Log of Alberg 30 #262 on 20 July 2022

Date: 20 July 2022 1831 till 20 July 2022 2000
Endpoints: Yacht Haven Annapolis Eastport MD to Yacht Haven Annapolis Eastport MD
Purpose: AYC WNR Race Series 2 Race 6
Complement: Meredith Glacken (bow and port tack genoa trim), Christian Douglas (starboard tack genoa trim), Debbie McKeen, Ray, and Yoni Bresler
Weather: South Force 4, gusts to 5
Engine Hours: 35?.? to 356.1
Fuel: 1/2 tank
Chart: 12282 Chesapeake Bay Severn and Magothy Rivers

Course: B2
Sails: EP Sails 169LPgenoa and Interrupt main. EP Sails spinnaker.

LinGin returned to racing after getting their sails recut to specified size. Skybird did not race due to Mike being ill.

Put a reef in before the start. The wind dropped and we shook it out. Shortly after the start, the wind returned and we were sore pressed without the reef. LinGin ran with full main, which was another factor in making us shake out the reef. Unbeknownst to us at the time, LinGin had seven aboard and was able to place considerably more weight on the rail. Boat was over on its ear much of the time on the upwind legs, even to point of dragging a winch in the water during gusts. During several gusts the boat heeled far enough that I had to brace myself hard against the cabin top winch to prevent myself from sliding/falling to leeward...hard to release the mainsheet when so braced.

Started near the boat on time, a little above and behind LinGin. Did not get reports from the crew at to LinGin's position before, at, or immediately after the start. Information provided as partial: distance without direction, direction without distance, or some other item in isolation. We were not settled in, not up to speed, at the start. Ended up slowly and lower than LinGin. Pasted behind them and trailed for the remainder of the race. Very bad place to start due to receiving "backwash" off of LinGin's sails.

Reached "A" some five boatlengths behind LinGin. That separation was maintained, with Constance closing the gap somewhat, till we reached mark "F".

Port tack genoa trimmer had troubles fulfilling the two roles of attending to trim and watching for traffic.

Particularly lumpy seas after mark "B" on the upwind to mark "F". Winds were their strongest on this leg. Had half to all of the main "bubbled" or near stalled trying to keep the boat on its feet, despite the traveller being fully to leeward and the backstay at 3. Still had a considerable amount of weather helm which I was not able to neutralize resulting in the boat climbing to an apparent wind angle of 30 degrees and sometimes less.

Debbie and Ray chatted amiably throughout the race. Worked to direct them where to sit, not on the cabin top, and which side. Slow to shift sides during tacks. Largely ineffectively in helping to bring the genoa around during tacks.

At mark "F", sailed under main and genoa due to the wind being on the beam. Too far forward to carry the spinnaker in this much air. The spinnaker would have placed far more side loading on the boat then the drive provided. One of the Tartan 245 's sailed by the Annapolis Sailing School raised their spinnaker at mark "F", or at least tried to do so. Struggled with the sail. Among the problems were: not fully hoisted and partially dragging in the water beside the boat.

At mark R"4", the bow hoisted the spinnaker but not all the way, leaving several feet in the hoist yet to go, and prompted abandoned that job to start trimming from the cockpit on the same side as the boom. Took several minutes to get the spinnaker to full hoist, the passenger reports on spinnaker head position were not particularly informative, requiring repeated queries to determine status. After some repeated encouragement, got the spin trimmer to move to the windward side of the boat and forward to a position to be able to view the spinnaker fully. Given the set of difficulties in performing these basic tasks, we left the genoa out throughout the leg. Caught up to LinGin some during this leg once we got the spinnaker sorted.

Doused the spinnaker well. Rounded and headed to SC"1". Somehow the starboard spinnaker sheet got onto the genoa winch under the genoa sheet. Once again, sailed poorly after SC"1" and again there were motorboats in the way to the finish. Given the level of our sailing, elected to pass through the mooring field below several moored boats. On the last board to the finish, scattered a few of the troublesome motorboats that distributed themselves around the area.

Sometime early in the race, perhaps on the way to mark "A", certainly before mark "B", someone tripped the genoa halyard line clutch and dropped a few inches of halyard. Perhaps it was never raised properly. After racing, fully hoisted the genoa by hand using some of my body weight, prior to furling. When we got back to the dock, the genoa halyard was jammed at the top of the mast. Again the Ronstan RF41100 40mm single swivel block allowd the halyard to bend the cheek of the block and jam between the cheeck and the sheave. The RF41100 40mm single swivel block is not strong enough for the genoa halyard. Replaced the RF41100 40mm single swivel block with a Harken Carbo Air 57mm Swivel .

T2P.tv video.

Speed over ground data from the GPX file in ODS spreadsheet format.

GPX formatted track. Estimate distance: 8.35nm, estimated average speed: 5.6kts, estimated duration: 1:29

Weather buoy data is suspect. Repeatedly saw 17 and as much as 19 on the wind instrument. In the T2P.tv video, Ashley mentions 15 knots during the ORC 1 start at timestamp 1:31.