Wednesday 06/22/05

Mudheads Wednesday Night ? Race 5, June 22, 05 Crew: Brian, Bob, Seth & RW Current: flood 1738 at Ram Island Wind: SE at 6 to 8 kts For our second race of the season, the RC set up near Intrepid Rock for Course [3] setting the windward (drop) mark at 170° at .7 for a distance of 2.8 nm. Following a bit of a RC delay, our class finally got off the line at 1815 hours. We were late to the line, with most of the class reaching along the line on starboard to windward of us. After a short tack to port for clear air, we found a good starboard lane on the windward hip of the leaders Jolly Mon, MiniMaxi, Tumult & Get Fuzzy. Half way up the course Tumult, MiniMaxi crossed ahead of us on port for the right side of the course. Next came Get Fuzzy with Jolly Mon the last and first to the weather mark right on the port layline. In clear air, with starboard obviously favored, we delayed the port crossing to give just enough time on the layline for the set. Tacking for the mark found us directly behind Get Fuzzy and leading MiniMaxi & Tumult.

We bore away on a good set and eased out towards the current. MiniMaxi slowly overhauled us short of the leeward mark and tacked back to starboard shortly after the rounding. Following a leeward douse, we made the mistake of following Get Fuzzy out on port to about a third of the way up the course. The left side paid off of for us on the first windward leg; we should have followed suit on the second. We need to develop a routine of discussing the strategy for the next leg, which may limit such excursions. In the meantime, the crew did a smooth job of preparing the spinnaker for the next set. With a bearaway set directly behind Get Fuzzy, we soon swung to the long jibe on port, passing them about third of the way down course. The wind then began its normal Wednesday night fickleness. Get Fuzzy picked up some fresh air nearer the channel caught and passed us. In retrospect, we should have followed a similar course as the first run with more current & wind in our favor out in the channel. A final and somewhat tricky jibe to starboard (avoiding being swept into the committee boat) got us both across the line with GF nearly two minutes ahead. Fourth boat for boat, we corrected to second place.

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