Tag Archives: catamaran

Race Night Report – July 27, 2017

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The wind was the big story of the night, with constantly changing (and sometimes challenging) conditions.  Congrats to the brave souls who looked to the water, saw some big air, and said “looks like fun!”  This was also the last race night of the “Summer Series 1” so take a look at the end of the article for a series summary.  Summer Series 2 starts Aug 3, so until then you can say “Yeah, I’m tied with Steve for the top spot…”

Race 1

Big winds meant boats were flying out of the gate.  The start line was long enough that a few skilled sailors (Steve/Carla and Jean/Frank  in Tasars, Tony/Annie in a Hobie 18, Ken/Peter in a Laser 2) could start on the favoured port without being interfered with by those doing starboard tack starts (Chunshu in a Laser, Jason in a Laser, Mark/Ellen/Yona in an Albacore).  The first leg was all about keeping the boat flat in the big winds and big waves, with Carla/Steve rounding the mark first, followed by Jason (although the cat outran him on the reaching legs like he was standing still).  The battle I was watching throughout the race though was Jean/Frank in a Tasar vs Ken/Peter in a Laser 2.  Here were two quick boats, about the same size, designed by the same person (Frank Bethwaite) around the same time and each sailed by competent sailors.  The Laser 2 had the advantage of a trapeze (with Peter hanging off it) but the trap really works best in steady winds while we were experience gusts/lulls.  These two boats were playing leapfrog throughout the race, with Mark/Ellen/Yona able to insert their Albacore into the fray downwind.

Carla/Steve finished 1st, Tony/Annie 2nd, Jason 3rd, Jean/Frank 4th, the Watsons 5th, Peter/Ken 6th, and Chunshu 7th

Race 2

The wind started to die down, but continued its shift.  A couple more boats joined us (Matt/Cameron in an Albacore and Sara/Charlotte in a Laser).  Port tack heavily favoured by this time.  This race was quite processional with the first leg seeing the most movement.  Tony/Devin had a decent start and were able to pass Frank/Jean, Ken/Peter, and Jason.  The two new boats unfortunately didn’t have great starts, and were unable to catch up.  The top 3 finishers were the same, in the same order, but Peter/Ken held on to 4th over Jean/Frank (5th), and Chunshu (6th) was able to beat the Watson Albacore (8th).  Matt/Cameron scored 9th, followed by Charlotte/Sara (10th).

Race 3

So here’s a question for you — in this case, a wind shift make the pin end of the start line (and port track) heavily favoured.  But, the wind is fairly slow at the pin end (6 knots, maybe), and is stronger at the boat end (9 knots).  Where should you start?

Boat A has the favoured end, and the favoured tack, but boat B has right-of-way over boat A.  A has to either tack or bear off and duck B.  B would likely try to force A to make a move (tacking or ducking) and then tack onto port in front of A, but if B does a sloppy tack and loses speed, then A (assuming A ducked) could pass her to leeward and get into clear air.  C meanwhile is starting with more distance to sail upwind.  If the wind continues to shift counterclockwise, C is screwed.  But if the wind shift back to “head on” then C has much more wind to work with and can beat A or B.  Tricky situation indeed.

Race 3 started out slow, the wind built over the course of the race, starting on the right side of the course.  By the end of the race it was over 15 knots all over the course, probably closer to 20 on the Quebec side.  Carla/Steve (who took the “boat A” position in the diagram) won the race, with Devin/Tony second (again).  Jason had a bad start (he had planned to be boat C, but wasn’t paying attention and drifted downwind before the start) so Frank/Jean and Ken/Peter were duking it out for 3rd.  Peter eventually got on the trapeze as the wind built, and the extra leverage meant they could keep their boat flatter that Jean/Frank.  They took 3rd/4th respectivly.  Chunshu showed solid skills as he kept his Laser ahead of the rest of the fleet.  Jason was able to pass Charlotte/Sara and Matt/Cameron and was catching up with Mark/Ellen/Yona, but didn’t get to them in time.  Mark & family finished 6th, Jason 7th, Cameron/Matt 8th, Sara/Charlotte 9th.

Lesson learned: once that class flag goes up, don’t start fiddling with your boat drifting downwind, make sure you’re in a good starting position.

After the race

Remember how I said the wind was building?  Well, some of the braver (or stupider) sailors took advantage of the big air and went to Quebec.  That was fun — planing on a reach the whole way there, hulls screaming, spray flying everywhere, bouncing the boats over whitecaps!  Peter was hanging off the trapeze trying to keep the Laser 2 upright, Carla/Steve and Jean/Frank were practicing steering-for-balance, the Tony/Devin’s Hobie 18 was close to flying a hull.  A couple of capsizes and some aid from kind sailors/RC (thanks Carla, Heidi, Reese!) and everyone made it home safe.

Apres-sail was fun, as always, and may thanks for coming out!

