The Gamut of Weather
Last night, we left for the starting line of the race in very calm weather. No wind to speak of. Barely a ripple on the water. We got to the starting line and most of the other boats didn’t even have their mainsails up, let alone the jib unfurled.
About 5 minutes before our start time, the committee boat announced that it would stick around for 1/2 an hour to see if the wind situation improved. About 15 minutes later, one boat left, announcing that it was too hot and they were out of beer.
A little while later, we were watching another boat up the river, who was heeling over at about 15 degrees. He radioed back a few minutes later that the wind was heading our way.
And it did. Nice wind. Great sailing weather!
As usual, I got the start time off a bit. I was unsure that I’d noted the first horn correctly. But we were to the starting line only about a minute late. Problem was, another boat from the next fleet was coming along the starting line, and he was on starboard tack. So we did a 360 to get out of his way, and headed out.
The race was around one buoy, back to the start, then around the buoy a second time. But that wind was bringing in a storm, and folks started suggesting strongly that the race just be one loop.
There was some confusion about the course. The committee boat was clear as to what it was. Problem was that this was the first race of the fall series and the starting buoy had changed. It used to be the one we were rounding. Now it was one further up the river. And, when the committee boat announced the route, they kept confusing the buoy numbers.
We were doing great! We were not towards the front, but we stayed with the pack. Interesting thing, though. I was sailing close haul, but it actually increased our speed when I let the sails out a tad, rather than bringing them in tight. And I did note that we were at about a 15 degree heel, which does seem to be optimal for this boat.
As folks started to round the mark, the heavy clouds started rolling in. So the committee boat announced that it would, indeed, be one lap around instead of two.
But we were still approaching the mark. I had come up on starboard tack, hugging the side of the river. We tacked at what I thought would put us on a direct line for the buoy. I didn’t take into account the strong current and the fact the tide was coming in. So we were short the mark. Tacked again, then back toward the mark. Still too far down. Next time, tacked into it and we were close enough to see that we were making as much progress sideways, in the wrong direction as we were making forward.
We finally made it around the mark. But by now, the lightning was starting. We abandoned the race at that point and headed in. First one for which we had done so.
Great thing about the race was that we were close to the other boats. We had a fairly good start. We kept up good speed. So we’ve gotten past the first hurdle that has been holding us back tactically. Now I just need to learn to adjust better for the tides and currents when aiming for downriver markers.
Wednesday Night Races
Cock Island is coming up soon, and I want to be ready for it. I’d rather not be as nervous about getting the boat hurt as I was last year. So I’ve signed up for the Wednesday night races on the York River.
I don’t know how common those are elsewhere. But this area has at least 2 series of this type: one on the York River, and one near the mouth of the bay. They’re fairly short courses, and held each Wednesday night.
We started on the last race of the Spring series. My crew were Dew-Man, Betty, Paul and Grant. We left the dock about 5:30, in what looked like possible storms. We headed towards R-24, the starting point of the race. As we did, there was chatter on the radio, discussions about whether the race should be cancelled. It was decided ‘no’. But the start time was adjusted, and we missed when it was going to be. We were near the start line (which changed once because the wind had shifted), but got off about 3 minutes late, I’m guessing.
Smoothly on our way, but not knowing what the course would be, we followed the other boats. Not hard, since the group that started after us mostly passed us like we were standing still. 😉
We made our first tack. So far so good. Second tack, and the boat spun around. Not sure what I did. Oversteered? Well, took it all the way around and continued on our way, a bit more behind the pack than before. Next tack went smoothly. The one after that, a full 360 degrees. See a pattern here? Yeah, tacks to starboard were not going well. :'(
Made it around the mark after the rest of the fleet, and ran into the dead wind that everyone else had. The storm was looming at that point, so Dew put on his foul weather gear. I turned the helm over to him, donned my own, then started passing out jackets. Rather than heading towards our mark, Dew headed the boat towards the opposite shore, picking up a nice wind. When we tacked after that, we were flying! 7, 8 mph and the boat at bout 30 degrees tilt.
We crossed the finish line in just under 2 hours. Everyone else was gone, so no one got our time, and we were marked as ‘Did Not Finsh’. Too bad I didn’t record our finish time – could have mailed it in. But ah well! It was just a practice anyway!
