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Nut Case Sailing Adventures Summer 2012

First sail of the year - race to Pictou

May - June 2012

It has been a different year.  Heather and Mike crewed in the 635 mile trip from Newport to Bermuda in mid June which has really put a kink in summer sailing planning.  The trip log can be viewed here.   Meanwhile Nut Case underwent some Spring upgrades to traveler, rigid vang, motor mount, jib tracks, forestay & foil, clutches and keel.  At the same time we crewed on the C&C 115 Koobalibra from mid May and will continue to crew on Koobalibra and race Nut Case for the remainder of the season.  Busy.

Koobalibra sailing to 1st Prince of Wales race - Sept 2011

June 30 - Barrachois to Pictou 37 NM

We arrived home from Bermuda on Thursday June 21, were involved with high school prom activities on Friday and launched Nut Case on Saturday.  Mast stepped, rig tuned, tuff luff installed and a host of other commissioning tasks yet to do.  Boat is located 140km from home so it would be tight for our first race on June 30.  June 30 arrived and we did in fact have the boat ready.  Unfortunately with the Bermuda race just behind us we did not have the time to put together a full crew and we started the race with only Heather, Sheelagh and Mike - very under crewed!  The forecast was SW 15-20 diminishing to SW 10-15 in the afternoon.  A  downwind start and reach all the way down the coast to Pictou.  The forecast was of course wrong.  The showers never materialized and we started in 10 knots wind from South under spinnaker.  By Cape John as we were leaving our Bay Nut Case was positioned just behind two Olson 30 and just ahead of a J30 - we seemed to be in the race!  We reached under spinnaker up the coast for almost 10 miles and then were becalmed.  We caught up to the two Olsons but then the boats behind were catching up to us as they still had wind.  The wind eventually shifted to light (well under 10 knots) from Northeast and Nut Case and the Olson 30s Kestrel and Ghost began tacking up the coast.  The rest of the fleet did not get this breeze for some time so it became a three boat race with Nut Case at one time coming close to passing Kestrel!  As we approached Caribou and Pictou adverse tides were a major factor as they were 2 - 3 knots against the fleet at places.  Local knowledge helped Kestrel get ahead of Ghost and both to pull away from Nut Case.  Approaching the first mark for the harbour Nut Case was leading on Corrected time and then Ghost and Nut Case sailed into a hole while Kestrel slowly sailed into the Harbour.  Eventually we found some breeze and managed to sneak around the mark and drift in with the tide until we picked up a nice shore breeze and tacked to the finish in 10-15 knots of breeze.  Nut Case performed exceptionally well in this race and finished 2nd overall behind Kestrel and ahead of Ghost.  But for the becalming in Pictou harbour we would have challenged for first overall!

Nut Case returning from Charlottetown Race Week

July 19-21 Charlottetown Race Week

Thirty Miles dock - to - dock from Barrachois to Charlottetown, PEI makes Charlottetown Race Week a natural destination for Nut Case.  This year with the keel and rig improvements we had high hopes for this event.  For the week we had Peter at helm, Mike on Main, Larry on Jib, Sheelagh in the pit and hoped to have Patrick or Dave on foredeck.  Unfortunately work interfered with both foredeck hopefuls so we started in 15+ knots on day one with just 4 and Mike improvising on foredeck and then also trying to do main upwind. 

Our Class consisted of three J30, a Kirby 30, a Beneteau 337 and Nut Case. On Day 1 the boat was light on crew with excessive heel so it was not our best day.  We managed to run all the sails but our sail changes were not exemplary.  Day 2 was better - we had picked up Liz Cooper from Halifax to help with trim and whatever else was needed as well as Capn "Sea Dog" Dave from a Moody 46 "KeOlaKai".  Dave has many years of racing experience and took over main trim while Mike moved full time to foredeck.  Winds were 15-20 knots as we motored out and peaked at a steady 23 knots with relatively flat waters.  Four races on day 2 and Peter consistently nailed the starts.  Some sloppy crew work esp on foredeck resulted in some lost time and after two races there were two ripped spinnakers - leaving none for races 3 and 4 of the day which we sailed anyway with no spinnaker.  Day 3 was 10-12 knots and much better for Nut Case.  We went with a slightly oversized spinnaker and took a 6 sec penalty.  Excellent starts again and with somewhat improved sail handling and foredeck we sailed well enough that at our regular handicap we would be 2nd and 5th ... much better - but we were not using our regular handicap sadly ...

It was a fun week especially because we were able to meet Liz as well as Dave and Lisa from KeOlaKai.  Late nights, lots of beverages and many stories. 

Sept 1,2 Earle Forshner Regatta

Our club championship consists of best two of three races.  The first is the Robbie Robertson Commodore Cup and the next two are the Earle Forshner regatta races.  Nut Case missed the Robbie Robertson race since it conflicted with Charlottetown Race Week so we were out of contention for the club championship .. although in theory there is one drop so with a couple wins in the Forshner regatta we could still win it .. unlikely - but we could.  For the race we had Peter, Heather, Mike and Dave (skipper of Koobalibra) for Saturday and Sunday Mike, Heather, Dave and Dave's girlfriend Jennifer lined up.  The weather was less than cooperative though and the Saturday race was cancelled and a second race added for Sunday.