Series/Season Standings

This was the last race of our “Summer Series 1” set of races, with “Summer Series 2” going from Aug 3 – Aug 31.  We got 13 races in over the 5 weeks, which meant you can drop your worst 3 scores.  Steve convincingly won the series, taking 1st place in all but 3 races (a 2nd, a 3rd, and a Did-Not-Start).  Carla finished 2nd with a number of 1st place wins, as well as a handful of 3rd/4th places finishes.  Ken S rounds out the top 3, with a win, and solid 2nd/3rd place finishes.  For the rookies, we have Devin as the victor with some 1st/2nd place finishes, but the weeks he missed (Did-Not-Come-to-Starting-Area) hurt his overall placement among the veterans.  Complete results here.

Season wise, Carla is still in the lead by a couple of points over Steve.  Jason has fallen back to a distant 3rd.  Current standings here

 

Race Night Report, July 20, 2017

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Now THAT was a good turn out!  We had 16 boats on the water (13 boats racing) with 23 racers on my score sheet.  Encouragingly, many of our Learn-To-Sail graduates were coming out for their 1st race of the season (7, by my count)!  Winds were actually pretty decent for the first race (9 knots maybe, from the W — enough to have some fun hiking) although they died down to ~6 knots for race 2, and there was a good amount of “floating” for race 3.  Speaking of race 3, the unthinkable happened — read on!

(Note – I’m awful with faces and names, and errors are possible with the score sheet.  If you notice any mistakes like “I’m pretty sure I finished in front of Tony” or “I was sailing an Albacore with Bill, not a Laser by myself”, please let me know.  Links to the score sheets at bottom of post)

Race 1

I knew it would be a good night what I saw Corinne, and Leopold blasting along in an Albacore.  We had several LTS graduates in Albacores, a few in Lasers (and a Byte), and some of the race veterans sailing a mix of catamarans, Tasars, Albacores, Lasers, and even a Laser 2.

The area around the start line was pretty crowded, but several of the sailors stayed well back of the line before the start sound — I guess they read about Carla/Jean’s OCS last week and got scared off.  This let Ken/Peter S (sailing the Laser 2 together), Jason (Laser), Chunshu (Laser) and Jean/Frank (Albacore) to get a jump on the fleet.  Cameron/Matt (Albacore), Gabriel (Byte), Corrine/Leopold (Albacore) and Tony/Annie (Hobie 18) followed, with Mark/Ellen/Yona  joining in later.  It wasn’t long before the first mistake… Jason tacked onto port and tried to cut ahead of Chunshu who was on starboard tack.  Chunshu had to turn to avoid and you know what that means — penalty turns for Jason.  To make matters worse, he got tangled in the mainsheet hanging down from the boom as he was doing his turns, and was near the back of the fleet by the time he got things sorted out.

The cat, Frank/Jean’s Albacore and Ken/Peter’s Laser 2 played leapfrog for most of the race, while the rest of the fleet separated out.  The exception was that Jason was able to catch up to sneak past Chunshu and Corrine/Leopold on the second reaching leg by heading up a bit to gain boat speed, and rounded behind the leaders.  Chunshu was right on Jason’s tail, a little too much so, and bumped Jason’s transom at the leeward mark.  Doing his turns, Chunshu was passed by Corrine/Leo, Mike R/Lynn and the 3-person Mark/Ellen/Yona Albacores.

Meanwhile, the Annie/Tony cat was in 1st place, but when she rounded the windward mark, she took a wrong turn and headed to the gybe mark.  After realizing her mistake, she turned to head to the proper finish line, but had been soundly passed by Ken/Peter.  The cat was in a drag race for 2nd with Jean/Frank’s Albacore, and it came down to about 6 inches… the Albacore took it!  In terms of rookies, Mark/Ellen/Yona scored a respectable 6th, Cameron/Matt nabbed 9th, and Gabriel 10th.

Race 2

This race we were joined by Steve/Carla in a Tasar.  Norm/Tom N in an Albacore, James in a Laser and Lydia in a Laser.  Thirteen, count ’em, thirteen boats racing!  I think that’s a KSC record, at least within the past few years.

The start was a lot more competitive, with numerous boats threatening the line.  Steve/Carla were flirting quite dangerously with the start line, and I admit I was kinda hoping one of the veterans would come from downwind and enforce its right-of-way to push Carla/Steve over early.  Alas, didn’t happen.

The wind was starting to slow, and the upwind legs were very much about who could hold speed through their tacks, and squeeze out power from marginal conditions.  The single-handers didn’t fare too well, with the jibs on the double-handers helping them point.  Steve/Carla led the fleet (by a mile) while Ken/Peter, Mike/Lynn, Jean/Frank, Jason, and Chunshu were all duking it out for second.  Jean/Frank ran afoul of a boat (Mike/Lynn?) and had to do some penalty turns on the second reaching leg.  Mike/Lynn were leading by the second upwind, a good distance ahead of others.  While most boats elected to tack early and head to the left side of the course, Jason spotted some dark water in the distance and sailed right.  This move paid off, and he had caught up to Mike/Lynn by the windward mark.  Somehow Frank/Jean also caught up with Jason and Mike/Lynn — Frank won’t tell me how they made it upwind so fast, but the end result is we had 3 boats rounding the windward mark at the same time.  Yes, Carla/Steve were done the race before anyone else even got to this point, but you already knew that.

