Beer Can #4 - April 30

This week's beer can was one of the most exciting beer can races I've been in yet! The NW winds were strong (20-25 knots, gusting in the 30s), and the temperature was cool (50s). We had a flood tide, so everything was pushing us south. The course was out of the channel, round marker 12 to port, and back to the ranch.

Five Merits participated in the race, and about 30 big boats were out there, too. (I'm guessing at the number of big boats. I was way too busy to count!)

I was in M6 with Skipper Steve Stanley, and Sandi and Florin rounded out our crew. I'd never sailed with Steve before. What an experience! He's a wild man but a great sailor, very positive teacher, and very competitive racer. He was throwing barbs at all the boats within hearing distance throughout the race, psyching them out, distracting them... whatever he felt like doing. At one point, he told the boats behind us that we were beating them, even though we had a blind chick at the helm! He had us laughing the whole time.

Steve put Sandi at the helm (where she has the least experience with but did great), me on both sides of the jib, and Florin on the rail, and had us practice tacks and gybes over the starting line in both directions.

Most of the Merits got a good start with M4 (Skipper Stan Phillips) crossing the starting line at the right time in the wrong direction! But up the channel we all sailed in very close proximity. We started out in second place with M6 (Skipper Steve Skinner with Kerry, Dave G, and Ron K) in first and M2 (Skipper Jeff Smith) close behind us. M5 (Skipper Vadim) was next, and M4 (Skipper Stan) pulled up the rear.

As soon as we were out of the lee of the land beside the channel, the wind picked up, and we turned with the channel, continuing to head up higher and higher. As soon as we passed channel marker 2, we headed up high, hardened the sails, and went flying up toward marker 12. We pointed up as high as we could with M2 in close pursuit. M3 and M5 headed a bit more east. We couldn't figure out why. M4 pointed high and followed us.

When we were east of marker 12, M2 tacked, which we thought was a bit early. We kept going. When we thought we could make the mark in one tack, we tacked, but it turned out the flood tide and the wind pushed us down too far, and we ended up having to do another pair of tacks to make the mark. That's when everything went haywire!

Usually, the big boats don't catch up with us until the downwind return leg. At that point, everyone is pretty spread out, so it's no big deal. This time, because the winds were so strong, and we were fighting the flood, which I guess doesn't affect the big boats as much, they caught up to us right at the mark. Also, because we'd burned some time doing that extra pair of tacks, M3 was close to catching us, too.

So there we were with 2-3 other Merits within a couple of boat lengths and about 6-8 big boats right there as well, all of us trying to round the mark. There was a lot a dodging and ducking going on. That accounted for a couple more tacks we were forced to make. So by the time we rounded the mark and started the return leg, still in a pack of boats (a gaggle? a herd?), we'd lost our first place position.

Then we saw a sail bag floating on the water about two boat lengths away. Steve made an executive decision to blow off the race and said "Let's go get it!" Suddenly, we were doing figure 8s and gybe returns and quick returns and just about going in circles. The wind was so strong that even though we were lined up correctly to pick it up on the leeward side of the boat, the wind blew it away from us. At one point, we actually ran it over, and I think that's when it went down. On our next return, it was nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, Skipper Rich Butts on Melalani thought we were doing a real MOB for a crew member and blew off the race to come help us. Thanks for the effort, Rich!

So we joined the race again and were pretty sure we were in last place. Little did we know that M4 had some logistical problems, some newbees in the boat, and was quite far behind us. Even on the downwind leg, the wind was strong, and we were surfing the waves. According to Florin's GPS, we were doing over 7 knots SOG! Nice!

By the time we returned to the docks, we were all cold, wet, and tired and glad to go inside for a cold drink and some dinner. (Ok, the cold drink doesn't make sense, but it was the kind of cold drink that warms you up!)

Oh, and did I mention that Kerry's PFD inflated?! Did he fall in the bay, you ask? No. He was down on the low side grinding, and a roller swept over him and got him so wet that his automatic inflator went off! Ever wondered what an inflated PFD looks like? Now you know!

Congrats to all of the Merits and crews who raced them:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M2	Jeff Smith
2	M3	Steve Skinner
3	M5	Vadim
4	M6	Steve Stanley
5	M4	Stan Phillips

Great race! And thanks to Ron Kucera for contributing many of the action shots in the middle of the race. You can see more of his pictures and mine in my Picasa web album.