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Nut Case Sailing Adventures Summer 2009
Launch Day - Saturday June 13
We're finally in!
Trailered the boat 150km to Sunrise Shore Marina outside Tatamagouche, NS. The trip was windy and rainy and the boat was a bit farther back on trailer than ideal for driving. This resulted in a slow trip with top speed 70kmh. Steeping mast and launch were uneventful but reminded me how much can be forgotten over the winter. As the launch was moved up nearly two weeks the boat cleanup inside had barely begun for the year, resulting in most of the weekend once launched tied up with cleaning. I did manage to motor to end of channel and hoist the main (no wind) for five minutes so I could convince myself I went for a sail.
modifications: Batten T2 (2nd from top) now full length batten. Adjustable batten cars on top two battens. Removes wrinkle we had in 2008 from T1 batten. New Standard Horizon C180 chartplotter. Nice in that we can put up to six numbers in large print on display - SOG, COG, Bearing, VMG, Distance, etc....
Our photographer Dave working on a nearby boat
Summer Solstice Seamanship Race and Yard Sail - BHYC Saturday June 20
This was the first real sail of the year. Heather and I as well as other club members decided to spend Friday nights aboard the boats. Was surprisingly comfortable - the long berths are great for sleeping and there are washroom facilities and BBQs at the club. With the boat better organized this season it just seems much roomier.
The tides were moon low in the afternoon and weather was looming, so this was to be a short race. Dave and Linda had furler problems on their boat so joined us for the race. We originally were to take a reef at start, shake reef, headsail change at windward mark and then after finish anchor under sail. There was of course light wind initially so the reef and headsail change were dropped. This was first time to hoist a jib this year and just for fun so we opted for #3 as gust had increased to 15knots. We began the hoist with sail twisted, then had another problem with hoist and had by now decided to abandon idea of using spinnaker - what a mess! We were late for start and then at the offset mark by the time we finally had our headsail hoisted. After that it was just a reach out and a reach back lasting a total of 18 minutes (did I say short?). Our chief competition on the C&C99 had issues of their own and managed to get their headsail flying about the same time as we did. The anchoring under sail was easy (wind had died again) and pleasant. We were not last - our friends on the 99 were.
Afterward the "Yard Sail" was accomplished by everybody donating things they no longer used and each skipper taking their pick from the pile of stuff. We picked a Simrad autohelm.
Saturday June 27 Barrachois, NS to Charlottetown, PEI 30 NM
This annual race is usually a light wind affair where sunblock and refreshments are as important as competent crew. It is also early enough in the season that it is the first major sail for most of the boats necessitating a lot of preparations for the race. Such was the case on Nut Case. Every week for the past month I had a yellow notepad page filled with tasks- no exception this week I had three. The first was items to pick up from the cottage - spare flashlight, foul weather gear and iPod speaker system. The second was tasks for the race as I was the race organizer. The third was for the boat. New spin sheets, radar reflector, drink holders for cockpit, toilet paper holder, spare chute from home, 30 amp converter and a host of other tasks - including repairing and painting rudder, varnishing tiller and reinstalling. To complicate matters we had a daughter graduate grade nine with a full fledged Prom on Tuesday and ceremony on Thursday and our other daughter graduate grade 12 with prom Monday and ceremony Friday afternoon. very very busy.
Saturday we had 14 boats - not bad for this race. Mumm 30, J35, C&C99, Olson 30, Beneteau 33.7, J/27, Kirby 25, Tanzer 26, Beneteau 305, Mirage 25, Parks 23, C&C 30. Oday 32, C&C 25. The day's forecast was for light winds SE 10-15 changing to East 15-20 late afternoon. Of course was NE 8-10 most of the day switching to SE very light in late afternoon.
We tacked out of the bay in decent position and noted how one tack could gain or lose a couple positions. prospector lost its lead on us completely on a tack to a shore and then we blew our lead 1/2 hour later with some issues of our own. Was a great sail over with wind not quite on the nose and over 20 miles on one tack. With Hillsborough Bay approaching we were travelling between 6.5 and 7 knots with less than 10 miles to go in 10knots of breeze. Within a half hour we were drifting at 1.4 knots SOG with spinnakers up in almost no breeze. Ghost (Olson) and Pepper (J35) went for shore breezes on either side of the entrance channel and lost their leads completely as a result. We continued to drift along at 1 - 2 knots with the Beneteau 33.7 Intuition and C&C 99 Prospector while watching all of the slower boats catch us. The Mumm 30 Vanish was nowhere in sight. By now we were 8.5 hours into the race and approaching what we know as "The Gut" - a narrow channel that has 2 - 3 knot currents as tide rises and falls - and it was against us. The wind chose this time to die completely. prospector had had enough and withdrew and within 1 minute the wind came and soon after we were making 6.5 knots all the way to the finish. We were 3rd in A and 6th overall with the winner being Forerunner a Tanzer 26.
