2014 Jazz Cup
I was asked to crew aboard Mojo an F-25C for the 2014 Jazz Cup. We met up at 8:00 am Saturday morning to launch the boat; Chris, Bob and I got the boat ready and moved it to the crane. We got it dropped into the water, unfolded the ama’s, and made preparations to leave.
We motored out the channel from Alameda and as soon as we had some wind we raised the sails. Clearing the end of Alameda we had a nice little westerly to carry us up to Treasure Island. While Chris drove Bob was instructing me on how to launch and recover the kite on the F-25C. We also covered jibing and tacking positions and responsibilities since I was new to the crew and boat. We checked in over the radio and waited to get our start. With an hour before starting we had plenty of time to strategize our first legs and where we wanted to be.
As our pre-start opened we were in the wrong spot. We got close to the line but could have been in much better position. The left looked to have better pressure so it was off on starboard tack. We held the tack as long as we could but had to tack off near Treasure Island. A quick leg on port then we tacked back to starboard. We managed to get past Ma’s Rover on this leg. This line we held till we were at the lay line and then we looked for a clear lane to tack off and make sure we had the mark and clear air. We made the tack and sailed above a couple monos to the mark and rounded just as the X-40 Smart Recruiters sailed past us.
We set the kite and started to make our way to the Richmond Bridge. We were making good time and picking our way through the mono fleet. We did get stuck in the shadow of an Olson 30 that slowed us down for a minute. We got clear and were making good time as the wind began to go light near the bridge. We jibed 5 times to get in better position for the bridge. There was a large hole in the wind south of Red Rock everyone was trying to avoid. This tightened up the fleet again and reset the race. We managed to get by the bridge and jibed again. We looked to sail deep into the bay for some more wind. With a good line to the brothers we jibed and set on the long leg across San Pablo Bay.
The wind had filled back in and was clocking so we were making good time. The wind was going too far forward so we had to drop the kite. At 20 knots stuffing the kite in the bag on the leeward tramp is a handful. I was getting the full fire hose treatment as Bob set the jib and Chris drove. I lost a corner of the sail and Chris gave me a short break as Bob lent a hand to get the kite tamed. With the kite in the bag we went back to the reach and clicking off miles. We were leading but getting run down by Ma’s Rover who had the screecher up.
We held the line and finally had enough wind behind us to raise the kite. Now back on a spin run we were holding position over Ma’s Rover however we knew we needed time to cover them at the finish. We jibed just before the pier and ran to the wall then jibed again. We jibed twice more and got under the bridge. Immediately we jibed back into the north shore and looked for the shore lift. We went as deep as we could and then jibed back out. We caught a really nice lift and as we went we opened up more ground on the fleet.
Benicia was in sight and we knew there were at least 2 jibes before the leeward mark. We chose to follow the wind lines and avoid the glass on the outside. We did 2 short jibes and had our line to the mark. At the mark we dropped the kite and reached over to the “offset” with no issues. We hardened up for a short upwind leg going back out into the channel. A quick tack and we laid the line to finish nearest the pier. We crossed the line and got the gun then quickly started our stop watch and were looking to time the closest finishers, tacked out to a safe position and started the motor.
We dropped the jib and got it secured then dropped and secured the main. We set up to enter the channel but a small trimaran came buzzing in calling for room. A quick circle and we followed him into the channel. A safe dock location was found for the boat and we started to prepare for the overnight. When we were getting squeezed in rafting up we chose to move to an outside dock.
We popped a cold drink and celebrated the first to finish Trimaran win and were waiting for the results to come. We knew we had a couple of the boats but some of the F24’s were going to be close. At the awards that night we found out we took the Division U win and 11th overall.
There was music and dancing at the club after racing. There was also a great dinner with ribs, coleslaw, potato salad, rolls, beans and several cakes. With drinks at the bar going everyone seemed to be in good spirits. I left for the night and went home to sleep before the delivery back in the morning. Thanks to Mojo F-25C, Bob and Chris for an excellent day of racing.