Jason was able to get on the inside, and round the mark with about 1/2″ room to spare  (which prompted some choice comments from Mike).  He started his downwind run with a few boat lengths lead over the double-handers.  Jean/Frank were sailing wing-on-wing while Mike/Lynn tried to get their Tasar on a deep reach.  Jason held on to take 2nd, with Jean/Frank just passing Mike/Lynn (3rd and 4th).  A few of our normally faster racers got caught in a patch of dead air, and we had surprising results like Norm/Tom finishing 13th, Tony/Annie 12th and Ken/Peter 8th.  Weird.  That’s okay, the scoring system we use lets you have the odd bad race without killing your season (see the “Dropped scores” section).

Race 3

Before the race, Steve and Jason switched boats — Steve was now in a Laser, and Carla/Jason were racing a Tasar together, with Carla at the helm.  The wind continued to slow, and we sailed a shortened course, with the finish line at the end of the 2nd upwind.

The start was slow, and favoured the pin end.  Generally good starts with little drama.  The fleet had separated by the end of the first leg, with Steve leading (no surprise), Jason/Carla close behind him (surprise) and Ken/Peter coming on strong too (no surprise).  The path around the course was largely processional, with the exception of rookies Matt/Cameron.  They had a start near the back of the fleet but Cameron was using every trick in the book: tacking on headers, maintaining boat speed through turns, hitting the gusts, and generally moving up the fleet constantly.

Steve rounded the leeward mark a few boat lengths ahead of Carla/Jason.  The wind was virtually dead on the right side of the course, so both boats tacked and went left after the mark, and stayed on starboard tack to try and ride the wind as long as they could.  (This next part may or may not be a bit embellished…)  Are you sitting down?  Okay, here we go: Steve made a tactical mistake.

Knowing that both boats would have to tack onto port to hit the finish line, Jason/Carla kept their eyes on the dead right side of the course.  A small, narrow gust was starting to develop.  They knew they’d never beat Steve if they stayed on the same tack as him, so they elected to tack early into the developing right-side gust.  Steve decided to stay in his wind instead.  About 30 seconds later, Steve hit the layline and tacked toward the mark, but missed the opportunity to stay in the fresh air that was developing.  Carla/Jason were able to take the race by a few seconds.  Believe it or not, this is the first time Carla’s won a race (other than when she’s sailed with Steve).  She’s one of the strongest sailors at KSC, and almost always in the top 3, so I was shocked when I found out.  Congrats, it must’ve felt good!

So what could Steve have done in this situation?  Given that the Laser can tack very quickly, he might have tacked as soon as Jason/Carla went on port to “cover” them and get in front of any wind they were hoping to catch.  I don’t know whether or not it would have worked, but it’s what he mentioned after the race.  Regardless, I expect him to have formulated a plan for next week, and I don’t expect him to lose a race this way again.

Ken/Peter finished 3rd.  Remember how I mentioned Cameron/Matt’s efforts to move up the fleet?  They were rewarded with a 4th place finish, ahead of veterans like Frank/Jean (5th), Mike/Lynn (7th), and Norm/Tom (12th).  Great job guys!  A huge shout out also goes to Mark/Ellen/Yona’s 3-person Albacore (6th), Corinne/Leopold (8th), Chunshu (10th) and Lydia (11th).  Note the online score sheet doesn’t list anyone has having finished in 9th place.  I’ll have to check the paper version, but there may be adjustments to the final standings.

Apres sail & Season/Series Standings

The on deck party was a fun time as always, and some leftover beverages from Sailpast were a nice touch (big thank you to our social director, Annie).  Tony brought burgers and race night was a complete success.  We had light winds, but next week (July 27) we expect bigger air.  Come on out, rain or shine (we cancel in the case of thunder, but don’t let rain scare you away)

Speaking of July 27, that’s the last night of “Summer Series 1”.  The scores for the series can be found here.  Steve is in the lead by a mile, with Ken S in 2nd.  The complete season (spring series + summer series 1 + eventually summer series 2) scores can be found here.  Please check your scores and let me know of any mistakes.

KSC 12-Mile Island Event this Saturday, July 29, 2017

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Each year, Kanata Sailing Club holds a “12-Mile Island” event as a long distance race.  We’ll be doing things a bit different this year, so please read on.

Where is 12-Mile Island?

The island, also called Ile Allen, is upriver (i.e. away from Ottawa) a good distance from KSC.  You sail North-West, past Pinhey’s Point, through the narrows at the Port-of-Call Marina, past Baskin’s Beach (both on the Ontario side), around the island, then back downriver to KSC.  Note that we recommend that you stay near the centre of the channel, especially when you’re sailing on the Quebec side of the island as it can get a bit shallow there.

How long does it take?

Depending on the wind conditions, and the type of boat you sail, a round trip journey generally takes the better part of a day.  The record, as far as I’m aware, is just over 2 hours (set in a fast catamaran, on a big-wind day, by ridiculously skilled and fast sailors).  On a more typical day, it’ll take 3+ hours in a cat, 4+ hours in an Albacore.  A light wind day could take 5 or more hours.

