2013 Racing, part 1
The 2013 year started out in a bit of a quandary. Over the winter, Pia and I talked long and hard about what boat we should race at WYC. We had looked at a Beneteau sport-boat, a First Class 7.5. Very quick. The issue with BlueJ was sailing in light airs. Below 7 knots we might as well not go out, and lots of our races are held in light airs. New sails MIGHT help, but they might not help as much as we needed. So we waffled on sails.
We starting the season with just Pia and I on the boat. This made spinnaker work tricky at times. But we got to know the boat better, and we swapped positions often. The season started on a good note, with us winning the tune-up race while doouble-handed. A fun little video as we reach back to the club for a victory beer.
And crew wise things were looking up. Brett and his friend Chris wanted to join us on Thursdays. Brett had been at the club for a few years, and Chris was new to sailing, but learned very fast. And as he is an engineer we got along well. So we started training, and getting everyone up to speed. Here is a video of us doing some spinnaker work. It was fun to have new people on the boat. They had lots to learn but pick it up fast.
Our tactics and maneuvers were getting decent but we were still off the pace boatspeed-wise. But we kept on it, and got better as a team, even if the results did not always show it.
Here we are, leading the fleet after rounding the windward mark.
Half way through the season, Brett bailed out on us. Happily Chris stayed on and we found a new bow guy, John, who is a firefighter and tough as nails. And we kept on getting better. Here were are in an around the islands race, catching up the the Capri 25 fleet that was the start before ours.
But the shape and condition of the sails were letting us down. We really only had a chance in a breeze, and even that was a challenge because we could not flatten the sails enough to de-power them to match the conditions. In this picture, we have the mainsail controls full on to flatten it, and we are still way overpowered. It looks fun, but we are slow.
Is was clear that if we wanted to see if we could compete for real in the PHRF class, we would need new sails. So I started the search. Who would make them? And of what? At what cost? The subject of the next post!
We starting the season with just Pia and I on the boat. This made spinnaker work tricky at times. But we got to know the boat better, and we swapped positions often. The season started on a good note, with us winning the tune-up race while doouble-handed. A fun little video as we reach back to the club for a victory beer.
And crew wise things were looking up. Brett and his friend Chris wanted to join us on Thursdays. Brett had been at the club for a few years, and Chris was new to sailing, but learned very fast. And as he is an engineer we got along well. So we started training, and getting everyone up to speed. Here is a video of us doing some spinnaker work. It was fun to have new people on the boat. They had lots to learn but pick it up fast.
Our tactics and maneuvers were getting decent but we were still off the pace boatspeed-wise. But we kept on it, and got better as a team, even if the results did not always show it.
Here we are, leading the fleet after rounding the windward mark.
Half way through the season, Brett bailed out on us. Happily Chris stayed on and we found a new bow guy, John, who is a firefighter and tough as nails. And we kept on getting better. Here were are in an around the islands race, catching up the the Capri 25 fleet that was the start before ours.
But the shape and condition of the sails were letting us down. We really only had a chance in a breeze, and even that was a challenge because we could not flatten the sails enough to de-power them to match the conditions. In this picture, we have the mainsail controls full on to flatten it, and we are still way overpowered. It looks fun, but we are slow.
Is was clear that if we wanted to see if we could compete for real in the PHRF class, we would need new sails. So I started the search. Who would make them? And of what? At what cost? The subject of the next post!
Comments
Post a Comment