Sailing Blog
Looking for the Silver Lining on Day 2 of the 32 Worlds »
September 17, 2010
Day 2 of the Melges 32 Pre-Worlds/Rolex Big Boat series started out similar to the 1 day ended…covered in fog. After an evening filled with protests and redress hearings from other fleets racing in the regatta concerning boats that did not round marks properly due the fact they could not see them, the race committee wisely postponed the start of race 3 by a good hour to let the haze clear. It looked for awhile that the fog was only getting thicker and that we would not be going anywhere, than like someone blowing smoke from a candle, the skies cleared and we got underway.
With 28 Melges 32s on the start and a line that can hold about 29, we found ourselves getting shut out at the boat end, tacking immediately to the right side and finding a clear lane to new pressure. Once we approached the top mark, we were in very good position just behind the leaders B-lin and a few others who managed to call smart laylines and sneak up from underneath us. After benefitting from great pressure on the right side going upwind, we made the call to gybe set, pulled of the manuvuer, got on a plane and blasted off towards the leeward mark. We positioned ourselves well in the drag race to the bottom of the course with the front 5 boats, when all of the sudden the boat stood upright and we watched our spinnaker float softly on top of the water.
It took us moment to figure out what had happened, and as we looked up to the top of the mast, all we could see was the halyard connected to the head patch of the spinnaker with the luff and leach tapes dangling absent the body of the spinnaker. The back up kite was quickly loaded on deck and we did a good job of swapping to the new sail, but with 32s going high and low of us on full plane, we had now found ourselves in the back of the pack battling to get into a respectable position. The silver lining is that hopefully we are ridding ourselves of this kind of bad ju-ju when the Worlds start on Wednesday.
We did exhibit good speed and were able to get back into the top ten and at least feel ok about what could have been a terrible result. Bob Hughes’ Heartbreaker went on to win the race followed by Full Throttle.
Just like Day 1, the morning race was conducted on the Circle and the afternoon race took place on the Cityfront course. Our gameplan was similar to yesterday which was to tack shortly after the start, and leave Alcatraz to port as we made our way up the 4 mile windward beat to the whether mark near the Golden Gate Bridge. We had a poor start to race 4, and did manage to find a clear lane heading to the right side, but as we progressed up the course, the boats on our hip to whether who we looked good with off of the start, now begin to show a big left shift and we were clearly on the outside of the pinwheel. The boats who elected to sail between the City and Alcatraz made out pretty well and once we got to the top of the course we had a to eat a sizable header and limp our way around the top mark beating only 4-5 boats.
The downwind would be tricky with big veins of pressure making their way down the course and combined with a dwindling ebb tide, there were lots of gains to be made. Every boat with the exception of one left Alcatraz to port on the downwind and battled it out with each other to the bottom gates. Roxanne, who rounded behind us at the first top mark, went to the other side of Alcatraz and made huge gains, rounding 6th at the bottom mark. Whether it was a current or wind gain, they definately found something the rest of the fleet did not. We managed to pick off a few boats as well which we normally would have been encouraged by had Roxanne not stolen our thunder.
The last upwind was just as tricky and we did a nice job of playing the shifts and picking off a few more to finish 15th. Not a great result by any means, but a decent comeback from our position at the top mark in very difficult conditions for passing boats. The team of the day was Full Throttle who always seemed to be in the right place and going fast taking a 2nd in first race, and getting the bullet in race 2. The are a perfect example of how scary this fleet is and when somebody gets hot, they can really get going. There are so many talented teams racing it is no surprise to see a team like Bliksem win the day handily on day 1, followed by a totally different team on day 2.
With a weather system making its way from Alaska and put the clamps on the pacific NW, we are likely to see more unstable, foggy and uncharacteristic SF conditions for the next 2 days. Just like our sailing at times today, hopefully the bad weather is clearing out so when the Worlds arrives, we will have the typical daily 18-25 we have been hoping for.
Full results can be found here.
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