Saturday, October 14, 2006

Candian Team Races Photo



Here's most of the A30 group that attended the party after the Canadian Friendship Races. Next year I hope more of the LinGin crew (and families!) can make the A30 parties. They are very casual, family friendly and a great time to hang out and get to know some other sailors.

--Tim
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Thursday, October 12, 2006

Preliminary Results: LinGin Wins High Point

Per our resident High Point calculus expert, Glen Becker, the numbers are showing that team LinGin took first place for the Alberg 30 High Point trophy this year. The official results will be announced at the annual dinner January 13, 2007.

You are planning on being there, aren't you?! You'd better be!

Thanks again everyone for a great season.

--Tim

LinGin Takes Second at Canadian Friendship Regatta

The Canadian Friendship Race has proven to be one of the most frustrating regattas for me. It comes at the end of the season and typically after a couple of weekend races in a row. We usually do very well at Queenstown and Oxford, but the Canadian races seem to confound us.

This year, the Saturday race saw good winds (10-15 kts) and a very sloppy sea. Unfortunately we did not have the participation numbers we had hoped for; only 4 boats made it out including the Canadian entry.

In both of the day's races, LinGin had poor boat speed. The first race we had a good start and felt the wind would go right throughout the day. The fleet went left while we went center of the course, but furthest right of the fleet. What we failed to recognize was a 20 degree shift to the left about half way to the first mark. Had we realized this was a persistent shift, we would have tacked over and maintained a strong lead. We sailed into it and were taken over by 550 and 247.

During the downwind leg, we overtook the Canadian boat (550) while they were having spinnaker trouble. We appeared to maintain our position with 247 during the downwind leg. As a side note, T.C. Williams had C.B. Currier on board and they certainly made a good team. We couldn't make up the difference heading back upwind as 247 smartly covered us.

The second race, we saw 247 line up for a port start and set out to deny it. We did a admirable job of timing the start, coming into the pin on starboard and forcing 247 to duck behind us. I'll admit I enjoyed that. :-)

My joy was short-lived, though. 247 tacked behind and upwind of us and just MOTORED by. We tacked away and they tacked to cover us. We spent the rest of the leg trying anything we could think of to tune the boat in to the conditions, but to no avail. It was very frustrating.

We should have realized, again, that there was a huge shift mid-way up the course again, but I was too frustrated with 247 driving away that I completely missed it. We came around the mark last. Argh.

During the downwind leg we made up on 484 and came close to 550, but in the end took a third.

Day two had much smoother conditions and the boat felt better. We had a great start and made good speed up the upwind leg, but about halfway up we got out of phase with the shifts which put us in third behind 247 and 550. The wind was lightening up as we went downwind, and to mix it up we tried downwind tacking. This is an area that I want to experiment more with. We got smoked on one of the NOOD races by Towney tacking downwind while we took the rhumb line, and I think the angles and windspeed that I would normally start downwind tacking on are perhaps wrong. At present we have to be going less than 2 kts and we use the angle brackets on the masthead fly to determine the angles. I'm going to try higher angles and I'll start downwind tacking under 3 kts. We'll see how it works out.

We rounded the bottom mark behind 550 and went right toward Hackett's Point. 247 went left, and 550 concurred pretty quickly. I liked our speed and the wind seemed to be building on the right side of the course, so to get leverage on the other boats, I went to the lay line. The wind substantially increased and was a huge lift once we tacked. We made out like bandits against 550 and very nearly caught 247.

The race committee was run by Bob Leigh rather than Phil Biegel this year as Phil's house was hit by the tornado that went through Severna Park right before the weekend. Bob's a fantastic guy and very pragmatic. He and the team did a good job, but I was a frustrated by two issues with the Race Committee.

  1. Thread the Needle. We had a vote at the skippers meeting/potluck dinner and I was the only one that voted against threading the needle. This is a rule that says as you sail up and down the legs, you MUST go through the start/finish line each time. I really don't like this rule as it significantly limits the leverage you can get on your competition. The reasons given for keeping it were that a) it makes it easy for the RC to shorten the course, b) it allowed for better photos (I didn't see anyone with a camera on the RC boat), and c) it was tradition.

