We are always proud to celebrate anything small – we
finished, we didn’t get a penalty against us and we didn’t come last. This year we finished 8th of 13 in
our division, but more importantly were close to those ahead of us. We can see
there is the potential for doing better with further practice.
We arrived at Hyannis Marina Friday lunchtime and were
warmly welcomed by the best dockhand we have experienced. When we arrived they
welcomed us and gave precise instructions where to dock. This might sound
simple, but most of the boats arriving were transients and unfamiliar with the
marina. You can imagine with 100 boats descending nearly simultaneously chaos
could ensue.
Getting out of Hyannis Marina
We weren’t quite certain how we get out of the marina since
boats were packed in, rafted three deep and it needs the boat at the end to
leave first for others to get out. Since this was a pursuit race we were
concerned that the boats blocking the rest of us would be the faster boats.
Since there start time could be an hour after ours, they could have been
drinking longer the night before and not get out of our way. But no problem.
Boats started their engines as if to say “get out of the way”. Quickly the
first boat left and within minutes we were all out and heading to the start
line.
Flying our flags
Trying to get out
We weren’t exactly certain where the start line was, but
other competitors told us that we would see it. And we did. 200 boats clustered
was a give away.
Start
We did a good countdown to the start and made a good
beginning to the race. But the winds were really challenging. There was a
little confusion about the exact long and lat of the first mark, but we
followed others in front of us and we found things just fine. The second mark
was Green buoy #5 and it was in a position where there was a strong cross
current. Not all had done their research on this. A boat just ahead of us was
sliding down on to the buoy and because their heading was not pointing at the
buoy they didn’t realize that they were getting closer and closer until it was too
late. We saw what was happening and did a 270degree turn to avoid them and
finished the 360degree to keep along the course. After pulling and grinding (watch for a new website by one of the crew) we were on course. Unfortunately that cost us a
minute or two which was to be costly later. When they hit the buoy they tried
to turn to starboard to avoid it and ended up being broadsided to the buoy.
Hmmm, bad situation. And it was a charter boat – those credit card captains. We
were looking for the boat later to be identified by a green smile on the port
side.
Near Miss
As we were sailing on this leg we were almost hit by another boat. We were the stand on vessel and they were crossing us but chickened out at the last minute and attempted a tack right in front of us and came to a stand still. We made a quick move to avoid the boat, those hanging on the highside pulled up their legs on deck to avoid being crushed and we managed to miss by inches. I called out "protest" but at the end of the day didnt file anything. We just kept up with the positive spirit of the event.
Damage to boats
The winds were high with peaks reaching over 25kts. The seas
were very bouncy and one of us soon started barfing. Unpleasant for them, and
there was nothing we could do to help, but we had to keep moving. The winds
were sufficiently high that one boat was dismasted (Agora from Constitution
yacht club) and then later we saw Tonga, also from our Yacht club with what seemed like a broken
boom. Hope nobody was hurt. The local cape cod paper’s headline was “Conditions ranged from brutal to near calm in challenging Figawi race."
Picture from Cape Cod Times.
Also in that article they noted that several boats hit green
buoy #5. Happy to have only seen it and not done it.
Where did the wind go?
As we turned around the mark we flew the kite and were
flying at 9+kts. Then all of a sudden all were becalmed. Some boats were
getting fenders out to stop damage during drifting collisions that naturally
occur. We dropped the spinnaker, tried a tight genoa and main and made a little
progress but then could see a little air coming our way so quickly switched
back to the spinnaker. We were without wind for about an hour and at one point
we realized that it would take 8+hrs to get to the next mark. We were concerned
we would miss our dinner at Straight Wharf Restaurant.
Damage sustained on PG
Fortunately the wind filled in and soon we were off again
(and we did make dinner, and excellent dinner). However, it kept growing in
strength and we decided to douse the spinnaker. If only I had made the choice
30 seconds earlier. The wind hit hard and we blew a panel out as we were
bringing her in. Included in this event was dropping the kite in the water – we
are skilled at that – one hand with a cut and blisters. We took a couple of
minutes to remedy the situation and were off again. At least that gave us some boat
fixing activity for Sunday.
