Frostbite Series: Sunday #1

The breeze was out of the East, 5-10 knots.

Great turnout! Crowded SSA lot and equally crowded EYC lot with keelboat frostbiters and 4 lasers.

On the water, I looked at the the crab pots and anchored buoys and determined the tide was coming in.

Our race course was situated between the Severn river channel and the dredged channel entry to Spa creek - so current should have been least in the shallow water between the channels.

I shot the wind on the line before each race and decided that the boat end was favored. I started there consistently and had the opportunity to tack away early without ducking too many boats if my start was not stellar. Lucky for me, most of my starts were front row. Front row matters!

Picking a side and committing seemed to be a good choice to try to be top 5 at the windward mark. I believe both sides paid off.

Downwind, I tried to look for puffs behind. I also watched the leech of my mainsail. If it fluttered more than I would like, it was time to gybe. On this day, the leeward leg was truly downwind. Many both bounced between gybes. Equally important to looking for puffs was trying to go fast and rock and roll the boat (legally) and surge in the keelboat traffic waves.

The leeward mark is always an opportunity to get the inside overlap and if not, slow your boat, wait your turn, and earn the right to have a better rounding than the boat in front of you and be in clear air, with the option to tack out. Wide and tight rounding is preferred if not limited by seamanlike rounding.

One the final beat, the puffs seemed to come from the right. Protecting the right paid off usually.

The finish line pin end was clearly favored most races. This can be figured by shooting the wind on finish line before the start of the race.

What a fun day!

Gavin O'Hare