  2. The RC shortened the last race in solid wind. I'll admit that the wind was light during the downwind leg, but that upwind leg things really began to blow. The race was going well and we would have readily made the party afterward. I know the Canadians need to get home, but they made a very long trip to race. Why not give them the full experience?
I really think that if we're going to go to the trouble of putting together a race that the RC should be willing to run the best race possible. I really enjoy the Canadian Friendship Race. It's cool to have just Albergs out there and it's usually a very well attended event. I'm not suggesting making it "cutthroat" or anything like that, I just feel strongly that we need to go the distance and make it a great race.

One last thought on the first day's racing. I spoke with C.B. and T.C. and the rest of our crew. I think perhaps we had things a bit too tight. That while it felt like strong wind, we had things set up a little too strong. If I had it to do again, I'd try a little less jib halyard tension, a little less backstay and a fuller main.


We had a good time overall (anytime out racing is a good time in my book!), and it was nice to finish the season with a second.


I'd really love to organize a 10 hour road trip to Toronto next year to race against the Canadians. They are really, really, nice people and I know we'd have fun. Perhaps we can bring our families. It would be a trip we'd all remember for a long time.

What do you think?


Thanks, Crew, for a great weekend!


--Tim

Thursday, September 28, 2006

LinGin Has Solid Lead Heading Into Canadian Races

With the Canadian Races being the last big regatta of the year this coming weekend, LinGin is expecting to maintain her lead in the High Point standings. We've worked very hard this year to earn the number one spot. Let's keep up the great work!

1 - LinGin - .6289
2 - Skybird - .5405
3 - Argo - .5062
4 - Infinity - .4203
5 - Windswept - .3580
6 - Solstice - .3235

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Race Back From Queenstown: Tim and Andy Sail Together

Andy and I grew up racing LinGin with our Grandpa. He taught us just about everything we know about sailing. Between living in Virginia, having a lovely wife and young daughter and managing a software development company, it's tough to get Andy out these days. So, the race back from Queenstown was special to me because my brother--who is not only a great sailor, but is a great guy--was along.

I hope we see you onboard again soon, Andy!

--Tim

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Sunday, September 24, 2006

LinGin Takes First to and From Queenstown

LinGin took first going both ways to Queenstown this past weekend. We had a strong (~15kts) breeze out of the south both days. The race starts at Baltimore Light, shoots straight across to the mouth of the Chester River, and hooks up to Queenstown. Due to the wind conditions, we only had to make four tacks the whole weekend! Kind of strange, and to be honest, a bit boring as the racing became more of a foot race than anything else.

We made great time heading over, finishing in 2:22 at 12:30 in the afternoon. Kicking back, we rafted up with Mike Meinhold, John Malizewski (a new Alberg owner as of this summer), and T.C. Williams. Two crabbing boats served as the floating party raft and the winners were announced as we all hung out and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the Bay. We slept on the boat, watching the stars and enjoyed a very pleasant night.

Race Over
Crew: Glen, Greg Elman (friend of Glen's), Tim
The Basics:
Wind: 15 kts out of the South
Seas: 2 ft. since the wind had been blowing all night. They were smaller the further we got up the Chester River.
Setup: We went with a full main and the number two, which seemed to work out pretty well. We did not fly the chute.

Highlights:
  • As is too often the case, we were running behind getting to the starting line. We made it by the skin of our teeth, and not having heard any guns, we just jumped on T.C.'s stern as he headed for the line. He bore off a bit as he got close to the line (he was a little early), and just as we were to head off, the gun went off and gave us a great start.
  • The number 2 and the full main were plenty power for getting us over. We kept the rail out of the water by dropping the traveller and dumping the sheet in big puffs.
  • We kept the backstay very tight to help decrease headstay sag and thereby enable us to point better on the upwind leg.
  • We basically covered T.C. the whole way as he was our closest High Point competitor in the race.
  • The last leg of the course was about 2 miles long and we could have popped a chute. We decided against it as we had a significant lead on the next boat and the risks associated with flying the chute in heavy wind outweighed any potential advantage.
Race to Queenstown Results

Pos

Sail

Boat

Skipper

Rating

Finish
Order

Finish
Time

Penalty

Pts

1

244

LIN GIN

Williams, Tim


1

12:32:33.0


1.0

2

247

ARGO

Williams, T C


2

12:37:20.0


2.0

3

543

CALYPSO

Dinwiddie, George


3

12:41:50.0


3.0

4

505

GILLELEJE

Lehman, Mike


4

12:42:32.0


4.0

5

501

SOLSTICE

Morris, Larry


5

12:53:35.0


5.0

6

262

TATUS

Malizewski, John


6

13:04:10.0


6.0

7

272

RINN DUIN

Meinhold, Mike


7

13:05:35.0


7.0



Race Back
Crew: Glen, Brian, Christopher (Brian's friend), Andy, Tim
The Basics:
Wind: 15 kts out of the South
Seas: 1- 2 ft.
Setup: We went with a reefed main and the number one.

