Hecla - post race log report
Now that I am finished for a day and dried out, I thought I would give a brief analysis of the event as I saw it from Hecla.
The start was easy with a moderate late morning west wind in the bay and only two boats in the multihull class. A few tacks and I was out of the bay, where the wind shifted regularly but the general trend was to the SW, and always lighter. This was expected from the forecast. I could slowly creep through the fleet, but the SW wind made my close-hauled course creep ever closer to the north coast; and from time to time I was forced to tack back out to avoid the beach, and then I was back in the middle of the fleet. Hecla is not a great light-air pointing boat, at least when I try to manage for best VMG. You can see this from my track; in the SW wind I was furthest to the north, and in the NW wind I was furthest to the south. Sometimes I find this annoying, especially when I compare myself to expertly sailed monohulls such as Outsider, who in the light SW was well in the lead, but in the end I tell myself that we are not apples to apples boat comparison and I need to run my own race.
Off Point Reyes the wind died completely for me briefly, and I made a cell phone call to race chair to clarify the check-in communication plan, which was my job to manage. Hecla spun slowly in the current, and when a faint breeze picked up I was pointed north, and could not develop enough speed to tack. Some boats must have found it odd that I was turning back towards the bay, though I was making a slow motion gybe to get back on the right tack. As expected, the wind shifted to the NW and the race was on!
By nightfall the breeze was a solid 15 or better (not sure since my wind speed instrument is broken), and I reduced head sail for the night. I still managed 8.5 knots average. Sleep was fitful, normal for me on the first night out. One close AIS alarm, the first and only of the trip. By morning the wind was much lighter, I rolled out the big jib, and worked delicately to manage best VMG. As I mentioned in an earlier post, working Hecla in light air for best close-hauled VMG makes it look like I point poorly. I have to remember that when I am sailing with boat speed equal to wind speed, there is a huge apparent wind shift. At one point I was sailing nearly due south, so I tacked, and the boat settled in on a due-north course. Frustrating, yes, tacked back, and settled for a bit of pinching.
A nice day of sailing. I was well south of the fleet, and trying to not worry about it. At the 126 40' turnaround line I executed a perfect 180. Close hauled on stbd to close reaching on port? Yes, with both white head sails flying (cutter rig), my apparent wind was 70 degrees, too close for a spinnaker, just fine with me by the way, and now 10 to 12 knots boat speed came easily with little stress on the boat. Hecla was in her element, comfortable fast ocean reaching. These conditions persisted for about 22 hours, when I neared the Faralones, the wind softened, and I hit a whale.
Whale? I was down below working on something when I heard a crash, not unlike a good wave slam. After a moment I realized that there were no waves at that moment, and I must have hit something. About 200 feet astern a very large triangular fin popped up, wallowing randomly. I never saw more of the animal, and neither Hecla nor whale are presumed injured. Mark on Alchera suggested that I look for barnacle scratches on the bottom paint.
The Faralones wind lull was brief, after which I continued with haste to the Golden Gate. The fog was low, I could not see the bridge, only the foundations. The wind was honking at that point, and my gybe under the bridge caused a faint smell of burnt polyester to curl from the gybing boom brake. A screaming 15 knot reach to the finish line and it was over. I paused a moment to take in the city lights at sunset.
This was my best race ever. I was "on" at every moment; coordinated, calculating, feeling effortless. Hecla and I were a great team, communicating intuitively and subtly. The weather was in our great favor, a reach out and a reach back. We escaped most of the light wind patches. With my severe -30 rating, I never expect to win a race. I am happy to sail with the elements in my little floating space capsule, and take occasional line honors. By my calculations I have won overall this time, for the first time ever. That makes this event especially thrilling and sweet.
Big kudos to Ruben and the other race organizers for an event well executed, and especially the SSS board for bringing on the position transponders.
All the best, Jeff
Now that I am finished for a day and dried out, I thought I would give a brief analysis of the event as I saw it from Hecla.
The start was easy with a moderate late morning west wind in the bay and only two boats in the multihull class. A few tacks and I was out of the bay, where the wind shifted regularly but the general trend was to the SW, and always lighter. This was expected from the forecast. I could slowly creep through the fleet, but the SW wind made my close-hauled course creep ever closer to the north coast; and from time to time I was forced to tack back out to avoid the beach, and then I was back in the middle of the fleet. Hecla is not a great light-air pointing boat, at least when I try to manage for best VMG. You can see this from my track; in the SW wind I was furthest to the north, and in the NW wind I was furthest to the south. Sometimes I find this annoying, especially when I compare myself to expertly sailed monohulls such as Outsider, who in the light SW was well in the lead, but in the end I tell myself that we are not apples to apples boat comparison and I need to run my own race.
Off Point Reyes the wind died completely for me briefly, and I made a cell phone call to race chair to clarify the check-in communication plan, which was my job to manage. Hecla spun slowly in the current, and when a faint breeze picked up I was pointed north, and could not develop enough speed to tack. Some boats must have found it odd that I was turning back towards the bay, though I was making a slow motion gybe to get back on the right tack. As expected, the wind shifted to the NW and the race was on!
By nightfall the breeze was a solid 15 or better (not sure since my wind speed instrument is broken), and I reduced head sail for the night. I still managed 8.5 knots average. Sleep was fitful, normal for me on the first night out. One close AIS alarm, the first and only of the trip. By morning the wind was much lighter, I rolled out the big jib, and worked delicately to manage best VMG. As I mentioned in an earlier post, working Hecla in light air for best close-hauled VMG makes it look like I point poorly. I have to remember that when I am sailing with boat speed equal to wind speed, there is a huge apparent wind shift. At one point I was sailing nearly due south, so I tacked, and the boat settled in on a due-north course. Frustrating, yes, tacked back, and settled for a bit of pinching.
A nice day of sailing. I was well south of the fleet, and trying to not worry about it. At the 126 40' turnaround line I executed a perfect 180. Close hauled on stbd to close reaching on port? Yes, with both white head sails flying (cutter rig), my apparent wind was 70 degrees, too close for a spinnaker, just fine with me by the way, and now 10 to 12 knots boat speed came easily with little stress on the boat. Hecla was in her element, comfortable fast ocean reaching. These conditions persisted for about 22 hours, when I neared the Faralones, the wind softened, and I hit a whale.
Whale? I was down below working on something when I heard a crash, not unlike a good wave slam. After a moment I realized that there were no waves at that moment, and I must have hit something. About 200 feet astern a very large triangular fin popped up, wallowing randomly. I never saw more of the animal, and neither Hecla nor whale are presumed injured. Mark on Alchera suggested that I look for barnacle scratches on the bottom paint.
The Faralones wind lull was brief, after which I continued with haste to the Golden Gate. The fog was low, I could not see the bridge, only the foundations. The wind was honking at that point, and my gybe under the bridge caused a faint smell of burnt polyester to curl from the gybing boom brake. A screaming 15 knot reach to the finish line and it was over. I paused a moment to take in the city lights at sunset.
This was my best race ever. I was "on" at every moment; coordinated, calculating, feeling effortless. Hecla and I were a great team, communicating intuitively and subtly. The weather was in our great favor, a reach out and a reach back. We escaped most of the light wind patches. With my severe -30 rating, I never expect to win a race. I am happy to sail with the elements in my little floating space capsule, and take occasional line honors. By my calculations I have won overall this time, for the first time ever. That makes this event especially thrilling and sweet.
Big kudos to Ruben and the other race organizers for an event well executed, and especially the SSS board for bringing on the position transponders.
All the best, Jeff