By Claudia Kondracky
The remnants of Cindy bought lots of wind and fantastic sailing to both Branford and Pine Orchard this weekend. Sunday's race was hosted by Pine Orchard Yacht Club. They set up a windward / leeward, twice around race for the spinnaker boats. After a short postponement the race got started. The wind had shifted all the way around and for a while the committee boat was between the strong currant and a new breeze. Once the breeze set in, the course was nicely reset.
The boats started in order of slowest to faster boats. We were the second start. The pin end was heavily favored, it would be hard to cross on starboard. Mark made the decision to cross on port and being the slowest boat in our fleet, this always makes me edgy. We got a great start and were going full speed at the gun. We crossed the fleet and saw that Golden Rule started a minute behind us. We were beating up to the first mark but felt a bit overpowered so we threw in a reef to the main. We also decided to fly the reaching chute. Once we made the mark we shook out the reef and tuned the boat to go down wind. It was a fun ride and the chute was pulling us nicely. Once we came down to the next mark, the committee boat notified every one of the course change. Now the mark was at 270 degrees. We had changed our head sail to the number two and we felt comfortable with that. Heading up to the next mark I watched as the wind lessen. It was a lot of work, but we put the number one back up after a mild tear.
We also decided to fly the light air chute. It hasn't seen much light since we got it last year. The wind was below 9. Several of us abroad take turns flying the chute. I was watching the other boats and the wind indicator. I watched as the wind built to 15. It was then that we decided to do a spinnaker peel. The peel went smoothly and the wind built. We saw some round ups and a double dip by Euphoria. The race was minutes to being done for us. The committee boat was on station but not anchored. A wise move on their part. We had a mild brooch, but nothing too bad. I was flying the reaching chute and felt the boat getting away from Mark. I let the chute out about 6 feet and we soon came back into the groove. Euphoria crossed the line right before us. It was then that they decided to do a windward brooch. These are particularly ugly and they seemed to come through it with their spinnaker still intake.
It was early so we headed back to our home port of Westbrook. It was a pleasant ride and the crew relaxed.
If anyone went to the party and would like to report on it, let me know.
1. Dr. Evil
2. Secret
3. Go Dog Go
4. Skibereen
5. Flat Line
6. Sagacious
7. TBD
8. Fury
PHRF 2
1. Meltemi, and one-second behind was Spectre
2. Spectre
3. Savage
4. Wasabi
5. Kari
6. More Magic
7. Euphoria
8. Banshee
PHRF 3
1. En Charette
2. Bruju
3. Mentor
4. Esperance
5. Golden Rule
6. Arabesque
7. Kismet
8. Ink Line
PHRF 4 Canvas
1. Surrender
2. Magan
3. Aurora
4. What's Next
5. Encore
6. Paikea
7. Bearcat
8. Decision
9. Barbcat
10. Leda
11. TRE Scootch
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