Wed Night Race 3 Fall Series August
Another perfect Wed on the Sound, with the Northerly filling in nicely in the mid afternoon to a nice 14 knots, with low tide at 5:37 and a small 4 foot flood to contend with. Another nice turnout, with Wild Turkey, Wyewacket, Apacalpyso, Bad Dog, Aliens, and Luchbox all in attendence, with crew off some other boats.
The start line was square and long, the course was a very very long single windward leeward. Because the line was so long, most boats had plenty of room and there was little real manouvering, with several boats taking the slighly favored pin end, wanting the left anyway, while Apacalypso and a few other boats did a more classic mid-line start. The course was S, yellow, bell bouy, F
The first beat started with all boats going to the left on a long beat, trying to dial in speed and point. Lunchbox was on the inside for a time, until Aliens came in on a short tack and went inside them. Turkey and Bad Dog continued out left. Boats started slowly coming back toward the middle around the orange windward mark. Here Aliens and Turkey went off to the right a bit in a different breeze and very lifted, while Lunchbox went left on an unfortunate headed tack. Apacalypso suffered though the header to get to the breeze and lift that Turkey and Aliens were in, and was lifted right to the mark as the wind swung around 40+ degrees (from sailing 40 to sailing 355 or so). Bad Dog was now working in from the very far left corner, and Lunchbox coming in now too, trying to get back to the windward mark.
Apacalpyso rounded first, after having Aliens tack just below and behind by one boatlength. Despite the scattered boats all over the course, everyone converged and the racing was still very tight! Turkey, Box, and Aliens rounded immediately after Apacalpyso and while Turkey and Aliens went off down the outside of the course, in better breeze, Apacalpyso and Lunchbox gybed immediately and went towards Meadow Point. Wyewacket, still in contention, played the middle. Bad Dog went out. Halfway down the course, Lunchbox went out to join Aliens, leaving Apacalyso alone on the left center.
The breeze died slowly on the outside, but Wyewacket brought down a puff in a lane of breeze and Lunchbox, Wyewacket, and Apacalypso all benefitted, sailing straight to the mark on a slight header. Again, all boats converged at the bell bouy, and the racing was still close. Apacalypso had made only perhaps 2 or 3 boatlengths on the leeward leg, and any mistake would make things interesting. Aliens, Turkey, Wyewacket and Lunchbox all rounded in a crowd behind Apacalypso, after having come in on a nice hot angle from the outside.
The final beat was simply a matter of covering. Apacalypso tacked soon after rounding, then tacked to cover Aliens and Lunchbox. On the final tack, Lunchbox was ahead of Aliens but was suffering in Apacalpyso's dirt, and slowly lost speed and point. The last bit of excitement would happen at the finish line, when Aliens tacked over in front of a starboard tacker trimaran, causing Lunchbox to tack over too.