Highlights:
  • Starting in the river, we had a little less wind at the start of the race. We got to the line early and tested our sail selection and felt pretty good about the number 1 and a reef.
  • We had a decent start at the pin end on port tack. T.C. was a bit to windward of us (an advantage), and as I recall most of the fleet started in the same place, just a few seconds behind us.
  • We did our best to work up on T.C. and were eventually able to tack onto starboard and get above him. We spent some time trying to decide when to play the starboard tack card as we couldn't tack too close (against the rules) and we needed to consider where we would be at the next set of tacks. We waited until we were about 2/3 of the way the course and had worked up a good deal on T.C. and made our move.
  • Once we got above T.C. we rounded the mark in the lead and held it from there.
  • We flew the chute on the last leg before heading back across the Bay. We rounded up a couple times, but Glen and the crew did a great job of keeping the boat under control, primarily by working with my steering and easing in the puffs. We weren't dead downwind, so death rolls were not an issue.

Race Back From Queenstown Results

Pos

Sail

Boat

Skipper

Rating

Finish
Order

Finish
Time

Penalty

Pts

1

244

LIN GIN

Williams, Tim


1

11:34:45.0


1.0

2

543

CALYPSO

Dinwiddie, George


2

11:37:21.0


2.0

3

247

ARGO

Williams, T C


3

11:42:54.0


3.0

4

505

GILLELEJE

Lehman, Mike


4

11:44:41.0


4.0

5

501

SOLSTICE

Morris, Larry


5

11:54:54.0


5.0

DNC

262

TATUS

Malizewski, John


DNC

No Time

DNC

7.0


These two races make a great weekend out and there is always a great turn out because the Albergs on the Magothy River do such a great job of supporting it. I look forward to another good time next year!

Thanks for all the hard work, crew. It was a pleasure as always.

--Tim

Monday, September 18, 2006

Hammond Memorial Race Back From Oxford--Only Cats Finish

The race back from Oxford was a disappointment this weekend. With 18.2 miles start to finish and a 6 hour time limit, the crew of the LinGin this Sunday (Mark, Glen and Tim) contend that finishing the course is optimistic under good conditions. Straight line would require an average speed over three knots and throw in one upwind leg and I think you've missed the time limit.

Last year LinGin won with 10 minutes left before the time limit.

This year, we had a good start (spinnaker start!); we were in open air and pretty close to the line with good speed. First around the first mark, we saw the wind take a 10 degree shift, and later a 50+ degree shift. Needless to say it was light and shifty. We watched the speedo show 1-3 knots throughout the race, and we did continual mental calculations to see whether we believed it was physically possible for us to finish.

With an hour left, we decided it was a lost cause and powered home. We were vindicated when the race committee announced on the radio that only the catamaran finished the race. Pretty poor; they should have finished the race at the penultimate mark!

Hopefully the fall will bring more windy days like Saturday.

Who's ready for Queenstown?

--Tim

LinGin Wins Race to Oxford

Wet windy weather greeted Nick, Scott, Glen and me on the way down to Oxford Saturday. Out of the north at 10-15 kts, we set a chute at the start and shot down to the mouth of the Choptank River. Unfortunately, Towney, CB and TC were all unable to make the regatta, so we only had three Albergs in the race: Harry (484), Lanny (562) and LinGin.

The Albergs started first and we actually made it down to the first mark (about 10 miles, I think) before any other boat passed us. Not bad for 39-year-old LinGin! Scott did some great spin work and we had a really nice ride.

The wind was such that it was a straight shot up to the mouth of the Tred Avon River. From there we tacked up the last couple lines to the finish and got the gun. (Apparently the birds in Oxford aren't as sensitive to noise as they are in Annapolis.)

There was a lot of laughing and we only had a real downpour in the last couple miles. We had a nice dinner at the Pier St. Restaurant, and Mr. Whaley didn't upset the waitress the way he did in St. Michaels. (BTW: He's going to start rating Eastern Shore restaurants--"Whaley's Waitress Whales". It will be based on just how poor the service is. There will be a component that factors into your High Point Score, but that part is still in draft. We'll keep you posted here at the LinGin blog.)

