First Race
16 June 2012 | Narraganset Bay. Rhode Island Sound. Sakonnet River. 29.5 nm.
Sunny. N 10-15. 20 at times. Became NE 10.
First race in Azurro. Ross and Tom crewed and thank god they did. It was a real learning experience. 40 boats registered. 14 in our class.
Start was an experience. No-one could hear the committee boats sound signals, so suddenly we saw our class flag and the prep and had to start at last minute for a downwind start without the spinnaker hooked up. Not a bad start but then having to drop Genoa to attach and raise spinnaker was slow. Lesson learned: get to the line early and be ready.
I had real trouble getting the downwind angles right. Couple of great jibes (including threading our way through the starting fleet of a whole bunch of one design racers) and then it all fell apart when we tied the whole spin an enormous knot that must have taken 30 minutes to untie. Niki helmed us through the center of Newport harbor and kept us in the race. Lesson: if you have a dowsing sausage always use it. If you don't the dowsing lines get tangled in the chute and its a nightmare to untangle.
So after a less than outstanding downwind leg we were somewhat surprised to find we'd reached 1/2 way and the A class had only just caught us, though at that point we were dead last in our class. Wind was very different out at sea. The first time we've sailed Azurro in real weather. 20 knots and open ocean waves. Lesson: She was over-canvassed for the gusts. If we didn't dump the main and Genoa when the gusts came in she spun up to windward like a spinning top.
Tom called the navigating excellently and got us to round one of the main rounding marks that I had forgotten about completely. Lesson: I can't navigate and helm. Its OK cruising but it was comic when I tried racing.
We sailed back up the river very nicely. The wind changed completely when we got back into the river and it became a very tight upwind beat in shifty conditions with lots of rocks around. Lesson: Ross tightened the back-stay and that let us point at least 5 degrees higher! Said he could see the roller furler flopping around the for stay was so loose.
By the end we had 5 or 6 boats behind us and finished at 3:30 pm about 1:30 after the leaders. Finish was comic too. I was trying to put a lifejacket (that was a size or two too small) on and steer in flukey winds. Our line to the line was a bit wiggly to say the least.
Beautiful weather. Sunny all day. Great winds. Great company. No idea where we finished overall because we retired to the marina for a few (OK maybe more than a few) well earned refreshments. Actually managed to park the boat smoothly this time. Plans to go to the Tiverton Yacht club party rapidly evaporated.
Niki and I slept on the boat for the first time.