We started racing this past Sunday. It's good to be out on tipy wet little boats! For those who don't know, I broke my leg this time last year and couldn't frostbite in either the spring or fall series. Well, I'm back and loving it!
When Ed and I started, we were last off the dock as usual. The first race we weren't together. We hit the bottom several times and Ed even dropped the tiller. We were second around the windward mark and, even with Chris Mars and his son Gondon hitting the mark, we followed them around the course. The second race wasn't much better. I was about to tell Ed to call my replacement when we realized that the boat wasn't tuned correctly. We were tuned for heavy air and it just wasn't there. After a few adjustments at least our boat was ready. We were still second around the mark and again Chris hit the mark. This time at least we gave him a run for his money. He cut us off at the finish line and won the race. Congratulations again, Chris.
Race three had it's share of problems. Chris headed out to the middle of the river and looked to be just sitting there. He said later that they were waiting for the oxygen masks to drop. It was tip and tuck as to who would make the windward mark. Chris got a nice breeze and we finally got the lift too. We were hoping to tack on a nice header but it never came. Chris was off and running again. We weren't far behind and the race was on. We followed them around the course and we were in a tacking duel. We cut them off at the finish line when they didn't have an overlap and couldn't call for room.
By race four, Ed and I were almost in tune. We took first place. Race five had a couple of interesting features. All three boats were coming into the jib mark at about the same time. Chris wanted Dick and his crew, Janice, to go first. This would put Chris in first for the day. Nice strategy but Ed and I pulled a squeakier out of our hats. All three boats finished within seconds of each other.
Many thanks to the race committee.
We watched the Etchells start, then the Ideal's, the Lasers, JY's and the 420's. We weren't paying too much attention to the course until it was our turn. The course was WP. We favored the pin end and headed into the moored area. Ed saw the alternative mark. After a brief discussion, we started to look for the W mark. It had to be upwind somewhere and chanced where it was. Chris Mars and Dick were also looking around. Chris found it first and jibed around it. We were second around and started after him. Puffs were coming off the land and hitting us. Ed and I have been sailing these boats for a long time. I can safety say that this was the fastest I've gone in a Blue Jay. We were screaming downwind on a great plane. The boat was taking water on over the bow. We were trying to break through Chris' wake. Chris was jumping up and down in his boat. When asking later, he said that he was trying to go even faster by get his weight out of his boat. We thought he was trying to break a suction on the bottom of the boat, he quickly decided that that was what he was trying to do. Nice try Chris! Chris and crew won the first race.
The second race had the wind even shiftier and the puffs more brutal. We had a couple of almost auto tacks which would have put us in the water. The mooring field proved again to be a challenge. Not only do you not want to hit a boat, but the boats block the wind for a moment or two. When the wind shadow is gone you quickly have to get out of the boat to remain level. We found the mark before Chris or Dick and headed to the next mark. Going down wind was a trill. I looked behind at the other boats to make sure we were still leading. We got to the jib mark just before a killer puff hit. It's critical to watch for these and when the black water get too close you do a chicken jib or you come about rather than jib. We headed back up river and finished first for that race and also called it a day.
The fleet saw a fair share of carnage. Lasers flip a lot and did. A 420 flipped by the other bank but wasn't in trouble because and water was up to his chest. A JY, Chris Doyle's, ripped his main in a freakish accident when he caught the main on a mooring. He'll be back with new sails in two weeks. The Ideal's looked great. Some couldn't find the bailers to set them and had water in their cockpit. Thanks to the crash boats, they had their work cut out for them this Sunday.