The Figawi Race - an epic adventure of "Pull and Grind"

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 8^th 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.

Repairs

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.

The Figawi Course

Not bad, but room for improvement – we are up for the challenge.

We didn’t come last – in our group we finished 8^th of 13^th. More importantly, we had a time of 5hrs, 26mins 40secs and were only 15secs behind the 7^th place boat, and 50secs behind the 6^th place boat, 1minute and 20secs behind the 4^th 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 3^rd 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 13^th 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!

 Typical sight at Figawi

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.

 Hadley Harbor

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.