I don’t want to sail that far.

We have another option, and we’ll get to that.  Please keep reading.

How is it fair to people who sail slower boats?

We “handicap” the time.  There are generally accepted ratios as to how fast different boats sail.  The RYA (the UK equivalent of Sail Canada) maintains the handicaps for a bunch of boats.  According to their numbers for example, the Albacore is slightly faster than the Laser.  So, if a Laser can do a course in 60 minutes then it should take an Albacore 57 minutes and a Hobie 16 catamaran should be able to do it in 44 minutes.  We don’t consider the handicaps on our normal race nights, but will do so for this event.  The 2017 list of Portsmouth handicap numbers for monohulls can be found here and for cats here (we’ll be using the “PN Look-a-like” numbers for the cats).

Smaller numbers mean the boat should be theoretically be faster.

Okay, so let’s say I want to participate in the 12-Mile Island Event.  What’s the plan?

In previous year’s we’ve run the event as a “race” with a start line, and finish line, etc.  This year we’re doing things a bit differently since it’s really boring for a race committee to wait 4 hours for a boat to finish.

We’re setting a target finish time of 3:30pm.  You can start whenever you would like (be it 11:06am, 9:48am, noon, 1:21pm if you’re really optimistic, etc).  There will be a bouy in front of the sailing club to act as a starting/finishing point.  Sail from downriver, as close to the bouy as possible, to start your island rounding.  Record what time you started.  As you finish, pass the bouy as close as possible again and record your finish time.  Alternatively, you can use a stopwatch to track how long the run took you.

We’ll figure out an “adjusted time” based on your elapsed time and your boat’s handicap.

Once everyone is back at the club (target 3:30pm with a 4:15pm cut-off) we’ll crunch the numbers and see who did the rounding in the least amount of adjusted time.  Winners to be announced as soon as is practical after everyone is ashore.

As of July 25, the wind forecast is for moderate winds (maybe on the light side of moderate).  I would encourage monohull sailors to target a start time of around 11:00.  This would get you home right on time if the rounding takes you 4hr 30min.  Having a group of monohulls all leaving at the same time also allows you to keep an eye on each other.

What to I win?

Bragging rights, and a round of applause at the club’s AGM.  Also, this counts as one of the roundings for the 12-Mile Island Challenge and the trophies that go along with that.

12-Mile Island Challenge?  What’s that?

KSC founding members Harry Adderley and Ken Eaves have challenged the members of the club to round 12-Mile Island as many times as they can in a season.  There are trophies for those who complete:

  • the most roundings in a cat
  • the most roundings with a double-handed monohull
  • the most roundings with a single-handed monohull

If you round the island as part of this event, it counts towards your yearly total.  Note that in 2016, there were no single-handed monohull roundings, and only 2 (I think) double-handed roundings, so if you had done the 12-Mile Event in a Laser, you would have won.  On a tangential note, I had heard that Carla challenged Norm to round the island in an Opti, so we’ll see if that pans out.  Norm, I suggest you leave the club at 8:00am to make it back by 3:30.

I’m not ready to commit to that long a voyage.  Is there another option?

Yes!  I’ll be dropping a bouy in the middle of the river just past Pinhey’s Point.  This is about 1/2 way to 12-Mile Island.  We’ll actually announce two winners — the fastest time around the island, and the fastest time around the 1/2 way mark.  So, if you can’t get to the club until say 12:30, you might be able to grab a boat and do the half-run before the cut off.

I’m sold, how do I sign up?

Just show up at the club on Saturday July 29, rig your boat, and start your sail!  I aim to have the start mark in the water by 10:00, and the 1/2 mark shortly after.  As mentioned, aim to finish as close to 3:30, as possible, so everyone arrives back at the club around the same time.  Bring something to BBQ, a drink or two, and we’ll go through the results.  We’ll consider boats not finished by 4:15 disqualified.

Boats are first-come-first-serve.

Why the 4:15 cut off time?

This gives us time to crunch numbers, announce winners, and go out in the powerboat to pick up the half-way mark.  If we see any KSC boats struggling to make it back to the club, we’ll also give them a tow home, but please be advised that KSC should not be considered a rescue service.  Use your good judgement to take into account your sailing skills, experience, and weather conditions (both forecast and observed).

I don’t want to sail solo.  How can I find a skipper/crew?

Send me an email at sailing@kanatasailingclub.com if you’re looking for someone to sail with.  I’ll try to get people who email me in touch with each other.

 

Race Night Report, July 13, 2017

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We had a huge number of highlights, so let’s dive right in!

Winds were steady (for a change) about 6-8 knots from the SE, slowing and shifting from the S as the night went on.  At the suggestion of one of the racers, we experimented with a modified course (with a downwind finish). Feedback on the course was positive, and it was a heck of a lot easier for the RC to set, so watch for a amendment to the SIs coming soon which will formalize the new course as KSC standard.  Lots of Lasers out, with a couple of Tasars, a cat, and only one Albacore.

