Current, Wind, and Survival
When we were sent out today there was hardly any breeze, and 1.5 knots of current. It wasn’t long before it was blowing over 20 knots, with an opposing 3 knot current. Dispite the wind strength, the large committee boat was being pushed upwind, due to the tide. The first race was ok, but not the best. It was quite tricky to read the strong, swirling tide, on top of the breeze and steep waves. The second race was a little crazy. At the last top mark, the front pack made it around the top mark and down wind, while the other 60% of the fleet got caught in over 30 knots of true wind. We were approaching a small pack of capsized boats, and we beared away, got our Screech spinnaker up, and then crashed into a wave so hard that we ripped our spinn bag and the 2 screws clean out of the fibre glass. A couple of minutes later, there was about 12-15 boats upside down at the top mark, waiting for the squall to pass. We knew that they were going to keep the race, because the committee cannot abandon it if the first boat has finished. Time after time, we were the only ones to keep trying to get down to the finish line, but it was impossible. As the others watched us through the rain from their capsized boats, we would get it up, accelerate, and cartwheel, and flip, but we refused to give up and wait, we really wanted to make it work more than anything, but it didn’t. In the meantime, the people that finished were waiting at the finish/startline, and when the squall hit, they all went over too. Eventually, the race committee and the safety officer sent everyone in becuase the winds were peaking at gale force. We were exhausted. We must have flipped 10-15 times trying to fight the wind. On the way in, it was pretty steady between 28-32, and we were doing about 14 almost into it. That is over 40 knots of wind over our boat. It was hard on our gear, and after an extensive check, we didn’t break anything, but we pretty much junked a suit of good sails. After we were onshore for over two hours, and ready to leave, there were still broken boats being towed in out of the rain and fog, with no sails. They actually tried to send the second group out, and the top few launched, beared away, and then wiped out hard. Half an hour later, they sent everybody right back in for the day, without anyone even making outside the protected harbour. What a mess. We’re not sure what the forecast is for tomorrow, but we don’t believe it anyways. Right now, it’s bed time, and that is very exciting.
Posted on August 10th, 2010 by Jonathan and Daniel |
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