SYC Grand Prix

The Seattle Yacht Club's Grand Prix is an invitational regatta held at the end of the season and open to those who won races throughout the year.  In 2012 we talked our way into the event to get some good racing experience.  In 2012 we were outmatched, outmanned and outclassed since we didn't have the gear or crew to compete, and we finished last in our fleet every race, and most of the time it wasn't even close.  For 2013 our goal was to qualify outright, which we did with wins at the STYC Race the Straits and Fall Regatta.  Further, our other goal was to not finish last at this year's Grand Prix.

For 2013 we had significantly more experience as well as a new #3 jib and North S2 spinnaker, which is good to about 17 kts TWS.  For the three day race we had seven people lined up for Friday and Saturday, but only five for Sunday.  To put that in perspective most of the other boats in our class ran with 9 to 12, so the crew was still on the light side.  However, we were out to have fun and see what happened.

Friday (Day #1):

Shawn, Jason and Pete left the dock at 9 am and were over to Shilshoal by 10:30 to pick up crew, our race packet, and brand new #3.  We had 10 kts on the way over and were hoping it would hold.  Forecast was for light winds Friday, up to 10 kts Saturday, and 5 to 15 Sunday rising to 20 kts.  With crew and new gear on board we left the dock at 11:30 for some practice prior to the 1 pm start.  We had 5-6 kts and put up the #1 for some tacking drills, before launching and jibing the spinnaker a few times.  As the start time approach the wind faded so, as 1 pm came and went, we set about drifting.  The minutes turned to hours as the wind died off completely and we drifted with the rest of the fleet hoping for a change, but never optimistic it 

would happen.  By 4pm the race was called and day #1 went into the books without a match.

Saturday (Day #2):

We met at the boat at 9:30 and set off for the 10:30 am start with Shawn, Jason, Jeff D, Jeff C, Pete, Nick and Phil (who replaced Matt from Day #1).  We were decked out in our new SIMMS gear and hoping that Jan would take some good shots of MB and crew.  The wind was steady from the north at 6-10 kts and the SYC Race Committee set up a series of upwind / downwind buoy races.  While Shawn and I had done a series of long double handed races over the summer, the crew had only a few opportunities to work together, and most of those were four to five months before Grand Prix.  As a result it took a race or two for everyone to get their positions, timing and roles.  Each race consisted of two upwind and two downwind legs and we ran under full main, the #1 and used the North S2 on the downwinds.  We had great starts, held our own on the upwinds, and had great spinnaker sets and jibes.  While we were in contention all day, our lack of group experience and timing resulted in several small tactical and execution errors that added up over each race.  Like any other major sports playoff, the Grand Prix has all the best boats and these errors cost us precious seconds against the competition.  We finished last by a few seconds in the first race, and managed to finish 5th out of 8 boats in the second race, then 8th in the 3rd and 7th in the 4th (last) race.  Unfortunately, with PHRF time adjustments we had four eighth place finishes, missing a higher standing by mere seconds each race (largest margin back was 46 sec and the smallest was 5 sec).  Given that each race averaged one hour in length, this was respectable. 

Rounding the leeward mark in a good position - just couldn't hold it.

Monkeybones (white with blue stripe spinnaker) coming down among the competition - we need a bigger spinnaker!

Even though our standing didn't reflect it, Monkeybones was much  more competitive in 2013 compared to 2012, and we came away pleased with the results.  We parked MB at Shilshoal and looked forward to Day #3.  However, the forecast was up with north winds projected to 30 kts by the afternoon.  Already on the light side, we reached out for more crew members and Phil lined up Chris for Sunday.

Sunday (Day #3):

We awoke Sunday to rain and light winds.  We planned to meet a little earlier at Monkeybones to try out the #3 and set up for heavy air.  We were one of the first boats out on the water and had 2 kts oscillating from the W and SW with steady rain (thanks Weston for the SIMMS gear!!).  

Our SIMMS gear was warm and dry!

