Beer Can #12 - June 25

I was in this week's beer can race and did sail on a Merit, but my purpose was two-fold. Besides enjoying the race and trying to win, I was practicing for the LGYC Challenge race I'll be in this Saturday. You can get more info about our first practice and the race results on my other sailing blog.

My crew was Kerry (who actually chartered the boat, but I was acting skipper), Norbert (who faithfully came to the race straight from work and had to go back to work right after the race), Phill (who is the most experienced racer among us and has been a tremendous inspiration to us all). If you read my other blog about our first practice, you know that we were lacking some weight in general, but we had too much weight on the low side with Kerry grinding on the tacks. We still didn't have a fifth crew member.

I ran into Florin on the docks just before the start of the race and thought he'd be perfect... young, athletic, agile, strong, and light weight... not too much weight on the low side when he was grinding for me but enough to help on the high side when we were all on the rail. I asked him if he could do it, and he was thrilled. He said he'd have to check with his wife, and I offered him my cell phone. He made the call and 5 minutes later we had our fifth crew member! Yippee!

These guys are the best crew I could ask for, and I look forward to racing with them in the LGYC Challenge on Saturday.

Since I'm skippering the race on Saturday, I had to pay attention to my crew and strategy, so I asked my good friend and sailing buddy, Sandi, to take pictures of the Merit racing crews for me. She got all of the crews except for M1, because they took off before she even got to the dock! Thanks, Sandi!

I spent the time after the race debriefing and strategizing with my crew, so I didn't get any of the good stories I usually get. And I don't want to discuss my racing strategy before the big race on Saturday. But I can tell you that one of my opponents in Saturday's race, John Draeger, raced a Merit that night and won. My other opponent in Saturday's race, Jeff Smith, raced his own boat, Ilonsa, that night, so I couldn't observe his tactics in a Merit. Well, we were watching John anyway, because I'd observed Jeff on a couple of other races and thought I could predict some things he might do. (I'm not tellin'...)

We were in M3, and John was in M5. Nico, who wins a lot of races, particularly in M2, was in M2. Those three boats started pretty much together, along with M7, skippered by Kimi with my friends Sandi and Bruce as crew.

We practiced in the positions we'd concluded were best at the end of Sunday's practice. Phill took the helm and the main. I managed the jib sheets (released and tailed). Florin stayed down low to grind for me and then hopped up on the rail between tacks. Norbert was the forward-most rail meat and Kerry was rail meat in the middle. Can you believe two accomplished sailors like that were willing to come out and just be rail meat for me? What fantastic friends they are! So Norbert spent the entire race crossing in front of the mast on tacks, while Kerry rolled under the boom. I'm telling you... I couldn't ask for better sailing buddies. I owe those guys big time!

The practice went really well in terms of our positions. The crew was in synch and doing everything we were supposed to be doing. On the downwind leg, Phill taught us how to rock the boat down on puffs and waves, keeping it as flat as possible. But M5 and M2 were gaining speed and increasing their leads throughout the race. In fact, John went flying out in front of everyone on the downwind leg like a speed demon!

Phill isn't used to being passed by other Merits after a good start. He's used to gaining speed and then catching the other boats and winning races. So he started questioning himself, thinking maybe we're actually better than the people he usually sails with! We also thought John might be a real threat, and we knew Jeff had won this race a couple of other times. So we had our work cut out for us.

Here are the results:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M5	John Draeger
2	M2	Nico
3	M3	Cheryl
4	M1	Steve Skinner
5	M4	Peter
6	M7	Kimi

After the race, we cornered Stan and asked him if we could tune the rigs and how certain things would work on Saturday. We decided that I should pick up some tell-tales and some rigging tape and bring that on Saturday, along with some pliers and other tools to work on the boats before the skipper's meeting.

Wish me luck on Saturday in the LGYC Challenge! See you out there next Wednesday!

Beer Can #11 - June 18

It never fails to amaze me that after all these beer can races, there's still something fresh and new about each one. This one had its own set of interesting events.

First, this was the biggest turnout for a beer can race in my history with the club. We had all 7 Merits out there plus two Cal 24s! Nine boats competing in the small boat race. Nice! Of course, I attribute it to all the people reading this blog who enjoy seeing their pictures on the web! Just look at how they're hammin' it up! Ok, I'm just kidding... Of course, you're all coming out because it's so damn much fun!

Ok, so down to business...

