I had no crew for the Lightning this past Sunday the 22nd and so I only sailed the MCs. It would not have mattered in the standings as 3 of the 6 boats were away on vacations. The new boat to the fleet still has not gone out to race with us. I arrived at the club before lunch to replace the shock cord on the MC hiking straps and to take pictures of the jib tracks on the Lightning. I am thinking of modifying the tracks or at least the car and the way the jib gets cleated.
We had 7 boats for the MCs. The wind was out of the south around 6-8 and fairly steady in direction for most of the day. It was a long course and we had two laps. It seemed to me that the committee boat was favored, so I planned on being slightly below the boat at the start. I had good speed at the start with Chris below me and Spencer on my windward hip. Chris escaped and went right having to duck below Spencer. I didn’t feel as if I could escape so I kept going until I could. Once Spencer tacked I went. I had good speed on him eventually tacking away again and creating separation. I was concentrating on good sail shape and not over trimming the main. I was constantly in and out with the main all day. I had the vang just tight at times and sometimes a little loose. Chris was first around the mark with a slight gap and then followed by Steve Bender, Brent, me and Spencer. We were all close together. I gybed away first and stayed in the middle, the other guys went farther to the east on starboard before gybing. I was sailing lower and about the same speed and therefore got past them. Chris stayed in front all race and I was able to stay in second. There was a good battle for 3-5 between Brent, Steve and Spencer with Brent winning and Spencer getting in the middle. It was a 40+minute race.
The wind was little lighter and with the course so long, Chris started signaling for a 1 lap race. We were all happy to go along with that. Same basic direction with the committee boat slight favor. I did not time my start quite right and was sandwiched between Brent and Steve with all three of us late by 15 seconds. I looked behind and saw Chris shoot up by the committee with speed. I was able to tack away from Steve and Brent, but I was a little slow. At the mark it was Chris followed by Brent, Steve, me and Spencer. All with slight leads on the next boat. Brent was the only one to give Chris a challenge all race. I was able to create separation from Spencer, but could never catch Steve.
The third race saw a slight shift of the wind to the east so that the pin was favored. I saw Chris going for a pin start. I came in on starboard with speed and so he had to duck below me. He was still able to cross the other boats. I tacked soon after and crossed everyone else though it was close with Steve Bender. Chris and I crossed once with me having to duck him. At the mark, Chris was again in the lead with me a few boat lengths behind. I tried to stay close to Chris and blanket him some. I don’t know if I sailed some of the waves better or what but I was able to close the gap on him. He had protected the inside, so I had to give him room at the mark. A soon as I could I tacked away and he covered. We did this 2 more times before we separated. After the last tack back onto starboard it looked to me like it would be drag race to the finish with Chris headed to the pin and me headed to the Committee boat. I was able to beat him by a ¼ boat length. I am not sure I have ever beaten Chris from behind like that before. It felt good to win a race again.
The fourth race started about the same as the third, though this time I was a little late to the line and Chris port tacked the whole fleet again. I also tacked onto port and ducked a few boats. I started to get a great lift on port and I could see it was lightening up on the right. Once the lift dissipated I tacked and went up the middle. I was able to maintain my speed and stay in the wind. Steve Bender went way left and rode a nice puff into the mark to round first. I was right behind him. Chris sailed himself into a hole and was far in the back of the fleet. Steve and I both gybed to ride a puff down the middle. The next three boats went farther to the east. I saw Spencer go all the way west and Chris stay west but not as far as Spencer. Steve and I gybed a few more times riding shifts in the middle. I saw good pressure on the west so I gybed back to port to try and protect myself against Chris and Spencer. I had to go behind Steve and then yelled at him to stay in the pressure. I guess he didn’t hear me as he kept going to the east. Spencer was now far west. Chris caught the pressure first and came down on me. Once I got the new pressure I almost tipped as I was not positioned in the boat correctly. I was able to stay in front of Chris and Spencer was coming in fast from the west. Steve was now with the east crowd and far away from us. I got to the mark first and called that Chris and Spencer had no room on me. Unfortunately I neglected to put the starboard board down and slid away as I was rounding. I corrected and then started to head up. I didn’t see Spencer come inside me when I did that and so I headed up and hit him. He had no rights to be there even though I was the one with the bad boat handling. Consequently he had to perform penalty turns. Chris was right behind Spencer and since Spencer did not tack away right away to do his turns I was able to create separation on Chris. Once Chris tacked to port I was able to cover him without much trouble. Another win for me.
It felt really good to have a good day on the water with good results. I had a 2, 4, 1, 1. Chris had a 1, 1, 2, 2, so he still won the day. For the season and 10 races, Chris is clear ahead with 9 points after 2 throw outs. There is only 6 points separating 2-4 with Brent on 21, Steve B. on 23 and me with 27. This could be a battle for second. Both Brent and Steve have shown much improvement this year. With Bob Cole and William Hudson also battling for top 5 spots during races the points could get interesting as the season winds down through August. Both Bob and William are traveling with the E-Scow a lot this year such that they won’t be a threat for season top five.
No racing next weekend as the E-Scows have their regatta and I will be in Baltimore for an English Premier League soccer match. My favorite team, Tottenham Hotspur, is playing Liverpool FC for a preseason warm up. It should be awesome.
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