The next day was calling for 15-20 knots from the East late in the afternoon and light in the morning. We left under motor and then the wind blew up to 25knots or so from the ESE. The seas kicked up and the wind was building. With just Heather and I aboard we opted for the #3 and a reef. The breeze was just off the nose so the ride was not bad and we made good time although it was cold and wet with a lot of splashing. The trip back was made in 4.5 hours - less than half the duration of the race the day before.
modifications: We finally have beverage holders in the cockpit!
A breeze finally arrived as we approached Charlotetown
NEW #1 COMING!
During the Charlottetown race we decided to take the plunge and order a new AP #1. It is very good in light wind but is a very lightweight sail. With our #2 no longer in usable condition and our other #1 more of a cruising sail we decided that an AP #1 with a greater wind range would allow us to fly the #1 up to 15 knots TWS where the existing one is really only good to 10 knots. Below is a picture requested from North so that they can design a 152.9% #1 to match the shape of our main. Of course it was forecasting rain on the day we took this and the forecast was right - but it was a delightful sail anyway.
Observations: No longer notice the rain when sailing - it is normal.
modifications: jib prefeeder, 2 more beverage holders (now 4)
Main picture for new #1 design
Charlottetown Race Week - June 15 - 18
A Tuesday sail to Charlottetown (30NM) in 20 knots downwind on a warm sunny summers day. It really doesn't get any better than that. We hauled the boat at Charlottetown Yacht Club (CYC) with their crane to scrub the bottom and then relaxed for a day. On Wednesday Heather and Shiela joined Larry and I for the week and Steve and Patti from Ever After joined us for the evening race. It was a "flotilla" and was supposed to be just a fun race to kick off race week and not count toward the week's results. A very good thing as the new race committee managed to only record times for the first five boats! We won a draw prize which included a stainless mug engraved with "1st in class" and a pair of sunglasses donated by Vogue Optical who is the major sponsor of race week.
All week the weather was looking to be breezy with rain looming and thundershowers possible. We managed three races each of the first two days and two on the last day. The rain held off and the winds were 15 knots most of the time. In the first race we used our #3 as it was over 15 knots at the start. That killed us as the wind was lighter by windward mark. This was a windward leeward with two times around. We ended up using the #1 for the second leg and every race after that. The new sail is not yet here so it was the old mylar sail. Three times during the week it had to be patched! We ended up 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4 over 8 races for 4th in class. Sounds better than it is as there were only 5 boats! What was really neat is that we sailed against a Kirby 30, J30, Olson 30 and CS30. Starting 5 minutes behind us was a fleet of J29 racing one design on same course - and behind them J24 one design. A lot of J boats! We sailed beside various J29 for entire legs - in some cases we managed to keep with them or even get ahead. What we learned was how finicky this boat can be and how rewarding it is when things are right. Click here for detailed report.
Epilogue: Sunday after a late night 25 knots on the nose was not appealing for delivery. Ended up paying for the lovely trip over with a night time delivery to Barrachois in rain, waves, wind and general unsettled conditions- ugh!
What we learned: Traveler down, main tight is faster on this boat. Genoa tracks major tool that we had not been using enough.
Modifications: New main on order
Commodore's Cup - July 25, 2009
New 150% #1 genoa was picked up from North on Thursday and this was our first chance to try it. Our instructions were clear - 1/2 hour reaching to break it in and tighten the seams. As this fundraising event was a Pursuit Race and we were second last to start this was a great chance to sail out onto the course early to reach around with new sail and check out the wind. The forecast as of the day before had called for rain, thundershowers and lots of wind. As the day turned out the rain had ended in the morning and there was 15 knots of wind - a great chance to try out the new sail! Our crew was just Heather and me. We rigged all spinnaker lines and were playing that by ear. As it was a downwind start we were able to watch the slower boats with their chutes on a 0.75NM first leg. Wings pretty much convinced us that the chute was not a good idea. We would have lost more time on sail handling than the spinnaker would gain us - so we were slow at first. Prospector (C&C99) had a crew of five and was the fastest boat - they went like a freight train on the first leg and gained a lot of ground on us. We had a 3 minute head start and on the first leg they chewed well into that. The second leg was with the wind just forward of the beam - Prospector gybed and attempted to carry the chute on this two mile leg. That ended soon after they broached three times in succession so we made up a lot of time. The third leg ended up being a close reach and we were soon passing boats. The Pursuit format was great in that we all managed to sail together. By the final mark we had passed all but 4 boats. Unfortunately the mark was missing so we all turned at GPS coordinates and most of us sailed further than we should. We had four boats ahead of us and we soon passed them and worked our way to the lead. Prospector did not turn late so was right on our tail. This final leg was just over 2 miles and all upwind in 15 knots. Was really fun with full main and #1 but we could have used a lot of weight on the rail - with two of us that was not possible. We had a great tacking duel with Prospector and Shadow the Soling 27. Prospector passed us just before the finish. Their #3 was definitely a better sail for prospector for this leg than our #1 was for us - but it was still a lot of fun! End result prospector 1st, Nut Case 2nd, Shadow 3rd. Our Race Captain Doug ran a fabulous event!