Great job crew, and special props to Nick for bringing doughnuts and coffee for breakfast on the way down!

--Tim

p.s. This put us into first for High Point. See the standings link on the right side of this blog.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Going Into Fall, LinGin is Second in High Point Standings

Here are the current Alberg 30 High Point standings (courtesy of Charlie Husar, official CBYRA Cruising One Design scorer)

1 - Skybird - .5405
2 - LinGin - .4783
3 - Argo - .4478
4 - Infinity - .4203
5 - Windswept - .2432

I've added a link from the blog homepage to these results that Glen has graciously offered to keep updated.

Go LinGin!

--Tim

LinGin Captures First in WNR Series III

Congratulations, crew! Although we were unable to race last night due to family and work commitments, the race was canceled due to a lack of win. This kept us in first for the last series of the year. Thanks for all your hard work, and most of all your friendship. Wednesday Night Races are one of my favorite parts of every summer. Here's to a great finish in the High Point Series this fall!

--Tim

Division: Alberg 30 (6 boats)

Pos Sail Boat Skipper 1 2 3 4 Total
Points
Pos
1 244 LinGin Nurco, Virginia [4/DNC] 1 1 2 4.00 1
2 550 Skybird Liddick, Roberta [2] 2 2 1 5.00 2
3 247 Argo Williams, T.C. 1 [3] 3 3 7.00 3
4 484 Second-2-Nun Bluntschli, Ralph 3 4 4 [5] 11.00 4
5 79 A30 Binder, Paula 4/DNC [5/TLE] 5 4 13.00 5
6 567 Andante Maas, Louis 4/DNC 5/DNC [6/DNC] 6/DNC 15.00 6

LinGin Teams with SkyBird for Canadian Friendship Team Races

There are two locations where one finds a significant fleet of Alberg 30s: Annapolis, Maryland, and Lake Ontario, Canada. Since 1965 the two groups have held team races. The one on Lake Ontario is early in summer and the one on the Chesapeake Bay is held in the early fall.

LinGin was built in 1967 by Whitby Boat Works in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. It was originally sold to David and Alice Bonney of Salem, Mass. on July 10, 1967 and named Salem Packet. She was subsequently bought by my grandparents, Bruce and Jean Rankin, on December 13, 1972. The name, "LinGin" comes from a combination of names of their two daughters: Linda (my mom) and Virginia.

My grandfather teamed up with Ted Osius in 1975 and won the Canadian Friendship Team Race. He would win it five more times over the next 16 years. After his death in 2001, the award for the Chesapeake Bay team race was renamed the Bruce Rankin Memorial Trophy. I'm sad to say that LinGin has yet to win the trophy named after my grandfather.

Rolph Townshend, "Towney", has been part of the team that has won the Canadian Friendship Team Races every year since 1996 up until last year. That's eight years in a row! (The race was canceled in 2001 due to the 9/11 tragedy.)

Since we are usually competing for High Point neck and neck, I've been hesitant to ask Towney to team with us for the races. LinGin has also done some of her worst racing during that regatta. (I shudder to think about some of the poor racing decisions I've made there!)

This year, however, Towney has not been doing all of the High Point races, and is not planning to do Oxford, the remaining distance race. This makes him less of a direct competitor for High Point. (Although since Solomons Island did not count for High Point, I have a feeling he is right in the mix.) He has decided to loan SkyBird to the Canadians, but is racing another Alberg and put out an e-mail last week looking for a teammate.

I was quick to jump on the e-mail and Towney has graciously accepted us as his teammate this year. I'm looking forward to the races. I plan to do my very best.

Perhaps this is the first time LinGin will be part of the team to win the Bruce Rankin Memorial Trophy. Grandpa would be proud if we did!

Friday, August 11, 2006

WNR - Series III - Race 1 & 2

Competitors: 247, 244, 550, 79, 484
Crew: Glen, Nick, David, Tim

Last week, Race 1, I was stuck in Alabama for work and while Glen went to the dock to go out, he didn't have enough crew show up to make the race. No worries. These things happen.

