Going...Going...

Our GPS Track…

Chirs from Swale challenged us to another race.  When will that boy learn!  This time; it JoJo, Bryan, Mike, his girl Kay, and I crewing Speedy!  You know the routine…we load her up.  Drag her 5 miles to the north side of the lake.  Race…Kick some ass…and head back home…You want to read the whole story?

Well, we started a bout 30 seconds late.  Although I think Geronimo started about a minute in-front of us, and she carries the same Handicap as we do.  What are we going to do!?  Yell at her to come back?

We tried the same thing that we did the last time, we headed to the west shore, while the entire fleet (except Hotter Tuna) headed toward the east shore.  I think the fleet found some better wind.  After we got on our eastern tack, we noticed how far ahead of us the rest of the fleet was.  JESUS!

We were going to need a miracle.  Between Mike and Bryan, we had it.  They got us back into the running with some tactical tacks and we were back in the swing of it.  WoooHooooo.  Around the mark we were third or fourth, but right behind our friends on Swale.  Our spinnaker pops up, and that would be the last Swale would see the front of our boat.  Now we had to keep up with Tuna, reel in S-Cape and another boat.  We gybed, we did all we could, but the best we could do is scratch out a third.  Still in front of Swale, though.  Maybe I should have let Swale win….after all it was Chris’ birthday………NAH! Better Luck Next Time Birthday Boy!!!

Gone! Eat my Wake Swale!

Our GPS Track...This is how Winning is DONE!

So after a hiatus from sailing, we went back out on the water.  It had been a while since we last raced Speedy.  We had some new crew on the boat, and some seasoned.  Bryan is back from Kuwait and he stepped on to race.  This was Lisa’s first time on Speedy, so she was learning how everything worked.

So Saturday night, we (JoJo, Bryan, and I) were out a bit late at the Dubliner.  We did win some cool ass hats though from the Jameson Girls.  WoooHooooo…..I love me some free Shwag!  We did a whole “Team Hat” thing…the girls wore the newly acquired Jameson hats, while Bryan and I took on the military hats he brought back from Kuwait.  We looked good.  But how were we going to sail?

We loaded up Speedy and headed north to play with the Bayview kids.  Did I mention that there was some talk between my crew and Swale’s?  Well…there was a wager made, and there was a round of beers at stake.

The race started and Swale had about a 10 minute head start…we were going to have to work hard to get that boat back in our sights.  The hangover was not helping.  The wind was neither.  We broke off the fleet and headed to the west side of the lake looking to catch a wind-line. We had to get the binoculars out to see Swale…that’s how far ahead of us they were.   There was some real light southern wind.  At times, we were having a dance Party on the deck.  I might have even Moooooned Swale….I can’t say for sure!

They were ahead.  We were trying hard to catch them and the wind-line we thought we saw on the west shore.  Luckily for us, we got a hold of the wind line and headed towards the mark.  And we were going FAST!  By the time we got to the mark, we could see the whole fleet in out proverbial rear view mirror.  we had given every boat but one time….and now we were up front.  Hell YA!  We still have it.  We can rock out a boat race even hung over.

We round the mark.  We hoist the spinnaker.  We now have a spinnaker in the water.  All of a sudden the wind has DIED!  The fleet is slowly making up ground.  We can almost make out faces on Swale.  We take down the chute…we put up the Ginny.  What do you know, we are moving again.  That was a 180 degree wind shift right at the mark.  WOW.  So we are headed toward the finish when the wind shifts again.  It forces us to change sails once again,  Spinnaker is back up and now we are on a tight reach…but we are hauling ass.

We finish.  In First.  Time to collect our winnings, but first we take the boat back to RCYC and put her up.  Then we head to Flying Saucer.  I love nothing more than a nice cold FREE Guinness…Good Try Swale, Better Luck Next Time.

We took Speedy to Bayview for the Wednesday Night Races.  The crew was running a bit late, so Jojo and I sailed her down there by ourselves.  It was actually very nice and we got into the groove of handling the boat by ourselves quite quickly.

