This was our second race of the year, and our second Wednesday night race.

Forecast
Conditions: Cloudy during the day, with rain in the evening
Precip: 20% chance of precipitation in the afternoon, thunderstorms 100% likely in the evening
Temp: Hi 77°F – Low 65°F
Winds: S 5 – 13 knots with gust up to 16 knots
Tide: Low tide at 7:36 PM
Current: slight ebb to the SSW until slack water at 7:40 PM
Sunset: 8:17 PM 

Actual Conditions
Conditions: Cloudy cover
Precip: None
Temp: Higher than expected at 581°F
Winds: Gusty, 7-12 knots from the SSW, 200° to 230°, gusts to 17 knots. 

Crew
Helm – Chris
Main Trim – Paige
Jib Trim – Jackson
Pit – Sunny
Spin Trim – Deanna
Mast– Skip
Midmast – Anders
Bow – Caleb

Settings
Main halyard – Yellow
Main Traveler – down 12”
Jib halyard – Yellow
Jib car – back 6””
Backstay – Yellow

Pre-race
We were off the dock a few minutes late. We rigged for a gybe set on the spinnaker, as it was likely going to be a downwind leg on course 1 or 3 on port. We kept the backstay off until the headsail was unfurled, and that seemed to help the process. We did a little upwind tuning to G13, gybed around the mark, then took our time getting the spin ready to launch over the starboard side of the boat. It went up without incident, and we did some downwind tuning. We did a solid leeward douse near the S/F line, although we forgot to put the lazy port jib sheet behind the hatch so had to rerun the line. We then cleaned up and went into waiting mode, as the race start was being delayed for a large container ship coming out.

Course
RC called Course 3, twice around. S-13-0-13-F, a total of 4.0 nm. Upwind angle is 150°, downwind is 330°. With the wind coming from around 200° you could just about fetch the upwind mark on starboard, and you could fetch the downwind mark on port.

Start
The A and C boats had a combined start first, then the B boats started. There were 8 boats in our B start. We were late in getting our jib out, and I missed the start gun on my watch – although we got it on the mast it was hard to see the display on the bottom with all the bodies. Our plan was to be about 1/3rd of a way down the line as there was more pressure on the right side of the course, and the further you were to the right the more likely you could fetch the first mark. We came up the line on port, tacked over to starboard about 3 BL after the RC, then were able to hook Agora and tried to put them over the line, but they did not come up enough and instead of hitting them we footed off for speed. We were late to the start and downspeed, not my best effort.

Upwind Leg 1
Right after the start, we had Rockit below us and Tumbler was above us on our air. We were able to roll over Rockit then footed with Tumbler first to gain some speed and eventually were able to come up and force them away. It was about this time that the port primary winch started to fail, and only the 10:1 gear ratio would work. The 48:1 was stuck in the “reverse mode”, so we could not sheet the jib in all the way. We tacked over to port in a header, ducking Agora and crossing Uncle Joe. I hoped that the tack would clear the issue with the winch, but when we tacked back it was still slipping. 

Rounding 1
Agora tried to leebow us as we headed to the mark, but there were unable to fetch the mark and had to gybe around to get to it. Uproar got to the mark first, followed by us. We gybed around the mark, sailed a bit with our main and jib to get higher into the pressure, then launched the spinnaker.

Downwind Leg 1
Once the spin was drawing, we started catching up to Uproar. However, we did not position ourselves far enough to the right side of the course which was where the pressure was, and we waited too long to heat up to try to roll them. They were able to defend. We tried to then sail low and slow to gain separation, but as there was more pressure above us and Uproar was in it, that did not help.

Douse 1
We came into the leeward mark 2 BLs behind Uproar and had an excellent leeward douse, and were ready to tack as soon as we came around the mark. Uproar continued on port tack for quite a bite before tacking, but we tacked within 2 BLs of passing the mark. With hindsight this was a little early, as we then got some bad air from the boat coming downwind.

Upwind Leg 2
On the second leg, the winch became even more or an issue, and we eventually went to cross-sheeting to try to get the jib in all the way. It was about a foot further out than it should have been, so we were way lower on this tack. We were well ahead of Uproar, and as we were not fetching the mark with the jib so far out decide to tack. We crossed Uproar easily, but with the cross sheeting it took us too long to tack back, and by that point we had WAY overstood the mark while Uproar was able to barely fetch it.

Rounding 2
Uproar was able to fetch, rounding inside of us at the mark. We both gybed, and they tried to hoist right away, but we delayed and were able to luff them up a bit. Once the port leeward boat Eagle was clear from below us, I headed off and called for the hoist. 

Downwind Leg 2
While the halyard went up at the mast, it got caught at the clutch, and ended up being only half hoisted. The mast did not know this, so when he called made at the mast the spin was trimmed on and the halyard then slipped down about 20 feet, resulting in the kite hitting the water. The boat came to pretty much a complete stop, with the spin partially under the boat acting as a sea anchor. The lazy spin sheet had wrapped around the forward hatch and was keeping the kite from being rehoisted. Once we cleared that sheet, the team was able to muscle the sail on to the boat and eventually down the hatch. 

Finish
There was a tear in the chute, so instead of rehoisting we finished under main and jib, fourth across the line.

Results
Without the spinnaker shrimp-fest, we likely would have finished second behind Uproar, as we would have needed to have beat the across the line by almost 2 minutes, and as they were ahead of us at the final windward mark, that would have been tough. But, we did work through a lot if issues, and have come up with some ways to fix those problems going forward, as below.

Things we learned/need to do next time

1. I need someone calling out time, so that way if my watch is messed up or if I can’t see the mast through all the bodies we can make the line in time.
2. Make sure the lazy jib sheet is behind the hatch on the leeward takedown.
3. We should have gone a few more BLs before tacking after the leeward mark, so we did not get bad air from the spinnaker boats approaching on port.
4. We should have stayed on starboard tack until we got to the port layline, instead of taking as early as we did, as we really overstood the layline on beat #2.
5. When the wind is from the SSW, there are huge oscillations near G13, so it is best to approach on the shorted layline possible to not get caught in a bad shift.
6. On a downwind leg, if there is a boat close ahead, make sure you work up very early and very aggressively to create separation to roll them. Don’t wait until you are 2 BL behind them to try to heat up, as they can defend.
7. Once the mastman calls made, the pit person will call “trim” when they are sure the spin halyard is fully hoisted and secured. Only then will the spin trimmer trim on.
8. The midmast person should not be in the cocktpit during the hoist, and should not have the handle in the winch. Wait until the spin is trimmed on to do both of these things.
9. If there is a hoist failure and the kite ends up in the water, the first thing that should happen is all hands should pull the bottom of the spin on to the deck to keep it from shrimping. Then, fix the issue with the hoist and rehoist.