Anacortes served up another
heapin helping of yacht racing action March 4th, 2012. Distance
lovers painstakingly readied their boats for a crisp and sunny spring day, and
even some were able to make it out to the start area ahead of the 4 minute gun.
Slight new twist in this years distance racing is all fleets are scored together
so the many David’s of “C” fleet had to worry about correcting over the mighty
few Goliath’s in “A”.
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| Two of four Goliath's. We beat one boat for boat on Emoyeni... Photo credit Nikki Bailey |
Conditions at the start
were light and sort of fluky, giving the edge to a handful of starters carrying
their motor momentum at the pin on port tack and found the building northerly
first. Pulelehua, a boat who’s name our skipper will never pronounce right, led
being chased down by the only pitchfork in the fleet Kinetic Ki, guest helmsman
Dean-o on the stick. Night Runner, Hasenpfeffer, and Handyman led the remaining
boats into Guemes channel for some fun as boats began finding their preferred
lanes on the escalator west.
“A” fleeters who rocketed
away in good pressure and positive current found themselves in a convergence
east of Shannon Pt and we observed Night Runner on an ugly port tack going
mostly north. Confusion created scrambles as we all took massive headers or
awkward hitches north, at one point Syndicat appeared heading off to Bellingham, and
positioning for the first re-start began. Hasenpfeffer led Kymodoce and Little
Annie to the south west towards Green Pt, mostly on rhumbline, while Emoyeni
opted to stay higher heading west for the new northerly breeze flowing down
Rosario with
Handyman slightly behind and just to weather. At this point it’s assumed
Syndicat were on their 4th round of dark and
stormys.
The fleet began cranking
the poles back and smiles all around running with the ebb in flat water. Night
Runner looked squared downwind and truckin mid channel while the Dash 34 and F28
were well to the west past Davidson rock, but appearing stalled out with kites
on deck. Emoyeni gybed away to stay in the remaining breeze while the rest of
the fleet held west to their inevitable parking lot. At this point it’s assumed
Syndicat had switched to long island iced teas which has been rumored to
increase waterline length by several feet.
Emoyeni carried her kite
longer than the fleet behind and snuck up on Night Runner before the sea glassed
over and she began cork work, carried west in the fading ebb. Pulelehua and
Kinetic Ki started moving again while Emoyeni was found to be naughty by nature
and spun two current induced circles while the fleet behind had launched
drifters and were slowly chewing away the distance. At this point it’s assumed
Syndicat had finished their 7th bottle of rum which pretty much turns
her into a cabin version Sierra 26.
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| If you can see us we're winning? Photo credit Nikki Bailey |
RC decided to short course
the race as the westerly built ever so slightly and we were able to put kites
back up for the 2nd re-start. Night Runner and Kinetic Ki plowed
through the kelp and finished 1st and 2nd respectively by
lining up radio towers while Pulelehua struggled to find the right sail plan.
Being farther to the east than the remaining fleet Emoyeni powered up (if you
can call it that) on a reaching angle while her competitors were forced to sail
deeper. The Islander eventually slipped below the Dash to finish 3rd.
Pulelehua floated in 4th while an isolated rum force gale greased a
path for Syndicat to beat a hard charging Kymodoce to the line for
5th and 6th places. Passépartout, which might mean dead
batteries in some French dialect, smoked her way into 7th place with
Little Annie in tow for 8th. Finally the mighty Handyman, who at last
check was detouring Colville and Swirl Isle's, found a lane and finished
9th at the NOAA station. Unfortunately Hasenpfeffer threw in the
towel somewhere north of Smith Isle, perhaps unaware of the shortened course. On
correction the podium placement went to Kymodoce in 3rd, Syndicat in
2nd, and an exuberant Emoyeni in
1st.
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| Setting a blistering pace of 2.3kn to the short course finish. Photo credit Nikki Bailey |
As always, our killer crew
consisted of Brian and Becker who woke up early to share time trimming sheets
and throwing the kite about on the pointy end. Barry, Kyle, and skipper Chris
all had hands in spinning the wheel and taking detailed notes on things that
don’t look fast. Fun day on the water with a few surprises, like sunburns and
“A” fleeters visible looking aft of the transom, and a great result for the hard
work!