Race 1

People were still getting their bearings on the new course, and most people elected to do the safe thing — follow whatever boat Steve’s in.  Steve/Devin (Tasar) led the pack throughout the race, with the only real challenger being Ken S (Laser).  Jean/Carla (Tasar) took 3rd, Annie/Tony (Hobie 18) 4th, Chunshu (Laser) 5th, Tom N (Laser) 6th, and just-graduated LTS students Dan/Joanne (Albacore) in 7th.  Mike R (Laser) didn’t make the start line in time, and ended with a DNS 9 points.

Race 2

Wow, this was one to write home about.  First of all, everyone had their “safe” tour around the course, so they decided to be aggressive.  Maybe a little too aggressive.  Ken tried pushing Jean/Carla up above the committee boat before the race, and this encouraged the Tasar to really nail the start.  While running along the start line, the edge of Jean/Carla’s boat was across by about 6-8″ and once the start sound went, it was followed by the individual-recall flag.  Jean/Carla couldn’t believe it, but turned back and restarted anyway (behind the rest of the fleet).  Methinks they were not happy about it.

Meanwhile, Chunshu was on his game!  Not only was he keeping pace with Laser master Ken, and veteran Tom, but the 3 Lasers were right behind Tony/Annie’s cat by the leeward mark.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen 4 KSC boats that close at that point in the race.  Chunshu pulled an AWESOME move.  Recognizing that the 3 boats in front of him were going to have to “pinwheel” around the mark, he cut in right behind the cat (the inside boat) and tacked right after rounding.  The cat continued on, leaving Ken and Tom struggling in its wind shadow, while Chunshu gained on all of them and was sailing in clear air.  You should have heard Heidi in the RC boat “That’s my student! I’m so proud!”

Jean/Carla (with nobody around them) apparently hit the gybe mark in the meantime, and their 360 cost them even more time.  Devin/Steve won the race (of course), followed by the Tony/Annie cat (2nd), Chunshu (3rd, his best placement to date), Ken (4th), Mike (5th), Tom (6th).  Carla/Jean managed to pass the Albacore to claim 7th, while Joanne/Dan finished 8th.

3rd race

It was after the 3rd race had started that the RC noticed “hey, our gybe mark is gone”.  Way off in the distance, toward Aylmer island and almost in line with the windward mark, the “gybe” mark was drifting down river.  By the time the RC got there, the first boats had already reached the leg, the the RC had no choice but to let the sailors run the course as is (essentially, a windward/leeward course).  Whatever, it was all in good fun.  The wind petered off on the downwind (down to maybe 4 knots), and the race took a while to actually finish, without too much drama or events (at least none that I saw, but I was focused on retrieving the mark).

Steve/Devin got the bullet (AGAIN) with Tony/Annie getting 2nd.  Considering the cat’s (shall we say) “disappointing” placements last season, Annie and Tony have really upped their game this year.  Ken claimed 3rd, followed by Chunshu (4th), Jean/Carla (5th), Tom (6th) and Mike (7th).  Dan/Joanne had to retire due to a previous commitment, but their boat was subsequently claimed for an after-racing sail by Rebecca and Mark.

Apres-sail

Many thanks to Carla for bringing the food/beer, and for Heidi for helping RC.  Frank (not sailing due to a cold) BBQ’d up some mighty fine burgers, and we all enjoyed a beautiful night.  Uncharacteristically, the wind picked up as the sun was going down (up to 10 knots, maybe), so those who elected to stay on the water (Mike, Mark, Rebecca) had some good fun blasting along.

Season score wise, Carla doubles her lead over Jason!  Last week she was ahead by 1 point, this week she’s ahead by 2 (28 to 30).  But look out, both of you… Tony’s coming on strong after a pair of 2nd place finishes, and Steve’s 15-point DNC races are quickly being replaced by wins.  Tom, Chunshu, Jean and Annie are getting in the mix, and adding Ken to the roster of regulars will make it that much harder to get those 2nd/3rd place finishes (can we all just assume that Steve will be finishing 1st?).  Season score here.

The summer series scores are a lot less interesting.  Steve’s whopping butt (his only non-1st-place-finish is a 3rd, and that’s a dropped score).  Ken’s in 2nd with a bit of margin over Carla and Jason, but not enough to “lock it”.  Annie/Tony are tied for 5th, which is AWESOME.  Last year the cats (be it 16 or 18) were typically near the bottom of the fleet, considering our short tack-friendly courses, but this year they’re solidly in the middle of the fleet, including grabbing a couple of 2nd place finishes over Laser/Tasar/Albacore veterans.  If the legs were a mile long, they could very well be beating Steve!  Summer series scores here

Race Night Report, July 6, 2017

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Before I write about Race Night, I want to congratulate KSC sailors on really stepping up your race game.  Three or four years ago, you could tell what the race result was going to be just be looking at the boat sign out board.  There was gobs of space between any two boats, you knew exactly who was going to beat whom, and the “race” was just a processional parade around the course.  Last night, competition was the closest I’ve ever seen at KSC.  Around every mark, you had boats catching up with each other, passing each other, making tactical decisions, and fighting each other for advantages.  It was AWESOME!  Keep it up.

