Constitution Yacht Club Spring Regatta

Winds were light and we motored out of Boston Harbor towards Nahant for the Constitution Yacht Club Spring Regatta. With three on board we had room to move around but would we have enough hands for coordinating three sails? Fifteen boats were scheduled to be in the race and we had the second to worst PHRF rating. At least in this race there would be a boat we could sail with. Two courses – a short and longer course – were used: the short for group C and the longer for the faster groups A and B. Group C set off first. We realized that although we stayed on starboard tack we were heading to the less wind preferred side. As we tacked and headed out on a port tack in search of wind we were now mixed with groups A and B who were on starboard tack. We had to keep tacking to get out of their way and we lost a lot of time. With a heavier boat our speed drops in light winds.  We rounded the windward mark with inches to spare. We quickly performed a jibe set to get the spinnaker up. Well, when I say quickly I should probably say, methodically. Our goal was to get the genoa in, then the spinnaker up. Goal achieved.

As we returned to the leeward mark we changed sails and immediately set out on a port tack to where we knew the wind would be. At this point the slower boat had retired from race 1. 

At the completion of race 1the three of us were happy with our performance but could see areas for improvement. On race 2 the wind was so low which was to our disadvantage. Our competing boat changed headsail and had fewer problems than in race 1. We performed two laps and beat them across the finish line but they probably got us on PHRF handicap.

In our third race we really went for it with simultaneous head sail changes. As we jibed around the windward mark we raised the spinnaker on the outside of the genoa while we were furling the genoa in. One person on deck was coordinating the spinnaker. Two people in the cockpit taking care of steering (no autopilot allowed), furling the genoa, releasing the genoa sheet, raising the spinnaker halyard and adjusting the active and lazy spinnaker sheets. Somehow they achieved it.  The third race was definitely our best – we had the timing, and had all come up the learning curve. It was satisfying to look back and see 6 boats still on the race course when we had finished (5 were from a different class but in races 1 and 2 they had already finished by the time we crossed the line).

At the end of the day CYC held a party for the crew in the regatta. A nice event to start to meet the racers. A crew member from another boat came and asked us. “Are you Prairie Gold? How did you fly a spinnaker with only three crew?” That was quite a satisfying comment and great way to end the day.

Waiting for the start