First Race!

Last Saturday was a momentous occasion for Shearwater, Chris, and I.  We did our first race together.  Specifically we did a Rum Race on Galveston Bay hosted by GBCA.  Rum races are a somewhat informal Saturday evening pursuit race where boats start in reverse order of their PHRF rating.  That is, the slow boats start first and faster boats follow.  The start time differential is set with the idea that if all of the boats are rated and sailed perfectly they will all arrive at the finish line at the same time.  It’s a great concept because as the race progresses the fleet tends to get closer together creating a lot of close finishes.  Sadly for us, this is the last Rum Race of the year.  We’ll have to wait until January when the Icicle Series begins to do more pursuit races.  Darn, cuz we were just getting warmed up.

Anyway, about that race…  It was really fun.  Out of approximately 50 boats, Shearwater started 4th from last (4^th fastest rating).  Most boats sail with a full crew, in fact, a similar boat to ours, a J/44 raced with 13 people, the maximum allowed for a boat their size.  We, with just the two us, would be plenty busy, and a little outgunned if the breeze got too strong, but we like it that way.  Chris drove the entire day, her first race at the helm.  I ran around the rest of boat trying to figure out how she’s has done all this stuff by herself before.

The first leg started out as a close-hauled beat and Shearwater was moving well right at the top end of our range for the 155% genoa and only 2 people.  We were pulling closer to the boats in front of us and holding off the 3 faster boats behind us.  About halfway up the beat we tacked away as it seemed there was a little better breeze and clear air to the right.  Both were true, unfortunately, soon after we tacked back, the wind shifted to the right and suddenly everyone, whether they had tacked or not, was able to lay the first mark.  That meant our tack to port, while only a few minutes, was entirely wasted distance.  We ended up rounding the mark ahead of a handful of slower boats and with two of the three faster boats right on our tail.  The J/44 that started last, with 13 people on the rail, and without any wasted tacks smoked up the left side of the course and rounded the first mark about mid-fleet.  The conditions were right down their alley today.

A bit busy around the first mark.

Right after rounding the first mark it was pretty busy, we wanted to tack away and start the long leg towards the 2^nd mark, which was now another beat thanks to the wind shift.  Not ideal for us with only 2 people.  We really needed more weight on the rail as the breeze also increased slightly to the high teens, or more reaching and running.  Well out of practice from racing, we started to tack, only to realize there was another boat right on our hip preventing us from tacking without a collision.  So many things we used to know and have since forgotten…  We got it sorted out and were moving well up the second beat.  We weren’t pointing so well though in the stronger breeze.  A little tweak to the genoa car position solved that problem and again we were learning stuff we used to know.  We tried to minimize our tacking as with the big genoa and only 2 people we were really slow.  At a minimum I had to stop grinding the genoa sheet and go forward to skirt the sail over the lifelines once, sometimes twice.  That was ugly, but there is no other option when shorthanded.  About ¾ of way up the second leg we crossed just behind an Express 37 and just ahead of a One-Design 35, both boats with similar speed as ours.  As we approached the second mark we were well ahead of both boats, so somewhere along the way we had made a good call on the tacking and scored a favorable wind shift.

I’m liking the racing sails. Check out that pelican.

Now for the anxious part.  Immediately after rounding the second mark we needed to hoist our huge asymmetrical spinnaker for the last leg to the finish.  The breeze was holding around 15 knots.  Right at the top end of what we were comfortable with flying this big sail.  It also required a boat load (pun intended) of maneuvers to adjust course, adjust the sails, furl the genoa, hoist the spinnaker, hoist the sock, and trim the spinnaker.  I struggled a little by failing to lead the tack line to the spinnaker correctly over the spin sheets (learning, learning…), got it sorted out before the hoist fortunately, and then fumbled with the sock as I now know that I need to pull the bulk of the bottom of the sail out of the sock before hoisting or else it gets wadded up and stuck inside the sock, preventing the sock from raising.  A few back and forths got it free and then, just like that we were off!  Easily the best part of this boat is sailing downwind with the spinnaker.  It’s huge, it’s fast, the boat is flat, it’s comfortable, and a lot of fun.  Once we got everything sorted out we were able to pull away from the Express 37 and stay close to the faster OD 35 that caught up to us while I goofed around with the spinnaker hoist.

Crossing the finish line.

Heading into the setting sun (and that’s why this was the last race of the season) towards the finish we were feeling pretty good about the day.  We ended up finishing about 16^th out of the 50 or so boats.  The J/44 that started last won easily.  What’s funny is that as we approached the finish I would have guessed we were mid-pack and not seeing any of the few boats racing shorthanded around us, I assumed we were also mid-pack in that division as well.  One of the (reasonable) rules of Rum Races is that if you finish first you have to score the next 4 boats in your division.  There is no race committee to handle this for us.  Not thinking we were in the money, we concentrated on getting the spinnaker down without running into the beach and made our way back to the dock.  Only on Monday after looking at the finish line pictures did I realize we were actually the first shorthanded boat by a good margin, but since we didn’t do the scoring as required, no one knew.  Tis okay, we have plenty of satisfaction that our first race went really well, all things considered.  We made a few mistakes here and there, but learned a ton and we know we can do better next time.  It could have been much, much worse.

That beach comes up mighty quick with the big monster flying. With this pic we realize the big chute has an image of the mountain K2 on it. The previous boat name.

Next weekend we head back to Seabrook for an all day Skipper’s Meeting for the upcoming Harvest Moon Regatta in October.  Poco a poco (little by little) we are making progress on the projects and the practice.

Not all the boats out were racing. A contrast in styles.

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