WNR - 06/09/10

Crew: Seth, Bob & RW
Winds: SE 5, SW 10 -18 kts
Weather: overcast light rain
Current: flood - North Hill 1529
Start time: 1800, 02:31 into flood
Start/Finish: between Horseshoe & GLP
Course: s/f –IR–LM–N–s/f; Distance: 4.2 nm
Heavy #1
Shrouds: Base

It was just three of us as Brian was on a business trip to Kentucky. The breeze was averaging five knots in the accompaniment of light rain at start.  I mistakenly set up on Salud’s weather hip near the committee boat as we approached the line in very light air.  A wiser decision would have favored the pin-end farther up current, a move I shied away from worried about being rolled. As it was, we had a clear lane, yet a longer distance to sail. Cosmic got off to a great start at the pin end and led around the GLP buoys in clear air.  

Tacking to port around GLP 22, we soon found ourselves being rolled by the Class 2 & 3 boats.  Those in the trailing classes that continued south a bit farther on port to clear GLP 22 faired much better once they tacked for Intrepid as they were closer to the fresh clocked breeze, lifted not only by the breeze but by the current also. We had to throw in another tack & duck a stern to get clear air. Had we ducked another, we would have appreciated a bit more air. Out in the distance, Cosmic was the first to round.  It was slow going the remainder of the way to Intrepid. 

I had my head up in the rounding, and should have stayed high, rather than bear down.  We recovered and jibed immediately for a port reach all the way to the leeward mark, where we doused and hardened up on port a while prior to tacking for the favored starboard up the west windward side of North Dumpling.  On our third port tack we overstood, underestimating the current boost.   The wind was now in the high teens and I regretted returning the shrouds to base earlier in the day. The loose rig gave me a handfull of helm, and the wish for another person on the rail.

We rounded in a jibe set for a rousing ride, with a short starboard jibe short of the finish.  As we completed the jibe, we noticed Art Shaw's "Redline" ahead nearer the finish on her side, with a number of boats converging to assist.
Link to Greg Gilmartin's writeup

In spite of many our mistakes and being quite wet from the rain, we had a very enjoyable time.

Link to chart a
Link to chart b 
Link to results

* I chose the Heavy #1 genoa (due to rain) for the ease of folding to take home for drying, rather than anticipation of high winds. Glad I did, as I don't relish exposing the newer one to those conditions.