The night was warm... in the 80s, I'd say. The tide was going out but the ebb wasn't very strong (much to Norbert's chagrin—more about that later). The wind was nice... around 10 kts as we sailed out the channel, increasing to about 15-16 kts as we entered the bay, and then easing a bit while we were out there. It died down to about 6 kts by the time we returned to the channel.

The race course was #2—out to day marker 12 and back. I was in M6 with Sandi and Skipper Norbert. I can't believe Norbert has come out for this race three weeks in a row! He went back to work after the race, but at least he got out there for a wonderful break in the middle of the week. But I digress...

The Cal 24s started about 7 minutes before the Merits and were quite far down the channel by the time the Merits started. The Merit start was uneventful (although I do think that two boats crossed the starting line about 20 seconds early, but I'm not challenging, because I'm not sure which boats they were).

As we sailed up the channel, we were pretty close to a few other boats. When we rounded channel marker 3, we headed slightly east to ride the ebb and get some speed. Most of the other boats stayed on the west side of the bay, and Skipper Jeff, winner of the race, tells me that he took M5 right down the middle. He said he tacked quite a few times but basically headed straight for marker 12. We only tacked once to get to the mark, but I know we went a much longer distance, because we were in 4th place by the time we rounded the mark.

We set the sails to wing-and-wing for a straight downwind leg back to 3, and then took down the pole just before rounding 3 and heading back down the channel. We pretty much stayed in formation all the way to the finish line and came in fourth. Here are the results:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M5	Jeff
2	M2	Kerry
3	C1	Dave G
4	M6	Norbert
5	M1	Vadim
6	M7	Cliff
7	C2	Kimi
8	M3	Philippe
9	M4	John D

After the race, on the Sequoia Yacht Club deck, Jeff told me "When Nico didn't show up, we were so disappointed!" I guess he's itching for that rematch Nico promised him.

I also heard that M4 got their topping lift caught on day marker 12 as they rounded and had to cut the line. Yikes! That's the first mishap I've heard of for a while. No wonder they came in last!

Great race, friends! See you next time! Oh, and please check out my Picasa web album for more pictures

By the way, if you're not in the picture of the crew for the boat you were on, it's because you got there too late! You've got to get there by about 5:20pm to get in the pictures!

Beer Can #10 - June 11

Beer Can #9 was one of the most fun races I've been in yet! I wasn't on a Merit, but I was on a Spinnaker boat... Smokin' J, my favorite boat in the fleet. And I sailed with almost all of my favorite sailing buddies, so it was a real treat for me.

The weather was fantastic! It was pretty hot on land, but as soon as we got on the water, the breeze cooled us off. It was still warm enough for shirt-sleeves, though, which was great. The tide was a flood during the whole race, which worked in our favor in the second half. The wind (about 10-15 knots) out of the north kept us moving along nicely the whole time, but it was favorable for flying the kite on the downwind leg. All in all, it couldn't have been better conditions!

I was pleased that I got there early and had a chance to rig the spinnaker myself, and I'd been the last person to pack it as well, so the success or failure of the set was all up to me. The last time I'd raced on the J, I'd messed up the rigging and was anxious to redeem myself.

We raced course 4, out to marker S and back. There were 7 crew members on board, so we had plenty of hands for everything. Norbert was assigned foredeck, and I was at the mast. Sandi and Victor managed the jib. Kerry and Skipper Stan switched off between the helm and the main. Alex was tactician and all-round helper wherever help was needed.

It was a beat out to the mark, so Norbert and I were rail meat, since we didn't have much to do at that point, except stay out of the way and shift our weight as directed. As we rounded the mark, Norbert and I were ready, and we raised the chute, which filled immediately and was testiment to proper rigging and packing. Phew!

We flew the spinnaker all the way past the finish line, which was kind of hairy coming down the channel. We kept getting gusts that threatened a broach. But Stan's superb talent at the helm and Alex's superb talent trimming the spinnaker both kept us steady and even. Nice work!

Not so with Black Sheep, though! Black Sheep had a bit of trouble with their spinnaker on the way down the channel... kept getting the wind knocked out and collapsing.

Eventually, they got it under control and started bearing down on us. They would turn up, and we'd turn up to block them. They'd turn down, and we'd turn down to block them. At one point, they were right on our tail, and their spinnaker actually grazed our backstay. (Shhh... we're not calling foul!)

We crossed the finish line with Black Sheep about two feet behind us. What a close race! That was so much fun!!!

