2005 Atlantic Coast Championships
Wrightsville Beach NC
Regatta Highlights
by Nabeel Alsalam
August 5, 2005
Five Important Lessons
The Carolina Yacht Club at Wrightsville Beach, NC is
the best place to be with its white sand beach and beautiful clubhouse,
even in less than perfect weather. Two Fleet 50 boats made the 6 hours
drive there last weekend to sail in the Atlantic Coast Championships: Russ
Roberts, Denise Maleug, and Dan Parietti in 14222 (Windchaser) and
Scott Bradford, Lisbet Kugler, and myself in 15142 (Shadowfax).
Dan is from New York City and sails with the Nyack fleet.
We decided to make it a 3-day weekend so that we
could have some time to enjoy the sun and surf. As soon as we got there
we dropped off the boats and headed to the surf shop where Russ, Lisbet,
and I rented boards. Unfortunately, the tide was pretty close to high
and the surf was breaking very close to the beach. Nevertheless, Russ got
many short rides while looking very impressive. I mainly paddled around
and tried to avoid falling off an looking silly while doing so. Lesson
1: don’t try to surf at high tide.
A front was stalled over the area for most of the
weekend. On Saturday morning, storms were visible to the south, which
made the RC nervous and they sent us home before we sailed out of the cut
into the ocean. The Windchaser team decided they needed the
practice and went out into the ocean. The rest of us hung out on shore
twiddling our thumbs. Windchaser finally returned several hours
later after Russ drilled his team. They were easy to spot - the lone
Lightning flying spinnaker and on a full plane coming down the inland
waterway. He was yelling like a crazy bull rider while hanging onto the
rudder being pushed, no exploded, out the front end of a gust off a
collapsing storm. What a sight!
Around 1:30 or so, Scott and I decided to go get
some lunch feeling that the RC was not in the mood to send us out in the
light air and drizzle. I had one beer and then another while we chatted
away. Finally, we headed back. As we got close to the club I started
looking for Lightning masts on shore or in the water. None! We found
Lisbet seething and learned the RC had sent them out an hour earlier.
Oops. We made the long trek out to the ocean and with some help from a
powerboat got to the racecourse before they started the first race.
Lesson 2: don’t think you know what the RC will do.
We had two short races on Saturday (both
one-lappers) and 3 on Sunday (1 storm-shortened, 1 one-lapper and 1
two-lapper). All were in pretty light air from the southeast with some
big shifts caused by storms thrown in. The seas on Saturday were regular
but the winds were light. On Sunday the seas were calmer, almost flat,
and there was better pressure.
On Saturday we managed two 15ths despite behind on
the wrong side of a big left shift at the beginning of race 1 and two very
late starts. I think we made up ground downwind by sailing roughly 40 to
50 degrees above dead downwind which kept the boat moving well and also
kept it more stable in the waves. As a result of a bunch of OCSs we were
in 10th place.
For race three on Sunday, we again started late, but
kept sailing left and thought we were at the top of the fleet. However,
as we came back on port, the wind died and shifted right and we rounded in
the middle. Then the downwind leg turned into an upwind leg as a result
of an approaching storm and we got killed – a 28th. Lesson
3: Pay attention to where the storms are and which way they are
moving. New stronger wind may come from there.
We finally got good, not great, starts in the last
two races of the regatta. I had a range on a hotel and water tower on
shore and was able to get closer to the line with moderate speed at the
gun. My air was clear and I was not threatened from leeward. However,
we again went left and we again ran into the right shift at the windward
mark as we came back on port. I made up ground by sailing alone down the
unfavored left side of the course but with good waves pushing me, and no
crowd on that side of the gate. We got an 11th. Lesson 4:
In a large fleet, a clean leeward mark rounding with clear air is easily
worth the price of a couple of boat lengths.
The last race would have been our best race had I
not become worried about the possible effect of another storm and decided
to sail just ahead of a big crowd on the last downwind leg. They caught
up to me and I blew the rounding as a result of some aggressive tactics by
a nearby boat. In the last 100 yards to the finish, one of the boats that
slipped inside of me finished 7th and we finished 15th.
ARRGGG! Lesson 5: Clean roundings are huge. Plan, plan, plan
ahead. Assume your competitors will be aggressive, but don’t sacrifice a
smooth fast rounding while defending yourself.
We ended up 15th for the regatta and Russ
ended up 24th. We got spanked but we’ve taken home some
lessons. Plus, in the end the fun is in going out sailing and seeing what
you can do. In the words of that great baseball philosopher: “Sometimes
you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains.”
Tonight the Shadowfax team (Russ, Lisbet, and
I) leaves at midnight for the 15-hour drive to Sheboygan, WI and the North
American Championships! Team Grey Ghost (Drew, Sousan, and
Bridget) will be leaving tomorrow morning. Cheer us on!
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