Nut Case sailing with new #1 prior to start
"Trap" weekend - Gull Rock & Pictou Island July 31 - Aug 2
This annual event consists of a Friday night "fun race" and then two NStYA distances races - Pictou Island (26 NM) Saturday and Gull Rock (20 NM) Sunday. The event is in honour of a long time NStYA and sailing advocate Trueman "Trap" Stright. On Friday Peter, his friend Larry Payzant and his son Chris with girlfriend and another friend brought the boat to Pictou (34 NM) arriving 5:30PM. Peter brought with him a brand new Doyle racing main and sail cover - very nice! Then at 6PM Peter and crew left and Larry Baker, Jim Scissons and Jim Melvin arrived. The Jims are cottage nieghbours and this Friday night race is our "annual" event. Was a W-L with two times around course taking place in inner harbour. The boat was moving very well with the new sails but some trick of tides or something brought half the fleet level with us by first mark - I guess the other side of the Harbour had pixie dust or something. After one mishap with a jammed spin halyard we finished this race in 10th.
Saturday was Pictou Island. On board were heather (helm), Sheelagh (pit), Larry B (foredeck) and myself (trim). Was a beautiful trip around the island. No real waves on North side, steady winds just under 15 knots and one of the nicest sails of the summer. In A class were Ghost (Olson 30), Prospector (C&C 99) and ourselves. Overall the A boats did not do well with two Tanzer 26 in top 3 and best A boat (Ghost) at 7th. We finished 10th, Prospector 11th.
Sunday was hot - but no wind. Joining us was Barry Worden for the day. At the start 3 boats were OCS and in next class 5 of 6 were OCS. There was a one knot current and no wind. After approx 30 minutes of nothing and the OCS boats anchoring to hold position we finally picked up a light breeze. Was another glorious day of sailing and again the B boats held the day. Kirby 25 Mac a Tack dogged us the whole day - he should have been over a mile behind! In the light winds the Kirby seemed faster but add 2 knots and the J took off. Interesting. Again we were 2nd in class behind Ghost and ahead of Prospector. Overall Ghost 7th, Nut Case 9th, Prospector 11th. Not a great weekend for the A boats but really nice sailing!
Monday I put the old main and roller furling #1 on the boat and single handed it back to Barrachois Harbour in the company of Prospector. No wind, wind, rain, sun, wind shifts, motor sailing and then burying the rail - all in one 34 NM trip.
Nut Case at start of Amet Island race
This Strait race is hosted by our own club. Heather and I spent the night aboard at our marina while Thundershowers were visible in the distance and the rain was with us. A nice night aboard with friends from Prospector, Hat Trick and Phantom also on their boats. Forecast for Saturday was the Thundershowers to be finished overnight and then 30knot winds diminishing to 20 by noon. Sheelagh and Doug joined us for the race. Our marina and start line were sheltered but it was still blowing approx 15 knots at the start - there was brief discussion about the #1 but we settled for #3 and full main. Prior to start the delivery main was removed and the new Doyle main bent on and reefing lines run.
We started and soon realized the #3 was a great choice. Wind was from NW and building. As we were approaching UE6 off Malagash we were keeping up with and gaining on Prospector the C&C 99 that owes us 21 sec/mile. Wind was forward but not on the nose. We hit 9.5 knots at one time! At UE6 we then veered 20 degrees to port and were now on a close reach. Coming out of our Bay we were no longer in the lee of the land and soon discovered the waves from the previous day storm and the current 25-30 knot winds. Very large and very close together. Prospector and the C&C30 "Fly By Wire" were sailing 20 degrees low and would not make the windward mark without tacking - we learned later there was a "communications error" on Prospector and that Fly by Wire was simply following them. At this point we reefed. The reefing line was jammed so we had to manually tie the clew to the boom. Not a flat sail and no fun. Were still travelling 6.5 knots toward the windard mark and the boat was behaving well. However the wind and waves were building. We were already in 6 foot waves or larger and wind was 28 gusting 33 knots. We were 1.1NM from windward mark and then had 5 miles with quartering seas downwind skirting reefs N and NE of Amet Island in building seas and wind. Gaila, Wings, Baby Bird and Midnight Magic had now all withdrawn. At this point we turned for home and with drew from the race. The new stereo was cranked and we enjoyed the ride - hitting 15.0 knots in one wild surf/plane instance and 14.8 on another!
