After some great support from the sailmakers at Doyle the mainsail is really starting to look good. The problem seems to have been matching of the luff curve between the mast and sail. Before we started adjusting the luff curve on the main we decided to have a go at the rig. From day one I really hadn't been happy with the mast prebend and curvature on the lower half. Even with the lowers all the way out, it wasn't enough to induce mast bend. After discussing with Glenn at Hansen Rigging, we simply added a toggle to the lowers to extend them an extra inch and a half and see the results. We went from a pretty straight mast section to a nice even curve.
Loading the main really showed the difference. The initial wrinkle coming from the full size bottom batten disappeared by better matching the mast bend to the luff curve. A quick sail and a little tunning had us looking really good.
A bit more work to be done to figure out the various rig settings for a range of conditions, but looks like the main is good to go. We took it out for the Oakland YC Wednesday night races and it took us to a win and a gun. Nice debut!
On Saturday, Andrew and Rob joined me for the YRA HDA Fall-1 Race. It was going to be a day on central San Francisco Bay, which in the summer means big winds. It didn't dissapoint. We started on the western edge of the Berkeley Circle. We had a fun sail up to the start (once we cleared Treasure Island from Alameda) with Andrew and Rob taking the boat on a power reach up the slot, the boat doing an easy 9 and 10 knots. Here is a short clip of that reach, showing off the new mainsail from Doyle. The mainsail still needs a bit of tunning for the upwind trim, though in this reaching shot it looks great.
Just before the start we notice that the rubber joint connecting the tiller to the tiller extension is split and only has a bit of rubber holding the whole thing together. Andrew gets to work and we do an 'ankle tape job' on it. I think we spent half a roll of tape. It was all a bit stiff but it held perfectly for the full race. In the conditions we were expecting, loosing the extension during one of the downwind runs could have been catastrophic. This is something I will be keeping a spare of in the boat from now on.
We got going on the first start with about 12 - 15 knots of breeze. In the sportboats class we could see the Antrim 27 "Head Rush" and Henderson 30 "Family Hour" and a small Viper. The Flying Tigers didn't come out to play, so our focus would be on the Antrim who always gives us a good fight.
During our pre-start we decide to go for the pin end as it was favored both in angle and distance to the windward mark, but I got distracted during the sequence and only managed to get a quarter of the way down the line before the start gun. Who do I see starting at the pin? the Antrim boat... So much for execution.
We started a bit behind the competition. We do a clearing tack to get a clear lane and quickly come back to join the rest of the fleet on starboard. On the beat from the start to Point Blunt we are trailing the Antrim, with the Henderson right on our heels. On the moderate conditions we are as fast as the Antrim but dont quite have the point. We manage to stay in touch. A bit of a problem with the main halyard slipping from the clutch costs us a few seconds, but Andrew and Rob quickly get it fixed. Near Angel Island we lee-bow the Antrim and with better speed and point manage to get in front. The rest of the way to Little Harding we play loose cover with the Antrim. We round the windward mark first on the Sportsboat fleet and with a perfect set we are off to the races.
We are averaging 12 - 14 knots downwind. By the time I look back and see the Antrim and the Henderson set their kites we are easily 300 yards in front. We focus on keeping the boat on its feet and looking for the downwind mark. On the upwind leg we spotted the downwind mark and decided at that point we wanted to be on port tack at Pt. Blunt. For a few seconds, while we struggle with the GPS we are heading to the wrong mark, but just in time we spot the leward mark and jibe for it. Right after the jibe we get a blast of wind and we are now barrelling towards the mark at 16 and 17 knots. Things are coming up real quick. Jib out and kite down... oh, why isn't the kite coming down... the tack line got a bit tangled up and in a few seconds Rob and Andrew had it all figured out. It was a good day to have 3 on board as this could have been a bit complicated if we were only double handling the boat. One last jibe to get around the mark for our second upwind leg and suddenly a BANG!
