It was a fun evening full of surprises.
Wednesday’s race was a rumble where several yacht clubs come together to race.
Rather than 10-15 boats, as is normal in our Wednesday evening series, there
were 40. Prior to disembarking I realized I had forgotten the course
information, thanks to Julia and Yolande for getting it to me. We headed out to
President’s Roads providing instruction to the newcomers to Prairie Gold – fast
learners. We started to hear radio traffic on the race VHF channel but were a
little confused about starting marks and exact course. Thank goodness we got
the paper printout to sort it out.
We took a couple of tacks and it was countdown
to the start. We initially made a really good approach, right on time to the
start line but as we approached the committee boat a leeward vessel pushed up
to prevent us getting to the start line. Its totally allowable but a little
frustrating for us novices. However, it’s a good way to learn. Won't make that
mistake again. We quickly turned around to avoid a collision and jibed and
started. That was a good test for the new crew: an unexpected fast jibe and
flawlessly executed.
We therefore started at the back of the pack
and set off close hauled from Deer Island towards Spectacle Island where we
were to round a green buoy. Getting there was uneventful. At this point of the
race we were at the back of the first pack, and the even faster boats in the
next group to start had not yet got to us.
But life was to get interesting. We had to
raise the spinnaker with Rudy and Sean having never used it before. We set the
lines and I hoped that the instructions had been received, digested
understood……We rounded the windward mark and performed a conservative sail
hoist. First we rolled in the genoa, then hoisted the spinnaker. She inflated
and you could feel the boat accelerate. We sailed on a broad reach and jibed a
few times, dropped the spinnaker, pulled out the genoa and rounded the leeward
mark and headed back up on lap 2 of 3. Now all forty boats were mixed together.
What a fun time. At one point on the second lap we passed port-to-port with
another vessel and we joked that we were so close that we could hear the crew
on the other boat breathing.
But the real excitement was still to come…..
We sailed nicely to the windward mark and
intended to do a more aggressive spinnaker hoist. The command was given to
hoist the spinnaker and the shackle came undone and the halyard went up the
mast without the spinnaker. I quickly turned to plan B. In the meantime one of
the very fit crew (see code at the bottom of this entry) together with another
crew member’s assistance quickly climbed a few feet up the mast and grabbed the
halyard and we were back to plan A. It was quite a sight! We hoisted the
spinnaker, accelerated on a port tack, then timed the jibe to give us one long
starboard tack (and right of way) to the finish line. I say the finish line but
this was still lap 2 of 3. However, the committee boat decided that certain
groups should only do 2 laps because of time. Of course our scratch sheet was
at home and we just guessed that we were in a slow group so would only need to
do two laps. As we crossed the line, we got a whistle which was good news as it
showed we had indeed finished.
Now it was time to bring the spinnaker down
and have yet more excitement. My intention is to always stay in the cockpit to
give instruction. Since the purpose of these races is for me to teach others to
sail and to enjoy the experience I feel I need to be there. However, the
snuffer wouldn’t come down and I knew what the problem was. But since we were
running out of water - Deer Island was getting close - I handed over the helm
and left the cockpit and moved the snuffer sheets around the forestay. As we
began dropping the snuffer the halyard was loosened. A brief moment of panic,
but not a problem, just a wet spinnaker. All was recovered quickly and its just
another learning experience. Now I will have to go back to Prairie Gold tonight
to dry the spinnaker. Oh darn it, back to the boat. Oh, if I have to J
We sailed back to Constitution marina and I
handed the helm over to crew to enjoy the controls. Joe and Sean did a nice
job. Next time we will get Anne and Paul to the helm. At our slip we were
joined by Ineke, Yolande and Julia with food and drinks. Lots of great
things happened: we were competitive, but had a fun time. All the crew learned
lots and had a fast learning curve. And, as always, lots of laughter and good memories.
Skipper Phil: Crew: Rudy, fitness
extraordinaire; Paul, mainsail trimmer; Anne Traveller coordinator; Joe, jibe
fast winch controller; Shaun, spinnaker saver.
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