Fly By wire won the race and Prospector 2nd. This 5.5 hour race was completed in under 3 hours amid much seasickness. Congratulations to the two that stuck it out!
15 knots!
Weekend Series Winner 2009
BHYC hosts weekend series, Wednesday series and a championship series. For 2009 Nut Case participated in the Weekend Series comprising three races as well as the Championship series comprising the best two of three from Commodores Cup and two races in Earle Forshner regatta. The weekend series was scheduled for only three races and typically has less than ten competitors - it is usually much less intense than other races. The first race took place on July 11 and was noted more for an unfortunate collision than for the sailing. Nut Case and Shadow scraped hulls with minimal damage to the boats but big hurt to the egos - so much for friendly racing! Shadow withdrew due to a damaged shroud while Nut Case sailed on to 1st with a parted lifeline and a few minor scrapes on the hull.
The second race in this series took place on a day with 31 degree air temperatures and 25 degree water temperatures. Nut Case anchored for much of the day with much swimming and snacking and even a chance to scrub the hull. Then after an already full day Nut Case participated in the race with three couples on board and everyone in bathing suits. This August 15 race was also a first place finish with some fun competition against our friends on the C&C 99 Prospector. Race three was the day before Hurricane Bill and was cancelled due to lack of participation as skippers decided to use the day to batten down the hatches for the approaching hurricane.
Club Champion - Sort of
The season at Barrachois Harbour Yacht Club concludes on the Labour Day weekend with a two day two race regatta in memory of former club member Earle Forshner who drowned in 2002 while sailing in our bay. This is an open regatta and combined with the Commodores Cup results the best two of three races are selected to determine club champion.
The first day was sunny, warm and dying breeze. The race was eventually shortened to become a pure windward leeward of just under 6 miles. Sailing in light winds Nut Case had a very difficult time finding the groove. Having not been scrubbed for three weeks one Hurricane and one Tropical Storm did not likely help but Nut Case ended up with a sixth to Prospector's 4th. The club Championship standings now had us with a 2nd and a 6th for 8 points to their 1st and 4th for 4.75 points. Gaila the Mirage 27 finished 3rd and had a 6th form earlier race for 9 points. Wings the club redwing broke a halyard (in light wind no less) and did not participate while Tango a Tanzer 26 snapped the genoa halyard shortly before the windward mark while at the time leading the race. the race was won by Titan followed by Forerunner - both Tanzer 26 boats from nearby Pictou.
Sunday was a bit different. The day started with a minor collision in side the marina resulting in a broken tiller on Precious Time. Tango and Wings also did not compete due to parted genoa halyards and two other boats from Saturday did not show up. The weather was calling for 15 - 20 knots from the North. this meant waves and fun! At the start there was a close call with our friends on the C&C 99 Prospector as we were 1st and 2nd over the line. Just behind us the Saturday winner Titan and second place boat Forerunner collided at the start line with both boats withdrawing - the field was wide now open! Nut Case loved this wind - one good tack resulted in a big gain and along with some decent sailing Nut Case was the first boat in its class to reach the windward mark followed very closely by Prospector. It had become a two boat race with another very close call rounding the next mark as Prospectors bow very nearly was badly scratched by our outboard (tongue in cheek). Prospector took the lead shortly before the next mark and on the final downwind leg Nut Case and Prospector were neck and neck with our spin pole and their boom only inches apart (well okay actually two feet). An exciting finish with Nut Case 1st followed by Prospector, Again and Gaila.
The overall results for the regatta had Prospector with 6.0 points with a 2nd and 4th, Nut Case with 6.75 points with a 1st and 6th and Gaila close behind at 7.0 points with a 3rd and 4th. Prospector wins the regatta.
With this final race both Prospector and Nut Case finished the Championship series with a first and a second. As we have no tie breaking criteria at BHYC we both get to be champions for 2009. Ironic as in 2006 we were co champions on Dry Red and Full Tilt 2 for the same reason!
Saturday Sunday Regatta Championship