What was that? The mast still up, good, but the boom is skyed. We blew the vang on the jibe. All my fault as I should have been ready to release some of the main after the jibe. Worst of all the night before we had spotted some fraying on the cover of the loop holding the vang together and decided the the core was intact and it would hold for another day of racing. We guessed wrong. Not a big deal, we wouldn't need to vang for the next upwind leg and Andrew got to work on a jury rig for our next downwind run.
After rounding we start looking for our competition. We can only see the Antrim and they are struggling with their kite and go into a broach. It takes them a while to recover, they drop their kite and continue racing. We can see where the Henderson or the Viper are. We carry on the second upwind leg pretty much on our own. By now the current has turned and we are in a slight ebb so we can play a bit more towards the center of the bay. The wind is now building to the mid 20s so we start preparing for our next downwind ride. We really just come out for these downwind runs, they are a rush. We have a video camera on board, but there is just too much going on to get one of us to mess with it. I think it will be great footage, so need a way to mount it on the boat (or strap it to my head).
Off we go around Little Harding and set the kite again. This time we have a longer run all the way to mark D on the Circle. Quickly after rounding we figure out our initial vang jury rig is not working, so Andrew ties the tail of the main halyard to the boom vang strap through the bail at the base of the mast, and straight back to the winch. Grind it down and now we have a working vang. We now go into full speed mode and scream down the bay, holding 14 knots and bursting to the 17s in the gusts. Everyone is smiling and enjoying the ride. We nail our jibe angle to the leward mark (actually, we nailed all the laylines in the race), do a safe windward douse and head towards the finish line on a power reach. The boat holding 9 and 10 knots on white sails.
We get a gun at the finish line and head back towards Alameda. We were all hungry and thirsty after 2 1/2 hours on course, so we take it easy to make sure we empty up the cooler before we get to Alameda. We ended up covering 21.3nm on course on 2h27m for an average of 8.7 knots, not bad for W-L course. A couple of things will need to get repaired, need a new tiller extension joint (plus a spare), need to fix the vang attachment (Andrew has a good idea to try out) and we blew one of the small spinlock cleats that needs to get replaced. Not too bad for a fun day in the water.
The new main was completed last week. Andrew, Rob and I took it out for a spin at the Oakland YC Wednesday night beer can race and we pulled a bullet from behind. The construction on the sail is pretty impressive. The sail still needs some tweaking to the rid of a diagonal wrinkle along the edge of the battens.
The Bay Area Multihull Association has put forth an interesting challenge. The have set up a course around the bay where you can race around any time you want and as many times you want to try to get the best time around the course. You can find more information on their website at BAMA Racetrack.
Today, Andrew and I took our first stab at it on JetStream. Winds were good, in the 15 to 20 range, so we were psyched to give it a go. But early in the course we quickly discovered that the currents weren't favorable. I had the feeling this was the wrong choice for the currents but it was the only time so far we had the chance to go out so we gave it a shot anyways. It turned into a lot of upwind sailing, not the best to get the best lap time.
We started up at Blossom Rock heading north to YRA 8. That was a fun, screaming reach, with the boat topping out at 13.4 knots with only white sails. After YRA 8, we had to leave Alcatraz and Little Alcatraz to the north which resulted in a beat up to Alcatraz. We played the Alcatraz 'cone' to avoid the worse of the current and made our way to Harding. Harding was almost a beat, we maybe cracked off 10 degrees.
After Harding we had to make our way Blackaller, which meant crossing the entrance to the bay and the worse of the current. Due to the current it also turned into a beat to windward given the SW winds today.
We got around Blackaller, and finally got to set the kite. At this point we had done a lot of sailing and were looking forward to the spinnaker run. The winds lightened up a bit, but the bay was nice and flat so we played our jibe angles. A third of the way down the winds picked back up and we had a screaming run back to Blossom rock.
