March 5, 2005 - Todd Cooper

The main key to our success on Saturday was picking up Charlie Quigley for the day. When sailing with Charlie, it is key to have plenty of Vitamin B on board. So when he agreed to sail with us, Suzi immediately headed to the Golden Goose to secure an extra six pack. With Budweiser stowed, we headed to the start line. Karen Kelley was on the bow, with Suzi in the pit, Chalie trimming and tactics and me on the helm. Karen remarked after the race that because we had a strong crew with trust in each other’s ability to handle our jobs, we were freed to succeed. We may not have had the video clip worthy perfect roll-tacking and instant spinnaker sets of DC and his near professional crew (they are intimidating to watch), but we had solid sailors in every role and didn’t have to waste time or break concentration telling each other what to do.

Conditions: The breeze was coming through downtown with all of the shifty and puffiness that implies. Changing gears and keeping the boat at the optimum upwind heading were critical and also very difficult given the 15 + degree shifts and occasional 10+ knt pressure differences. Our game plan was to always be heading for the next puff and tack immediately when headed.

Settings: Jib leads as far forward as possible. Main halyard over-cranked in a vain attempt to pull the luff straight, and then eased to get the desired shape. We pulled the slack out of the vang in case we needed to vang sheet. The backstay was fully slack; except for the heavier puffs when we brought it slightly in.

How the shifts played out: In the first race, we started on starboard about mid-line, just to windward of DF and DC. With DF lifting up to us, it was an increasingly untenable position and we were forced to tack away with the two of them tacking back in commanding windward positions. When we hit the next header, we tacked back, and DF and DC did as well. The wind continued to shift right, and we found ourselves on upside of the wind ladder as it rotated to the right. We immediately went from third in that pack to first. At the top mark, we led the boats coming in from the left side, but Wade Edwards caught the starboard lift with pressure coming in from the right and led at the first mark. We managed to pass him in the first 1/2 of the downwind leg by immediately driving low and keeping in the breeze. The only way you can dive that low that quickly is by having a great spinnaker set, and we had strong ones (mostly) on Saturday. At the leeward mark we led (as we did 3 of 4 races) but DF was close behind. Dave passed us during the second windward leg using the same move he would in the 2nd race. We were to windward on port, and seemed to be sailing into a hole. We thought we saw more pressure to the left. Dave was still moving, but we tacked away. In both races he was easily ahead at the next crossing and got to the right side for the final approach to the windward mark - a key move b/c of the seemingly permanent starboard lift parked there. After the racing, Dave said he felt he changed gears faster and more smoothly than we did (traveller up, main sheet out, jib sheet eased, helm cracked off), and I’m sure he is right. However, there were also substantial pressure differences across the race course, and it was not unusual to see a boat just one or two lanes away in much different breeze. Maybe we found on of many soft spots, maybe we blinked when we should have stuck. The fact that it happened twice makes me think we blinked.

Starting in races 2 and 3: Immediately before the start of the second race, a big left shift came through. We tacked onto port with 10 seconds to go and launched off the line nearly pointing at the mark. This was a benefit in both crossing the fleet, and being in phase with the wind shifts from the start. With the constantly shifting breeze, it was important to be looking up the course before the start and knowing where the wind after the start would be. In the third race we saw a heavily favored pin and decided to go for a second port tack start. In this case, DF won the pin on starboard, but we closely ducked him and easily crossed the rest of the fleet. Once again, we were in phase and heading towards the next righty. It was the kind of start that makes you want to come back each and every Saturday in the middle of the winter and race sailboats. By the time the rest of the fleet tacked, we were firmly in the lead and able to focus on keeping in phase. That was the one race we won.