Race reports by Tim Healy are below.
By Tim Healy on Monday, January 25, 1999 - 12:42 pm:
Hi All,
Here is what the racing looked like from Mookie. I wrote this race report as soon as I got home and it remided me why I drove 64 hours round trip. The weather was
great and the race committee did a fantastic job getting off 11 races. Jim
Keesling was the regatta chairman and he did a first class job putting it
all together.
The winning team was Tim Healy, Bill Fortenberry, Jon Ziskind, Heidi
Derbeck and Cutter Smith. Second was Brad Read. Third was Chris Larson.
Monday was the first day of racing with a practice race in the morning and
a championship race in the afternoon. The practice race was windy from the
North gusting to 25mph. There were many wipeouts as teams were trying to
get their sea legs back. Most boats did not finish the race in order to
conserve energy and avoid breakdowns.
Race 1 started at 1pm in the same conditions. We were at 30/30 on the
shrouds and well into blade conditions. Our main was turning inside out
more than the other top boats so we probably could have used a little more
lower tension. We started 2/3 the way down the line and played the middle
left. The breeze shifted to the right and we rounded just outside of the
top 10. The breeze was forecasted to go to the right because it was the
leading edge of a high-pressure system. We thought that because we were so
close to the island that we would get some geographical shift to the left
as well as flatter water. We were wrong. The remainder of the race we
spent trying to pass as many boats as possible armed with what we had
learned from the first beat. We finished the race in 5th with Brad, Geoff,
Chris and Twins ahead of us and Will Crump just behind us.
Race 2 was started on Tuesday morning, in a moderate 10-14 northeasterly.
Our shrouds were set at 27-24 and we used our (Pentex) Genoa. We noticed a
Cloud moving to the right of us and then the breeze started to get pulled
towards it during the last few minutes of the sequence. We started at the
boat and went right. At the top mark we had a substantial lead. The
positions at the finish were Us, Will, Twins, Brad and then Solomon.
Race 3 was started in the same condition with slightly less breeze. I
think we kept the rig the same. We started towards the boat again and
peeled off right hoping for some of the same right action as the last race,
but there was nothing left. The breeze held direction from the start and
there was more pressure to the left. In this breeze direction, starboard
tack off the line would point you directly at the island and into the
pressure. We rounded the top mark Just inside the top ten and finished
5th. Geoff was first followed by Brad, Beatty, and Chris.
The conditions were the same for Race 4 but we loosened up the rig
slightly. The shrouds were somewhere between 27-24 and 24-21. This time we
started at the pin and won the left side. ¾ the way up the beat a big
shrimp boat decided to split the fleet and we had to delay a tack port for
about 7 lengths. We over stood the weather mark but still managed to round
in first just ahead of Brad and the Twins. The next weather mark we were
still in first but we let Brad and the Twins get to the right of us down
wind and they gained big. We lost Brad and the Twins were right on our
tail. The finish was upwind and the Twins sailed a great beat and got by
us. Brad was first followed by Twins, Us, Chris and Geoff. After the
second day of racing we were tied with Geoff for first with 14 pts. Brad
and Twins had 16, Chris 18 and Will 22pts.
Races 5,6,7 were held on Wednesday and it was blowing from the East around
10. Our shrouds were set at 24-21. Although the breeze was forecasted to
shift to the Southeast, the left side of the course paid most of the day.
Our starts and tactics remained conservative and we ended up with a 3,6,2
for the day. Brad turned up the heat with three bullets. Chris had a 4,3,3
and Geoff had a 2,5,5. I found out later that evening that Geoff took a
50% penalty for a starboard-port situation in race 7.
Thursday started in an Easterly 15-19. We set the rig at 30-30 and chose to
sail with our (Pentex) genoa, as did most of the fleet. The seaweed was
the worst it had been all week with islands of the stuff that could stop
you dead in the water. The chop was the steepest we had seen also (4-5
foot). Cutter Smith, on the bow, did an outstanding job getting us through
the clumps of weed. He would yell back the best route, often giving me an
option of up or down. At times we had no other alternative than to dive
10-30 degrees to avoid the big ones. Jon, in the cockpit, did a fantastic
job trimming to allow me to steer up and down. He would ease, as Cutter
would call for a course change and watch the weeds pass by to see how far
he had to go. I would then be responsible for the trim in. During these
dips the backstay would be maxed out and the main would be fully ragged.
It was not pretty, but we kept the boat moving and free of weeds. We had a
weed stick of rigid 1" PVC pipe with a coat hanger bent to a U shape taped
to one end. If we suspected we had weeds, I would first look to confirm
that we had weeds, then Heidi (our 125lbs. twing woman) would jump back and
clear the rudder. We were not concerned with the keel because they say
nothing can catch on it if the boat is moving well.
In Races 8 and 9 there were small shifts that could be played but there did
not seem to be one formula that worked best. The surfing downwind was
intense! Good downwind technique was at a premium. We managed to get into
a rhythm and move pretty well down wind. All of the top guys were working
hard and one missed wave could have cost as much as 5 boat lengths. In the first
two races we had a 3,2. Chris had a 2,1. Will Crump had a 1,4. Brad had
a 4,5. Geoff had a 5,3 and Twins had two sixes.
Race 10 was started in much the same condition as the first two but Bill
pointed substantial cloud forming to the right over the Gulf Stream. We
started well at the boat and got to the right first. The breeze shifted to
the right and we round the weather mark in first with Geoff a few boat
lengths behind and Chris in third. The breeze continued to shift right on
the next beat and Geoff passed us as we were covering Chris. The next
downwind leg was pretty much a reach so there was no change in the position
of the top 3. The last beat was a covering game and the leaders sailed off
to the right side of the course in a dying breeze. The cloud had now
passed and the sky was clearing. A building breeze to the left surprised
us, and a hand full of boats passed the lead group. The farther left you
were the better your finish. Chris was to the left of us, and he finished
4th, we finished 6th and Geoff was 7th. Brad was 9th and Doug Mclean got
the gun.
At the end of ten races, which were held in a variety of conditions, two
points separated the top three boats with only two races left. Chris had
35pts; we had 36, Brad 37 and Geoff 61. The points were extremely close
but there were too many players involved to consider match racing at the
start of race ten.
Race 11 on Friday morning started in a light Easterly. Our rig was set at
20-15. Bill noticed another cloud forming over the gulf and our plan was
to start towards the boat and get right as soon as possible. We started to
leeward of Brad and immediately saw a lane to escape right so we tacked and
ducked. The breeze did shift right and we were first at the weather mark
followed by Scott Milnes,Tim Ryan, Geoff, Brad and Chris. The breeze had been dying after the initial shift to the right so we started looking to the left for breeze. While protecting the left we still covered Brad and Chris who were looking for breeze on the right. The left came through and we rounded the last
weather mark in 2nd behind Tim Ryan and just ahead of Geoff. The top three
sailed the final leg downwind to finish in that order. Brad and Chris ended up getting hung out to dry on the right side of last beat. They finished 14th and 18th. Soon after we finish the breeze dropped to less than 5mph and the sky over the gulf was getting very dark. Race 12 was never started and the fleet was sent in.
I would like to thank Bill, Jon, Heidi and Cutter for doing a world class job.
Best Regards,
Tim
Tim Healy
North Sails One Design Rhode Island
tim@od.northsails.com