The water was dead calm and we all wondered how long it would take, or if the wind would build. We started off by hoisting the main and then putting a reef in it to dial in our reefing gear.  As the fleet gathered we put up the #3 and headed up north to dial in the sheets and block locations.  No sooner had we done this then ripples appeared to the north, and then the water went from gray to black to indicate the descending front.  Within 45 minutes the wind went from 2 to 20 kts and the sudden change caught just about everyone off guard.  We jibed around and flew off towards the fleet at 9 kts of boat speed in 17 kts of wind.  Among the fleet it was difficult to maneuver with so much speed and power so we dropped the jib.  As the wind built towards 25 kts steady we considered dropping out all together.  While we love Monkeybones, its an old boat with some serious deck and potential rigging issues.  Although the boat was just at CSR we decided to delay those major repairs until winter so that we could participate in the Fall Regatta and Grand Prix, knowing that we would need to avoid heavy air racing.  Now confronted by this predicament we decided to proceed with the race, but we set a hard wind limit at 30 kts.  Further, we decided to minimize rig and deck stresses so we maneuvered to a corner of the start box and put the reef in the main (glad we practiced that!).  It was general mayhem around the start with so many boats traveling in all directions at high speed and we were late to the start line, but not by much.  It was an unusual downwind start in front of Shilshoal and then a run down to Alki followed by a beat back to weather around a mark north of the start, then a short downwind run to the finish.  We started behind our fleet and, without a spinnaker that could handle the heavy air, ran under our reefed main and #3.  

Picture of our fleet starting - we are just out of frame.

Despite having the smallest sail area of our fleet we actually gained ground on many of the boats.  We watched as several boats broached and wiped out.  The smaller Melges and some of the Farr's surfed at crazy speeds across the wave tops.  Once around West Point we sailed a direct rumb line to the mark off Alki, while many of the boats drifted west, needing to keep the wind in their aft quarter to keep their rigs stable.  We used the spinnaker pole to go wing and wing and surfed the growing seas, seeing up to 11.5 kts on the speedo.  While we dreamed up pulling the reef and flying a #1 to get more speed, we knew we would be paying for it once we hit the mark in 25 kts of wind.  We jibed the mark having gained on almost everyone and were right off the stern of Shoot The Moon and about 1/2 mile ahead of What? A Trip!  As we beat back upwind, however, we were at a disadvantage with our light crew.  Shoot The Moon, with 12 aboard and most of them on the rail, was able to run flatter and point higher than our six person crew.  Regardless, MB plowed through the swells and was able to maintain between 6.5 and 8.5 kts and we curved into Elliott Bay and then followed the Magnolia Bluff up to West Point.  The wind in the bay was 12-18 kts and then grew back to 25 kts as we rounded the point in huge seas. 

El Capitan (so serious!)

Around West Point we tacked in towards Shilshoal with MB launching off six foot breaking seas, burying the bow and sending water cascading over the crew, cabin and into the cockpit.  We beat up to the windward mark and then raced home as the wind built towards 30 kts.  We finished in 7th place in front of What? A Trip! by several minutes, unsure if our time would hold. Over the radio we could hear half the fleet retiring and we decided to do the same before we broke serious hardware.  We struck the jib and headed for home.  One the way there we averaged around 9 kts under just a reefed main in 25-28 kts of wind, seeing over 30 kts twice during the run around West Point.  Looking back towards the course only a few boats remained for the final race(s). 

Final Results Here: http://www.seattleyachtclub.org/files/SYC%20Grand%20Prix%202013%20Results.htm

With the boat put away and no more races on the 2013 calendar, it's time to reflect.  Looking back, we set out in 2013 to become better sailors and racers.  We upgraded Monkeybones and started the long process of building a crew.  We entered into a number of races and finished respectably in just about every one of them, and even managed to win our class at the RTTS and Fall Regatta, and won second at Northern Century.  We qualified for Grand Prix and were competitive.  While we didn't know it at the time, our time in the Sunday race (#5) was good for 7th place out of 8 boats in our fleet, meaning we didn't finish last!  It was a great Grand Prix and another small step in achieving our goals while having a great time in the process.  Thanks to all who participated with us in 2013!

Great Crew and Great Times!

STYC Fall Regatta

Monkeybones spent most of September on the hard at CSR getting the rig tuned and the bottom flared and painted.  After many years of neglect it was time to take care of some missing chunks in the keel as well as strip the rudder back to the gel coat to remove some big bubbles.  With MB back on the water we entered the Sloop Tavern’s Fall Regatta as a warm up for SYC’s Grand Prix, scheduled for the following weekend.  The crew needed practice and we needed to work some kinks out of the rigging.

The Sloop’s Fall Regatta is one of its only true buoy races and the organizers even warned the skippers that they may need to “pack your chutes twice on a race” (STYC members are renown for not wanting to work too hard during these races).  The Fall Regatta was run at the same time as the Race Your House event so the organizers were juggling 84 boats on the water with six separate starts.  MB was in the fifth grouping which consisted of all the fastest boats in the fleet.  With a PHRF of 81 we were the “slowest” boat, with a Macgregor 65 being the fastest in our group with a PHRF of -30.  The regatta consisted of three races and each group started at five minute intervals with ours going last.