The Basics
Course: A1. (Shortest.)
Wind: 5-10 kts out of the South
Seas: A little lumpy due to power boats.
Setup: Full

Highlights

  • We had a poor start. We tried to have speed coming in on starboard at the boat, but the wall of boats trying to barge just killed our speed. A last minute 10+ degree header didn't help our prospects either. (This header was seen across the line and persisted for about 5-10 minutes after the start--it was funny to see everyone trying to come up at the gun, only to find themselves pinching heavily.)
  • We followed Towney on starboard up the north side of the course about 1/3 of the way up. 550 and 247 were ahead of us and we were not pointing as well as 550, but we liked the north better than the south.
  • Towney tacked and headed south, we stayed until we were in shallow water and then tacked out.
  • 247 was coming on starboard and had us. We tacked back to starboard and didn't let them cross us.
  • We were bumping the layline, but it paid off big time. We rounded the windward mark well ahead of everyone.
  • We had a good chute set, gybe and take down, holding it all the way until the green can at the entrance of the harbor.
  • Stayed close to the Chart House coming into the harbor and was able to stay high of all the other boats coming in at the same time.
  • Took the gun--I mean wimpy, lame, ridiculous, bird-saving horn.

Lessons Learned
  • On the start: The A30 has momentum to its advantage, but it still needs some wind! We should have run the line on starboard, had clean air and speed. (This is what Towney did.)
  • Coming into the harbor: Grandpa and Towney saw eye-to-eye on the harbor: in all cases go as far in toward Ego Alley as you can and tack out. I think the idea is that the wind is better due to all the buildings (like the Chart House) on the eastern shore. This week and the last WNR we won, we came around the can at the entrance of the harbor and were able to stay in an arguably different wind by staying very high and close to the eastern shore. I think this may only pay off in certain wind conditions, such as light to medium air, but not in totally dead (then the buildings blanket that part of the course and you're dead). In the light to medium stuff, perhaps the wind bends around the buildings such that there's a lift that sucks you close to the buildings all the way in? Any thoughts?
The weather was beautiful, and we had a great time. David even did some singing for us as we came into the harbor.

Good times.

--Tim

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Solomons Island Pictures 2006

Brian, LinGin staff photographer, captured much of the race through his skilled lens handling.

See the crew!

Feel the heat!

You'll almost believe you were there, sweating away with us, eating pancakes and floating along at -0.4 kts. VMG.

http://picasaweb.google.com/goosemonkey/SolomonsIslandPictures

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Solomons Island Race 2006

Competitors: 244, 247
Crew: Brian, Scott, Glen, Mike, Tim

The Basics
Course: 45 miles from Annapolis to Solomons Island starting at 1940 and finished at 1250 the next day. 17 hours and 11 minutes was the official time. Unofficially, we called it "Long. Very Long."
Wind: Started with 8-10 kts. out of the south but slowly died through the night. Went calm around 0500 and then again at 0900. The last 2 miles of the course took about 3 hours.
Seas: Pretty smooth.
Setup: Light air setup for the most of the race.

Race Highlights

  • Unfortunately, everyone other than TC Williams dropped out of the race before it started. TC ran aground and was becalmed for such a long time that he retired from the race, making LinGin the only Alberg 30 to finish.
  • Mike Nicolach crewed with us this race. He's usually on Larry Morris' boat, but as Larry bailed at the last minute, Mike came along. He was a great asset, bringing lots of good navigation information. Hope you can come out with us again sometime soon, Mike!
  • Good start: clear air on the side of the line that we wanted.
  • We had great speed up to Tolly Point.
  • Our basic strategy was rhumb line, but with an eye to the current. I'm never too sure how well we make decisions in the middle of the night. When the sun comes up in the morning, it's easy to blame the wind, the current, Brian's LED illumination efforts, Glen's breath, whatever! I think we did pretty well, though this year, but with only one competitor, it's hard to say.
  • We came close to a couple unlit marks during the night. (Suprise!)
  • We got as close as I think an Alberg can get to James Island to get out of a rippin' current.
  • We dropped an anchor less than 2 miles from the finish and went from beating upwind to setting the chute. We even passed a J35 during those last 2 miles!
  • Brian retained his white LinGin chef's hat, by concocting a lovely medley of omelets and pancakes. Little know fact: Brian can make pancakes in the shape of anything. (I'm not kidding, just ask for a demo.)

Lessons Learned
  • This was the first time I really seriously used the anemometer to steer the boat. I used the feature that tells the angle of the apparent wind. I would find the angle that kept the sails full and us the meter to gauge whether I was on target or not. I think it worked well.
  • Glen and I shared the helm throughout the night. With +/-2 hour shifts, we both got some rest and I think it made a difference in the quality of our work.

