Log of Alberg 30 #262 on 19 September 2021

Date: 19 September 2021 09:00 till 19 September 2021 16:00
Endpoints: Potapskut Sailing Association to Potapskut Sailing Association
Purpose: Rankin Regatta Day Two
Complement: Meredith Glacken, Christian Douglas, Yoni Bresler
Weather: Mid to high 70's. NE Force 3. Faded to Force 2
Engine Hours: 322.1 to 323.0
Fuel: 1/4 tank
Chart: 12263 Chesapeake Bay Cove Point to Sandy Point

Pandora mainsail, EP Sails genoa and spinnaker.

Three races using the MRSA private marks. Committee boat set up perhaps 600ft from MRSA mark "C".

First race. Course A F C A C
Poor start. Placed us too far to the right of the line. Started behind everyone.
Finished sixth.

Second race. Course A F C A C
Good start, comparatively. Started about 15 seconds after the gun at the boat to windward of the others.
Skybird about a boatlength below us. Windswept ahead of us. Began the first leg of the race well, gaining on both Skybird and Windswept. Rolled over Skybird and had to be careful not to come excessively close to Windswept. Ended up immediately behind Windswept. Meredith remarked that we would be in bad air from Windswept and should tack to port. So we did, a bit sooner than she expected.
Carried the port tack towards "A". Windswept and Laughing Gull rounded ahead of us in good air. As we approached the mark to within three to two boatlengths, the wind softened and went forward onto our nose. Had to head off below the mark to try to maintain some amount of drive in the sails. Turned up hard for the mark, leaving it within arm's reach of the bow and then rudder hard over to kick the stern out and around the mark. Remarkably, we made it without touching.
Reached out towards "F" and set the spinnaker. The EP Sails spinnaker can be carried remarkably close ot the wind. Perhaps a good twenty degrees forward of abeam. Sailed the rhumb line to "F", while both Windswept and Laughing Gull went two to three boatlengths higher, closer to Dobbin Island. Much discussion regarding when to set the spin and whether or not the wind was far enough aft to make it a carry. The difference of opinion was rather frustrating for Meredith who saw better than I that the spinnaker would carry at that wind angle. Set the spin after about one-third of the leg. Having set the spin, Constance past to leeward of Windswept and caught up to Laughing Gull from leeward with hopes to pass them and be first to the "F" mark. Did not work out, Laughing Gull was able to regain and maintain a lead reaching "F" first, followed by Windswept and Constance. The rest of the fleet was further behind.
We all reached off to "C" under spinnakers. LinGin was able to sail a few boatlengths higher and overtook both Windswept and then Constance before arriving at "C". Meanwhile, Constance sailed a bit higher and rolled Windswept from windward. Then sailed to hold off Windswept by sailing higher as as she did and maintaining speed at all other times. Worked out, rounded "C" ahead of Windswept but behind LinGin and Laughing Gull.
Beat back up to "A". Somewhere in the beat Argo and Latika gained enough to pull ahead. Guessing that we split, Constance going to the right again while Argo and Latika headed left, but don't remember.
Drag race with Argo for the finish. Argo chose to sail to the committee boat, Constance chose the pin end of the start/finish line believing that it was the shorter distance. By halfway down the run, Constance had pulled a boat or two ahead of Argo. In the last two hundred yards, we saw the wind fade to 2 and 3 knots apparent, while Argo did not experience the same loss of wind. Consequently, Constance finished sixth, a few seconds behind Argo.

Third race. Course H A C H C. Wind down to 4 to 6 knots from the east.
Poor start. Planned to spin the boat and run for the line from near direct downwind of the committee boat figuring 30 seconds to spin and 30 seconds to reach the line. Unfortunately, a bit of miscommunication aboard. Ended up with the genoa out to port, catching what wind there was, while trying to turn to port. Got that sorted and started for the line. Wind had shifted, making the line quite skewed. Had to tack to port near the pin to clear the line. Continued on port till we were almost out of water. Three tacks to reach "H". Reached off to "A" and then "C" under spinnaker. Rounded "C"and three tack to get back upwind to "H". By this time, if not before, the fleet had split dramatically with LinGin, Windswept and Laughing Gull well ahead, minutes ahead of Constance and Argo, Latika, amd Skybird minutes behind. Sailed under spinnaker to "C" finishing the race in fourth, 1:46 ahead of the next boat: Argo.

We had good upwind speed throughout the day. Starts, splitting from the leaders, and downwind work need improvement.

Crew work and particularly spinnaker gybes improved throughout the day. Towards the end of the day finally figured out, to some extend, how to drive during a gybe. Drive down to bring the guy to within Meredith's reach so that it can be hooked into the jaw, then sail up to keep the kite from moving into the foretriangle, once the pole is made on the mast, head off to complete the gybe and then gybe the main.

After the races, Tim Williams volunteered that using a snatch block on the spinnaker sheet to bring the lead to the genoa car rail, rather than the stern, produces a more efficient sail on beam reaches.

GPX formatted Track distance: 4.84nm, average speed: 3.4kts, duration: 1:24