B-FLEET REPORT
This weekend Robin and Ruth sailed in A fleet, and Kathryn and
Jen Cate sailed in B.
I will give you guys my report and hopefully A fleet can give you theirs.
Charlston proved to be one of the more difficult regattas as environmental
conditions are concerned. It only reiterated that if you have never sailed
in that condition, you will probably be fighting to stay up with the fleets.
Saturday was sunny, about 65 and breezy to start off with. we sailed in a
channel that was fed by three rivers. The current was not noticable yet. The
wind was probably 8-10 throughout the morning. The courses were gild cups,
giving lots of room to catch up or lose boats. Our starts were not optimal,
but began to get better throughout the day. WE were second row most of the
time, and the skewed starting line didn't help much when twelve boats were
all fighting for the pin end...always. As the day went on, my boat began to
work well, together. Our rolls were timed pefectly, and kathryn was very keen
on feeding me info about marks, boats, laylines, and all the other info
that I needed. About noon, the curent picked up and the wind died, leaving
A fleet drifting towards the ocean.. I think that was the longest last leg
of a race i have ever seen.
I don't want to write a story about each race, but you have to know about
sunday's racing. The wind was almost enough to match the current downwind..
the current was flowing towards the windward mark. on the upwind leg, all
you had to do was start at the boat end, and you would be drifted towards
the layline... almost overstanding it. Both A&B fleet had their best races
until the leeward mark.. we both rounded in fourth place, or caught up to
fourth place downwind, but got caught by the current and the other 11 boats
to be squeezed out into the back. The last race in B fleet was especially
amusing because it took 30 min to get to the bottom mark and then all the
boats just stoped in a perfect jumble in line with the mark..not yet able
to turn into the mark because the cuurent would sweep you back up wind. I
litteraly sailed side to side keeping the mark right at my shoulder and then
got womped into last place, when i had rounded the top mark in fourth and
thought i was going to round the bottom mark in 2nd. That races start was
even more amusing. at three min we were 20 ft above the line after the rotation
just trying to get to the boat. Then at two min we were 10 feet above the
line... I had only moved 10 feet against the current in one min. Then at one
min my bow was even with the boats ster. I knew I had to do something, so
I was standing on the leeward rail and the jumping back onto the windward
side hoping the massive rocking mation would at least let me get below the
line.. Finally, at 10 seconds we were far enough away from the anchor line
the weheaded upwind to have the picture perfect start..favored end of the
line, in the puff, and with god speed.. I was certainly scared that i was
not going to make the start.
What I learned...
leeward heel in waves, and I finally learned to keep my nose down. I matched
speed with all of the others. When I had good starts, I was at the top of
the pack..
The leeward mark, with current is where I lost boats.. It is so different
with that much current and not that much breeze that my thinking had to be
revamped a little for my strategies. Both Robin and I had the speed and the
capability, we proved that, we have just never sailed in that much current.
thanks
~jen cate