First Night Done Right, Sort Of

The forecast called for the breeze to fade and go right. From the time we got to the boat around 4 p.m. until we left the dock at 5:15, the breeze dropped steadily, just as the forecast predicted. It seemed to level off around 10 to 12 knots as we sailed out to the course, checked our numbers, and did a few spinnaker sets. So we backed off the rig a bit, down to what is our traditional Thursday-night setting. Then, of course, the breeze kicked up for the first race. Feeling like we were slightly overpowered at times on the first beat, we went back up on rig for the second race and, well, the breeze faded again. (The image is a section of last night’s wind readings from the Rose Island sensor, courtesy of www.iWindsurf.com/www.SailFlow.com)

While it would’ve been nice to be in better sync with the breeze, the real key to last night seemed to be getting off the line. With a strong flood tide, the beat was relatively one-sided and the run was basically a fetch. With each course being upwind, finish downwind, there were few passing lanes.

The Crack of Noon team struggled in both starts and that put us in catch-up mode for the rest of the race. We made up a few boats in both races by tacking shy of the starboard layline and avoiding the parade. This always makes for a slightly hairy final approach to the windward mark—tack, find a hole, tack, pinch to make the mark—but it worked for us in both cases.

Personally, the best move I made all night was throwing a vest into my backpack before I left the house. I was fine without it for the racing, but sucking down the suds afterward was another story. Early May in Newport is always a little chilly once the sun goes down.

It was great to see 13 boats out for the first night. Unfortunately two of them retired after a thunderous windward mark collision in the first race. A fine how-do-you-do to start the season. Hopefully it won't keep either of them off the water for too long. As for those of you who weren’t there, where were you? I’ve always maintained that the key to a Newport summer is ramping up all the summer activities in May. Otherwise you spend June and July trying to find your rhythm and August wondering where the summer went. See you next week.

Preliminary Results for May 8: 1. USA 4274 (1, 3) 2. USA 2934 (2, 2) 3. USA 4116 (4,1) 4. USA 4453 (5,6) 5. USA 4446 (3, 9) 6. USA 2991 (7, 5) 7. USA 3688 (6, 7) 8. USA 3360 (11, 4) 9. USA 355 (10,8) 10. USA 4687 (8,11) 11. USA 3969 (9,10).