First Wednesday Night of the Summer Series July 13, 2005 Wind SE at 8 kts Current: ebb Ram Island 1621 Course: Start to Ram Island R20 & return, 4 nm. Crew: Brian, Bob, Seth & RW The RC set the starting area offshore of the western end of Groton Long Point so as to make R?20? directly upwind. We got a great start a quarter way down the line in clean air. After a couple of minutes we flopped to port for the deeper water in mid-channel. Tumult passed to leeward of us halfway out, then tacked and crossed, forcing a duck on our part. We then had a 14-minute hitch on starboard, followed by a two-minute port tack to the layline line. Just short of the layline we ducked a three-boat formation of J24?s.
With a good set we rounded fourth in class inside Sanibel and behind MiniMaxi, JollyMon and Cosmic with GetFuzzy on our heels. Sanibel had a wrap allowing us to pull clear for a while, then jibing they crossed our stern as we continued short of Ram Island Shoals for less current. After jibing we found ourselves in clear air wind varying 7 to 10 kts as we shirted along the 20? depth towards Groton Long Point. This seemed to pay off compared to the majority of the fleet farther south in the deep water and adverse current, a course pursued by Get Fuzzy & Sanibel. Far ahead JollyMon appeared on a course similar to ours with MiniMaxi & Cosmic a bit farther out. A back eddy boost was appreciated a couple of minutes short of the Point. Passing GLP22, the current began to impact as we crawled to the finish fighting the urge to freshen up (towards adverse current) for speed versus nearly DW in shallower water and the pin end to finish. We crossed sixth in class boat for boat and corrected to ‘first’ thanks to the top three boats from the Spring Series receiving rating hits of 30, 20 & 10 respectively, and finished third considering the standard ratings.
Wasting no time, we hustled back to Spicer?s for it was the night of the Mudheads Mid-season party.
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