Sunday was far less windy.  So much so that the first race was shortened before the boats rounded the first turning mark!  On board were Heather, Dave, Mike and the almost non existent winds did not make this too few crew.  Eventually we all finished which was a major surprise.  Nut Case hunted for the wind and was rewarded with a first place finish.  The second race was with a nice 10 knot (almost) wind and was much less frustrating. Aboard were Heather, Dave and Mike from the morning as well as Jennifer and Amy.  Amy had never sailed in her life but wanted to experience it.  Now that we had actually won a race we started to believe that we could in fact win another ... a bit greedy but true.  Good tactics by Dave once again led to a second first and the club championship as well as overall regatta winner.

Destination Fox Harbour Too leaving during our race.  174 ft LOA

Spin looks nice with sun behind it

The winning crew

September 15 - Around Amet Race - The big green egg!

The Amet Island race traces its roots back to the 80s when there was an informal "Bay Head Race".  At that time anything that floated and had a sail would start at Bay Head in Tatamagouche Bay and sail their sloop, catamaran, dingy, windsurfer or whatever out around Amet Island and back, or so the lore goes.  In 2006 BHYC resurrected this race as the Northumberland Strait Yachting Association series 20 mile Category B race.  It is no longer part of the NSTYA championship series but is still a fun race and is usually just over 18 miles long.  For 2012 it was rescheduled to September from August since so many club boats were away cruising - and it was hoped this would produce an exciting race.

Nut Case delayed its departure to Halifax to sail in this last race.  Crew was lined up with Kim and Charlene from Prospector, Jamie from Torch as well as Heather and Mike.  By race date we had lost Charlene and Jamie to flu so it was just three.  Winds were forecast 15-20 knots and the forecast was mostly correct.  Kim, Heather and Mike raced shorthanded and did in fact fly the spinnaker part of the race until it appeared sea state may make this difficult short handed.  This made for a relaxing fun race to close out the season on the North Shore of Nova Scotia.  Despite sailing over two miles downwind with just a main sail the other boats difficulties upwind produced a miraculous win for Nut Case ... making for a very happy Kim.

Immediately following the race Nut Case was loaded on the trailer and the boat and crew headed to Kim and Andy's house in Wentworth  for a bonfire and pork roast dinner cooked on the Big Green Egg.  A great end to our summer sailing season!

Ultimate - yup!

Beancrock Race - Dartmouth Yacht Club - Sept 22, 2012

For the past three years Nut Case has enjoyed two sailing seasons per year - the summer in the warm waters of the Northumberland Strait and the Fall brisk sailing in Halifax Harbour.  This was the third year for Nut Case entering the Beancrock Race at DYC.  This is the last hurrah for DYC racing and is followed by a dock party, BBQ, live band ... and of course baked beans.  The course normally starts at Wrights Cove in Bedford Basin and sails out thru Halifax Harbour to Maughers Beach off McNabs Island in the outer Harbour. 

On board were Heather, Mike, Kevin from Koobalibra and Brian who sails on a Whitby 42 and also a J24.  The forecast was 20 knots and 20mm rain.  In the end was 10-20 knot forecast and light drizzle that turned to dense fog.  Initially there was decent visibility but the fog soon closed in as the boats headed into busy Halifax Harbour.  After the first hour of the race Nut Case was all alone in her own shrouded world.  A world that was punctuated by fog horns ... loud booming fog horns, a VHF tuned to the Halifax Traffic channel 12, ships that we never did see, ferries, tour boats and somewhere other racing sailboats.  As the race progressed during the long beat out to the outer harbour the wind fell from 15 knots to 10 to less.  Eventually after a little over 2 hours Nut Case  approached the windward mark - H14 in Halifax Harbour off McNabs Island.  By this time the wind had almost disappeared.  Then looming out of the fog was a sailboat - the 1D35 Climax who had just rounded the mark and was heading back.  We were thrilled that we were that close to a boat rated PHRF 33 less than 1/10 mile from our windward mark!  What we did not realize was that Climax had rounded the mark close to 20 minutes earlier and that we were still another 20 minutes to the mark ourselves.  Shortly after that we saw two more boats loom out of the fog - a Viking 33 and a Kirby 30 racing from the Armdale Yacht club in a completely different race.  Three sailboats in 10 minutes after seeing nothing for an hour!  We rounded the mark and drifted - SLOWLY- back toward Wrights Cove.  Traveling 0.25 knots over the ground.  Ouch!  Shortly after that another Kirby 30 - Five of Harts - from our race motored by.  They could not get to the windward mark having tacked a dozen times or more so dropped out.

