SEPTEMBER 21ST RACE REPORT – “Uncle” already! The wind wins. Ready for next Sunday?

Thanks to blog-contributor Kevin Preuss for providing 96.3% of the "regular" report and for tolerating the few additions and changes made.  Also, at the end you will find an addition by John Auld who provided his account of his and crewman Paul Hass' wrestling match with the wind.

We had lots of wind with pronounced, sudden, and unpredictable shifts. This proved to be a big challenge.  Nine boats were rigged and seven were brave enough to head for the starting line.  Multiple capsizes and numerous close calls by our capable sailors in all classes of boats led the Committee Boat to cancel the race.   

Thanks to our Committee Boat volunteers Bob Orben, Maura & Nikki Leonard, and Dave McAlister, all of whom answered our plea for help and volunteered on short notice.  They successfully anchored despite the strong wind by using 3, count them, 3 anchors!   Thanks also to John Auld who set the course, and to our Race Chairman Kevin Preuss for organizing the race.

The Protest Party was well attended even with nothing to protest (except the wind).  Thanks to Wayne and Arlene Truex for hosting.

John Auld adds the following report:
I think Paul and I were the first to capsize on Sunday when the main sheet got caught in the block or the hatch and I couldn’t dump enough wind. 

I did some reading on sailing in high winds but it takes some experience and quick reactions to keep it afloat.  One suggestion was to move the traveler out to the lee side on each tack to keep a more consistent angle to the wind.  I’m not sure how to accomplish that with one hand on the tiller and the other on the main sheet.  Definitely didn’t want to cleat the sheet with those gusts and shifts.  Maybe you can just uncleat both traveler ropes and let it pull through with the wind on each tack.  Any thoughts?

Regardless, we went ahead and sailed the course to get experience in conditions and made it through without incident.  According to Wayne and Bob, that’s the first time they’ve ever seen anyone able to bail at boat full of water using only the auto bailers.  Took us about 20 minutes but keeping our speed up wasn’t much of a problem in those conditions.