As anyone who's been around me knows, Solomons is the best race of the season. Unfortunately, as anyone who's been on the race knows, it can also be the worst. 17 hours was a long time to be in 90+% humidity and 90+ degree heat without a shower. The camaraderie is great though. If you didn't come along you, missed great late night discussions that included the following quotes:
  • "I saw a crab riding on a jellyfish."
  • "Look Brian, I made you a jellyfish-shaped pancake."
  • "LinGin should be its own brand."
  • "LinGin sounds like cheese."
  • "There are seahorses in the Bay. I have pictures. I can prove it."
  • "I've been looking for those shoes for over a year!"
  • "You did not see a crab riding a jellyfish."
If you weren't there, you missed out! But don't worry; there's always next year. Great job, guys. I had a blast!

--Tim

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Osius Regatta

Competitors: 244, 247, 550, 57, 484, 562
Crew: Brian, Scott, Christopher, Tim

I'm going to try a new format for these posts to hopefully make them easier to write and to read. I welcome you comments.

The Basics
Course: Dropped marks off Tolly Point. Two races, windward-leward.
Wind: 20+ kts, with gusts close to 30!
Seas: Fairly heavy seas on the northern side of the course, Tolly Point lessened the impact of the wind on the seas to the south.
Setup: Reefed main, #2. Spinnaker when the wind wasn't too gusty.

Race One Highlights
  • Good start.
  • Overpowered at times on the windward legs.
  • Went left while others went right. I felt the seas were less to the left which gave us better speed. This seemed to pay off.
  • First downwind leg no spin; we watch TC struggle with it.
  • Second downwind leg we gave it a go about half way down, and had we done it right at the mark rounding, we might have caught Towney. As it was we caught up a great deal.

Race Two Highlights
  • Very similar to the first race.
  • Found ourselves in second behind TC coming upwind the final leg. Towney was close behind.
  • Dropped the traveller way down (had the backstay around 6) and saw a dramatic improvement in our ability to carry some wind in the main without being over powered.
  • About 1/2 way up split as far left as we could with TC.
  • We experienced a huge lift, and TC dealt with a huge header. We crossed ahead of him by about a boatlength right at the finish.

Lessons Learned
  • Drop the traveller in heavy air!
  • Make sure the foot is tight when reefing to make the main flat and depowered.
  • Reduce headstay sag by tightening the backstay in heavy air upwind. This improves pointing.
  • When flying the chute in heavy air going dead downwind, there is a tendency to death roll. Ease the pole forward to put the spinnaker behind the main and reduce the wind in it to minimize the rolling.

Christopher is a friend of Brian's, and he was a lifesaver on this race. We enjoyed getting to know him, and look forward to the next race with him. Scott did a great job running ragged on the foredeck. (We're putting it up. No wait. We're not putting it up. No. Yes, we are putting it up, but on the other side; switch it! No, wait, belay that...) Brian kept the tacks smooth, tracked the competition and introduced Christopher to racing. Great job, guys.

Next race: Solomons Island!

--Tim

p.s. The engine belt snapped on the way to this race. We noticed it in time (steam coming from the engine comparment below), and shut the engine down. I changed the oil once we were back to be sure we didn't scorch it. It turned out that the overheating boiled off all the coolant as well. So, if you're ever out on LinGin and the engine overheats, shut it down immediately and sail in!

Pos Sail Boat Skipper 1 2 Total
Points
Pos
1 247 ARGO WILLIAMS, T.C. 1 2 3.00 1
2 244 LINGIN WILLIAMS, TIM 3 1 4.00 2
3 550 SKYBIRD TOWNSHEND, ROLPH 2 3 5.00 3
4 57 INFINITY CURRIER, CB 4 4 8.00 4
5 562 WINDSWEPT HELMS, LANNY 5 5 10.00 5
6 484 SECOND-2-NUN GAMBER, HARRY 6 6 12.00 6
7 567 ANDANTE COLE, ANDREW 8/DNS 8/DNS 16.00 7

WNR - Series II - Race 1

Competitors: 247, 244, 550, 158, 484
Crew: Mark, Brian, Tim

With a few crew known to be out for this race, I was delighted to hear from Xa that he would be able to joon us. It was a good steady 12 kt breeze out of the SE,, and the weather was beautiful.

