Sailboat Racing Adventures

J/Fest is over and we had some great sailing on Toccata.

Saturday started with a small craft advisory, and the winds built all day. We went out to the starting area under main and were extremely overpowered. We saw winds in the teens and low 20’s gusting to high 20’s. As we waited for our start the winds continued to build and I elected to withdraw for the day. That evening at the dinner several people told me that I made the right decision. Footloose told me it was miserable sailing and commented that the felt their main had gotten as much use that day as a year of Wednesday Night racing.

Sunday was forecast to be 10 NE but the wind did not read the forecast and it was as high as 23, although it did settle down as the day went on. We got two races in and placed second in both. The first race we had a great start and hung with Footloose most of the race with the J/29 following us. The second race we missed the warning to the start and were late to the start. Footloose and the J/29 finished ahead but we beat J/29 on corrected. We also had some excitement towing Footloose and getting the some water plants wrapped around the propeller…

We learned a lot about heavy air sailing on this regatta, especially getting the main as flat as possible and tuning the rigging.

We had some great races this weekend in a variety of wind conditions. On Saturday we raced in very light air on a 5.5 mile race and after nailing the start and choosing the best side of the course got first place, beating second place by 12 minutes corrected time. It was a tough job in that the winds were 3-5 mph the whole race.

Sunday was quite different with winds 18 gusting to 20, we got second place in the first race, a distance race of 6.8 miles. It was good heavy weather sailing experience, our first on Toccata. After finishing the winds picked up, gusting to 25 and 27 mph. At this point we had all fallen on the boat once or twice and were getting tired so I elected to withdraw from any further racing.

The Race Committee ran one more race and that caused us to loose first place in the regatta, but I am happier knowing knowing we raced well, learned a lot, and that no one got hurt.

Day 2 had a lot more wind, we got a second place in one race then withdrew as the wind kicked up.

Toccata sailed in several Rum Races, here is our start in RR#1:

In RR#4 we got 4th place, here are a few pictures (courtesy of the Lacy brothers) of our finish:

The Olson 30 can’t catch us in time…

In RR#8 we got caught in a pinwheel:

It was fun time racing on Toccata this year in the Wednesday night races. We had a lot to learn and made a few mistakes but we had some great moments.

Second place sailing with Betsy Sheppard!

So within 24 hours of the boat being turned over to me we take the boat out for the first time and race in CLRA series 2 race 1. Fun time on the new boat, she sailed like a dream. Racing was a different story; we got squeezed off at the pin end at the start and started late, we made lots of mistakes, and we finished last in the class. But we had a fun sail!

Lots of compliments on the boat!