2015 LYC Heald Bank Offshore Race

[Veljko]

Here are the 2015 LYC Heald Bank Offshore Race Sailing Instructions.

Veljko

[gwittich]

In dark fog you have rounded Buccaneer - recognizable only by lights and sound - and now at about 2:00 AM you are drifting wing on wing with genoa poled out and main on preventer, both luffing, yet the GPS shows 0.9 knots SOG. Conclusion: we must be drifting with the current, only the wrong way -  back to the weather mark.  Setting the anchor was a tactical consideration.
Eventually, after some painful hours, the breeze picked up and we managed to finish without tossing the anchor.
Congratulations to fellow GBCA racers on Tenacious and Stinger for winning their classes! Supreme light wind experts!
A memorable race none the less.
GW

[Bee]

Thanks for the congrats Gerhard. 

I was pretty pessimistic about us finishing anywhere close to the top 3.  There were long stretches of extremely light air, heavy fog, and low visibility. All we could do, and did, was to concentrate on making the boat go as fast as possible.  We switched headsails and kites whenever we thought it prudent to do so.  I don't remember ever seeing so many kite changes during any one regatta. We learned a lot about when to and when not to do the switches.  Crew work was exceptional so I cannot fault anyone for anything.

I did screw up.  I did,t buy enough beer.  I  will never live that down.  Never, ever, run out of beer.

Stinger rounded Buccaneer around 22:25. All seemed fine at first.  Speed through the water was between 3.5 and 5.5 kts. This held for about 10 nm and then the winds backed off for what seemed forever.  Never got much fastest then 2.5 or 3 knots.  The fog thickened and we lost all possibility of seeing other boats.  We figured we were toast. Then around 09:36, within a mile of Heald, the winds picked up, we set the 110 m2 and blasted around to the G5 leg. Hit 11+ kts.  At that point we got the biggest surprise of the race --- we could actually see the J122 and J120. Never saw so many disappointments turn to smiles in my life.

As usual, I forgot to turn tracking on on my iPad, but I did manage to pull Stinger's track off of SPOT

[JA]

Gerhard, thanks for the kind words!  Bee, great job on Stinger!  A few comments on the race.  After rounding weather mark we proceeded to sail into one of the worst fog banks that I have ever encountered in my sailing experiences.  All sense of sight was useless and we found that we could barley see pass our bow pulpit.  After going in circles for at least 15-30 minutes and having the GPS going in circles we went to using the magnetic compass to get through the fog. Gerhard I believe that you and your crew went to the same way of steering through the fog.  I moved up forward in the cockpit and held pen light with my left hand and steered the boat with my right. We put crew up in front with spot but with out a filter ever time we turned it on it would just blind us.  We steered the boat that way until around 0600 hours. After a while you start seeing things in the fog that are not there!  A few suggestions on the experience in the fog.  Carry a spot that has filters for it.  A red or yellow filter should work well for this type of situation. I use to work offshore in the early 80's and made my first trip down to Venice LA, without fog lights. Next time I went down for crew change I had fog lights on the car. Secondly, make sure that your magnetic compass is calibrated and working correctly. GPS can go out or start doing strange things at times and I am so glad I had mine on board.  I am not sure what US Sailing or Coast Guard recommends in this situation, but would recommend the use of a fog horn or bell on a regular basis to make sure that if other racers are in the area they could be aware of you sailing close to them.  We got to used the new Stealth 139% head sail for the first time and it gave us a real advantage going to weather and down wind in the really light winds. Butch built it the week of the race and was main reason why we kept good boat speed in the fog and light air. We started race with 125% headsail and reef in the main.  Wind gusts were estimated to be in the 16- 20's at start of race. Once on the weather leg it started going lighter and lighter. We went from reef to full main, taking down 125 and hoisting the new 139 in about 4 hours. The rest of the race was very little air and fog through the last half of the night to 8-12 in the late morning till we finished the race at around 1413 hours.  We finished in just under 24 hours of sailing.  Longest overnight race I have ever been on!  Glad every one made it back safe and sound.

[Bee]

Congrats to you too, but WOW, that's amazing Herr Strudel.  We went through some pretty heavy fog ourselves.  I also agree with what you say about seeing things in the fog.  Kinda scary in a way.  Fortunately my onboard GPS continued to work properly. We could see exactly where we were relative to the rhumb line on my iPad/iNavX and as you can see from the track never went in circles.  I don't think we were ever much more then a few miles off of the rhumb line all night long. We did do some crazy tacks and kite hoists and changes because we could not figure out exactly what was going on with the wind.  Was great when the Sun came up and burned off the fog.

My 155 is also a Stealth made by Butch, and, at the risk of sounding like an ad, it made a huge difference in speed, but I have to thank John Barnett for forcing us to tack away from him when we were running my Ullman blade.  We switched to the 155 and stayed in decent winds for a fairly long time after the tack. Ultimately, the wind shifted and we tacked to the favored bearing back toward Buccaneer.

I don't know if everyone had a SPOT or equivalent, but I would definitely recommend that every boat carry one.  I would also recommend that my crew kick me in the rear when I forget to turn iNaX tracking on.