ACE Whitby 100

Could not go on ACE for the Whitby 100, I had a family funeral to attend on Saturday afternoon.

ACE had seven people on it:

• Mike (driver)
• Jenny 
• Ashley
• Peter
• Mark
• Tony
• John Scurr (from WYC)

Said good-bye to them at the dock at 7:30pm:

It was blowing close to 20 knots from the north west, and was going to build all night.

When I wrote the sailing instructions, I didn't consider that the fleet would be starting in the dark.  Will avoid this next time.

Looking at the GPS track, ACE goto to ABYC at 22:30; under two and half hours to over 19 miles!

That's over 8 knot average!

Talking with Mike, Peter, and John, they passed the ABYC mark without seeing it, hoisting the spinnaker on a starboard tack.  After 35 minutes and 5 miles, they gybed the spinnaker to port.  They were screaming along at over 10 knots sustained, maxing out at 13.6 knots.

It was a very dark night, cloudy, no moon, and rain.

They got around Niagara at 01:17.  Thats a little over 2 1/2 hours to cover 24 miles.  That is a 9.6 knot average!

They hoisted at #2 after the douse.  Too much sail for the wind, but were screaming along close hauled at 7 knots.  They carried it for 3 miles (25 minutes).  They decided to to a head sail change from the #2 to the #4  They would allow them to drive the main more.  Peter was on the bow organizing the dropped headsail on the deck, when Michael had the tiller knocked out of his hands, and the boat did a crash tack and almost broached.  Michael did a head count, and found the boat VERY slow and no steerage.   The boat crash tack 6 or 7 times, no steerage.

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They were wandering all over the place!

It was dark, everyone was wet, the boat was soaked (mast collar, leaking windows and jib tracks), and many were sea sick, especially below.

Michael figured something hit the rudder and damaged it, so he started motor and withdrewl, motoring back to National.  After a couple miles, the debris on the rudder cleared.

Everyone figures, we ran in to a large patch of weeds from the Niagara river.  It wrapped around the keel, and when it came off, it hit the rudder, causing ACE to lose steerage.  Plus there was a 5-6 knot current coming out of Niagara that was counter acting the rudder.

Out of seven boats entering the Whiity 100, four withdrew.

It was a tough race, but a good test of offshore sailing.

Trip Odometer: 113.8 miles

Moving Average: 6.2 knots

Moving Time: 18:18;39

Max Speed: 13.6 knots

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