Unfortunately traffic kept Xa from making the race and he apparently arrived just as we were starting. We were bummed.

We started in the middle of the line, which since we didn't have time to siight the line, made it difficult to be right on the line. Towney and TC started above us at the boat end, and I thought we'd have them, since we could lay the mark from our spot. (We had course B, which is take a left at the spider, head toward Hacketts, round a mark to starboard, then round the usual mark to atarboard.)

What I failed to recognize was:
1. there was a line of boats (some of which faster than us) to windward, which would blanket us, and
2. TC and Towney would have a bit more speed as they bore off for the mark.

So, TC rolled us by the time we got to the spider. We had Towney by about one boat length, and there was a Cal to windward right in front of Towney.

We made an interesting mistake at this point. We kept a bit below Towney and the Cal (L'Orange, of course) but on the rhumb line. We had good speed and were able to keep them in check. However, at the mark, we had to give L'Orange room. When we did that Towney was right behind him, and was able to cut inside of us.

To make matters worse, there was a parade of boats behind him that as they came arouned were all on starboard. We were completely tracpped and actually had to sail to the layline. Before we could really tack.

Of course we had other mishaps. We forgot about the snatch block when we rounded the markl. There were spinnaker setup snafus that made it tough for us to tack.

After rounding the next mark in 3rd after 247 and 550, we got the chute up and followed everyone in. Brian did a great job of spinnaker considering it was probably his 3rd time ever doing it. It made me rerealize that we should really consider using WNR races for switching tasks around and cross training..

I had a blast!

--Tim

Race to Miles River

Competitors: 550, 247, 501, 244, 484, 57, 562, 505
Crew: Scott, Glen, Brian, Tim

The Miles River Race is one of my favorites. In the Williams family, we've started what I think will be a long standing tradition. I race down with the crew, our families meet us in St. Michaels and we have a nice dinner. (Well truth be told, we're still looking for a good meal in St. Mike's; we're really open to any good recommendations.) Then my family and I spend the night on the boat and sail (or motor if we run out of wind) back the next day.

So, for the race...

We had about 10kts out of the north for the start, and we did a pretty good job starting right at the front of the fleet under spinnaker. We thought the current was ebbing, and that turned out to be pretty true. About 1/3 of the way to bloody point, the wind really died down. We dropped to about 2.5 kts. and the half of the fleet that went west and gybed was looking pretty smart. They had a better angle on the wind, and coming back across it became clear that 247 had the lead. 550 was next but while 57 had more or less followed our path, they had made out a little on us.

It was exciting to watch Scott and THE ROCKET catch back up to them and pass them.

The rounding at Bloody Point was tight. 247 decided to drop their chute, which was a bit odd to us since it didn't seem they need to. 550 did the same, and as we were in 3rd we decided to see how we could fare. With 57 right on our rear, I cut close to Bloody Point, just like I would a Wed. Night Race mark. I was in for a surprise, though. Apparently, about 3 feet under water around Bloody Point there are serious rocks. We hit very hard, and bounce a couple times in the lee of the lighthouse until the spinnaker filled again and pulled us off. I've hit ground on the Chesapeake many times. One thing I appreciate all the more about the Bay now is that it has a sandy bottom. We quickly "checked for leaks", but I was pretty confident that between the massive keel that make Albergs the solid vessels they are, and the fact that we hit on the bottom of the keel (which it just filled with iron), we were safe.

With our chute up and Scott bookin' it, we passed both Towney and TC and took the lead again. Watching the line of Albergs behind us closely, we made a B-line toward the next mark. About a quarter way there, we noticed something odd: the rest of the fleet bore off about 30 degrees. Glen was acting as navigator and check, then re-checked his calculations. We had a near mark and a far mark, but since we were to pass the near mark to starboard, we could ignore it an head straight for the far mark due to the wind and the angle we could sail. He was still pretty confident about our course, when I had an epiphany. "Are you sure we pass the next mark to starboard?" I asked. A quick check of the race particulars, and Glen called for the course change. It was too late, though: we rounded in 4th.

We fought hard on the next leg, and we made it back to 2nd. That final leg, was tricky, though. 247, who was in 1st headed straight to the finish, wing-in-wing. We followed them, and really were covering CB who was right behind us. 501 (Larry Morris) and 550 gybed out and went way to the right. We let them go, thinking they were taking a flyer to try to get back in the game.