Race 1

I’m afraid I wasn’t on the water for this one, so I didn’t get to see the action.  Carla/Steve took the race in a Tasar, followed by Ken S in a Laser, Frank/Jean in an Albacore and Chunshu in a Laser.  Note that as per the sailing instructions, Tom N scored a “2.5” place finish as RC for the purposes of tracking season scores.

Race 2

The existing racers were joined by Jason and 7-year-old Hannah (Albacore) and Annie/Tony (Hobie 18), as the wind picked up to maybe around 8 knots with 12-14 in the gusts.  Jean/Frank, Carla/Steve, and Ken had good boat end starts.  Jason/Hannah were able to make some time up near the gybe mark, with Chunshu and Tony/Annie breathing down their necks.  When the wind gusts hit, the Hobie 18 just started SCREAMING, passing just about everyone on one broad reach leg.  You should’ve seen the smile on Tony’s face (and Annie hanging on for dear life).

The upwind gave the monohulls a chance to make up some distance, and fight the cat on the downwind.  Carla/Steve rounded the final mark first, followed by Ken and Jason/Hannah.  The cat was next followed by Jean/Frank and Chunshu.  A wind shift meant the last “upwind” was more close reach than directly upwind, and it was a drag race to the finish line.  Carla/Steve held on for 1st, followed by Ken S.  Jason/Hannah thought they had 3rd, only to have Tony/Annie come from behind in the cat an take it by less than a second.  Have I mentioned the smile on Tony’s face yet?  Frank/Jean and Chunshu rounded out the race. Tom N as RC scores 3.5 points

Race 3

The wind died a bit, giving an advantage to the lighter weight boats.  Furthermore, a crew swap saw Frank sailing an Albacore with Steve, and Carla sailing the Tasar with Jean.  Hannah/Jason, Frank/Steve and Ken all managed to start right at the horn, with Hannah/Jason getting the favoured boat end of the line.  The reaching legs saw some good battles for position, as Hannah/Jason tried to stay inside Steve/Frank at the marks, sometimes actually successfully.  Jason/Hannah made their tactical success of the night by spotting a couple of gusts, tacking early after rounding the leeward mark, and riding two gusts on two different tacks to hit the windward mark nice and early.  Ken and Steve/Frank went to the other side of the course and got stuck in some slower air.  I didn’t see what Carla/Jean got up to at this point, but I did spot Chunshu taking advantage of the cat’s poor lightwind performance, and passing her while the cat tried to tack.

Jason/Hannah held on to win the race, followed by Ken S (2nd), Frank/Steve (3rd), Carla/Jean (4th), Chunshu (5th) and Tony/Annie (6th).

Race 4

Great starts all around, and we had a couple of close battles on the first upwind.  Steve/Frank, Hannah/Jason and Ken S all wanted a win, and were fighting for it.  As a result, I didn’t see much of what the other boats were doing the first part of the race, so the play-by-play will have to focus on these 3.  Steve/Frank rounded the windward mark first and found the route to the next mark was almost directly downwind.  They elected to gybe early.  Seconds later Jason/Hannah followed, but didn’t gybe (they were hoping a shift the other direction would happen), and were joined by Ken.  The three boats were all in a line approaching the “gybe” mark.  Let’s see how well you know your racing rules.  Who has right of way in the diagram?  Does right of way change once one of the boats reaches the 3-boatlength-circle around the mark?  What should each boat do to maximize their advantage?

Send your guesses to sailing@kanatasailingclub.com

Regardless the next leg started with Ken S in front, Hannah/Jason next, then Steve/Frank.  Hannah/Jason then felt their boat slow right down, and get tons of weather helm.  “You rudder came up!” commented Steve/Frank.  As Jason moved to the back of the boat to pull the rudder down (as wasn’t watching where he was going) a puff of wind hit.  “Up!” shouted Ken, moments before Hannah/Jason’s Albacore gave the Laser a love tap.  Two penalty turns later, and both Ken and Frank/Steve are miles ahead of Hannah/Jason.  Lesson learned: if you have to take your eyes off of where your boat is going, make sure your crew is looking ahead.

Frank/Steve were able to outpoint Ken on the upwind, and rounded the mark first while Jean/Carla’s Tasar started to catch up to Hannah/Jason.  On the downwind (i.e. broad reach), Ken decided to head up to try to pass Steve with boat speed.  Steve defended his position and headed up as well, with the two leaders heading farther and farther up and away from the rhumb line.  Jason/Hannah didn’t want to get involved in that game, and made a dash straight at the leeward mark, followed closely by Carla/Jean.  The Jean/Carla boat tried to get around Hannah/Jason but the Albacore managed to fend off the Tasar.  Meanwhile, the race leaders had enough fun on their own, and had to gybe to get to the leeward mark, essentially losing almost all their lead over Hannah/Jason (and now Jean/Carla).  Steve/Frank rounded first, followed by Ken, the Hannah/Jason seconds later and Carla/Jean just after that.  The upwind to the finish line was pretty close with Frank/Steve taking it.  Jason/Hannah were able to outpoint Ken’s Laser and were just able to catch up and sneak by him for 2nd.  Ken took 3rd, with Jean/Carla 4th, Tony/Annie 5th, and Chunshu 6th.