We safely made our way to the next mark green #15 and turned
and headed for the finish line. Paying careful attention to VMG speed we made
good progress on a few boats as we tried desperately to make up our lost time.
With a reefed main and full headsail we were making great progress on this
tack. But the belly of the sail was too full. So we started to tighten the
outhall until there was a loud bang – the outcall snapped. Nobody was seriously
injured, although one was bruised. So we improvised a fix and made it safely to
the finish line. Yet more boat fixing for Sunday.
A sail number is necessary
As we were about to cross the finish line I remembered the
importance of the Race Committee boat seeing our number to record our finish time.
We have in mast furling so it was hidden. We scurried (with a broken outhall)
to pull our full main to show our sail number just in time to get our race time
recorded.
Not bad, but room for improvement – we are up for the
challenge.
We didn’t come last – in our group we finished 8th
of 13th. More importantly, we had a time of 5hrs, 26mins 40secs and
were only 15secs behind the 7th place boat, and 50secs behind the 6th
place boat, 1minute and 20secs behind the 4th place boat and only 6
minutes from placing third. Additionally, one of the other boats that we “race”
against on Wednesday nights, Sparkle Pony, had an excellent finish in Division
B placing 3rd with a time 16 minutes ahead of us. Maybe our rigging
changes, and extra preparation and practice are making a difference. Let’s see what we do next year.
Another notable performer from our Yacht club was Pressure
drop that finished in first place in their division.
And the winner was!
When we got to our slip in Nantucket we were next to
“Flagship” a Catalina 42. We chatted and asked how they did – “we won” was the
answer. They won their division and the overall race. I guess that since we
were next to them that makes us second, right? They were a great group who had
encouraging words. “This is our 13th Figawi, we have been
disqualified, we have come last and now we won. Keep coming back.”
And did they
party with the trophies!
We will be back next year, for sure.
Sunday – Cocktail bar on Prairie Gold
We got some items to repair the spinnaker and outhall and
rapidly got those tasks completed. Then it was cocktail hour(s). Benson did and excellent job of mixing drinks
and getting us all thoroughly into the Figawi spirit!
Monday – begin the journey home. Should we race again?
On Memorial day there is a race for boats leaving Nantucket. The
conditions were strong winds again and since we had a limited crew of four
including two who had been ill I decided not to include tough tacking in high
winds. (As it turned out they changed the course to a beam reach for 10 nm
which would have been perfect for us.) We did some beautiful sailing and then
near Martha’s vineyard got hit by a squall. My left boot – the windward boot
got full of rain water. Then as we neared Woodshole winds gusted to 37kts (well
that’s what I saw but I wasn’t paying much attention to the wind speed).
Fortunately we had anticipated this possibility and had both sails heavily
reefed. We made it through fine and powered against 4kts of current to get
through Woods hole and picked up a mooring ball in Hadley harbor for an hour
for lunch.
Onset and the Canal
Thereafter we headed north in Buzzards Bay in thick fog with
a tail wind and checked the spinnaker. The repair worked! We nipped into Onset
and picked up a mooring ball for 6 hours. We made yet more cocktails, bbqed
steak tips (awesome) then slept for a few hours. At 11pm we slowly made our way
out – dense fog, no visibility for the skipper, radar on, no lights on the
buoys and we slowly navigated a tight path to the canal. It was very
disorienting and using compass to guide turns. Unfortunately we were at low
tide so the depth alarm kept ringing and there was a two foot area that we
narrowly missed – starboard, Starboard, MORE STARBOARD were the instructions. The
navigator was spot on – great job Benson – and we were saved from a possible grounding.
Fog in Buzzards Bay
By 12:30am Tuesday morning, we were out of the canal and we
sailed all the way home on genoa and main and did the canal to marina in 8
hours.