While we held our own, and even made out on CB a bit, we couldn't catch TC; his lead was too great. But we had great seats for watching Larry and Towney come back in to the line. Sure enough they had made out considerably going right. (Towney later told me that he had guess that the current was a strong flood--he was right.) We were watching this 18 mile race coming down to three boats finishing with in 2 boat lengths of each other.

Who won? You guessed it, Towney by a nose. 18 miles, and Towney was in 1st place for less than 2 minutes. Only it was exactly the right two minutes! At first when asked, he said it was luck. "It happens way too often to be luck," I said. The man is a great sailor.

Although we came in 4th, it was a really great race and I think we all felt good afterward. We held CB behind us and know that if when we are on, we can clearly compete at the head of the pack.

Brian, Glen and Scott all did a great job. We've really got it down now and I look forward to winning some silver this season.

--Tim

p.s. I dove on LinGin this week, and checked out the damage from the rocks. There are indeed some deep gouges (one the size of my hand), on the very bottom of the keel. Thankfully, I have to have her pulled to get her painted this season anyway, so we'll patch her up then.


Pos

Sail

Boat

Skipper

1

Total
Points

Pos

1

550

Skybird

Townshend, Rolph

1

1.00

1

2

247

Argo

Williams, T.C.

2

2.00

2

3

501

Solstice

Morris, Larry

3

3.00

3

4

244

LinGin

Williams, Tim

4

4.00

4

5

57

Infinity

Currier, CB

5

5.00

5

6

562

Windswept

Helms, Lanny

6

6.00

6

7

484

Second-2-Nun

Gamber, Harry

7

7.00

7

8

505

Gilleleje

Lehman, Mike

8

8.00

8

Thursday, May 25, 2006

WNR - Series I - Race 6

Competitors: 550, 484, 247, 152 (Andante), 244
Crew: Brian, Nick, Glen, Tim

The wind was quite variable last night. As we watched the start, it didn't look to good: half the Etchell class started--close hauled--at the pin; the other half started--dead downwind with spinnakers up--at the boat. And so the night proceeded.

We were pushed over early by a bit of current and a bit of wind, near the boat end, and after a quick jaunt back over the line, we cleared and popped the chute heading for the first mark. We mixed it up with L'Orange from the Cal 25 class (arrrgh), but caught, then lost Towney by a couple boat lengths to the first mark.

The closer we got to that mark, we realized that the wind had quit at the mark. There were probably 30 boats all jammed in around the mark. Using a little momentum, and small breath of air, we took the advice of, I think it was Nick, or was it Brian? and went well wide of the bunch. It looked insane as 550 kept tight to the mark and we went about 100 yards wide of it. While the wind died, it shifted about 180 degrees. We found a hole in the mess of boats and keeping the spinnaker up, we made it through a hole. When the wind picked back up, Glen was flying the chute and passing J/105s and MORC boats!! Not the norm for an Alberg.

We took a sizeable lead at this point as Towney and the rest were tangled up in the rounding with the dozens of other boats. We jibed, came around the pin and carried the spinnaker all the way past the green can.

Unfortunately the wind completely died while we were in front of SSA. We sat there, within site of the finish, and watch the last 30 minutes of the time limit expire. We were still in first, but no gun was to be had last night.

Great work everyone! Especially Glen with some great spinnaker work. Scott, it was really sad not to have you along for this race.

BTW: I'm very happy with our downwind speed.

And CONGRATULATIONS! As you can see below, we took first for the first WNR Series this year! Great work everyone. It was a blast.

Let's see if we can show similar speed and skill on our way to St. Michael's this weekend.

--Tim

Division: Alberg 30 (6 boats)

Pos Sail Boat Skipper 1 2 3 4 5 Total
Points
Pos
1 244 LinGin Nurco, Virginia 3/DNC 1 [4/OCS] 2 1 7.00 1
2 247 Argo Williams, T.C. [2] 2 2 1 2 7.00 2
3 550 Skybird Liddick, Roberta 3/DNC 3 1 [4/DNC] 3 10.00 3
4 484 Second-2-Nun Bluntschli, Ralph 1 4 4/DNC 4/DNC [5] 13.00 4
5 152 Andante Maas, Louis 3/DNC [5/DNC] 4/DNC 3 4 14.00 5
6 79 A30 Binder, Paula 3/DNC 5/DNC 4/DNC 4/DNC [6/DNC] 16.00 6