New crew member joined us tonight, Katy.  She works with Bruce and was brave enough to come out and race.  Boy was she in for a fun evening.  Winds were a bit light and coming out of the east. But the excitement was high.

We barely made it to the start, but we started on time and headed for the first mark.  Actually things were right on, Rented Mule rounded first, then Hotter Tuna, S-Cape (Superman’s Cape) was next, followed by us.    We put up the spinnaker and hauled ass toward the leeward mark.  We almost caught up to S-Cape. We dropped the spinnaker and headed back up wind in pursuit of S-Cape!

We set spinnaker again and rounded the mark, and headed down wind, fast.  So fast that we caught up to S-Cape and tried to over take her on the high side.  After all, we were in a groove, and we were down fast.  Scape decided they did not like that, and headed us UP UP And that’s when we went away.  Now on a tight reach, we stole their wind, sped up, and went right in front of their bow.  Score one for the Good Guys.

At the mark, things did not go as smoothly and we lost ground and a position to S-Cape.  We recovered and actually were in the same position behind S-Cape at the windward mark as the last time.  We had another fantastic spinnaker set and started to chase S-Cape down.  This time I was not going to get pushed up, but I was also not going to come as close to pass him.  We chased him down but he got us at the finish by about 6 seconds.  Too bad they give us time!  And too bad that all the shenanigans caused us to waste the precious time we both give to Swale.

Swale corrected over us once again.  They are our Elenore.  Every time we think we got them, they get by us!  Next time I am not playing these reindeer games with S-Cape.  We had fun and proved that we are a boat that can contend. Pictures are from Dan Malek aboard the slippery Orion. Jojo took the rest. http://pics.MySpeedster.info

As we got back to the boat, we noticed that the drink supply was running low.  The girls went to the store to buy some drinks and they came back with a surprise.  Not only did Jojo find a toothbrush, she also found a bottle of bubbly to christen the boat.  YAY!  So we were set!  The three boats headed to burnt bridge cove all under the full moon!

When we did get to the cove, I might have asked for the main to come down a bit early.  That plus the fact that the wind was picking up , we kinda ran aground.  Ooops!  And so guess who had to come tow us off the bank…that’s right, SWALE.  Thanks Guys, I owe you once again!

We finally tied up and began the party. I think the pictures can tell the rest of the story!http://pics.MySpeedster.info

And this thing is about a 20% slower than GPS speed...If you ask me, we were going around 13 knots. Yeah, 13 sounds right.

And actually, the fastest I saw on the knot meter was 7.3…but we are just splitting hairs now!  Wednesday night we were prepped to go race and kick some Swale ass!  We got the boat in the water and it was all rigged and ready to go!  There was a little concern over some harsh weather that was kinda heading our way.  We risked it and headed out…Thankfully we got a tow out of the marina, since I could not manage to get the boat out by myself.  There was a western wind, and the path is so narrow I coiuld barely pick up any speed and tack….

So we are headed out, nice reach, no worries on getting to the start on time.  I was all kinds of excited.  Half way down, we see lightning.  I am not talking about a bolt, but rather a spider web of lightning stretching from one end of the lake to the other. Seriously, the storm was not supposed to come over us like that!  We debated wether to head to Bay View or head back to RCYC, we debated for all of 2 minute.  We were going to pull a U and go back.    That is when all hell opened up!

I am not sure how fast the wind was, but I would guess it was close to a category 4 hurricane.  We managed to get the Geny down after almost broaching the boat.  Then we Chicken Gyped Speedy and headed back to RCYC…so yeah maybe 7.3 knots does not seem too fast, but when you are doing it with only a main, going downwind it is hairy.

CRAP!!! That is two Wednesday nights ruined because of the weather!

We were ready for the race this week.  We had 4 out of 5 crew on the boat when we left the dock at RCYC.  Even picked up Bruce from Swale before the prep warning.  I am telling you, we were on the right track.