Post race

Tom N supplied some excellent sausages (seriously, Tom, where did you get those?), salad, potato salad and beverages.  Many thanks to Tom for also volunteering to help short-handed Reese with RC duties, and thanks to Hannah for helping to announce the race results.

Next race night is July 13, come join the fun!

Race Night Report – June 23, 2017 (and Spring Results)

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Spring Series Results at end of post.

Race Night Report

We had a good turnout for our final outing of the KSC Spring Series, with 13 racers!  In fact, all available Albacores were out on the water, along with a Tasar, a Laser, and 2(!) Hobie 16 catamarans, despite the lighter conditions.

A delay getting people on the water (and finding boats…) meant that race 1 was sailed by 3 double-handers and a Laser.  To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Steve and Carla blasted around the course in the Tasar, leaving a couple of Albacores to fight with a Laser for the remaining places.  Jean skippering her very first race (she just got her blue tag!) and Frank were able to win second, followed by Ray and Chunshu.  Tuan (our first rookie this season) was awarded an on-course-finish in a Laser.

The second race saw the racers joined by Tony/Annie in a Hobie 16 catamaran at the start.  A second, very overloaded,  H16 started later in the race (Norm, Tom N, Jason, and rookie Devin).  Carla/Steve took the win (again) followed by Jean/Frank (again).  This time Tuan took 3rd, with Ray/Chunshu following and Annie/Tony scoring the first cat finish of the season.  The 4-men-on-a-cat was awarded an OCF to allow the 3rd race to get underway.

And what a nuisance that 4-man cat made itself that 3rd race :).  Just before the gun, the overloaded cat decided on an aggressive start at the boat end, enforced it’s rights, and pushed the Tasar across the start line early.  Ha ha, take *that* Steve.  The move was just a couple of seconds too early though, the H16 had to bear off and and the Tasar was able to duck behind the cat, do a dip start, and led the whole way though the race.  Still, it was fun while it lasted.

After rounding windward in 3rd place (behind the Tasar and H16), Jean and Frank made use of the Albacores superior direct light-downwind performance on a wind shift on the second leg, and passed the overloaded cat, who had to head up to maintain any speed.  The overloaded boat made up distance on the second reaching leg (more of a beam reach than a broad reach) and were able to establish overlap just outside the zone and round the leeward mark on the inside.  Remember how I said she made herself a nuisance?  Jean and Frank tacked quickly to get out of the cat’s dirty air, and the cat made a big tactical mistake… she tried to tack to stay in front of the Albacore, and just got stuck in irons, and was passed by Frank/Jean as well as Chunshu/Ray (lesson learned — when sailing a cat, don’t get into a tacking duel).  At the windward mark the overloaded cat was passed AGAIN, this time by Tony/Annie’s H16, who came from behind.  End results, Carla/Steve 1st, Frank/Jean 2nd, Chunshu/Ray 3rd, Annie/Tony 4th, Jason/Norm/Tom/Devin OCF 5th.

Apres-sail was a blast, as always, and a huge shout-out to Ray for bringing the beer/burgers!  Thanks again goes out to our RC (Reese and Sydney) without whom the race would not have been possible.

Spring Series Results

We got in 8 official races over 3 nights, in addition to the 2 races run on the practice night when the water was still too high to keep the boats at the beach.  This means that we have 2 dropped races (1 drop per 4 races) to take into account for series results.

Going into the night Jason had placed first in the prior 5 races, but with two drops, it was anyone’s game if Jason dropped the ball and placed poorly (which he did).  Tony (with a few 1st places), Carla, and Norm (2nd and 3rd place finishes) were all in contention.  Basically, if Jason scored poorly, and either of them got a few firsts, then it would all come down to “how poorly did Jason score”.

And, as we know, Jason scored poorly in the 4-man-cat, while Carla won all 3 races on the final night…

So who won the series?  (drum roll please…) The net result, including dropped races is a TIE at between Jason and Carla at 10 points each!  We now have to go to the score excluding drops for the official series winner, and it looks like Jason wins with 22 points vs Carla’s 40.  Congrats Jason, bragging rights are yours for a few weeks.

We had two rookies come out this series, Tuan and Devin.  Between the two, Tuan takes the “Best Rookie Award” and bragging rights, at least for the next five weeks. (Note: a previous revision of this post said that Devin had won, because I didn’t realize Tuan was a rookie — the official scoring chart, below, will also be updated)

Complete Spring Series Results

Summer Series 1 Starts June 29

Come on out next week when we’ll all start with 0 points for Summer Series 1 (June 29-July 27).  I especially invite our Learn-to-Sail students to come on out and exercise those shiny new blue tags.  We have a “best rookie” award, and great food/company afterwards.  Even if you don’t want to race by yourself, let your humble* sailing director (Jason) know (sailing@kanatasailingclub.com) and we’ll make sure we get a skipper or crew for you.  “Nobody left ashore” policy is still in effect; if you want to sail, we’ll get you on the water regardless of circumstances.

*well, he may not be so humble for the next few weeks — if you want to take him down a few pegs, come on out and beat him around the course!

