Cottage Park Yacht Club Make a Wish Pursuit Race – make a wish to have a launch pick you up from the mooring ball since they don’t respond to phone calls or VHF.

The last time Yolande and I double-handed in a race I didn’t blog. Winds were low, really low and we decided to quit otherwise pubs would be closed. Yesterday winds started at 4kts and we wondered what lay ahead. As we were approaching the finish line we could see there was a storm coming from Boston. All hell broke loose when we got hit by a squall line with 30kts of wind. Wind direction changed 90 degrees instantaneously and we were back winded. Yolande wondered whether she was going swimming (she doesn’t swim). We got everything under control, finished the race and headed for the protection of Spectacle Island to furl the sails. Yolande asked me not to refer to that as fun. I now refer to it as awesome and get a piercing look.

In the pursuit race the boat’s handicap is used to determine starting time. Slower boats start earlier and the goal is all to finish at the same time – at the same time if they are sailed equally well and if the handicapping is effective. I have decided that the handicapping is a guess at best.

Winds were light at 4kts as we set sail on a 15nm triangle course – President’s Road (Yellow E buoy) to Red Green buoy “Flip Rock Gong” (near Nahant) over to Graves Whistle Green #5 and back to the start. We were under full main sail and spinnaker and slowly jibing our way through the jib and main only boats. As we passed Deer Island we were able to head a little more to port and the wind increased to 10-15 kts. Now we were sailing. We could see Sparkle Pony, one of our the Constitution Yacht club racing boats, in our rear view mirror. We normally only see her on the start line, but with the pursuit we would get to see more of her. As she approached we were both under full spinnaker and she tried to block our air and pass. We of course sailed up and blocked. We went through a few rounds of jockeying position and she finally passed. It was a heck of a lot of fun. We hit a top speed of 10 knots and it felt totally under control. I would love to go on a planing boat and get 20+kts.

As we approached “Flip Rock Gong” we noticed that marks had been dropped for a small boat race. About 20 centerboard boats were approaching our mark (mostly on port tack). We jibed the spinnaker putting us on a starboard tack, with right of way (phew – that jibe had to work perfectly) and rounded our mark.

We had passed a couple of slower boats in our division and several in the jib and main division. It’s such a rarity for us that we relish the experience. Sparkle pony was pulling away from us and was probably half a mile ahead by the Green 5 mark. As we approached we doused the spinnaker, Yolande unfurled the genoa and took care of Prairie Gold, we then dropped the spinnaker to the deck and I tried to pack the spinnaker away. She is in the bag (the spinnaker that is) but today I will need to get her out and rearrange her to give us a chance of flying her again.

We were now headed for the finish line directly into the wind. This is where Prairie Gold suffers most. Francis from Sparkle Pony talked with Joe, Morgan and me at the Round the Island Race last weekend and recommended we get a folding prop on Prairie Gold. At the time I internally scoffed at the idea. However, I have been researching online reviews and am now closer to the decision to buy one. Yesterday I was wondering how much time we would save with the reduced drag. If anyone has folding prop experience please reach out and give me your insights.  Flexofold 3 blade is currently at the top of my list.

As we were heading for the finish line the density of boats increased and it was clear we had not done such a bad job in the race. We were on our final tack to the finish line and we had that squall I discussed earlier and we finished.  On the radio we kept hearing other boats still out on the course were abandoning the race. Maybe we weren’t last! We finished 7^th out of 10 boats in our division (the spinnaker group that had the 15 nm course). We also finished before 7 other boats in the jib and main only division that were only sailing a 10nm course (Start to Graves #5 and back).

We headed to Cottage Park Yacht Club (CPYC) where we had requested a mooring and paid for post race dinner for the two of us. This is where things started to fall apart. We could find no record of a VHF channel to call – nothing online, nothing in the instructions. I had been given a cell number of a mysterious “Marty”. No answer. We called three CPYC numbers. Nobody new which VHF channel to call. One told us to look for the boson on the docks and he will tell us what to do. Hmmm. Eventually a launch came by and with frantic waving we managed to attract his attention. He had no idea we were supposed to have a mooring. However he took us to one with the comment “I don’t think the owner is coming back today”. After tidying up we called channel 78 (we were finally told a number). No answer. Different radio, no answer, no answer…… It was a great race, but the club is not organized to have guests. We dropped the mooring and headed home. I will see if I can get my dinner fee back.