Sailing Blog
McKee V Porter…and 2 Races Completed on Day 2 »
July 30, 2010
We reached the dock after the 2nd race on Day 2 at 5:00 pm, and I am still waiting for the 3 advil that I took upon arrival to take effect. Today was a challenging, mind-numbing sort of day where you crossed your fingers every direction you headed and hoped that your side would pay. The only upside is that the races were reasonably short for the extremely light conditions and the pain would only last for an hour at a time.
After looking at the forecasts for Day 2, most of the fleet strolled down to the Harbor Springs City Dock around 9am expecting to do our best to stave off boredom for most of the day from a lack of breeze. Once on the dock however, an easterly had stuck around from the early morning hours and was still putting out a nice 6-8 mph which would be enough for RC to get race 4 started on time. After a great start at the pin and controlling our own destiny, the Samba flopped shortly after the gun, found a nice vein of pressure up the middle of the course, showed good speed and rounded in 4th at the top mark. We were a bit surprised to see regatta leaders Volpe leading at the first mark after we rolled them at the start, forced them to tack to port, then spotted them in trouble on the right side half way up the first beat. There is no doubt these guys are loaded with talent, but after watching them crawl out numerous tough situations, we are not sure if they put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else.
The first downwind would prove to be very painful in a dying breeze and the fleet split at the top mark to hit a corner and minimize the maneuvers. We chose to extend on the run and while the boats ahead of us managed to get out alive, we lost a boat, rounded the left gate in 5th and were forced to tack off onto starboard to get clean air. Shortly after, the breeze would pretty much shut down and the race effectively restarted with us, Full Throttle and Argo on the left side of the course, and Volpe, Ninkasi and a charging Star on the right side. Breeze could be seen building on the sand dune shorline between Harbor Springs and Petosky, and while it looked like it would fill a bit sooner on the left side, there was no angle to it and the boats on the right were able to come charging into the mark with pace, and we would end up watching a few more boats get around us to take a 9th at the 2nd top mark. Painful.
The last downwind would see even more patchy holes and after learning our lesson on the previous upwind, we did a nice gybe-set at the mark, sailed to the left side of the course with good pressure and Stu did a nice job of calling a good layline for us to come into the finish with speed and we picked off 2 boats on the run to finish 7th. Volpe would hang on for the win and our main competition in the standings was just in front our behind us.
Instead of prolonging the anguish of most of the fleet, PRO Bruce Gollison, who is a sailors PRO, made the conclusion that the easterly that had been reduced to 2-3 kts would be giving way to the seabreeze in a few hours, and decided to send us in for a long postponement/lunch on shore. After a few hours, the tennis courts in the center of town were a nice attraction as Full Throttle teammates Vincent Porter and Charlie McKee squared off for a good 2 set match to the pleasure of a few onlookers. Charlie owned Vincent for the most part, which was a bit surprising considering Vincent was fully decked out in Nike tennis apparel and looked like he was attempting to qualify for Wimbledon. It just goes to show the cunning and old age can still beat youth, enthusiasm…and good fashion.
Just as the 2nd set was drawing to a close in McKee’s favor, the call was made over the radio that the seabreeze was filling and the fleet should get out on the course for a 4pm start. Once to the starting area, the hopes of a nice 12-15 kt seabreeze were an illusion and we would have to settle for a 6-8 kt contest. With a course set up similar to Day 1, the goal was to start clean at the boat and get to the right early. Unlike yesterday, we were not able to pull off a clean start at the boat end and we found ourselves going sideways once the gun went. After watching the majority of the fleet flop to port and cross, we continued on starboard and once we had a clean lane back to the right side, tacked and found ourselves with good pressure and looking like we might be able to get to the front pack.
As we chugged along upwind hoping for more left pressure, one boat continued to poke out on the right side and extend into the lead. Once they tacked in the right corner and got closer, we could see that it was regatta leaders, Volpe. For all of those who played Nintendo growing up and remembered the game RC Pro-Am, watching Volpe was like watching the car that all of the sudden went into turbo mode once you started getting into the more challenging levels; there was nothing you could do but watch and hope they would slow down.
The Samba did a nice job of recovering from a harsh start, but we found ourselves always just a 1/2 boatlength away from being able to break into the top five. Whether we would get leebowed, tacked on, or forced to a side, we could just never get to where we wanted to be for a prolonged period of time which resulted in a tough fought 9th place and some well deserved cold beers when we hit the dock. Volpe would again go on to take the bullet and build a nice lead going into day 3. Despite our 16 pt day, we are still in 2nd place and looking to have better day tomorrow in conditions that are hopefully a bit more exciting for the sailors and spectators.
Results here.
Photos here.
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