OK, we were on the right track until they announced the course.  Downwind start?  With 16 boats…a little hairy.  We went against the grain and started on a Port Tack and Gybed soon after the mark…not exactly what you would call GENIUS tactics.  We didn’t hit a boat, and we actually got out pretty good. 

The first and last rounding was great…genoa went up, chute came in, we were moving.  Maybe came across a little early, and that is when things went not so good.  Apparently there was better wind closer to the shore, and we headed away  from there.  Swale stayed there and proceeded to kick the living crap out of us, and the whole fleet.  On every crossing they were getting further and further away from us.   They came in 2nd overall, we came in 6th.  Have to give the Swale crew credit.  They kicked us around like a soccer ball.

As customary, we ended up at the ROAD KILL CAFE and the crew of Speedster cooked burgers and brauts for everyone…YUMMY! After filling our tummies, we needed to head back to RCYC…we might have or not stolen a Nav Light…and I might have forgotten to return that thing.  OOPS!!!  We really need to get the mast light fixed.  Dwight and I are working on it on Saturday.

Pics?  Of coarse we have pics, thanks to Dan on Orion! Click Here.

So we ended up only having the three of us on the boat.  It actually worked out OK…we could have used a bit more weight on the rail, but we launched the chute like champs.  Who needs a crew of 5, when 3 can do it.  Actually I was very impressed with the whole night.  Three months ago, I would have never thought we could handle the boat with three.  Kick Ass.  We almost did catch Swale, but they did keep their position.  That was some fantastic downwind sailing.  They absolutely killed it!

As is customary after the Wed Night races, we docked the boat at bayview and started the BBQ Party.  Look as Scott manning the grill…I would call him the Official HamburgerHelper…We ate, had a couple of beers and decided to take Speedy back to RCYC.  Shannon came along for the ride.  We might have or not “borrowed” a bow light from a boat.  Safety First Kids. I can say that if I had borrowed a light from a boat, I did also return it. Overall I think last night was a great sail…we just need to leave RCYC a bit early.

We had our last race of DRW last night. The same triangle course that we’ve had in the past nights.  EXCEPT it was a windward start…actually it was a reach.  We were right on the start.  Had to change the side that we were going to launch the chute and that is when it went a little afoul.  I am not ratting anyone out, but the Spinnaker came out of the cabin sideways.  Someone had the halyard on the wrong end of the Spinnaker…I hope no one got a picture of that.  I know many of the boats saw it, as they reminded me of it during the after party.

Jamie was on the boat again, but this time he had a J-O-B…he was going to fly the spin tonight.  Spencer had an oppertunity to go do some offshore sailing and he took it.  Jamie has been on the Olson exactly 2 times, and I think he has only been on a sail boat only a handfull of times.  Now he was in charge of flying the spin during more than 2/3 of the race.  The man handled the pressure like a champ.

Needless to say, he didn’t understand what had happened when we launched the chute and it came out sideways.  We did manage to get it back in the boat and fix the foul up.  we relaunched and Jamie went to work.  We were flying the VMG spinnaker and it was exactly what we needed.  we reached the first mark, Gybed around the mark started heading to the second mark.

Once Jamie and I got on the same channel, we started to fly down the leg.  We caught up to some of the boats that we were after and actually managed to pass a couple of the boats, cuz as usual, we were the last boat on the course.

We are coming close to the second mark and we take down the spinnaker…F’ing Virginia brought that thing down like a CHAMP…we had the 155  up and started for the mark…we took it a bit wide but that helped us have good speed after the mark.

Peter had the headsail dialed in.  I mean that thing was perfect and you could feel the boat just picking up speed and heading right to the mark…SWALE and HotsyTotsy were in front and we were going after them.  Swale tacked across us and showed that he was 5 or 6 boat length in front of us.  Hotsy sped toward the shoreline for speed, but we kept on the line toward the mark.  Next thing I know Swale has tacked back, and is now only a couple of boat lengths in front of us, but they are on top of us.