We'll be trying again with more favorable current conditions, which should greatly help us improve on our time across the course. This time it took us 1hr 35m 35s to get around the track. Over a 10 nm course (we sailed much more than that) we averaged 6.3 knots. We can do better. Oh, and next time we will probably have new sails as well. Will post an update when the new sails arrive.
On May 22nd we had the first race of the HDA season. We got enough interest from the Sportboats fleet to get our own division this year. Hoping that a few more boats will join.
Forecast was looking very favorable with 15 - 25 knots in the bay for the afternoon racing. Our preferable conditions. Mark and Andrew joined me for the days racing. The extra pair of hands would become a welcomed decision later in the afternoon.
We set off to our long slog from the Oakland Estuary to the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Got there with plenty of time to spare and sailed around waiting for our start. By the start time the wind was well into the 20 knots and the ebb had been building, throwing up a decent chop in the bay. We had a pretty clear start and soon tacked away to the center of the bay to take advantage of the ebb current. Crossed a few boats, and rounded the first windward mark (Blackaller) in third place behind some of the longer waterline boats. Had a perfect spinnaker set and the race was on. We took off in the fresh conditions and soon were leading the fleet. We were averaging between 14 and 15 knots of speed, with both Mark and Andrew doing an excellent job with the kite. Looking behind I could see one of the Tigers struggling with their kite, but the fast Antrim 27 with their blue kite was quickly approaching. We rounded the Blossom rock (the leward mark) in first position and headed back to the second lap. The Antrim was the only boat in our fleet we could still see and they were following behind about 80 yards. We would need to keep a watchful eye on them for the second downwind run. However, they had to drop out of the race due to an emergency and we were left to race on our own. We had a strong second upwind leg averaging around 7.5 knots, with some favorable current. Soon we were back at Blackaller and readied for the next downwind run.
Another flawless set and we were again off the races. The chop had built significantly from the first run and we were now constantly getting water over the decks. You could feel the boat accelerate on every puff. On one of the strongest puffs we plowed into the back of a wave, throwing a wall of water over the decks. The water knocked the crew back and I lost control of the boat and rounded up into a broach. We tried to bring the boat back, but it wouldn't come up with the spinnaker up. So with a quick release of the halyard we brought the boat back and dragged the spinnaker back into the boat. We thought we heard a tear on the spinnaker so didn't reset. As we were far ahead in the fleet we finished the downwind leg with just our white sails.
We now just had our final upwind leg to the finish. The wind had continued to build and we were seeing gusts in the upwards of 30 knots, so we played it conservatively. Got a gun at the finish and turned the boat around to head back home. Pretty tiring for a 2 hr race. Got some cold beers from our wet bilge and settled for our sail home. Good day out onboard JetStream and a good start for the HDA season.
On April 10th, Mark and I went out to race on the 2010 version of the SSS Corinthian race. It takes its name from the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon where the race starts and ends. This race is a tour of the central San Francisco Bay.
We knew it was going to be exciting as it coincided with a storm arriving in the area. The forecast was for winds of 10 - 15 knots, with gusts in the 20s. Needless to say it was substantially off, as we were seeing gusts over 30 just before the start. Throughout the race we saw winds in the 15 - 25 range with gusts in the 30s.
Since Mark lives just up the hill from Tiburon I would just pick him up at the yacht club before the race. This meant that I would do the 2+ hours delivery from Alameda by myself. So it was an early start for me with a 6am wake up call. Well, more like a 4am wake up call since our 3 month old decided it was breakfast time. Already up, gathered my stuff and headed down to the boat. I left the dock by 8am, autopilot on and outboard purring nicely up the Estuary. The wind was already filled in and soon after I excited the Estuary I was able to turn off the outboard and jib sail all the way to TI. It got a little light around TI and we motor sailed the rest of the way to Tiburon. Arrived at the club around 10 AM for our 11:25 start. Lots of boats already sailing around of what would be a fleet of over 100 boats for the race. I tied up at the club, went up to chat with some of the other sailors and race committee and waited for Mark to arrive.
