JetStream had a busy past weekend. We started with a win on the Friday night Encinal race, with Mike crewing. That was followed with a great performance on Saturday's YRA long distance race for the Second Half Opener. Mark came out with me for the Saturday race. This race takes us from Berkeley Circle out the Golden Gate to Point Bonita (where the lighthouse for the entrance to the bay is) all the way back to the Encinal Yacht Club on the Oakland Estuary. This time it was going to be more challenging than usual as we had to fight our way out on a 4+ knots flooding current.
We had a good breeze at the start and it build during the day. The JS likes a stiff breeze. We had a decent start and where hanging in there on the top half of the fleet for the upwind leg out to Pt. Bonita. The whole fleet pretty much followed the same strategy of going north (the right hand side of the course) and it was pretty much a sprint to the GG bridge. Here is when things got interesting as the current was really ripping right under the gate. At this point we are exchanging tacks with the Antrim 27 'Head Rush'. We are pretty evenly match and we've had some close contests on our previous races. We really enjoy the tight competition. In addition to the current, it was very gusty and shifty just before the bridge. We managed to play a couple of shifts correctly and got some current relief near shore in our approach to the bridge. At this point we had started catching up boats that had started over 15 minutes ahead of us, but that had gotten into the raging current and lost significant ground. This is were the race was going to be won or lost.
We had spotted my friend Bill from the Doyle loft on the Bene 10R. We had lost sight of them on the upwind leg as they stretched on us, but here they were again, we had a new target. Our first attempt at getting under the bridge failed. We try to stay close to the north tower, but the current rip right at the tower didn't allow us to make any forward progress. It is quite amusing to be going full speed at around 6knots over the water and not be able to make any progress over the ground. The current pushed us back to were we started. So this time we took a different approach and went out about 50 yds south of the North tower to get some current relief. It worked! As soon as we went under the bridge on starboard tack, we tacked over to go back to the north shore and hug the cliff line for more current relief. I think we passed over a dozen boats in this move. We kept short tacking up the shore on a dying breeze, but further extending our lead over the boats behind us.
By the time we got to Pt. Bonita, we were the second boat in our fleet, with only the Sabre 38 in front of us. We had a good rounding, set the kite and we were off. It wasn't very windy between Pt. Bonita and the GG, but we played a few shifts and tried to stay on the strongest current (the current was now helping us). By the time we reached the GG, we had passed the Sabre, we were now leading our class. As soon as we crossed the gate the wind started to pick to into the 20s and we really started to have some fun. The boat was screaming downwind and we quickly started picking up boats. We didn't have our GPS on board for this race, but we must have been doing between mid to high teens on our way down the central bay.
By the time we reach the Bay Bridge the wind had moderated and it was time again to play some tactics to stay in the stronger pressure. After the bridge we took a jibe north to stay in the stronger wind and got past the J105 ahead of us. As soon as we entered the Estuary, it got light and warm, so we patiently jibed back and forth until we finished with the 'gun' in front of Encinal. A great day out in the water with Mark.
For Sunday we had a single bay race. Both Mark and Mike came out. The conditions were perfect for us as a later start ensured that the breeze was fully set in for our race. Needless to say things didn't go as planned. We sailed the wrong course. We picked up the wrong course number at the start, we did 5 instead of 6, and even within the course we sailed we went to the wrong mark. A bit of a frustrating race but we took advantage of it and got a good practice day from it, with great crew work and a fun spinnaker run. But this is it.... no excuse for getting the race course wrong again... We finished the day with a 'Dark&Stormy' on the nice pool at the Encinal Yacht Club, with a mostly successful weekend to celebrate.
We had a good breeze at the start and it build during the day. The JS likes a stiff breeze. We had a decent start and where hanging in there on the top half of the fleet for the upwind leg out to Pt. Bonita. The whole fleet pretty much followed the same strategy of going north (the right hand side of the course) and it was pretty much a sprint to the GG bridge. Here is when things got interesting as the current was really ripping right under the gate. At this point we are exchanging tacks with the Antrim 27 'Head Rush'. We are pretty evenly match and we've had some close contests on our previous races. We really enjoy the tight competition. In addition to the current, it was very gusty and shifty just before the bridge. We managed to play a couple of shifts correctly and got some current relief near shore in our approach to the bridge. At this point we had started catching up boats that had started over 15 minutes ahead of us, but that had gotten into the raging current and lost significant ground. This is were the race was going to be won or lost.
We had spotted my friend Bill from the Doyle loft on the Bene 10R. We had lost sight of them on the upwind leg as they stretched on us, but here they were again, we had a new target. Our first attempt at getting under the bridge failed. We try to stay close to the north tower, but the current rip right at the tower didn't allow us to make any forward progress. It is quite amusing to be going full speed at around 6knots over the water and not be able to make any progress over the ground. The current pushed us back to were we started. So this time we took a different approach and went out about 50 yds south of the North tower to get some current relief. It worked! As soon as we went under the bridge on starboard tack, we tacked over to go back to the north shore and hug the cliff line for more current relief. I think we passed over a dozen boats in this move. We kept short tacking up the shore on a dying breeze, but further extending our lead over the boats behind us.
By the time we got to Pt. Bonita, we were the second boat in our fleet, with only the Sabre 38 in front of us. We had a good rounding, set the kite and we were off. It wasn't very windy between Pt. Bonita and the GG, but we played a few shifts and tried to stay on the strongest current (the current was now helping us). By the time we reached the GG, we had passed the Sabre, we were now leading our class. As soon as we crossed the gate the wind started to pick to into the 20s and we really started to have some fun. The boat was screaming downwind and we quickly started picking up boats. We didn't have our GPS on board for this race, but we must have been doing between mid to high teens on our way down the central bay.
By the time we reach the Bay Bridge the wind had moderated and it was time again to play some tactics to stay in the stronger pressure. After the bridge we took a jibe north to stay in the stronger wind and got past the J105 ahead of us. As soon as we entered the Estuary, it got light and warm, so we patiently jibed back and forth until we finished with the 'gun' in front of Encinal. A great day out in the water with Mark.
For Sunday we had a single bay race. Both Mark and Mike came out. The conditions were perfect for us as a later start ensured that the breeze was fully set in for our race. Needless to say things didn't go as planned. We sailed the wrong course. We picked up the wrong course number at the start, we did 5 instead of 6, and even within the course we sailed we went to the wrong mark. A bit of a frustrating race but we took advantage of it and got a good practice day from it, with great crew work and a fun spinnaker run. But this is it.... no excuse for getting the race course wrong again... We finished the day with a 'Dark&Stormy' on the nice pool at the Encinal Yacht Club, with a mostly successful weekend to celebrate.
