Ignacio Fernandez

Race Report by Adam Thursday, Aug 6 Summer JAM 6 Does anyone trust the forecast anymore? Speaking on the dock, we reviewed what we'd heard: it might rain, it might be blowing 1 knot in a little bit, it might be better to use forecast A or B. Someone even asked if we should take the fenders off heading out, as we might be heading back in soon if a race was cancelled. But ultimately we let the RC worry about all that! After a course correction to Bravo course upriver instead of Alpha course by BYC (and many more driver shenanigans from yours truly to come), we motored our way to the start line in time for a coordinated strategy. We decided the right side appeared windier, despite the pin end typically being favoured in Luke's style of setting the line to spread the fleet. So we plotted to start on the boat end and tack early. At our final approach to the line, 1.5 minutes away, timed well, and with two boats to windward and overtaking (but not yet past our bow), TQ's proper course would shut them both out. But veteran sailors have a trick or two up their sleeve, and while Adam called "Up!" to push them into a collision course with the RC, the call back was an inquiring "I'm a little nervous about that anchor." We don't want collisions, and though in retrospect the boats didn't have rights and needed to back off, Adam solved their problem for them and opened up a lane for them to pass... allowing them to send us all the dirty air they could. Live and learn, as Stephen says! Not two seconds had passed since we crossed the start line when we heard a boat to our leeward with overlap calling for us to head up, which would have luffed our sails, but this time we held our course, hailing back that this rule only applies before the start and not after. Fool us once! We saw Azura peel off behind us (that's right, we were ahead of Azura on our start!), releasing us from a mild pin, so we tacked as well to follow our plan while most of the fleet headed left. The wind held at around 10 knots the first leg, making for a straightforward upwind, Stephen making the rounds and giving people in new roles the downlow on trimming and winching technique. We thought when we tacked back that we might meet the fleet in time to wreak havoc on port tack boats, but the fleet escaped unscathed and ahead of us rounding the first mark. Small adjustments to the main by Dorothy eked out half a knot or so as we made our way downwind. We went right on the second upwind as well to avoid the train of downwind boats. The wind by now was flagging, but didn't drop below 6 knots. Though we'd all noted that a new mark had been dropped to shorten the course and the mark-set boat had blasted everyone with horns galore at the downwind mark, your dear driver still managed to ignore the new upwind mark and tack too early, thinking he was working the middle of the course for the old upwind mark. Two more tacks later, the new upwind mark was made, and we eased into a comfortable finish, trimming the main tighter than one might expect and considering a longer jib pole setting to eke out once again a little more boatspeed. 6-10 knots isn't Tropical Quest's favourite wind speed, but we had a thoughtful debrief on sailing Tropical Quest fast nevertheless. Lessons learned: Point high on the gybe mark rather than at the mark to trace a straighter route to it. Communicate your thoughts out loud as strategist and driver so crew know what's coming. And let other boats figure their own problems out when collision is so far as to allow the other skipper time to play games and probe for people's confidence in the rules of racing.

We thought the wind was going to be very low, but we were hit with a few 24-knot gusts from the NW as we motored from the harbour through the channel. The forecast was for diminishing wind, so, despite being a crew of only four, we trusted it (despite its recent reverse behaviour) and didn't reef. We had one of the best starts of the season, crossing the line two seconds after the horn, at the boat end, with no one above us, headed toward Aylmer. It was a T-course, rare these days. (T has a triangle format with a gybe mark and finishes downwind; J is the same but finishes upwind (think of the hook of the J pointing upwards)) We stayed ahead of the fleet for a good while until a few of the faster ones overtook us. We had some sweet moments. On the first upwind leg, we made it across Veleda III's bow, which was the stand-on boat. A lot of the race was neck-and-neck with Morning Mist (C&C 30). We only ever had to duck one stand-on boat. Mardi Gras never caught up. After rounding the windward mark ahead of Morning Mist, she tried to overtake us heading to the gybe mark on a beam reach, so I took her higher into the wind just enough to pull downwind and avoid her dirty air. She continued to try to overtake us, but we held our own, maintaining Mark room, rounded the mark, and headed upwind. She tried to get above us, but I would not let her. We gradually left her at least three to four boat lengths behind. With her huge Genoa jib, Morning Mist is faster upwind and beat us this time to the windward mark by a couple of boat lengths. We rounded above her and, after the gybe mark, closed the gap downwind, the wind reducing to 5, then 3 knots. I noticed a crew holding their boat hook as a whisker pole and, after I gave them three warnings, they took it down. (See below.) But we were close enough to beat them on corrected time. Four boats crossed the finish line pretty much abreast of each other. Bosun Luke called out, "So you're trying to make it difficult for me tonight, are you?" Here are the results: https://nsc.ca/nsc_racing/results/2026/jam/summer_series.htm#r5b Ignacio and Sylvain did a crackerjack job tacking the jib and Ignacio diligently playing the jib on the reach leg. Salim was tactful on the main (pun intended) and agile on the foredeck with Sylvain filling in for him on the main. Great teamwork! Rule: Attachment to the Spar: RRS 55.2 states that when a spinnaker pole or whisker pole is in use, it shall be attached to the foremost mast (or spar). Outrigger Prohibition Exception: RRS 55.3 generally bans using any device that pushes a sail's sheet or clew outboard beyond the hull or deck. However, an exception is made specifically allowing a headsail clew to connect to a proper whisker pole—provided that the pole itself adheres to the mast-attachment requirement and no spinnaker is set.

