Weather: clear, Baro: 29.58, 78 F
Current: flood - 1523 North Hill
Start/Finish: GLP Starting Area
Course: s/f–DM–s/f Bearing 240, Distance: 4.7 nm
Shrouds: +0, +1, +1
With Salud no longer on the scene, Dan Lettiere is boatless and we were fortunate to have him along last night in Seth’s absence. Our arrival in the starting area did not afford much time for a tack to tack comparison, though hardening up on a short starboard & a couple of head-to-wind checks determined starboard to be favored, and more so when we factored in the flood. (190, plus a near 10 degree current lift should put us near to 40 degrees off the rhumbline.
Short of the gun we ran down the line, Cosmic & Mayaro ahead and leading Sans Souci, Breakin’ Wind and Jolly Mon. Hardening up at the gun, boosting myself up onto the combing I lost my footing, luffed up and almost tacked, losing what little momentum we had on 'Sans Souci'. She eventually rolled us to windward as Mayaro sandwiched us to port. As short clearing tack, ducking both Breakin’ Wind & Jolly Mon’s sterns took us to clear air where we continued offshore for the deep channel and more current, with enough southing to weather Seaflower. Everyone in our class except Cosmic & ourselves tacked & passed well north of Seaflower.
Cosmic was first to round, and we tacked a bit later than I’d liked to give room to Jolly Mon and rounded on her stern well ahead of San Souci. In spite of the short layline, we had a reasonably good set and bore off to favor the east side of the course; Brian on foredeck, Dan working the guy (pole) & Bob on the gas pedal (spinnaker). Skirting the south side of Seaflower and two jibes later got us into the leeward mark on starboard for a leeward drop, rounding with ‘Ursa Minor’ on our stern.
After tidying up, a tack past Ursa Minor’s stern took us out for a similar beat as the first. Nearly abeam Seaflower, we took a short tack when rolled Patriot; then a belated final tack to port, to get safely above overtaking ‘Looney Tunes’. We did crack off slightly on the approach due to the chop on the south side of Seaflower and to lengthen a layline a bit.
We rounded on Looney Tunes’ stern, but chose the north side of Seaflower this time for smoother water and less current relief. There were times as in the first downwind that Sans Souci made gains, yet we maintained our lead to cross nearly a minute ahead.
Note: Looking at the GPS chart, on both beats (approximately 1810 & 1846), it is interesting to see what may be additional current lift as we sail off the 30’ contour line