Even though I wasn't sailing on a Merit, I've got the stats (and dirt) for you on the 6 Merits that sailed in this race. Here's the scoop:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M5	Jeff
2	M1	Viola
3	M6	Roy
4	M4	Vadim
5	M7	Dave G
X	M2	Nico (disqualified)

Even though M2 crossed the finish line first, Skipper Jeff took the prize for first place for M5 at the apres sailing festivities. M2 with Skipper Nico was disqualified by all accounts. My sources tell me that M2 started the race 20-30 seconds early and had a crew member's torso outside the lifelines longer than momentarily—two reasons for disqualification. Oops...

I heard Nico telling Jeff over beers "The stakes will be really high next week" and challenged Jeff to a rematch. Jeff replied "I'll be marking you!"

Dave Pregeant told me that, starting with the first beer can race in July, he will bring his handy-dandy electronic starting horn and will sound 3 short blasts at 3 minutes from start time, 2 short blasts at 2 minutes, 1 short blast at 1 minute, and 1 long blast at the start time. That way, there will be no question about when to start.

Please check out my Picasa web album for lots more pictures of this race. See you out on the water!

Beer Can #9 - June 4

This was one of the most fun and fastest beer can races I've been in! All seven Merits were in the race (a first in the two years I've been racing), we had great wind, and the first four boats were all in close proximity, jockeying for positions during the whole race.

I was in M6 with Scott and my good buddies, Kerry (Skipper) and Norbert. The wind was blowing strong at the docks and all the way up the channel, so we were able to raise the sails as soon as we got to the basin. In fact, we reefed the main right away, figuring we could shake it out if we needed to when we got out of the channel.

We tacked back and forth over the starting line for about 20 minutes, testing our speed at various points of sail and how high we could point. Then we started timing our start and crossed the starting line right on time. M7 (Skipper Viola) and M4 (Skipper Nico) were slightly ahead of us, and M5 (Skipper Hans) was way ahead, over the starting line about 30 seconds too early. M5 turned around and, as they passed us going the other way, asked if we'd started yet! I guess they didn't know the start time! M5 went back to the starting line and started again, which put them at the end of the pack throughout the race.

Heading up the channel, the wind started to lighten, although it was still around 15 knots, I'd say. We noticed that M7, who was in the lead, had not reefed at all. M1, who was in second place, still had their reef in. We were in third place with M2 (also reefed) slightly behind us to starboard. I was assigned lookout duty for white caps in the bay. I didn't see any, so we shook out the reef and hoped the wind wouldn't pick up any more. We were surprised when the other boats around us didn't shake out their reefs, too, and questioned our decision. But we had faith that Skipper Viola in M7 knew what she was doing, and that we could catch up with enough sail power.

As we passed marker 8, the wind picked up again, and we wished we hadn't shaken out that reef. It was ok. We had experts (Kerry and Norbert) at the helm, so we managed to maintain third place... up to a point. M2 was beside us, then ahead of us, then behind us - swapping positions all the way to the mark. We were on Course 1, heading out to Y and back. The wind was behind us, and the ebb was pushing us north. We headed straight for the mark, rounded it shortly after M7 and M1, with M2 beside us neck and neck.

After we rounded the mark, M2 pushed ahead and stayed ahead, although only by about 4 boat lengths. The ride back was swift and efficient. I was rail meat for the first time ever, and crossing the deck on a tack was new to me. It looks so easy when others do it, but it was not so easy when I had to do it myself! I wasn't fast enough and got caught in the middle and got dumped back down to the low side at the end of the tack, holding onto the boom vang for dear life. Kerry told me afterwards he thought he was going to lose me, but I was able to catch my balance and scramble back up to the high side without much ado. Only my feet were in the water on the rail, but my spiffy waterproof socks kept my feet warm and dry (more or less). Thanks to Steve Stanley for recommending those socks!

As we made our way down the channel, the wind lightened a bit, and we finished in 4th place. We furled the jib and were able to sail all the way in to the dock on the main. We were on the docks with the boats buttoned up by 7:30pm... the earliest finish I can remember in a beer can race. Here are the results:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M7	Viola
2	M2	Steve Skinner
3	M1	Dave G
4	M6	Kerry
5	M4	Nico
6	M3	Steve Stanley
7	M5	Hans

Nice race, friends! Thanks to all who came out that night. A special welcome to Vikas, who read this blog, contacted me, sailed on M1 last night, and intends to take some classes and possibly join Spinnaker! Please check out my Picasa web album for more pictures. (Note that not all of the crew members are in these pictures. You need to get to the docks early, if you want to be included in the crew pictures!)