Wed Night Race Interim Series May 28 2003.

Wet Wild Wednesday

Wed May 28 was light air as the Olsons rigged the boats, building to 15-18 around 6 pm, and to 18-22 knots by the starting time; this against an increasing ebb current produced a wicked steep chop with short wave-length which made for challenging driving conditions. Everyone flew the #3 except Roadrunner, who forgot their battens and used a #2, and Aliens, who decided to experiment and flew a #1 the whole race.

At the start, Lunchbox footed down into the lead, narrowly rolling Aliens who had to point like crazy to stay upright, with Wild Turkey and Roadrunner further to the right. Most boats took a long tack to the right side. Turkey showed great speed footing to the right corner. At the first ww mark, Lunchbox led, followed by, Wild Turkey, Roadrunner, Aliens, Bad Dog, and the others.

Most boats delayed the first set, voluntarily or otherwise. The chop on stbd on the run hit the stbd quarter making it difficult to stay upright. Lunch set and scooted off, making it look easy. Roadrunner squirreled around trying to keep the boat under the chute after the set. Aliens held a high line for stability. Lunch, Roadrunner, and Turkey all gybed left soon, while Aliens gained by banging the right corner. Turkey and Roadrunner doused very early and at the first leeward mark, Lunch led followed by Roadrunner and Aliens, then Turkey et al. On the 2d beat,in spite of the now strong ebb, it paid to go right to the beach. Bad Dog showed the way, and by the 2d ww mark, with Lunch still leading and Roadrunner 2d, Bad Dog had pulled into 3rd followed by Turkey and Aliens. (I apologize for not listing the other boats as all this is from the perspective of Aliens.)

On the 2d run, Turkey and Aliens both had trouble with the set, and then sailed side by side for half the run, with Bad Dog close behind (having gone the wrong way after rounding). There was a lot of yelling as Turkey and Aliens were sometimes within a few feet of each other sailing very low in this catastrophic chop, but fortunately it was so noisy no one could hear the words. Aliens wisely set up for a gybe during the duel. Sure enough, with about 1.5 boatlengths separation laterally, Wild Turkey became a promising candidate for the Annual Wipeout Award, rounding down hard and carving a 90 degree turn directly toward the middle side of Aliens. Aliens snapped off a gybe and cleared the bow. Bad Dog reached up hard around both boats.

Meanwhile, back on Wild Turkey, Craig noticed sea water flooding into the companionway hatch, and politely asked his crew if they would mind sitting on the high side. When the boat came up, the chute was flying horizontally from the masthead, attached only by its halyard.

Aliens had to contend with PHRF traffic and during a few more gybes decided not to fuss any more with that darn pole, stowing it below deck for the rest of the run. But this limited Aliens to lower angles and it got stuck under a J30 which was planing along close to the left. Bad Dog reached up high to the right and, with snappy crewwork, held its douse to the last moment, rounding ahead of Aliens and behind the leaders, Lunchbox and Roadrunner, while Aliens had to give room to the J30 which then pinned it in Bad Dog's bad air. A tacking duel ensued with Bad Dog gaining with its #3 vs Aliens'#1.

At the end, Lunch Box never looked back, finishing first; Roadrunner finished 2d (welcome back to Wed racing, Roadrunner); Bad Dog, 3rd; Aliens 4th (having proved a #1 slow in 18-22 knots); Wild Turkey, after a magificent recovery, 5th; followed by Surfer Girl, Wyewacket, and Mojo.

After the race, the parking lot and clubhouse were full of 50 happy Olson 30 sailors all talking to each other about this exciting and memorable evening.

Sound Interim Wednesday Race 1

Sound Interim Wednesday Race 2

Sound Interim Wednesday Race 3