Mark soon arrived and we got dressed for the wet and cold weather, and got the boat ready. Already some strong gusts where hitting the marina. It would have been nice to raise the main in the protection of the marina, but it would have required a few turns in close quarters to get out. JetStream doesn't like tight turns, so we elected to back out of the marina and power out. All went smooth, except that it was gusting to 30 knots outside the marina and very bumpy, and we still needed to get the main up. We motored out to Angel Island to try to find some protection on the lee of the island, but there wasn't much to be found. But the main had to go up, so Mark and I got on task. After a few tries it was up and we were powered up.
Not having a reef on the main, during some of the stronger gusts the thought came to my mind to pull the plug. The rig didn't look too happy with the sails thrashing around, so we took it easy on the pre-start staying out of the way and waiting for our sequence. We had a great start, close to the pin, and within a few minutes we were leading our fleet. We stayed on the ebb all the way to Little Harding and cracked off on a course east of Alcatraz on our way to Blossom Rock. We went a little deeper than the rest of the fleet. This would be a good leg for us and I knew we would be passing a few boats on the reach and wanted to avoid a string of luffing duels. It paid off as we gave Alcatraz a wider berth and were able to catch a few boats that fell into the windhole on the east of Alcatraz. The wind had moderated a bit from that of the start and we were pretty comfortable aboard JetStream....
The conditions made for an easy trip to Blackaller. With the SW winds you could almost lay the mark. A quick short tack to make up the difference and we were around Blackaller. On the way to the mark we had some very strong puffs, so we were debating whether to set the kite after the rounding towards South Hapmpton Shoals. But it felt light enough after we rounded and the kite quickly went up. What a ride.... we had a couple of moments of pure speed and adrenaline. We don't have a knotmeter on board so we can't say how fast we were going and during our top speeds we had no free hands to look at the GPS, but if we didn't hit 20 knots, we were at the very top end of the teens... The only boat with a kite up ahead of us was the F-24 Tri and they were putting up a lot of spray.... During the run a ferry crossed right in front of us putting up a huge wake. I was worried the the boat would just plow into the wave with negative consequences... but it punched through the first wake and skipped over the next and we were off again. I overstood the layline to our next mark and jibed too late. We couldn't hold the tighter course with the kite up and crashed the boat in a broach. Mark released the kite, but it took releasing the vang to get the boat back on its feet. We got the boat going full speed again and prepared to drop the kite. At this point it was really blowing, upper 20s, but Mark pull a great windward douse.
After rounding SH, we had an upwind leg up Racoon Straits back to Little Harding (again). It was blowing now, easily 30 knots on the beam and whitecaps everywhere. No risk today of the dreaded wind hole behind Angel Island. On the contrary, seems the SW winds were compressing and accelerating in the gap between Angel Island and Tiburon. With the help of the ebb, it made for a quick leg back to Little Harding. All that was left now, was the downwind finish. We felt pretty comfortable at this point and again reconsider putting up the kite, but someone else had already set theirs and ours went up immediately. There were only a couple of trimarans and 2 or 3 larger monohulls ahead of us at this point. After a couple of jibes we crossed the finish line with an elapsed time of about 2 hours and 30 minutes on an 18 mile course, a 7.2 knot average over the course. Not bad for a 30 foot boat.
We pulled back into the marina to drop off Mark and enjoy some well deserved cold beers. We were tired and sore from the challenging conditions, but full of adrenaline from our performance. After about an hour I couldn't further delay the inevitable delivery back to Alameda. I wanted to take it easy so the main was off the boom. I jib sailed all the way to TI and motor sailed the rest of the way. Half way down the Estuary the sun came out and helped dry things off. With the help from Andrew put the boat away and got on my way home. Got home around 7 PM, 12 hours after I left.... Long day.
4/12 -- Results are in. JetStream finished 1st in Sportboats Class, and 2nd Overall in the Doublehanded division, with the fastest elapsed time for a monohull.
