Spring Series #1 & #2

Spring race 1 &2 weekend weather came in like a lion and exited like a frisky lamb. Storms rolled through the Friday and Saturday of the weekend of March 24, with gale warnings and hydrological events forecasted. Early wind forecasts showed 15-25 KN from the NW expected for Sunday. Flat and smooth sounded great for the Spring race kick off. As we all know, never cancel on a forecast, and never bet on a forecast. We had wind from the NW and N, but we never saw 20-25, we did see 12-18 and that allowed for some spirited racing.

There we a few bumps for the first race of the 2024 year. Organizing the start mark was not planned by the race chair. Whoops! The Beach Committee got on station a bit late but was ready by 10:30am. Luckily, Jim Wallace on Contrails anchored a fender for a start, it was small and challenging to see but it sufficed and at 11 am, Spring 1 started.

Many boats ran the start line and tried to stay above it but that can be a tricky option. The biggest boat on the course, Sharyn Leigh, got below it and was called over early and had to restart. But that did not deter Sharyn Leigh, who had a great race day.

Mark 1, the dreaded virtual East mark presented an entertaining site as boats thought they sailed around it and had to come back to round it. Other boats rounded it while avoiding fisherman and everyone frantically zooming in and out on their chart plotters trying to find the darn mark!

If you didn’t know what the boats were attempting to do, you would think we were practicing man overboard drill and could not find our man!

Sailing slowly to the south mark, HI, was where the boats converged and then separated. The boats that went into the beach to try an angle to HI, found it to be slow. The boats who stayed east of HI had more wind and a better angle.

The leg North to the start, which was later decided to be the finish, when the Race Committee and on- water race committee decided to shorten course, was better sailed by going East instead of sailing the beach. The boats who sailed to the beach experienced a case of the slows. The finish presented a bit of a challenge when Contrails, the first boat to finish, could not locate the start/finish mark. Someone had stolen the fender and anchor. A decision was made to use the Beach Committee flag and farthest north swim buoy to finish the remaining boats.

Spring 2 started at 13:20 with wind clocking more North at 12-18 KN. The start was a bit trickier, having to line up with the Beach flag and swim buoy and stay within the prescribed depth limit of 30 ft but all boats started cleanly. Contrails and Summer Wind had clear start that put them ahead early but that changed near the East mark. Duet, Sharyn Leigh, and Second Mate came charging up to Summer Wind. Sharyn Leigh came under the Summer Wind and attempted to take them up. Duet came over Summer Wind and then came down. All of us were attempting to sail up and around the virtual mark which had a fishing boat with a kite right on top of it. We couldn’t go under the fishing boat for fear of fouling their kite. All the boats received stern words and hand gestures from the fishing boat.

The sail to HI was faster than the last time and staying away from the beach was the right choice again.

The sail North to the finish saw most of the boats stay away from the beach and take a mid-course or eastly course sail. The finish saw Duet come flying in from the east and beat Contrails by 1 minute. Sharyn Leigh had a great race with their main, jib and staysail moving the boat at a good clip and the barbeque producing amazing smells that made the competitors mouth water.

All in all, it was a great day on the water and based on the stories at the after-race party, everyone had fun.

Thank you to David and Gretchen Burdett for performing Beach Committee duties.

Thank you Jim Wallace for the on-water race committee duties.

Thank you Kelli and Chris Whitlock for hosting the after-race party and providing a few extra party supplies.