Jay Cochrane

At first the wind was weak and fickle, and changing direction like crazy. It was that mid-afternoon shift in air temperature over the land and the lake. Soon enough, pressure built to 5, then 10, and, at times, 17v knots! A lovely sail!

Race Report Fall PHRF 3 Tuesday, Sept. 1 While the wind at the dock read only 5 knots from the East, we could see more on the river. Not enough to reef, though. And in fact, we had beautiful 15-20 knot winds that TQ loves. It was good we had an easterly wind that allowed us to practice using the chute to get upriver pretty fast to the course. After some initial reluctance, Jasmine stepped up, as we exited the harbour, to helm for the first time. She transferred her dinghy racing skills well to a keelboat. At the debrief, we all thought that if sailing a dinghy was like riding a dirt bike, then sailing TQ was like driving an RV. Jasmine adapted well to the boat's slower responsiveness to the wheel. She also discovered firsthand that slower tacks cause TQ to lose less speed. After the first time around the W-course, Jasmine got in the groove, overcame her admitted tendency to pinch and maintained the boat speed - up to 5.5 knots upwind. She was also sensitive to keeping the boat from accidental gybes downwind. Well done, you! We were shorthanded in this wind at a headcount of five, but this team really pulled together for a good workout for each of us. I was glad that Amy, as a first-timer, could experience TQ at her best on the lake. Amy (who has a CS 27 but had never raced), you blended in so well and so nimbly! Awesome handling of jib and spinnaker guy/sheet. Despite its reasonable consistency, the wind was shifty. So on our second time to the gates we made a late and costly decision to gybe the kite, not allowing ourselves enough time to get it down. Despite Martin's heroic efforts alone on foredeck, we had to round the gate, well below it. In the process, Jay, ably handling the main for only the third time, also showed himself fleet-footed, jumping between the chute halyard, the downhaul, the tweaker and even the sheet at one point, on his own initiative. This was one rare evening when the wind did not diminish on the lake. What a sail! (Sorry, we had no time to take pics until after the race.) Lesson learned: Re our debrief from last Thursday, we experimented with bringing the jib in tight as usual upwind, but also not as tight, to see what the influence on the boat's speed would be as well as back winding the main. In 15-20 knot winds, we had no back winding, and better boat speed with the jib in tight to the shroud.

Race Report Tuesday August 4 Summer PHRF 6 Its only a forecast. We were a lean crew with 5 people and thought that it would be light to moderate winds. We ended up with over 20kt of wind, sustained for at least our first lap. Our start was okay, we were right in the pack, but had a lot of dirty air behind a few boats, though several boats were OCS. We tacked to get out of the dirty air and made our way around the course. Martin did a great job solo on foredeck, no hourglasses which in this wind was impressive, as getting the spin down is always an adventure. Our downwind sections took only a few minutes each time, with our speed topping out at 7.3kt according to the GPS. The rest of the race was uneventful, a testament to the crew’s abilities! We had a lot of very smooth tacks, always made the mark with just a bit of extra space, and finished the race in about an hour.

Arriving at NSC in the rain and hearing thunder, we were convinced the race would be cancelled. But it always pays to show up! The weather moved east, and we even had a break in the clouds. (Besides, the no-shows were given 19 points!) The W-course was set to the northeast. The wind ranged from 8 to 15 knots, averaging about 10. We didn't have a great start, unfortunately, but we were able to break away from the dirty air, crossing the line, and then several boats followed suit, confirming we made the right move. The wind was stronger on the right side of the course. With Michael on foredeck, and Martin and Gabriel on sheets, Gabriel manning the kite halyard, as well, the execution was nearly flawless. Michael resolved an hourglass on the second downwind by having Gabriel lower the chute briefly. Heading for the gates, we stayed on a starboard track until the Div. 1 upwind boats on port passed us, then gybed to head for the right gate. Michael stowed the kite efficiently so we could round the gate tightly to head upwind. Unlike most race nights when the wind progressively dies, it increased to 12 and 14 knots on our third time around the course, making for a great sail...until it dropped to 7 soon after rounding the mark to head downwind. We thought we would definitely have given Valeda III a scare, but she was a no show.