Protection Island 2013 Short Course Race Summary

The forecast was for 10-15 kts, rising to 15-25 kts, and Mother Nature fully delivered on her promise.  Shawn, Jeff (x2), Matt and Jason met at the boat and were off the dock by 7:30 am.  We set the main outside Elliott Bay Marina in 15-18 kts of wind from the SSE and it built from there.  We rigged the boat for a downwind run to Double Bluff with our new North S2 spinnaker, that was rated to 20kts.  Rounding Westpoint the wind was a steady 20-22 kts and we were doing 7-8 kts through the water with just our main up.  We joined the boats gathering around the start and checked in with the committee boat while we finalized our strategy.

Given that this was our first race of the year, with new crew members and a wind that was building towards a gale, we were a little conflicted about the strategy.  "Go Big or Go Home" is a great strategy, but if it wipes out your boat, gear and crew on the first race of the year, then it was going to be a short 2013 racing season.  With only five on board we were under crewed to fly our spinnaker in general, and definitely so in those conditions.  That was assuming we didn't blow out the spinnaker since we were above its rated capability.  As a result, we put up the #3 and opted to play it safe and run down wind sans spinnaker, knowing that this would effectively eliminate us from the competition. 

We watched the Long Course start with the big boats maneuvering for the line, then crossing it and launching their kites.  Mayhem quickly ensued.  We saw Wasabi's asymmetrical fill, then the boat broached and their spinnaker immediately blew out.  Others were having similar problems.  This reinforced our strategy to play it safe.  Shawn maneuvered MB and we had a good start on the inside of the line.  We headed dead downwind towards Whidbey and the boat accelerated up to 8-9 kts.  A large percentage of the other boats, including everyone else in our class, launched their spinnakers.  Surprisingly, they weren't going much faster than we were. 

At this point we settled in for a long run in building seas and building winds, watching many boats struggling with their kits, with several crashing / broaching along the way.  About an hour into the race we heard a radio call from Wasabi, notifying the race committee that they had lost their main sail and were out of the race.  They were clearly having a bad day, having lost at least $20k worth of gear.  Our only casualty was a jib sheet car that had broken under the wind forces.

About halfway down the course we were still holding our own, surfing big waves and hitting 10-11 kts in a steady 23-25 kt wind.  We were even with several boats in our class, but others were pulling away.  At this point Jason decided we needed more sail area (Go Big or Go Home...right?) by upgrading from the #3 to our #2 jib, which is old and flexible, not to mention larger, and would do better wing-and-wing.  As the Foredeck guy he set up the #3 in the starboard headstay track originally, so he and Jeff C hoisted the #2 in the port headstay track as part of a jib peel.  With both jibs up, we pulled the #2 across and briefly had the #2 and #3 flying wing and wing (on port and starboard respectively).  It made for quite a sight with us rocketing downwind flying two jibs on the bow - probably the highlight of our day.  However, as soon as we'd reached this state, the wind decided to crank up to 30 kts (!!!) which put our skipper in a bit of a panic because the boat was barely controllable in the 3-4 ft surf.  We also weren't sure it was entirely legal...  Jason and Jeff went forward and struck the #3, no small task in heavy air and seas.

We continued downwind with the wind speed dropping as we approached Whidbey Is.  Once it was down in the 15-20 kt range we decided to reach into the mark and set our asymmetrical, which worked great.  As we approached the mark we went to set the #3 before striking the asym, but unfortunately at just that moment there was a lull and the asym wrapped itself around the headstay and hourglassed.  It would not self correct itself so we spent several long minutes trying to get it down so we could put up the #3 and keep going.  This effort took us past the mark and we were forced to turn around and beat upwind, just to round it and attempt to catch the fleet...

Going into the mark we were last within our group, but not by much: 200-400 yards.  Unfortunately that distance turned into a lot because of our untimely asym issue.  We got things back on track and proceeded to claw our way back to Shilshoal.  Because of the quick downwind run the tide was still going out by the time we turned around, so all the boats were hugging the shore and engaging in tacking drills.  We fought our way home against the current and winds that ranged between 17-23 kts, with the winds being stronger the closer we got to the line.  We crossed the line by 4pm, meaning it took us 6:45 minutes to sail 36 nm.

Results can be found here: http://www.seattleyachtclub.org/files/SYC%20Tri-Island%202013%20Results.htm

While our finish position sucked, our fate was pretty much sealed from the start.  It was a great training ride for the boat and crew and we accomplished the prime directive: have fun!  We look forward to this adventure again.