HBR 8/2/23 Race #5 Last race of the Summer Series
First Gun Time: 18:30:00
Race Conditions: SE 7-10 kts -0.2 Low tide at 6:30 P.M.
Course for the fleets was a nice windward/ leeward course.
HB-19-17-19-17-HB with a mid-race course change, adding mark 19 to the end for fleets A and B, for a nice up wind finish.
To help make the course angle the RC setup to the port side of the pin, this made the pin favored for a lot of boats. C fleet had a great start with the four boats all having great lanes heading off the line on starboard tack. Lassair timed the start perfect with Gusty right on their transom and Falcon just to leeward followed up by Altair. B fleet had another strong showing with 8 boats on the line. All 8 made the most of the long line starting on starboard tack. Wharf Rat opted for a boat end start with clear air and full speed, followed by LittleWing, Melody, JEF, Impromptu, Timmy, Maxami and Static, all heading left for the deep water. A fleet had 12 boats on the line for the night. Similar to the B fleet start boats and used all the space provided, some at the pin, some in the middle and others at the boat end on starboard heading left for the deep water. Ladylove being down a few key crew members (guess you can’t blame them for wanting to go to Italy for 12 days during the Summer) decided to be safe at the start not wanting to get mixed up with too many boats at the pin, came in late behind Firefly, who won the pin end start, with Magpie in tow, followed by Ladylove a few boat length back and lots of bad air.
What to do? Sit in bad air? Tack on to port and head to the right over the shallows? With a 7’ draft on a -0.2 night with light air….can’t live in bad air, so tacked onto port and headed right for the shallow water. Ladylove weaved her way into Sheep Island avoiding the bottom by inches a few times, clearing our air and came out with a great lift to round 19 just ahead of Ceann Saile, BlackSeal, Magpie, Firefly, Casuarina, Tempo, Echo, Idaho (the New addition to A Fleet , Jack Denker’s J105), Jam, Crazy Ivan and Wild Rose. The downwind legs was just to stay in phase with the boats behind, sailing deep when the pressure was strong and heating up when the boat speed slowed. Second time around, the right still seemed to pay off, and was not as stressful sailing in the low spots, since we had already sailed through them making our way back up to 19, along with some of the C and B fleet boats. At this point the R.C boat had move up to 19 and signaled a change of course for the A and B fleets, which was a little confusing for the top B boat and C boat, as the course for C fleet was just being shorted. Downwind leg the second time around, same as the first to just stay in phase with the other boats. Clean, smooth crew work on set, jibs and take downs made for a quick leg. The last up wind leg the right side didn’t pay off as well, losing some time to Magpie, who tacked around 17 onto starboard gaining some speed and lift from the incoming current on the final up wind leg. This was a great night of sailing for the final race of the Summer Series.
A Great Thank You to the crew of Wild Ride and RC for a great race course.
Tim Kelley, the weather man has some great video of the race on his Youtube channel taken from Doug Kent’s powerboat Jetstream. Tim Kelley - YouTube (@SurfSkiWeatherMan) , Video – “ Sailing Through Mid-Summer Beauty”.
Submitted by The Feeley Family of Ladylove
