WNR - 07/14/10

Crew: Brian, Seth, Bob & RW
Winds: WSW, avg 8 kts, 3-12 kts, gusts 14, lulls 3
Weather: Clear, Temp 71 F; Baro 29.94
Current: ebb - North Hill 1315, flood to begin at 2000
Start time: 1810, 05:00 into ebb
Start/Finish: just East of Seaflower
Course: s/f–I–s/f *2; Distance: 4.5 nm
Shrouds: +2,+3,+2, could have slacked off to near base on second beat

We motored out in a light rain. Bob & Brian put their weather jackets on momentarily, but the storms stayed harmlessly ashore all evening.

There was slight delay of the start for the laying of a wreath with a moment of silence in memory of Spence Leech, a perennial Mudhead & Race Committee member.  After a course adjustment due a wind shift the program commenced with the first warning shot at 1805.
Port was obviously favored, so we approached from the pin side ducked a few sterns and hardened up crossing on the line at the gun with speed, for very good start, pin side of mid-line. Wunderdog (J24) eventually rolled us to windward about half way down the course.  Rather than tack, we freed up and continued to the layline.  Tacking would have led us into more traffic, while continuing increased the likelihood of overstanding.  We rounded on Salud’s stern, slightly ahead of Plain Vanilla (J22) with a good set, initially sailing a bit high off of the J22's lee quarter, then bore off for a 155 TWA average to the leeward mark.  With occasional winds into the low teens, we made our rating on this leg.

The leeward mark was a bit crowded (four boats), though we faired well as the last boat. We had an inside overlap on Brer Rabbit as Looney Tunes was finishing a 360 abeam off us & the mark. Rabbit exited with Tunes on her tail, while I squeezed between them and the mark and quickly bailed out to starboard.

We tacked out on starboard one more time (with no traffic issues) to insure a short layline and a minimal overstand. The rounding and set went smooth, but the wind was dying, making for a slow last leg against the current.

In the progressively dying wind, the leg times were:
1^st Beat: 13 minutes
1^st Run:  17 minutes; against a 1 kt avg current
2^nd Beat:16.6 minutes
2^nd Run: 22.5 minutes; against .7 kt avg current

 Link to chart