TMCA Spring Fling and GBCA Offshore Regatta

[Bee]

Thanks to all of the GBCA volunteers for all you do.  This was a neat idea.  Coming up the Port Arthur channel in daylight was very interesting for the old man in the back.  Something different.

Thanks for a great race and thanks for setting up the start times by class.  I know you made that changed based on anticipation of light winds, but we saw something on the order of 20+ bailing out of the Galveston Jetties. The bad news was wind direction. The good news was wind direction. It took us approximately 12.5 hours to cross the finish line but a little less then 6 hours for a midnight arrival at the Harbor House.  Average speed was 7.33 knots overall with a top speed of 15 on return.

As usual, GBCA is the place to race.

[Bee]

I should have also said that the average speed was through the water and not GPS.

[BobCrosby]

Bee, I took almost 19 hours to cross the finish line. I got to see the Port Arthur channel well after dark. I now seek the wisdom of those who did better. What was the best strategy with the wind and current directly against us? In hind site, I think I should have gone further out. I only went out 12nm and then would tack back across the rhumb line. Can you share your wisdom (other than get a faster boat)?

[Bee]

Well you finished so I would guess you must have done something right. You deserve congratulations for that for sure. I was very surprised that only 5 boats crossed that line.  Even more surprised that Second Star didn't start.  The conditions should have been perfect for a J122.

Stinger (J105) is surely a lot lighter (8,580#) then Royal Crescent. She was flying a new main and jib along with an all carbon genoa backup.  Even in the conditions on Friday Stinger can point at something a bit less then 45 degrees off the wind so that is probably another advantage. Pedro Geonatti (UK Sales) was on board so sail trim was pretty much spot on all the time.

Personally, I am a rhumb liner.  Every time, regardless of boat, we divert a long way from the rhumb line we seem to lose distance to everyone in our class.  Pedro appears to have the same attitude. Consequently, we stuck close to the rhumb line most of the way.  We did slog back to within sight of the coast line but that appeared to loose a bit to Harm's Way so after that we just covered Andy to the finish.

When we tacked onto the G33 rhumb line around 16:00 or so the wind dropped below 12 knots and we switched from the blade to the genoa.  This kept us powered up until we rounded G33.  At that point we hoisted a kite and sailed to the finish at approximately 9 knots.  Not sure the kite helped all that much but it makes for a very stable and fast fun ride. We flew a 110 square meter kite back to the Galveston Jetties. 

Outside of having a bucket load of relatively new sails and concentrating on details all the way, I doubt we did anything all that different from what you did. Don't sell yourself short.  You finished and that is a good thing.

[Bee]

I should note that the wind decreased as one got closer to shore so going out and staying there was probably not all that bad of a plan.  When heading into shore, we tacked as soon as we felt the wind back down.