Run to Smith Island...
We had our second race of the season - the boat & crew performed well, but not so with the electronics.
It was a downwind start in about 6-8 knots and 3-4 knots of current. We were about 45 seconds late, but much better than being too early! We limped along at the start with our J3 until we rounded Green Point where it was breeze on and we ran the rhumb line to Smith Island (approximately 13 miles). Near Burrows Island we threw a reef into the main. Upwind speeds were 9.8 to 10 knots, no doubt aided by the big ebb.
It got a little lumpy at the south end of Rosario Strait, but true to form we punched right through with minimal effort. We stayed a little high nearing Smith Island where we were headed slightly in diminished breeze. After rounding Smith Island we jib reached for Minor Island, then cracked it off with a full main & our A3.
The A3 was the perfect weapon broad reaching back up Rosario -- with TWS around 16-20, we were consistently hitting 14-16 knots. The only thing that hurt us a little was that the ebb was still running. Just off Green Point we doused the A3 and went back to the J3 and finished at 12:21:22, averaging 10.56 knots over the entire course.
We will see how the results come out - you never know. We did however do some analysis on the race -- we were slightly downspeed upwind (probably because we were using our old J3), but broad reaching with the A3 we were really rocking... Here are some graphs:
It was a downwind start in about 6-8 knots and 3-4 knots of current. We were about 45 seconds late, but much better than being too early! We limped along at the start with our J3 until we rounded Green Point where it was breeze on and we ran the rhumb line to Smith Island (approximately 13 miles). Near Burrows Island we threw a reef into the main. Upwind speeds were 9.8 to 10 knots, no doubt aided by the big ebb.
It got a little lumpy at the south end of Rosario Strait, but true to form we punched right through with minimal effort. We stayed a little high nearing Smith Island where we were headed slightly in diminished breeze. After rounding Smith Island we jib reached for Minor Island, then cracked it off with a full main & our A3.
The A3 was the perfect weapon broad reaching back up Rosario -- with TWS around 16-20, we were consistently hitting 14-16 knots. The only thing that hurt us a little was that the ebb was still running. Just off Green Point we doused the A3 and went back to the J3 and finished at 12:21:22, averaging 10.56 knots over the entire course.
We will see how the results come out - you never know. We did however do some analysis on the race -- we were slightly downspeed upwind (probably because we were using our old J3), but broad reaching with the A3 we were really rocking... Here are some graphs:
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