Here we go;
6 am rise and shine! The Club has done an awesome job so far but many of us are leery of the chances of those tractors getting over 100 boats in the water in time. The organizers made an announcement Sunday evening that it would be best to have your boat launched and ready prior to the 9 am skippers meeting. That didn’t sound good. So 6 am it is, and tractor guys are supposed to be ready to go at 7 am. We arrive at 6:50 and it is surprisingly quiet, except for a brisk southerly breeze that has been blowing all night, maybe about 12 or 13 I’d guess. Very overcast sky and the look of rain. No big deal but more than the forecasted 5 to 10 which we were hoping for. The last few days there has been no breeze early but then it fills in late morning or early afternoon. Luckily, Kim has heavy influence on the tractor guys and we are first in the water and they are consulting with us on who should be next on the agenda. Nice! As it turned out the launching process was amazingly smooth and very quick, we will be sleeping in a bit tomorrow.
After the skippers meeting we shove off and head to the race course. If you have seen the NAC website we used area D, if you haven’t it is at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay (western shore) and the Piankatank River. I've included a chart but area D is not labeled but is just above and to the right of area C. The area is ideal for racing with room for courses of a couple miles in any direction. Curiously, the legs would only be .75 miles in length. We work our way there and begin some practice in what turns out to be very tricky conditions to sail. The breeze has lightened up a bit but the water is very lumpy, especially tough when on Starboard tack. This will make for a long day.
6 am rise and shine! The Club has done an awesome job so far but many of us are leery of the chances of those tractors getting over 100 boats in the water in time. The organizers made an announcement Sunday evening that it would be best to have your boat launched and ready prior to the 9 am skippers meeting. That didn’t sound good. So 6 am it is, and tractor guys are supposed to be ready to go at 7 am. We arrive at 6:50 and it is surprisingly quiet, except for a brisk southerly breeze that has been blowing all night, maybe about 12 or 13 I’d guess. Very overcast sky and the look of rain. No big deal but more than the forecasted 5 to 10 which we were hoping for. The last few days there has been no breeze early but then it fills in late morning or early afternoon. Luckily, Kim has heavy influence on the tractor guys and we are first in the water and they are consulting with us on who should be next on the agenda. Nice! As it turned out the launching process was amazingly smooth and very quick, we will be sleeping in a bit tomorrow.
After the skippers meeting we shove off and head to the race course. If you have seen the NAC website we used area D, if you haven’t it is at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay (western shore) and the Piankatank River. I've included a chart but area D is not labeled but is just above and to the right of area C. The area is ideal for racing with room for courses of a couple miles in any direction. Curiously, the legs would only be .75 miles in length. We work our way there and begin some practice in what turns out to be very tricky conditions to sail. The breeze has lightened up a bit but the water is very lumpy, especially tough when on Starboard tack. This will make for a long day.
Here is a chart of the racing area, the club is just above and to the right of area A. To get to area D, we sail through A, B and C around the point and out to area D, usually about an hours sail.
The site of over a 100 boats in the pre-start area was pretty cool. The right side appeared favored due to both wind and smaller waves so we decide to be close to the boat and work our way there as soon as we can.
Only about 30 or 40 other boats have the same idea so it is crowded but amazingly we hit the line on time, with speed and at the RC Boat. Too Cool! For about 2 or 3 seconds… until the RC signals a General Recall. SUCK!!!! We go again but now the I flag is flying so more caution is in order. We get a decent start near the boat and try to work our way up the right side. We struggle at times to find clear air but our strategy was working ok. If it were not for a pile up at the leeward mark and overstanding the change of course mark we could have been 10 or 12th. Not too bad for our first race at our first NAC.
The second start looks good for us as well, we are at the boat with speed but about a boat length below the line at the gun. Another General recall. Time for the Z flag. The next attempt is clean but we get spit out of the pack and struggle to sail in clear air. We work right again and end up pulling out a fairly good leg to round about 10th. We eventually work up to 6 or 7 and the right side is working well. Near the end of the second spinnaker run a huge left shift with pressure comes in and we are toast. We lose a bunch of boats on the last leg to finish 18. I never saw the left shift coming so……….. Jeff saw the shift and is sitting pretty in first place, hoping for more light air.
Many cocktails later the Lintons and us enjoy the fine BBQ facilities at the INN. Jeff is a fine slow cookin BBQ guy along with an excellent sailor. Not sure how you can cook a whole chicken using only about 12 charcoal briquettes. Not sure how he sees all those wind shifts either!
Jeff and Dave in action
Sunset from the Balcony of the Inn
Forecast for tomorrow is 10 to 20, Damn.
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