Notes from Albert T. Simpson Regatta at St Francis July 22/23

Tides
Used past three days of actual tides available from NOAA
Appeared changes occured 30-40 minutes earlier than predictions, exception of slack after the little ebb, which occured 60 minutes earlier. Seemed like we had the game plan right, see Tactics next.

Tactics
Max flood occured about 90 minutes before the first start on Saturday and 45 minutes first start on Sunday. Slack tide occured at about 1245 and 1330 Sat/Sunday. Melges started first then the dreaded bus drivers on the 105's. Express 27s, Etchells and J/24 also attended. First race and most of second race was race to the shore and short tacking up the City Front. Wind shadow just west of Blackhauler was in effect making cutting inside Anita Rock an option not taken by anyone we say. SI's seem to indicate that going inside of Anita Rock is okay again this year. Need to confirm.

By end of second race, more options for watching the breeze seemed apparent. We thought Seadon and Kevin Clark were watching the shifts as was Matt on our boat. Again, seemed like we had that right, I think we even beat Seadon to the weather mark once or was that just wishful thinking! For sure on the second to last beat of Race 5 we were hanging with Seadon and Kevin upwind. On the short tacking beats, we really seemed to lose out to the A fleet boats--need to work on the tacking.

In Race 1 and 2 had major issues with the 105 fleet on the second downwind leg. We tried to cut through their fleet to get to the right side of the course and just could not punch through. Ugly. Next time we'll just use them like a shore line and reach into them, then jib out and zig zag downwind. Better yet, go faster on the upwind legs and don't worry about them at all! The A fleet was able to stay infront of them, so they put lots of distance on the B/C fleet.

Race 1/2 were W-L-W-L finish downwind. Races 3-5 where W-L-W-L-W finishing upwind.

Competitors
Seadon sailed Steve Pugh's boat Taboo. He was light with only 4 onboard. Using the new North main. Shawn Bennet had Melissa and Tom Purdy on the boat (at least for Saturday didn't see if they where onboard on Sunday) He was using an old North Pentex main and I think an new Ullman jib. He, Seadon and Kevin Clark were the A fleet. Grinder was the B fleet and Mosley, Peter and I made up the C fleet. St Francis has the results.

Boat Issues
Spin halyard slipping through brand new Harken 150 cleat. Tear in blue AP (which was still fast) Didn't tape in the foam wedges onto keel, damaged one side due to rubbing.

Tuning Comments
Saturday rig was at 36'9" of rake. Base setting was 28/11. Wasn't horrible but Peter was beating us.
Sunday moved rig forward (off forestay turnbuckle 10 turns) New base was 33/?
Race 4 was 16-18knots, up 12/10. Won the start, Very fast--beat fleet to the beach, got killed on the tacking.
Race 5 was 18-22knots, up 24/22. Again pretty fast, Matt says we were catching upto Seadon and Kevin on 2nd upwind leg. After race, Seadon commented that we were hanging well with them.

Crew Comments
Super happy with the crew work this weekend. Thought that we'd have light air but City Front didn't dissappoint. Only two comments to think about; 1)spinaker is either up or in the boat, never in the water 2)perhaps shots after midnight when racing on the City Front not such a good idea! Many thanks to Matt Clark, great job!

Memorable Moments/Quotes
The smile on Norm's face driving the last upwind leg. Tom falling after just one tack on the rail and realizing that yes we really do need to redo the non-skid soon. Cartwheels on the St Francis lawn. Yummy shrimp on the barbie, whipped non-fat sundried tomato cream cheese. Norm's asprin joke. Broach on last downwind leg of Race 5. Departure of the liscense plate, "I'd rather be mowing my lawn"sticker and one tire on the ride down and back.