Race Report Thursday, June 18 Spring JAM 3 If you weren't crewing, you missed the fun! At times pelting rain, driven by 25-30-knot gusts. Otherwise the wind averaged about 18 knots. Needless to say, double reef, but with full jib. We were doing 5.5 knots upwind and 7.1 knots downwind at times. W-course twice around. If you join the web version of Sail Ties you can see the course we sailed and the stats. We had two hiccups. One was at the start where we had to do a 360, but I'm not fully clear why and am waiting to hear back from Henri of Ulysses. He apparently called out something I didn't hear and then waved a red protest flag at me. So we did a 360. Imagine TQ, just tacked, healed over, trying to make the pin, pushing another windward boat up, and water running down my glasses. At such a moment I wished I had contacts! 😄 The other was right after we shot the windward mark first time around, we hit the offset mark. I underestimated the leeway caused by the current and the high wind. There was a great moment with Mardi Gras: We almost had MG as we were stand-on vessel approaching the windward mark. But she managed to sail in front of us on port. If I were her, I would have bow-tacked us and given us dirty air. Instead, she tacked above us and, losing momentum we sailed past to her lee, and were then able to point higher and get right in front of her, giving her our dirty air. She went below in our shadow and we stayed ahead. But then, Captain Kidd made a fatal mistake. We should have gybed around the offset mark, but I wanted to stay above MG and went way too far out, distracted by the wind and, well, you know. In the end we had to gybe left to make it around the pin. Sigh. Jeff, Iggy and Martin were awesome. It was quite a physical workout, and for me on the helm, more a mental one. I had gone to the crew tent to find more crew but no luck. We were pleasantly surprised, though, that four of us could manage the boat alright in those winds. Lessons learned: The 360s were costly, as they always are. But I learned from Greg D, watching Pretender do one, that you don't need to let the jib go when you tack. Just let it back wind and, as you come around to where you were, it's ready to go. We need to remind ourselves of winching techniques and how to avoid overrides. Not getting the jib in quickly costs minutes or even precious seconds. But it's not easy in those winds. The jib also got caught once on the mast ring. Especially without a dedicated foredeck crew, we might want to try keeping the whisker pole attached to the ring, like we do with the spinnaker pole, so the sheet glides over it. What a night!

By Michael Cardy Tuesday race update: we started off floating with no wind to be seen after a lovely little storm system took it all away. However, the weather gods heard our whining (or wanted to make us work) and it filled in with some solid wind averaging 15kn, but gusts up to 27! We had a reasonable start, though we could have been more aggressive when deciding to head up and ended up in a bit of dirty air. The wind continued to shift and we got lifted to the windward mark, but not quite enough to make it. After rounding the mark, our foredeck crew did an awesome job getting the spinnaker up, not bad for Francis’s first time this season and Gabriel’s first time ever with wind!! We had a bit of trouble getting the spin down on our second lap as we work off the rust in the heavy winds, but recovered quickly! In the shifty winds on the third lap, we just barely made the windward mark and did my least favourite activity of shooting the mark. Foredeck did a great job getting the spin set to launch after rounding the mark but in the chaos we caught the spinnaker in the jib while furling! Quick thinking by the crew got it untangled and we sailed off into the sunset. After the race, Martin got a chance to helm TQ for the first time and did a great job, including finding bifurcation which is always tricky on a windy day.