[Top]We Made the Front Page of the Paper
Photos: http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-womensailors,0,4858720.photogallery
The story is no longer available. But you can see the summary at: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/dailypress/access/1582692271.html?dids=1582692271:1582692271&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+25%2C+2008&author=&pub=Daily+Press&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=SAILING+ISN%27T+JUST+A+BOYS%27+CLUB+ANYMORE
[Top]Cock Island Race
Steve N agreed to be on my crew for the race. He also brought along a friend, Steven. Steve R and Dew found me 4 other guys to round it all out: Clint, Clint, Kenny and Kevin. Kenny and Kevin are quite experience racers. As Kevin said, he’d be sailing since he was this high (imagine hand held about knee high on a guy over 6′ tall). Kenny was my mainsail trimmer; Keith and Steve N took the jib sheets.
I told the guys that the rules were that the people didn’t hurt and the boat didn’t get hurt. I then proceeded to take 4 Degrees far enough up the Elizabeth River that no one else was around so we (I) could get some practice tacking. We were in the Cruising 3 Class, out of 4 cruising classes, so we were to start next to last.
We began working our way to the starting line about 10 minutes before start time. Mind you, I would have been happy to start after everyone else. But my crew assured me we’d be okay.
Anyway, the wind died on our way up, and we ended up starting 4 minutes after our class, 1 minute before the last class of the day.
Now, I’ve raced on other boats for 5 years. But it’s not quite the same as being the one at the helm. At least, it isn’t for me. I stayed out of people’s way. That was my whole purpose. Despite that, we were moving pretty good.
With the light winds, the course was made pretty short – only 6 miles round trip. The winds are tricky up the Elizabeth River, though. With all the large ships and the big buildings, the wind will shift, die, and pick up in short order. So I was quite grateful for the experience crew who could adapt quickly to the situation at hand.
The one part that made me nervous was heading around the turn. I tell you there were other boats out there! And they were going to hit me! 🙁
Kenny was on my mainsail, Kevin and Steve N handled the jib sheets, and I skippered. Well, I stood at the wheel, but Kenny and Kevin really handled the rest.
I moved way behind the others, upriver a bit, to get a chance to try turning. That went well. When Kenny said it was time to head towards the start, I kept to the side and did that. Mind you, I wouldn’t have minded starting last. But we headed up so as to at least start within our group, the next to the last one. The wind died on us, though, and we actually started with the last group.
I was amazed! I’d never been on a boat that was so well controlled. I told them that it went best at about a 15 degree tilt (I don’t seem to pick up much speed after that) and they literally moved bodies around to keep us at that angle!
We did stay moving, and we did stay away from the other boats. The one part that made me nervous was coming around the turn. But again, Kenny and Kevin had the boat so under control that we sailed right around perfectly. And I do mean perfectly! Because the two that came right behind us ended up colliding!
Officially, we ended up coming in 8th out of 12 in our group. But, if you adjusted for our start time, we were 2nd. Not too bad for my first race.
Now the guys are telling me I need to do this more often. They suggested to Steve R that I skipper his boat during some of the races when I’m with him. They also suggest that they’d be happy to join me on some Wednesday night races. We’ll see.
[Top]Cock Island
This weekend is the Cock Island Race in Portsmouth, Va. I’ll be taking the boat from Wormley Creek in York County to Portsmouth. Steve N., Lee and Nelson have offered to give me a hand.
I’ve heard many stories as to how the race got its name, but nothing I could call authoritative.
Apparently, in the ‘olden’ days, Norfolk was the ‘good’ side of the water, and Portsmouth, was the ‘bad’. Still cock fighting, gambling, prostitution and the like were illegal. So a barge would be set up in order to host such events. The barge would be called ‘Cock Island’. And thus, any references to it meant that a cock fight was going to be held.
I’ve also heard that the events actually took place in Portsmouth. But ‘Cock Island’ was still the code word for finding the events.
As for the boat races, they started as bragging rights – type thing. One boat captain swearing his was the fastest and others going to prove him wrong.
The current iteration started about 20? 25 years ago, can’t find out exactly. It’s always been a 2 – 3 day party, interrupted by a race. And, at its peak, there were more than 300 boats involved. Then, apparently, a city group took over running the event and started trying to ‘regulate’ it more: limiting the number of participants and, more importantly, limiting the liquor. The race participation reached a low point at that time. In fact, the city was going to cancel it, since they weren’t making any money on it, or so they claimed. The Portsmouth Boat Club took over the event several years ago and participation is slowly picking up.
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