Summary

Results: 7, 10, 6, 9, 6, 7, 9, 8, 10, 9, [10] = 71 final.

Friday: tough to write. We came into the last day of the regatta in 8th place, with a chance of catching 6th or 7th, but with 9th and 10th very close behind. We really needed an A game: unfortunately we seemed to leave ours at the dock, while they ALL bought theirs.

Race 9: late to the start, gassed by the boats ahead. Tacked the right side of the course. Great spinnaker set at the top mark, but the wind faded approaching Grants Point. A late change of plan to gybe the spin close to the mark cost several seconds during the subsequent rounding. The trimmers could not find any point during the upwind. Another good spin set at the second windward, but too little too late. Finished 10th.

Race 10: almost a carbon copy of the previous race. Two good spin sets could not make up for lack of point, and another scrappy leeward rounding. Since we could not find point, we sailed fatter and faster in the hope of timing over Red Hawk for 8th in the race and to salvage a place in the series. Again, too little too late.

A very quiet ride back to the dock with several crew trying to figure out how we managed to throw away our chances.

Post Script: The best thing that happened on Friday was Carrie, Jocelyn, and PJ arrived unexpectedly. The look of joy on Perry’s face was priceless.

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Thur: forecast 5-10. Turned into 15-20, gusting to 25! Typically outside Angisina’s comfort zone. Two on the water postponements as the breeze swung from west to east, and then back to west!

We enjoyed a guest appearance from John Slama in the back of the bus, helping Perry and Valerie with local knowledge and a skilled pair of hands.

Race 7: w/l 2: Probably our worst race of the regatta. First time we’d used the new sails in higher winds. We spent much of the race trying to find the trim-points to get boat speed and point. Not enough heads outside the boat harmed our tactics. Positives included: good learning experience, and Undaunted (our scratch competition) had a worse race than us.

Race 8: w/l 3: Although the wind continued to increase, so did the crew confidence that was can handle the conditions. That confidence enabled the back of the bus to focus outside. Conservative spin sets at the windward marks proved to be a good call that kept us in control. Some much better timing during the manoeuvres produced some of the best gybes yet. Again, we beat Undaunted and Red Hawk.

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Wed: another lighter wind day.

Race 4: after so many races, it’s tough to remember all the details. But the result shows this was not a good race for us. :-(

Race 5: a great race. Although a little late to the start, we were able to tack to the right side of the course to find good steady pressure close to the island. We were close enough to the leaders at the first windward mark to be able to read the name Chippewa without binoculars! Good boat handling throughout the rest of the race.

Race 6: more sketchy memory.

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Tuesday – foggy start followed by hot sunny, no wind conditions. RC postponed on shore until after noon, then took the fleet off towards the Grants Point Buoy. The delay gave us a chance to work on a couple of maintenance projects.

Race 3, w/l 2, 090, 0.9nm
Yet another blistering start from back of the boat; we arrived on-time, with speed, and great position. After Perry’s pep talk on Monday night, the crew work was clean, uncomplicated, and the communication was much better. The new sails make a huge difference to our upwind speed. We gybed immediately after the first windward mark, and sail hot angles trying to maintain some boat speed in the light air. A good clean bottom mark rounding set us up well for another fast upwind. As the wind shifted we were a little above the mark, allowing us to foot to it with extra speed. The wind really lighted up and, once again, the flies started eating the crew alive. The fleet seemed to scatter, wind seeking. Chase, Zig, Goucho found it first. We eventually found enough on the right hand side to pick and finish strongly, ahead of Undaunted, Voyager, and White Red Hawk.

After “church”, we retired to the dock for a perfect evening of grillin’ and chillin’ with Lake Superior as our backdrop. All in all, a much better day!
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Monday
Race 1. w/l 2, 050, 1.1nm
Forecast of 5-10 from ESE did not seem to be holding true. So we went into postponement at 11:00, waiting for the sea breeze to fill in around 12:00. Great start and a very fast upwind allowed us to be up with the leaders at the first windward mark. The launch was solid, and the downwind uneventful. We were in great place at the first leeward mark………..and then the “wheels came off!” For some reason we were unable to repeat the same great sail shape we had on the first upwind, so we lost places. The second launch was OK, but the damage had been done. We finished a disappointing 7 of 10.

Race 2. w/l 2, 050, 1.1nm
Another good start from Val and Perry, although the middle of the boat could not seem to keep the sails in good shape. During the first rounding, we noticed the hoist was much harder than normal. The proved to be our downfall. The deep downwind run was the right course to follow, but as we rounded the leeward mark it became evident the halyard had become fouled, The spin literally had to be dragged down until the halyard jammed. After some acrobatics from Valerie, were able to disconnect the shackle to douse the chute. All the distractions took us to the back of the fleet. Despite valiant efforts during the upwind, it became clear we could not free it. As the 2nd windard, we launched on the green halyard but it was too little, too late. At the conclusion of the race, Andy went up the mast to release the halyard.

Race 3 w/l 2, 050, 0.9nm
As Andy was descending the mast, the RC started the sequence for the next race. By the time Andy got down, we were less than three minutes from the start. After great positioning relative to Chewy, the race committee abandoned the race, as the weather service included Bayfield in the Thunderstorm warning.