Noreasterns Day 2

First place through fourth place all had 3 to 5 points. I had 11 in fifth place going into the day. To get to where I wanted to be I needed to have three solid races.

The day started hung over with an early start. We had an 8:00 harbor gun, and a 9:00 warning. The wind was light but building from the South, typical of Keuka's thermal.

Before the start of the first race of the day, I checked out the sides and conditions. It was fine. There were shifts to play and puffs to find. Any good start would allow me to do well. started mid-line, miscounted my own countdown (the last 15 seconds I count to myself so I don't look at my watch) and was about 3 seconds late to accelerate. I was lee-bowed and ended up second row. I cleared my air and ended up something like 8-10 at the top mark. I went west on each and every leg and made up good distance and time. By the downwind leg 4 I was within striking distance of the top 5. I made good decisions going upwind and at one point I thought second place was mine. But hitting every shift correctly put me out of position for the last couple. I had to get off cycle to get back to the line. I lost my gains and ended up sixth.

Bob Cole led that race wire to wire and looked very comfortable. Chris Craig who was in fourth had a bad race and dropped well back. So I think I was now in fourth overall.

The second race of the day was still in nice clean south air. This time I decided to be very aggressive on the start, even risking OCS. I timed it perfectly with speed, jumped out of the crowd, and within a minute I was able to freely tack and go wherever I wanted. I worked the west side of center and arrived at the top mark with the inside overlap on Scott Tillema. He fell in behind me toward the offset. We both jibed the mark to head west again. He drove high and hot off to the west and I briefly followed, maybe 5 seconds. It was enough though that Dan Fink in third closed the gap. At the bottom mark I still had the inside on Dan, and Scott was further back in third.

Dan was in my bad air off the bottom mark. He tacked to clear leaving me going west alone as I hoped. When I though he was coming back he stayed left. I could not better air in the center than I had on the right so I stayed right. We each sailed up good air closing at the top mark. Dan won the contest pulling out about 5-6 boat lengths on that mile leg. I was still in a solid second.

Downwind i held position, tried to close up on Dan but he had escaped to clear air ahead and I was struggling to keep my air clear. So the last leg just became a cover play, me covering 3rd and Dan covering me. We finished that way with me about 45 seconds behind first and about 45 seconds ahead of third.

On that last leg the wind was really starting to drop off, which Keuka does about 11:00. It also started showing right shots, southwest wind, which was forecast. During the break it dropped and shifted even more. Many boats were sailing up the center line of the lake on starboard.

In the last race the line was square, and the mark pretty well set. So I decided local knowledge says go west to catch the shifts and building west puffs (in this case a puff was 7 mph). With maybe 45 seconds to go something showed on the water way left. I was outside the boat to the right with no way to get there. I tried to penetrate the crowd at the boat only to get rebuffed. I started 2nd row 10 seconds late right at the boat. I was buried so I tacked to clear my air. 30 seconds later when I was ready to go back, I looked over my shoulder and saw my regatta go away. My heart sank. There was a massive left shift with wind coming off the East shore. Those on the pin were laying the mark on port.

So I have a decision to make. Tack over and chase that wind consolidating 15th place or so, or stay right and wait for the oscillation to come to me with the west. Factors running through my head include who is with me on the bad side, who is streaking away, and what the overall impact will be on the score. Regatta second was with me, as well as three other good sailors. The people streaking away were well behind me in the scores. Scott Tillema was leading that charge and he was about 7 or 8 points back from me. I decided if I went back I'd consolidate to about 13-15 place and have to work to get 10th. That might drop me 2 places in the standings. If I stayed put I might get the shift and consolidate to 10th or so and work back to 5th or 6th. If I didn't get the shift I'd still be able to catch 6 or 8 boats.

I stayed put, worked the right, and never got the shift. I had to work back against the SSE breeze to get the the mark. I beat only 2 boats there, and both the boat behind and in front of me were as fast as I am in this wind.

Now I had been 15th or so before, and picked up boats bunches at a time. But this time there was a big problem. I was MINUTES behind the leaders. And then the race committee shortened the course due to the lighter breeze. The leaders rounded the bottom mark shortly after I rounded the top mark. They picked up a nice South breeze with some volume while I was still going downwind. Picking up boats one at a time was going to take time, and I was out.

Besides working harder than in any other race that weekend, I had to roll the dice, risk a flier.

On the next upwind I hit the left corner, almost to the east shore, and closed the gap to the tail of the pack. Downwind I could do no better in a dying breeze than holding my position. Around the last mark I had to make a choice to hit the left or right corner. I needed to pick up 6-8 boats. The pack went right so I had to go left. I played the east shifts with good angles. But on the west side they had more air. When I converged with the pack I was close, very close, but still behind. I ended up picking up 2 boats on that leg and losing 1 that I had previously picked up. I finished 17th, but only 30 seconds out of 10th.

I lost 2 overall places in that race finishing 5th. Scott Tillema won the race and jumped past me to third overall. Bob Cole also did well enough to jump to fourth.

Years ago this would have been tragedy. I blew it. Age mellows. Yes I was disappointed, and a bit frustrated. But I know after the first tragic mistake I made, I made the best decisions I could. I took minutes off the gap, gained huge amounts, and balanced the risks with the reward. It didn't pay off. And sometimes that is just the way the cookie crumbles.

I now have three days off before Nationals. My repair punch list is very short. But I also need to find a way to make the new sail faster. I simply am not seeing the shape I like nor feeling the speed I expected. Nationals will be in very different wind, lots more, and cold. Let's hope I got out of the way all the bad starts and bad calls now.