Surprise's Log Day Sailer 11750: NACR, Day 3

July 14, 2005

NACR, Day 3

I don't remember much from the next to last race except we had good pointing, good speed and kept up our successes from the previous day, adding another B fleet 1st to our score.

The start we had on the last race was one of our best ever, and we lucked into it. We were on port tack coming down the line with less than a minute to go. We tacked around to starboard and tried to find a spot on the pin end of the line. I found myself in the second row between Dean I. and Dave K. Knowing that this wouldn't do, I bore off and went around Dean and amazed to see... no one. We were the about 30- 50 yards from the pin with 18 seconds to go. I was certain we would over run the mark and I started trying to see that didn’t happen. K. was encouraging me to get the speed up, and I felt like I was being torn in two. On one hand I didn’t want to be over early, that would be the worst thing, to have such a good position and foul it up by crossing the line early. On the other hand, I didn't want to be there with no speed and get rolled immediately to windward. We closed the pin with astonishing rapidity and I was sure we would be over early when I heard the starting horn. K. said "We're not over early and I believed her. It didn't matter. If we were, that was fine, and I forgot about it. We got the boat flat and did out best for speed and pointing. Dean was above us and had speed on us. Before I could figure out if there was a way to keep pace, it was too late. We were in his bad air. We tacked and ducked Dave who was yelling, “Go! Go!, Go!!”. Beyond him was Phill Root, who was yelling “B fleet, go home!!” We got clear air and tacked back, but we lost more boats. We just couldn’t keep up with those guys. We tacked again and too many times and lost ground. We managed to stay in the top 10 however until the last mark rounding. We avoided clusters and pinwheels at mark roundings until the last one. We were inside, and Kevin Williams luffed us up after we rounded. Without looking over my shoulder, I decided to tack and there were two boats on port right there. I didn’t give them room and opportunity, so I luffed up hard and we missed each other since they did the same. That cost us. We were in irons and the boat had stopped dead. After what seemed an eternity, we got the boat back on port tack and made our way to the finish. We tacked, and sailed to the port lay line. A boat was under us and just as we tacked, there was Jim Fisher on starboard. There was nothing I could do but go back on the starboard; he was too close to duck. The other boat also had to tack back. We found ourselves below the halfway point of the 'A' fleet, but ahead of the next 'B' fleet boat.

I was struck at how easy it is to lose a lot of boats by making one or two small errors. It was such a tightly packed crowd. The time between the first boat and last boat in a fleet of 30 plus could not have been more than a couple of minutes.

We pulled the boat out of the water and derigged her for the trip home. I was pleased, but I felt detached as well. Most of the reason we did so well was because some great folks in the class association were kind enough to share their knowledge and help this guy out. The success we had is as much due to them as it was to Kathy's work as crew and lastly mine as the guy who just pays the bills and tries to figure it out by following advice and trying things.

I wish I could have been more articulate when we received our trophies.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Kevin Williams for showing me how to tune the rig, to Phill Root for coaching me on boat handling and commenting on the rigging setup, to Dean Iwahashi for his suggestion to cross the barberhaulers, and to Kathy for putting up with me during the tough times and doing such great work handling the sails.

We were fortunate to have been given accommodations by Michael and Brooks Measures and I appreciate them putting us up and putting up with us. It helps when you have a decent place to sleep instead of a deflated air mattress between you and a cold rocky piece of the Sierra national forest, no matter how beautiful it is.

All of the folks who showed up gained something by being here. If not something about how to make their boat handling better then just be being able to meet with a great group of people and making or renewing friendships in one of the best sailing venues this country has to offer.

After the awards, we made our goodbyes, which is always a difficult thing to do and returned to the condo, to spend some nice quiet time with the Measures.

Brooks, Michael and all the Morro Bay folks were wonderful as were the folks from the Fresno fleet. These are some great people who put on an excellent regatta! One of the best so far, and that's saying a lot because all the regattas I’ve been to have been great.

Here are photos of the top ten:

316, Vieja, Dave Keran and Janette Zeman, 1st place, NA champions