Racers need to consider currents too – a costly error

We headed toward Block Island from Newport in dense fog and low wind. Passageweather.com, our trusty guide while sailing, predicted that winds would pick up and from a favorable direction for our sail. Again, the website was correct. We slowly made our way to Block island and based on wind direction we were heading to the NE tip of the island. Since the entrance is on the western side we tacked to the east and realized that there was a strong current. By the point we were near to the tip of the island, where the depths change from deep to shallow, and we were heading into a 2 kt current. With the wind and the current there was a lot of chaos in the water. Ahead we could see a line where the water became flat, almost like a mirror. As we made the transition across this line the current disappeared. At the same time there was a sailboat race where the boats were racing parallel to the current/no current line. Because winds were relatively low at this point some boats were drifting a little to the east. If their drift crossed into the current, their race was toast as the current took them sideways.

Here we are looing back at one boat racing but caught by the current. This boat had no hope of getting back across into the low current zone. Note you can see the two looks of the water – the mirror-like low current, and further away the turbulent water in the current.  As we looked back on the race 30 minutes later we could see that there were two classes of boat – those caught by the current (they lost) and those who escaped its grip.

This shot is as we are motoring in a westerly direction through the current with a view of the "line in the water" and the race occurring for the most part in the low current water.