C22 Whitby Race Night

John could not make it (playing hockey), so it was Melissa, Chris, and I.

Wind Finder was saying that by race time, the wind would be 4-5 knots from the north.  However, we were seeing 12-14 knots from the SW when leaving the dock.  We rigged up the racing main, and #1 genoa.

As we got out to the race course, the winds were diminishing but still coming from the SW, so the course was set for 4 medium.  Lots of waves from the 12 knots wind from the SW all afternoon.

We had a great start on starboard tack in clear air, but we were bouncing in waves, and gaining on the boats below us, so we decided to tack to port away from the crowd.  After we tacked back to starboard, we realized that we lost a LOT of ground on this tack:

Yellow is our start

We should have stayed on starboard after the start, or perhaps stay on port for longer.  You can also see how we were knocked back toward the start line.  We were last to the windward mark by a couple of minutes.

Our first downwind leg was also slow as it was tough to set a poled genoa to windward in the waves.

We did a little better on the next leg on the beam, catching up slightly.

These legs were slow because the wind had dropped to the forecasted 4-5 knots.

Next upwind leg we tacked way out from the windward mark, and tacked to make it.  It was here that the wind shifted probably 45 degrees causing us to miss the windward mark and tack a couple more times.

On the last upwind leg, the breeze had shifted to the forecasted north, allowing us to sail directly to the finish line.

We finished last, but not too far behind, and got a fouth out of six boats in corrected time.

Coming back in the harbour

Able sailor Rick Watters on his Skud 18 called Watter's Edge:

True inspiration to see Rick out on the water competing with us!

Trip Odometer: 14.74 miles
Average Speed: 5.5 knots!
Max Speed: 6.8 knots
Moving Time: 02:39:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150715.kmz