Race night report, Aug 1 and Aug 8

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Well, apparently I didn’t write a report for Aug 1, so this one will have to serve for both

Aug 1

A big wind day saw lots of close racing.  Emily, Heidi and Stephanie set up a short course with a 20 minute target time, and we managed to get 4 races in (wow!)  A significant shift to the right meant that the later races were not quite square to the wind, but it made for great racing.  The cat (Tony/Annie) scored its first win of the season in Race 2, and the 29er showed what it could do with the spinnaker in the gusts, but the Albacores were the consistent winners.  Dominic/Jeremy took the night with 1/2/1/1 finishes, with Ken/Frank S (2/4/2/2) following.  Jean/Frank (Albacore) and Max (Laser) tied with 3/5/5/3 and 5/3/4/4 finishes respectively.

Aug 8

The first of 3 races saw big wind and waves, while the second and third were light-air races.  The course was much more square than the previous week (great job, RC) and good close racing followed.  Carla/Steve (Tasar) took the night with 3 1st place finishes, followed by Ken E/Norm with 3 2nd place finishes.  Jason (Laser) scored 3/3/4 to round out 3rd place for the night.

Standings so far

The Summer Series 2 standing have Ken E (12 points) in the lead with Frank and Jean tied for second (23 points).  Carla (26 points), Jason (28 points) are challenging Frank and Jean with a group of racers (Tony, Dominic, Jeremy) all at 35 points.

The Season has Ken E in a healthy lead (36 points) with Jason (63 points) and Dominic (83 points) the closest contenders.

Full results, as always, available on the racing page at http://kanatasailingclub.com/sailing/racing/

12-Mile-Island Regatta Results

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Battle at the Leward MarkWell, the wind didn’t cooperate for 12-Mile-Island, and the very light air meant that we were forced to sail with a shortened course (many thanks to instructor Heidi for dropping a mark out by Pinhey’s Point to act as the “Island” for the day).  The 11:00 start (monohulls) saw several boats out for more of a “float” than a sail, and it didn’t look like they had much of a head start by the time the Hobie 18 (12:00 start) was approaching.

The wind did pick up a bit (especially on the Quebec side of the river) as the day went on, and perhaps the course was shortened a little too much.  The target time for the regatta is 4 hours for monohulls, and 3 hours for catamarans, but the first monohull completed the course after about 2.5 hours (Frank and Jean crossed the finish line at 1:26:07pm after an 11:00am start).  Still, I’d rather have a fun 2.5 hour race than a boring 5 hour one…

Actually, the shortened course translated into a close race — all boats (including the cat) finished within a window of 22 minutes, and the adjusted times were even closer.  Although Richard in the Laser finished about 10 minutes behind Norm and Monica in an Albacore, the adjusted times were less than 2 minutes apart.  Similarly, the Tony and Ken E in the cat (1h 37m 42s elapsed time) were very close to Frank and Jean (2h 26m 07s ET).

The adjusted times (AT) are calculated by taking the elapsed time (ET) and multiplying by a handicapping factor called the Portsmouth Number (PN).  The formula used is

AT = ET * (1000/PN)

Okay, now the moment you’ve been waiting for…  remember, it’s the adjusted time that determines your placement…

 Ranking  Class/Sail  Skip  Crew  ET  PN  AT
 5  Laser 196258  Richard  –  2h 47m 20s  1095  2h 32m 48s
 4  Albacore 8034  Norm  Monica  2h 37m 58s  1045  2h 31m 10s
 3  Albacore 8033  Robert B  Tom N  2h 34m 17s  1045  2h 27m 38s
 2  Albacore 7485  Frank  Jean  2h 26m 07s  1045  2h 19m 49s
 1  Hobie 18  Tony  Ken E  1h 37m 42s  765  2h 12m 56s

Congratulations to 2016 12-Mile-Island Regatta winners, Tony Hendrikx and Ken Eaves!

A special thank you goes out to Heidi who dropped the rounding mark early in the day,  Annie and Emily for assisting on shore (and on the water) to make the day run smoothly, Robert for having the foresight to bring a few packages of bottled water for the sailors sitting in the sun, and Darren and Annie for pressure washing the upstairs deck on their duty day!

12-Mile-Island Regatta, 2016 Registration

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twelvemileislandphotoRegistration for the 12-Mile-Island Regatta is now closed

The event will be held on Saturday July 16, 2016.  Please see the Notice of Race (NoR) and Sailing Instructions (SIs, to be posted soon…) for event details, including how boat allocation will occur.

To register, enter the details of you and your team-mates below.  If you’re a lone skipper looking for crew (or crew looking for a skipper, or someone willing to do either) then send an e-mail to sailing@kanatasailingclub.com and I’ll do my best to get you in touch with other sailors to form a team.

If you’re planning on sailing a club boat, we’ll work out who gets which hull the day of (i.e. of 4 teams all want Albacore 8033 then we’ll sort that out later… please see NoR/SIs for details).

The e-mail field is optional (not everyone likes to be spammed but the e-mail helps keep you informed of any changes, like if we have too many sign ups for a particular boat class, etc)