2012 AYC Champagne Series #3, Post Point Race Recap

The blog has experienced some neglect lately as I've had a few events lately that have sucked much of the writing free time available earlier in the year, but I haven't ceased to race! Emoyeni sailed her last AYC race of the year on 10/7 and there was, in fact, enough breeze for a great sail - read on...

With a little nip in the air the Anacortes Racing season came to a close October 7^th with the annual Post Point race, a 25 nautical mile jaunt from Fidalgo Bay north, around the R2 nun at Post Point & back. Early fog burned off for sunny skies and a shifty breeze. The race was started, quite possibly on pacific Schwenk cell phone time, with Emoyeni leading the way with no less than 1 crew member severely hung over.

Off the line boats beat their way northeast towards the first convergence zone off guemes and huckleberry islands. Kinetic Ki, the only pitchfork in the fleet, mowed the lawn first while Little Annie and Syndicat drifted into the right wind line off long bay and managed to make the gap between Huckleberry and Guemes Islands pay. Meanwhile, drifting in a vacuum, Emoyeni crew struggled their way along the west saddlebag shore with Kymodoce and Hassenpfeffer hot on their heels.

Dug-in firmly in the first steady breeze from the NW Kinetic Ki quickly disappeared and boats behind started working on the C fleet leaders Little Annie and Syndicat. Walt navigated deep enough into padilla bay that I gotta believe they’d wetsanded the bottom of their keel through several tacks. The breeze faded and soon drifters were launched off Point William with the back of the feet making gains on the catalina and beneteau.

Vegas odds at this point looked like an over/under on wind holes would be somewhere around 4 throughout the course as Syndicat popped a kite in a building west-northwesterly with Little Annie scrambling to find the Rubbermaid bin. Emoyeni, working with unusual pinpoint focus, got her kite in the air no less than 20 seconds before the breeze filled and took off in pursuit, the Ericson and Hare behind left scrambling to hoist their own reach-worthy canvas.

It became a struggle to hold a kite about the time Kinetic Ki popped back on the radar and looking something less than fast on the right. Kites were interchanged with white sails as boats turned up, save for the well heeled Hassenpfeffer crew who sailed on their ears well longer than any of her competitors. With the multihull notably parked in Samish bay the boats that could keep farthest left sailed by in steady pressure. Little Annie and Syndicat failed to put enough in the bank and found themselves sucked into the same deadzone that ensconced Kintetic Ki and Emoyeni re-took the lead.

Kites were re-launched around R2 and boats immediately reached hard to the west looking for the steadiest and strongest pressures. Emoyeni seemed to extend her lead till near Eliza rock where the breeze again deflated temporarily. Just as Kymodoce approached from behind Emoyeni slipped back into the breeze and rocketed away doing 7.5kn broad reaching our way towards saddlebag island.

Onboard the rip roaring islander the crew obsessively long eyed the winds in all directions and recognized getting back into fidalgo bay would be just as hard as the earlier attempt to get out of it. Kymodoce and Kinetic Ki were charging quick while Emoyeni drifted slowly past Saddlebag. Agonizing over the strong lead evaporating and the fresh breeze funneling down Guemes Channel, Emoyeni deployed the drifter again and nosed her way into paydirt that would seal her victory. Kinetic Ki was stuck in a Huckleberry flyer while Kymodoce stayed too far right on the saddlebag shore to catch the eddy that slid the islander into the new guemes breeze and Emoyeni crossed the line shortly after 4:30.

On Emoyeni we saved the best for last – Our victory in Post Point made us overall fleet leaders in the Champagne series and challenged our focus, determination, and tenacity like no other race this year. Our dialed in crew for the finale was Deano on the wheel, pointy end Brian, Skipper Chris on strings and long eyes, and Kyle on the maple bacon ale and vitamin advil.