That Was Fun!
Pat, Lisbet, and Nabeel took Shadowfax out Tuesday night,
April 26. Here is their report:
Once we got out of the channel and on the river, we
found white caps and 20-22 mph winds from the south -- a fistful of
wind. However, we got acclimated and ground our way upwind to the
boathouse where the big boats were setting up for their Tuesday night
race. The spinnaker boats had already started but we got there in
time to cross the line with the non-spinnaker boats. Of course, we
decided to join the race.
It became immediately apparent that the Lightning could easily outpoint
those boats, so very quickly they were all behind us and we were looking
ahead to the spinnaker boats that had started 5 or 10 minutes earlier.
As we approached the red can at the Wilson bridge (windward mark), we
saw Shockwave, the fastest of the big boats, round it and hoist
their big spinnaker.
As we rounded the windward that mark, we passed the other spinnaker
boat. With the 20+ winds, we thought we'd just sail downwind on
main and jib. That idea lasted about 10 seconds. Pole up,
spinnaker up, and off we went.
To get adjusted to the wind, we sailed a little high, i.e. not dead
downwind. Of course, soon that meant we were approaching the
shallows on the east side of the river and had to gybe. We gybed
and crossed in front of the boat we had passed at the windward mark but
not by that much. They were sailing dead downwind and were going
fast.
We needed to gybe again. I started to bear off, Lisbet jumped to
the foredeck, Pat pulled the spinnaker to windward, I tried to pull the
boom over but got resistance. The wind had shifted and the main didn't
want to gybe. I tried to call off the gybe but Lisbet was well on
her way to getting the pole over. The wind shifted again and the
boom gybed over. However, I was caught by surprise as the boat
started to round up on the new tack. Pat, Lisbet, and I all jumped
to the windward side and I, for one, began to climb over to get on the
board, but the boat flattened out -- we have saved a capsize!.
I looked to leeward and saw that the spinnaker was out of control but
shielded behind the main. Nice job, Pat! As Lisbet set the
pole and Pat set the sheets, I waved to the big boat crew that was
taking in this action. The spinnaker was flying again and off we
went. In the end, it was just a sloppy gybe.
By then I was feeling confident that we could handle this wind so I sailed
a deeper angle. Lisbet warned me that we were by the lee, but I
sailed on because the spinnaker was getting good air. Some great
puffs came through and took us on a planing ride and we left the big
boat way behind.
Shockwave, the only boat that remained to be conquered was way
ahead, apparently going fast downwind under spinnaker. By the time
we got to the leeward mark (the green can off the airport near the
Anacostia), we had closed some of the distance but they seemed
uncatchable.
But we didn't give up. Like I said earlier, the Lightning can really
point upwind. So what we lacked in waterline length and hull
speed, we made up for by sailing a shorter upwind distance. By
then we were really accustomed to the wind and despite puffy winds
coming off the land, we were in the groove and grinding down the
distance between us.
We hiked out for what seems like an eternity. Pat commented that
he didn't know if the shaking he felt were his muscles or the boat.
Lisbet was already anticipating the great sleep she was going to get.
I told myself to breath regularly.
It all paid off as we passed Shockwave and were several hundred
yards ahead of her as we crossed the finish line and got a
congratulatory horn from the race committee. David had conquered
Goliath despite a 5 or 10 minutes late start. That was fun!
If you don't like the winds on the weekend, you should always be
prepared to go sailing on one of the beautiful spring evenings we are
having. I've sailed the last 3 Wednesdays and last night and
they have all been great sailing.
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