Tag: HYC ILCA Spring Classic

What wind we didn’t have on Saturday came on Sunday making for some windy racing. With only 4 boats out today, the regatta came down to how I did against David Hartman who started the day 2 points ahead. We were joined by David Grace, a CNU sailor, and Frank Patch.

I focused on having good clean starts and working to hold my lane off the line on the first beat. We had some current going left to right which lead me to favor the left side of the course and staying on starboard as long as I dared. As would be proven to me, picking shifts to the right would still beat playing the current, especially given the winds in the mid to upper teens gusting to 20.

In most of the Races I played the middle left of the course, David G and I would cross tacks and be within a few boat lengths of each other at the top mark, sometime me ahead and sometimes him. I would make up some distance on the reach and David would either pass me or pull ahead on the downwinds. Once I was behind I sailed a little more conservatively to hold my position and not break anything and save my energy for the next start. I did manage to lead one whole race capsized once in another race. David and Frank were usually just behind us on the trapezoid course with inner and outer loops (we sailed the outer).

Racing in this wind was the perfect way to start the season and get comfortable in the boat again. With a regatta at FBYC in May followed by Districts in late May and ILCA Nationals in June – both at Norfolk YCC – this was exactly what I needed to get back into ILCA sailing. Thanks Max and everyone at Hampton Yacht Club for hosting, and to David H, David G, Henry, Britt and everyone else who came out to sail. It was great to get out and go sail somewhere else after not doing any travel regattas last year and nice to see everyone again.

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I have some fond memories of frostbite sailing and a sailing district championship in 1998-1999 and I haven’t sailed a Laser/ILCA dinghy there since. While I had sailed at Hampton on other boats – it was good to be back with my own boat and good to be sailing my first regatta of 2021.

There was some wind to get us out to the course and once there it completely shut off. The ebbing current was starting to build and so I just tied off to one of the marks and sat there for 2 hours. The locals all claimed “It’s never like this in Hampton.”

Eventually the wind did fill in from the south with just a few knots and a race was started for the 5 ILCA Dinghies as well as for the Radial fleet. I had a great start at the boat and quickly realized I was slow off the line with the wrong outhaul setting. I was half a boatlength ahead of David Hartman coming into the top mark on the port layline and had to duck him. I followed him the rest of the way around the course for a 2nd.

The wind shifted left between races, the course was reset and we sailed another race. I had a great start at the boat and stayed in the middle left of the first beat. Chris went more left while David went more right where there was pressure and both were just ahead of me at the top mark. I followed them downwind and on the 2nd beat we set up much the same with Chris to the left and David to the right only this time there was a lane of wind right down the middle of the course and I was able to stay in pressure and passed both to the top mark and finished in 1st.

By the 3rd race the wind shifted left again and now it lined up so we were sailing directly into the current on the upwind legs making them a very slow slog. Downwind sailing with the wind just faster than the current made it tough to keep the sail set right and doing anything other than just driving down. By the end of the race the wind totally dropped out and the race shortened for both fleets. My efforts to sail in shallower water out of the current took me to less pressure and so I was never able to get around Henry and settled for a 4th.

The race committee towed us in just as it started drizzling. Sitting in 2nd, 2 points behind first and day 2 is tomorrow.

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