Despite an enduring high pressure over the Pacific NW, we’ve been stuck with fog and low clouds for a week with no end in sight.  Luckily we had some wind on the water for the race and had between 6-8 kts for most of the day.  We were lightly crewed with Matt and Phil joining Shawn and Jason.  Fortunately the light winds meant we didn’t need the weight on the rail, and in fact the light load probably helped us.

The first race had us beating upwind from the start off Shilshoal to Spring Beach and then running downwind to the anchor buoy near the entrance to the Ballard Locks before beating back to the start.  Shawn and Phil did a great job strategizing and putting us into the right spot for all three starts.  For the first race everyone started on a starboard tack and we picked the inside line by the committee boat and used our big #1 to outpoint everyone up the course, quickly assuming the lead among the five boats in our class.  Once we had the advantage we tacked on top of the fleet in a series of covering moves as we worked upwind.  About halfway up the course we saw we were getting headed and tacked out, which proved to be one of our few tactical mistakes all day.  Most of our competitors stayed inside and we gave up a ¼ mile by the time we came back inside.  However, we then stayed inside and gained back what we gave up, rounding the mark in third place behind the J/35 Bergen Viking and the Macgregor.  The Macgregor launched its chute and disappeared downwind while we reeled in and passed the J/35.  At this point we had a tactical problem because we were suddenly in front of nearly everyone and hadn’t taken note of the course prior to starting out.  There were two smaller boats from the earlier start heading towards a mark inshore while the Macgregor, which was in our grouping, appeared to be headed to West Point.  We got out the binoculars and noticed that they had hour glassed their spinnaker and, we learned later, were trying to untangle it (it took them so long they wound up abandoning the first race).  As a result we sailed downwind waiting to see if the J/35 would jibe into shore and followed them once they did.  We rounded the mark in front of them and, light handed, did an exciting race rounding and headed back upwind to the finish.  We covered the J/35 and finished a ways in front of them.  We crossed the line and received the shotgun blast to signal that we had line honors! 

We circled around the finish waiting for the other boats to finish in our class and, after about 15 minutes, were called over to the committee boat where we were notified that the J/35 was protesting the race, claiming that we entered a box near the mouth of the channel to the Ballard Locks, which is apparently a keep out zone.  We have no recollection of this, and it had no bearing on the outcome of the race.  We protested the protest and were told to talk to the J/35, which we did and even offered a peace offering of a ½ gallon of gin.  They declined saying “we can’t be bought off”.  Apparently they "weren't happy you blew by us on that spinnaker run".  We are a friendly bunch and enjoy friendly competition, but their actions rubbed us the wrong way.  When all was said and done we finished nearly seven minutes in front of the J/35 and, from our perspective, their “protest” was their way of trying to win at all cost, which is not the STYC way.  As a result it became our day long mission to burry the J/35 in the upcoming races.  Further, we renamed this keep out zone the Bergen Box and even dedicated a song to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H0-0Py-v3k.  

Fired up and with a clear mission we charged into the next two races, which were short 2.5 mile courses that consisted of a short upwind to the mark off Golden Gardens and then down to the red lighted buoy and back.  Tactically we wanted to stay in the back eddy circling in front Golden Gardens so we started pin high and on port to hug the shore and avoid the incoming flood tide.  The rest of the fleet however wanted to start at the other end of the line on starboard to keep the right of way advantage.  While we liked our strategy it was going to make for an exhilarating start.  With Phil on bow and Shawn driving we found great lanes and Matt and Jason manned the sheets to keep us powered while maneuvering like crazy to avoid the onslaught charging our beam.  This strategy worked beautifully and, once clear, we outpaced the fleet and rounded the windward mark in second, being passed by a C&C 115.  We held our own downwind and pinched through the leeward mark in tight quarters and finished in second place, six seconds behind the C&C.  The third race was a near repeat of race #2 but this time no one was close to us at the windward mark, and we held the lead through to the finish.  Despite being the “slowest” boat in our fleet we came away with two line honors and a second place (by only six seconds), which put us in first place overall (either the protest was never formally filed or the commodore ignored it).

Results can be found here:  http://www.styc.org/race_info/Fall%20Regatta/2013/race1.htm

Most importantly, we finished the second race 1:26 and the third 2:40 in front of Bergen Viking.  Matt and Shawn swung by The Sloop on the way home and picked up our fine trophy!