Wed Night Race Interim Series
What promised to be a breezy, sunny and perfect Wednesday night petered out to a drifter resulting in many boats not finishing. Before the start, a solid 17-18knot northerly had all boats under #3's. Shortly before the start, however, it lightened noticeably, enough so that Lunchbox and Enigma switched to #1's. This choice worked for Enigma and would have worked for Lunchbox, if Lunchbox had had as good a start or played the right side. Wild Turkey and Aliens, though probably under powered, still made out by staying in the better breeze on the right. At the first mark it was Enigma, Wild Turkey, and Aliens in a fairly close group, followed by Lunchbox, Bad Dog, Surfer Girl, Wywacket, and Mojo, all a bit further back.
On the first run, Wild Turkey found a little more velocity and slipped past Enigma to take the lead, Aliens third and Lunchbox fourth with Bad Dog close by. An apology here as this is from Lunchbox's perspective and I am not sure about everyone's position. It did seem that the trailing boats all closed up in the leaders.
The next beat was interesting as the dying northerly had turned capricious. Large "holes of death" and massive wind shifts turned this into a crap shoot. Lunchbox, noticing the fleet in front to be in a big header on starboard off to the left, tacked soon and Enigma followed. Half way up the beat, we had the left to ourselves as the everyone else went for what appeared to be more velocity on the right. Though only a boat length separated us, somehow Lunchbox got the wind and a header to tack on that took at least 5 more minutes to get to Enigma. It pays to be lucky. At the next weather mark, Wild Turkey, who went far right and had more wind rounded first by at least 5 lengths, followed by Lunchbox and Aliens.
Craig, on Wild Turkey, spotted a massive hole and kindly sacrificed his position by parking in it, serving as a marker buoy that prevented us and Aliens from suffering too much grief in it. Thanks Craig! But it was for naught, as the wind died completely everywhere for the next 30 min or so. We quit, as did everyone else except Aliens, Wild Turkey, and Surfer Girl. Aliens finished first, just 20 seconds under the time limit, extending the time limit for Wild Turkey (second) and Surfer Girl (third).
Well
earned placings for boats that stuck it out to the
bitter end.
Sound Interim Wednesday Race 1
Sound Interim Wednesday Race 2
Sound Interim Wednesday Race 3
Sound Interim Wednesday Race 4