2013 Wickford Regatta: Sunday
The forecast for Sunday called for wind to come up and build in the mid-teens shortly after mid-day. We got exactly that and then some with gusts in the upper teens by the 3rd race. With the failure of the outhaul/cunningham base block screw yesterday I rigged the cunningham normally and rigged the outhaul the old way on the boom. Not as adjustable, but it’d get me through the day.
We were the first start of the day and I didn’t do so hot on the first one. I was coming to the first mark mid-fleet and the race committee abandoned us before the first boat go to the windward mark because a large fishing trawler was very close to the mark and on the rhumb line to our reach mark moving slowly.
We restarted and this time I had a good start and did well to hold my lane. I had reasonable upwind speed, but still not quite as much as those who could hold the boat down better. I rounded in 10-12, caught one on the reach, caught another on the run, and then picked up 2-4 more spots on the 2nd upwind where I picked the shifts well and held onto that for 8th.
In the 2nd race of the day I had another good start and held my lane well up the beat. By now the wind had increase a few more knots and I just wasn’t moving the boat upwind as well as others who sailed more in heavy wind. (It was probably some time last summer since I spent more than an hour racing in 15+). I finished around 12-13, but a few folks were OCS pulling me up to 9.
The wind built more for the 3rd race and by new we were getting some 2’+ waves rolling through. At that point I was just hanging on and just trying to keep the boat moving as fast as I could while trying to minimize tacking and slowing down. I played the downwind pretty conservatively to keep the boat upright and finished 10th.
By 2pm the RC planned one more race and I could see we were going to be getting rained on within the hour. I didn’t think another race was going to change my score much and I had accomplished what I came for which was competitive racing in wind and I decided I better get on the road so I don’t get back too late.
Traffic back was miserable in Connecticut. What should have been the first 2 1/2 hours took over 4. South of NYC everything cleared out and I got home at 1:30am. Overall it was a good trip. I got to sail a new venue, meet some new sailors and get some more competitive racing in before the D10 championship and ACC coming up in a few weekends. Thanks again to everyone at Wickford Yacht Club for putting on a great regatta and to the Northrups for the great place to stay.
Results | Pictures: here here here here here here here
Top photo licensed from Cate Brown photo.
I too thought the first race was abandoned because of the position of that fishing trawler. But it was really worse than that! I had a chat with the race committee about it before the start of the next race and they told me that the trawler had got its fishing gear tangled with the anchor line of the mark and was actually towing it away. It was last seen right over by the island, still dragging our mark.
Thanks for coming all the way from Virginia to the regatta. It was good to meet you and I was glad we got some decent breeze to make it worth your while. The wind actually dropped quite considerably during the race you missed.
Sorry to hear about your block failure! Glad you had a good regatta and hope you’ll be sailing on Narragansett Bay in the future!
I’ll look for you out on the water when I’m shooting Laser events.
-Cate