Surprise's Log Day Sailer 11750

April Series 4

No entry from last week, the GPS data was corrupt - very ratty, lots of drop outs.
This week was better, however. Here are the plots:
We had the highly-sought-after, hardly-used Gold cup course.

Our speed was good, and we were in phase well on the second beat. It's nice to see the tracks for the beats curving up the course as opposed to the other way. We couldn't fly the spinnaker during the first reaching leg, so we shifted the spinnaker to the other side during that reach and were able to get the spinnaker up quickly on the second reach.

The douse at the leeward mark went well. I think we timed it properly; we were thinking about it a little more than we normally would have since we had done a practice douse before the race and the timing was a little off.

On the second douse a knot had gotten in to the spinnaker guy and it stopped the guy at the ratchet block from coming around as far as we would have liked. Luckily, it didn't affect the race.

April Series 2

The winds were 15mph, with gusts to 18, perhaps, out of the NW, which gave us a really long leg: .84 NM, according to the map.

I started recording the following measurements before we launched the boat:
Shroud tension: 30/30 (loos gage)
Masthead to transom: 25'7"
Masthead to quarters: 25'10"/25'10"
Turns in shroud turnbuckles: 22

I felt like we had a little trouble keeping the boat flat, especially during the first beat. The data shows we weren't pointing very well - and it even shows us appearing to overstand the first mark but I don't recall that happening. There might have been a big wind shift there that we had to deal with. Our downwind run was pretty good; we had good boat speed and the winds moderated as we began our second beat. I could definitely feel the boat perform better. She seems to be better tuned for that the lighter wind.
The wind shifted to the North or even Northeast during the last leg. We decided not to fly the spinnaker as it was a very tight reach.

We tried to stay away from the northern shore since there was a noticeable wind shadow in the northern lobe of the lake where the Seabrook beach club is located.

April Series 1

Joe and I left the dock with a west wind, hoisted the chute and began planing. What a gas! The boat was moving along with a bone in her teeth and I was thinking it would be fun just to keep going.
We made it down to the race area, took the chute down and began sailing around the area. The winds were puffy and we were hit by a 30 kt. gust. It persisted and I started to wonder why we had thought of sailing that day. The gust continued, and it was all I was able to do to keep Surprise upright.

Howebver, the gust eventually died off. We found ourselves near the starting time and managed to get into position at the start. It was at this time we relaxed there were only two of us in the fleet. Paul in the Flying Junior was in a better starting position, but was over early. Surprise wasn't pointing very well since we were overpowered and I had the traveler eased off the leeward considerably.
We managed to make our way up the course to the first mark rounding. Paul had gained on us and rounded just in front of us, but didn't round tightly. We were able to bear away inside of him and passed. We had a little better time of it on the second beat, as the winds had started to subside some. During the last run I got confused and thought we were going to round the leeward mark again before finishing. Joe snapped to it and after disagreeing with him, we checked the race sheet and, I realized I was making a mistake. So, we headed up and finished at the Seabrook beach club dock.

The winds stayed at their 15-20kt range during most of the race and it wasn't until we finished that the winds began to pipe down in earnest. By the time we had beat back to the dock it was very pleasant. The forecast had been right, but it was hard on us until the end of the race. I remembered how different Spring racing is compared to the summer time. Far more blustery, cooler and wetter. But fun nevertheless.

Here's the plot:

During the spinnaker run to the start we managed to make 8.2 knots, and there were several instances in the data where our speed topped well over 7 .5 knots for several samples. Pretty fast for a little bathtub of a boat.

Update: GPS visualizer plot showing estimated speeds:

Wednesday nights kicks off tonight

Spring is the hardest time for me to sail because unless I've been sailing all winter I'm out of practice and the winds are more likely than not to be strong, gusty and still a bit cool.

We've had not so great weather the past day, very windy- above 20kts, and cloudy. A front passed through overnight bringing north winds. The forecast yesterday was for 10-15 out of the NW. Now it's for a west wind.

That is the hardest case to handle for the RC, I think. (I could be wrong) It is because it's not supposed to happen much. Like an east wind it takes the starts away from the beach club. finishes are still there, but with the winds being blocked by the near by ashore, it makes finishing interesting. More like real lake sailing.

The other pointis that lows are not often positioned directly to the north. Well, it seem that's what we may have today. I can recall other times, too. It will mean a run downwind to the start and a beat home afterwards. Not what one would call a comfortable way home, but it's better than not sailing.

The other concern is the lake levels. When north winds come through the lake empties. We've had a very low level in the lake on April 2, but we're heading for the spring tide, and the water levels look to be higher.

Get out the boat! It's time to sail!