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!)