Hotsy tacks right towards us, but we had them by an inch or two so they had to tack below us.  We took over them, but still had Swale to contend with.  I was not going to lose my concentration cost us this time.  My eyed stayed on the telltales and the mark.  WE WERE RIGHT ON THE LINE!  Swale fell back and now we were safe from them…next target was just to makeup as much places as we could.

We tacked around the mark and put the chute back up…unfortunately it did nothing for us…now August Blaze was trying to come around us…I was not going to let that happen…yeah…mistake…trying to keep them from passing us cost us boat speed…now Hotsy was back on our heels…CRAP!!!  The wind was kinda weird…so we brought down the Spinnaker and hoisted the Genny…

All of a sudden, the boat picked up and started to GO!  We ended up passing a couple of other boats and finishing.

If Thursday was in the top 5 days on the boat, today definitely made the same list.  It just felt so cool to come back from behind and make up for some early mistakes.

WHAT A GREAT WEEK OF RACING…

A very sincere thanks to everyone that made it out to crew on Speedster…a Very Special thanks to Peter and Virginia, and Dwight.  They came out every night and worked their butts off…I owe you all BIG!!!

Also, Skiles and Woody, thank you both for coming in and helping me with tuning the boat and my driving skills. The things you thought me will not be forgotten.

Spencer and Jamie, you guys ROCK…thank you so much for flying the Chute…I cant wait to have you both on the again.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU…

We left the boat at RCYC when the race got canceled. So today we had to take it back to Chandler’s for the race. As soon as I got the motor up and running, Peter found some wind and we started hauling down. Just my luck.

The Start- I hit the start mark. Had to go around and try that again. Giranimo proceeded to do the same thing. By the time we got an offical start, we were so far behind. Popped the chute and started heading towards the first mark. I hate that mark… I am not sure why, but I am just not a big fan of it. We rounded and stalled the boat. I mean we were not going anywhere…we just sat there.

I am having issues reaching on that boat in light wind. I think maybe the sails are trimmed in too tight. Dwight tried to rig up the VMG spin, but it was a short leg and by the time it was done, we were too close to the second mark. I looked behind us…there was not a single boat back there. Somehow we were in dead last again. Son of a BITCH!

Rounded the mark, tightned up the boat and all of a sudden we started to speed up to the third mark. We were headed right for it, didn’t even have to tack one time. And we were fast, we started passing boats. Really!

Came to the third mark and saw Swale going down to the finish. They had us by at least 10 or 20 boat lengths. Barking Fish was right there too…we setup the VMG spinnaker and rounded the mark. I guess we picked the right sail. We started to haul ass! Passed a couple of boats and were trying to take over MasCaliente when we were foiled. They kept pushing us up and I started heading lower. While we were messing around here, Giranimo came in from behind. and tried to go above us. Now I had two boats trying to take our wind. SOB.

We fought Giranimo off and were actually taking over MasCaliente, when I lost all concentration. Out of nowhere, Giranimo sped by us and took all our wind….there we were barley moving. All because I stopped paying attention for a minute. ROOKIE MISTAKE!!!

Well that was it, we lost a spot to Giranimo, another to Mas Caliente, and another to Barking Fish. I AM SO PISSED AT MYSELF.

The crew was perfect tonight. Peter and Virginia kicked ass. Spencer and Dwight had that boat moving. The only thing that slowed us down was me. HATE THAT!

Still one of the most enjoyable days of racing/sailing. The battles were awesome. We did beat Swale, but let Barking Fish by. I was all by myself today. I made my mistakes and let’s hope I learned form them.

Well, we couldn’t do any worst than yesterday, right?

Actually we didn’t.  Skiles was on the boat taking care of the helm while I just ran around trying to do everything that needed to be done.

Somehow he hit Trick Monkey before the start.  Now this is the Second Melges 24 we have hit this year…I am starting to call Speedster The BigBadMelges Eater…

Due to the accident, we started about a minute late.  But let me tell you, what a difference the helmsman makes.  He had us catching up as soon as we crossed the start line.  We rounded the course and finished the race barely one boat length behind Swale…

We did much better as a team…we got a 14th. Not great, but not as bad as the night before.