Downing crewing for me had good starts towards the
favored port end of the line and seemed to have good
speed on all points of sail. We managed bullets in the
first two races. Channing and John Billings had good
battles with Kitty beating TGIF in the first race and
TGIF taking Kitty in the second. The reaches in these
races were awesome, with the boats just flying through
the water with chutes up and crews on the trapeze.
The third race was a bit lighter, with winds more in the
12 to 15 range. Dan and I talked about trying the right
side of the course as we both figured the wind would
shift more to the West, but we eventually decided to
stay with what had been working - start at the leeward
end and work out to the left. However, I had a bit of a
senior moment just before the start and we wound up
starting on port at the starboard end, so we went
right. The boats that went left fared better with John
Billings rounding the weather mark first with a pretty
good lead, then us, and Channing not far behind. We
launched the chute, jumped on an instant plane and began
to chase Kitty. Well we closed really fast and I
debated whether to go above or below her. Below - maybe
get trapped by her blanket. Above - maybe get in a
luffing match. Above or below? Above or Below? Oh Sh*t,
we're about to run over her stern. At the last possible
instant we headed up to go over her. During the process
the boat heeled over, and unbeknownst to us at the time,
our spinnaker downhaul fouled Kitty as we flew by. We
carried on to finish first, but subsequently retired due
to our foul. Channing passed John when Kitty had
spinnaker troubles at the gybe mark.
Saturday evening the club provided Pizza and beer to all
contestants. We had a great time telling battle
stories and recounting the great rides.
Sunday had a number of crew changes. Mike Pollard
brought out Sanchez with Karl as crew. Bill McKinney
went over to crew for John Billings, and Bill Jenkins
teamed up with Channing on TGIF. There was a lot of
excitement in the rigging park as it seemed the wind was
up in the same range as Saturday. There were some fun
spinnaker reaches on the way out to the race course.
However, by the first start the wind died to the 10 to
12 range.
Sundays first race turned out to be very interesting.
The R/C signalled course 11, which was a simple
triangle. We managed a good start towards the port end,
worked the shifts and wound up with a good lead at the
weather mark followed by TGIF (with Bill steering), then
Kitty and Sanchez. We set the chute and aimed for the
reach mark. TGIF came around the weather mark and
gybe-set. Huh? Where were they going? John B came
around the mark and did the same thing. Soon it became
clear they were headed to the leeward mark. Finally,
Mike and Karl came around and went on the same course as
us. WE sailed on around the gybe mark and to the
leeward mark. Bill and Channing sailed directly to the
leeward mark and rounded just behind. Bill initiated a
tacking dual and managed to pass us on the way to the
finish. But as we crossed the line, neither one of us
got a gun. John and Bill sailed past the line and went
on to do another W-L lap. Then Mike and Karl crossed
the line.
It turns out the committee had given us a triangle, and
just didn't see us finish. So we got first. Bill and
Channing thought we were on a W-L course so they took a
dnf. Mike and Karl sailed the proper course and got
second. John and Bill though the course was double W-L,
so they too took a dnf.
The final race was in light air around 10 knots. We
again had a good start and were able to play shifts and
extend our lead. TGIF (with Channing steering this
time) and Kitty had some serious battles and luffing
matches, with TGIF coming out on top and Sanchez not far
behind.
After the boats were put away we went into the clubhouse
for the trophy ceremony and were again treated to free
pizza. The club also showed a high-quality video of
Saturday's races taken from the committee boat. There
were some great shots of 505's wire-reaching at high
speed, and other shots of upwind trapezing and tacking
for everyone to critique.
The final results are below. Everybody agreed that
South Bay is a great place to sail and that next year we
should put the CYC Spring, Summer and Fall regattas on
our schedule.
Results:
SIB11Ret (6)1110
TGIF321dnf (7)215
Kitty232dnf (7)317
Sanchezdns(7)dns(7)dns(7)2427
HOBdns(7)dns(7)dns(7)dns(7)dns(7)35
TAZdns(7)dns(7)dns(7)dns(7)dns(7)35
