Log of Alberg 30 #262 on 12 August 2026

Date: 12 August 2026 1800 till 12 August 2026 2000
Endpoints: Yacht Haven Annapolis Eastport MD to Yacht Haven Annapolis Eastport MD
Purpose: Final Race of the Second Series
Complement: Fred Alvardo, Eric Prag, TC Williams, and Yoni Bresler.
Weather: SSE Force ~5kts, gusts to 7kts. Ebbing spring tide peaked at 0.2kts at 2000.
Engine Hours: 515.9 to 516.6
Fuel: 1/4 tank
Chart: 12282 Chesapeake Bay Severn and Magothy Rivers

Course:A1. Shortened finish at R"8".
Sails: Elliott/Pattison Sailmakers 169LP genoa and spinnaker, and Pandora main. Backstay at 3.

Good start in the first third of the line and above the Tartan. Tartan sailed faster all night long. Light winds appear to favor their reduced wetted area and comparatively larger sail plan. Perhaps should have started closer to the pin.

Stayed on starboard tack till we closed to within seven boat lengths of the Greenbury Point shoal two fathom line. Averaged 4.0kts over the 0.33nm leg, appearing to sail faster than the polars predict. Ebbing tide?

Trying winds on port tack. Barely cleared G"5", leaving the buoy to leeward. Held port tack till within eight boatlengths of G"E1". Perhaps should have held on longer, would have had to make two boatlengths to windward to shoot the mark. Not likely, even with the flat water. Averaged 4.1kts over the 0.61nm leg, appearing to sail faster than the polars predict. Ebbing tide?

Had to double tack to make the windward mark. We were about ten boatlengths short of the mark. Rounded the windward mark 23 minutes into the race. Gybed onto port tack, rolled in the genoa, and hoisted. Slow operations with the spinnaker. We have not had a chance to practice spinnaker work in a number of weeks. Averaged 3.9kts over the 0.34 leg, in line with the polars.

Downwind formed a course directly to the mark. TC remarked that we had to sail higher to make VMG. Asked for the polars from the library. Did not receive the information required from the person down below rummaging in the bar, presumably for a GPS, as that was the next question. Directed them to iNavX on the iphone. Slow downwind haul with 2 to 3 knots apparent from near directly aft. Should have sailed higher based on the polars. Should have sailed an apparent wind angle of 130*, true wind angle of 153*. Averaged 2.4kts over the 0.67nm leg.

Gybed onto starboard as we approached the finishing mark at R"8". Able to sail to R"8" on a hotter angle, 35* starboard from previous course, with a sightly stronger breeze. Averaged 3.0kts over the 0.16nm final leg.

Had we sailed higher, 30* above straight downwind of the first downwind leg, we would have sailed 0.44nm before gybing and sailing 0.53nm to the finish, for a total of 0.96nm, in place of the 0.83nm actually sailed. A difference of 36 seconds (19'12" = 60 * (0.96/3.0) vs 19'48" = 60 * (0.83/((3.0*0.16/0.83) + (2.4*0.67/0.83))).

Our corrected time placed us 53 seconds behind the Tartan. We needed to sail the course 63 seconds faster to match the Tartan's time.
Lighter winds and a bottom that been in the water since April 15th could be the difference.

GPX formatted formatted track. Estimated distance: 2.54nm, estimated average speed: 3.1kts, duration: 0:49