Sailboat Racing Adventures

With a second and fourth Toccata is now leading in the Rum Race series standings. Six races to go and we will be missing the third. If we can keep up the good work in the remaining races we have a series prize.

Series Standings:

http://www.gbca.org/resources/Documents/2014%20Rum%20Series%20Results.pdf

At the start we begin a broad reach.

We have to make our way through the boat parade to the first mark where will beat to the second mark. we had a lot of discussion about flying the chute. I think we would have very well had we flown the chute on this leg.

Approaching the finish we were in third place but Petite Helene caught up with us at the very end.

The last dash.

And finish!

Every summer Galveston Bay Cruising Association hosts the Rum Races, an eight race series that runs from May to August. The race is a fixed course 14 mile triangle in Galveston Bay with a pursuit start. It was a good race for Toccata, 2nd Place!

Photo credits: John Lacey and Jim Miller.

Here we are before the start.

At the starting line

Getting ready to hoist at the windward mark. All those boats (and many more) are trying to catch up with us. Only two could.

Hoisting.

Broad reaching along the Ship Channel.

Closer to the leeward mark. It was a long 5 miles.

Approaching the finish.

Crossing the finish line.

Heading home…

Special thanks to Barry, Bridget, and Sloan for helping Toccata win 4th place in Saturday’s race!

A pleasant surprise awaited us in the morning, Toccata was covered in a sheet of ice and the coiled main sheet was frozen together. Luckily it melted off quickly and it turned out to be a great day on the water.

The wind was WSW 6-8 most of the time, gusting to 10-11. We had a spinnaker start and the first leg was a slightly aft of a beam spinnaker reach.

4 minutes after the start we are a speck

The view looking aft was great!

Leg 2 was a close reach to close hauled, we had the sails dial in and outpointed a lot of other boats. We hung with the Vipers and Pengo for quite a while.

Leg 3 was a beat to the finish line, we went out a ways but took advantage of more wind in the upper part of the bay. Beating us to the finish line in our class were 1st) Picante (Benetau 36), 2nd) an Etchells, and 3rd) Silver Bullet (J/24).

We had a great day Saturday competing in Icicle Race #2. The weather was beautiful with clear skies and warming all day. There were 75 boats out for the race and we had wind in varying amounts and direction throughout the race (sometimes not as much as we might have wanted). It was a glorious day to be on the water!

Toccata got fifth in class! Special thanks to Barry, Sloan, Bridget, and Shannon for making it a great day to be in a sailboat race.

Some comments from our competitors and friends:

• We did a great first leg which was to windward (the boat that ended up in first place was worried when they saw we had almost caught up to them at the first mark
• On the second leg which was almost dead downwind we went too deep for the wind conditions, we should have sailed higher and jibed more to keep the boat moving. Until a the wind is above 13 the J/27 is slowest going dead down wind.
• On leg 3 which was a reach we had erfect jib trim but our main was in too tight (even though the telltales were streaming). Suggestion: Ease the main until the main telltales start to stall then bring them back. It’s true, were focused on the jib but did not pay much attention to or “work” the main’s performance. Let’s all try to remember that for next time!

Getting ready before the race.

Boats converging as we approach the finish, cauth up in a crowd with an Etchells, a J/70, and a J/80. Not bad company to hang around with…

The finish line!