New Year's Day race 2016

We entered our second new year’s day race hosted by Constitution Marina and had a memorable day :) . We had a crew of seven and had winds from 10-20kts from the west. Our course was from Pier 6 (Charlestown) to Red #12, then Green #13, back to Red #12 and then return to Pier 6.

But before we began the race we noticed that there was some gunk on the hull of the boat. Rudy let us use some tape of his to pass under the hull. Here are Dan and Benson lightly scraping the hull to get the gunk off.

We had some good practice runs including using the spinnaker and then we were off. All went well for the first five minutes and then near Battery wharf we decided to deploy the spinnaker. All went well, initially, until the wind hit hard and then we realized the tackline was not attached (see 2:57 in this video). Over the last few weeks I have changed how the tackline is attached: previously it has been at the bow but now I have it back to the cockpit so that we can make fine adjustments as we sail. Once we got the tackline tightened, and after a few blisters and bruised ribs, we were off again and catching the field.

(picture by Dan Avery)

We rounded #12 nicely and now tacked upwind toward #13. We dipped beneath Slice, skippered by Chuck Fluhr, and rounded the mark in front of Slice. Now for the next downwind leg back to #12. However, we couldn’t deploy the spinnaker due to a sheet getting caught so we continued under genoa and mainsail. Chuck blocked our air, we headed up to try to push him away and had a good bit of competition.

We rounded #12 and set off for home. We had a choice of which side of an anchored barge to pass. We chose the southern side and Chuck chose the northern side. He made the best choice and beat us home. Kudos to Chuck and the crew of Slice. But there is 2017…..

(picture by Benson Willis)

All in all, a great way to start 2016 especially with the chowder and beer at the Sailloft following the race.