Racing Update

On Tuesday 4/14 Sea Bear was one of four boats in Cruising A Class. We there was nice wind and we were competitive up the channel. We missed a few tacks, but did well overall. We lost some ground on the reach across the breakwater and we were slow coming down the channel. Final result is we finished third and corrected to fourth. Now we have a good handicap. We should correct over the competitors next week. Thank you to the Tuesday night Crew. On Wednesday 4/15, Sea Bear competed for the first time in the Sunset Series. We are in Cruising Class B with 11 other boats. At the start the wind was quite strong and the boat was moving well. We got a good start and were in the middle of the fleet most of the upwind leg. Near the windward mark the wind died and Sea Bear as well as several other boat had trouble getting to and rounding the mark. Down wind the wind picked up again and we had a nice sail back to the marina entrance and down the channel. Then as we went across the channel the wind died again and we slowly sailed to the finish line. The three of us felt good about how we did. However, I was disappointed by the final results. Sea Bear was scored as DNF (Did Not Finish) on a technicality. I was supposed to have what is called a "Certified Cruiser Rating" by the ASMBYC. I have a non-certified rating. The difference is the order in which you get Yacht racing ratings. If I had gotten my PHRF rating first and then the ASMBYC rating, it would have been certified, but I got them in the reverse order. I submitted my entry to Wednesdays race a week in advance, it would have been nice for the Race Committee to review my entry and advise me of the deficiency. I recalulated the results to determine where we would have finished. Sea Bear would have finished 7th of 10 boats.

Tuesday 4/21, we had a good sail Tuesday, though we couldn't catch Cross Fire, we got into a groove tacking up channel. Had a bit of a duel with Sundance as we rounded the breakwater, he kept pushing us up and slowing both himself and us down, letting Cross Fire get a bigger lead. Sundance lead us down the channel, but we passed him just before the finish. We were the second boat in our class to finish, however, two boats corrected ahead of us for a fourth place finish for Sea Bear.

Wednesday 4/22 we were offical since the Cerified Rating came through. However, we finished 9 out of 10. But, when you look at the results, you will find that 1) there was only 11 minutes separating the first and the last boat and 2) we were very close to the boats that finished ahead of us. We made some mistakes that we can correct the next time. 1) We can stay out of other boats way better, Perhaps we need to get to starboard tack sooner so we can have the right of way. 2) We need to coordinate better at the breakwater turn. I was wrong to keep the whisker pole up, we need to take it down for that short stretch. One last thing that wouldn't have changed our corrected finish is our handicap was incorrect, it should have been 165, not 150. The lower handicap is for boat using a spinnaker. I should be corrected for the next race. Also, Sea Bear is currently lame, the engine controls on the Binnacle aren't working correctly, so I can't change gears or adjust the throttle. We made it back into the slip without any problem, but I can't back the boat out of the slip or motor out of the marina. Scott volunteered to try to fix it with me on Friday.