The spi is up!

Finally tried out the spi! Got a brand new spinnaker pole, all the lines and blocks and were anxious to try it out of course. First set was a disaster, the halyard shackle opened and up the halyard went and down in the water the spi went. Urgh. So we had our friend Daniel climb the mast and retrieve the halyard. (Twice since he let go of the other halyard teehee). So in the end we got it up and look how nice it flies!

PHRF series is over

Last Wednesday race got off pretty well. We won the pin end quite nicely but were behind at the first buoy. By the time we reached the 2nd buoy the div1/2 boats had caught up and behold, the wind died completely. So even the guys which were way in front and in biscuit tossing distance to the finish line just couldn't make it with the current setting out. So the RC abandoned the race and that was it for the summer PHRF series! Still a nice evening sail with our friend David. Just read the final score, we came in #8 out of 10 that qualified (and about 16 that raced). In the Sunday series we barely qualified and got 6th and last place :-).

Last Sunday race

went pretty well. We had nice wind, a fantastic start, got the pin and powered upwind like crazy with about 5.5kn. Not enough to match the other boats in our class, though, they just simply took off. We were like 2 minutes behind at the windward mark and then lost it on the downwind leg. I was too chicken to put the new spinnaker pole out with just the 2 of us on the boat and quite a chop with 15kn of wind. Anyways, had lots of fun and qualified for the summer series. As far as I can tell in last place, but who cares!

Wed night sail

Short course last night with the wind forecasted to die around 7p. So we were very happy to see that the rain finally stopped, the sun came out for a glorious sunset and the wind held up! We managed to round mark 2 & 3 before the division 1/2 boats could overtake us and beat some div2 boats on corrected time by quite a bit. Of course in our division we were dead last, but 'only' 4min behind the previous boat. Remember in these conditions we usually have problems finishing at all, so I'm quite happy.
Also, I've started a (technical) picture collection which can be accessed by clicking on the picture in the menu bar to the right.

not DFL'd!

Wednesday night race was very delightful as we had fantastic weather and finally managed to come in better than last. Actually, second last, but was still a good race for the wind conditions we had. We started off with winds around 8kn and managed to stay at the top of the fleet to the windward mark. I finally figured out the sweet spot for upwind VMG (about a point off close hauled and the jib a good foot off the spreader), and we were able to beat faster boats to the windward mark layline. We're still too slow after the tacks, I may have to turn even slower to keep the boat speed through the tack. Then the inevitable happened and the wind almost died, but still enough to ghost us around the next mark and into the finish. By that time the lighter boats had all pulled away. Didn't matter since we had an awesome sunset with a double rainbow. Spectacular scenery as the Div 1 boats were all behind us lighted up in golden colours before the rainbow backdrop. Dinner anchored at Cockenoe (that was my birthday dinner!) with the last remaining bottle of Cuvee Constance as company.

Div1 boat Wed night

DFL'd

Ok, the Sunday race series isn't ours. Somehow those other boats are just light years faster by design and the handicap doesn't seem to be realistic when the spread is so large. We had a great start with full speed on the line, but then got rolled by the big boats. Anyways, we had a day of fun sailing after spending the night anchored at Cockenoe Island (our favorite spot!). We averaged 4.5kn over the 7.5 mile distance including 2 upwind legs. By my account that converts into a 4.9kn average speed through the water which I think isn't so bad for a 10-12kn breeze. So even though we were a little bit tired from the rolly night before I think we still managed quite well. The waves from the southeasterly worked their way over the reef at high tide so we had some bouncy conditions around 2am. Yawn!

Jellyfish cloud over Westport

Sunset dinner at Cockenoe Island

Great company for a summer night

TLE!!!

That means "time limit expired". That was our score last night and it means that we couldn't finish within 30 minutes after the first boat in our class finished. What a shame, even more since we were doing quite well all the way to the last buoy. However then the inevitable thing happened that happens every evening on the LI Sound: The wind died. And Constance just doesn't like to go without wind. So we were literally stuck 50 meters in front of the finish line and couldn't get across. There were still 4 boats behind us that actually retired before the time limit and therefore got a DNF score. So at least we didn't get DFLd!.