The downwind leg back was very interesting.  It took nearly two hours before some breeze came back.  Meanwhile we were steering based on the chart plotter and listening intently to Halifax Traffic as an Ocean going tanker was departing in the company of two or three tug boats.  The fog horn on that tanker that was less than a quarter mile away was very loud and very nerve shattering.  However we knew where they were heading and it was not toward us!  We eventually passed within 60 feet of Georges Island without even seeing it in the fog and then gybed and enjoyed a long and finally enjoyable spinnaker run back to the finish line, punctuated only by the startling and horn accompanied appearance of a ferry as it passed 50 feet in front of us.

Eventually we finished at 6:22PM, 6 hours and 7 minutes after we started.  We learned that as we suspected there was indeed a time limit and we did exceed it.  However DYC gave us the keeper trophy for 2nd in A class since we sailed the entire course and only Climax the 1D35 actually finished the race in our class.  Very classy!  ... and of course the festivities at DYC after the race were again first rate

motoring home the next day - finally visibility!

Busted Gear, Hourglass, Lots of wind, no wind.  Turkey Bowl Oct 6 2012 - Fall Sailing at its best!

The Turkey Bowl race.  The second of our traditional 4 race Fall fun race series in Halifax.  This race is hosted by the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron on the Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend.  Last year was 20 degrees C and 10- 15 knots.  Tee shirts and shorts in October!  No way we could beat that but we came close.  Warm enough for shorts and light sweater and 15 - 20 knots meant a fun race! We had Nabil and Kevin from Koobalibra crew as well as Heather and Mike.  Very light crew for the forecast wind.  .. and the forecast was 15 - 20 increasing to 25 in the evening.

The race started right off the breakwater at the club house which meant sailing thru a mooring field and then in tight quarters for the start.  In the NW Arm the wind was lighter than forecast so we went with full main and #1.  We did a few tacks and gybes as we maneuvered for start and after one gybe the bearings fell out of main traveler.  Then one more tack and we crossed the line to start the race .... with the traveler car a foot and a half above the track! Nabil came to the rescue with some spare line as we managed to lash traveler car centerline and then trim main and try to catch up to our fleet.  

The race was a fun course out of NW Arm, then around George's Island in Halifax harbour and a couple W/L legs before a finish in front of club house.  After our second mark was downwind to Georges Island in now 15 knots of breeze.  We managed to get the spin hoisted with out too many issues but then had an hourglass and a boat to windward which prevented a proper fill of the chute.  OK - Kevin to the foredeck and managed to wrestle the mess and get the spin flying - then a nice run to the island - the tiller was vibrating as we hit 8 knots a few times.

Around the island to port in a deep water harbour.  We doused the spin and hoisted the jib and then Mike glanced at the depth sounder.  11 feet!  Oops.  Somehow we did not strike bottom as we rounded the island and headed upwind - still flying full main and #1.  This was far too much sail for only four crew in this wind and the boat heeled to 35 degrees by times ... but it was fun!  Will have to remember to service the port side winch since it was under water at least once.  We then executed the sloppiest sail change ever as the head of the #3 refused to load in the Tuff Luff for an agonizing 10 minutes and continued to windward mark.

Around the mark and downwind with wind off the beam on a Spinnaker reach.  The boat hit 8.86 knots and was a great ride!  Then back upwind to the last mark and we sailed into a huge hole as we watched the fleet disappear.  OOPs.  A final spin reach and finish in the NW Arm under little wind to finish the day. 

Kevin loved the extra responsibilities for one person on a small boat and Nabil loved the low freeboard, responsiveness and the overall small boat feel.  Was a great time despite a very poor finish.  Afterward we headed to the country for Thanksgiving weekend, bonfire, dinner, food, fun, friends and family.  Two more races remain ...

The traditional Thanksgiving bonfire ....

 Danginn Cup - Bedford Basin Yacht Club - Oct 13 2012

Prizes for first second and third - major sponsor Helley Hansen

I love Fall sailing.  I love extending the season by a month.  However there are some days when I really question the sanity of it all.  The Danginn is the last race of the season at BBYC and over the past years has been one time perfect wind in pouring rain and the next 30 gusting 35+ knots.  The 2012 race was no exception to the unpredictable Fall weather for the Danginn.  Forecast was for 25 knots NW and 7 degree Celcius.  Brrr!  The final result was in fact sunny, NW 20-25 knots and flat water - and yes cold.  On the Friday Mike took the boat to BBYC for the 2 hour delivery in a warm 13 degrees that soon turned to 7 degrees, 20 knot winds on the nose, choppy nasty waves and splashing and to top it all off rain!  It was really cold!  Saturday morning the forecast was unchanged, the air temperature at 7AM was zero degrees and there was frost everywhere - what idiot would go sailing!

For the Danginn we had Kevin and Nabil from Koobalibra, Ben who skippers a J24 formerly out of BBYC and sails a J29 as well as Heather and Mike.  At the dock it was sheltered and felt warmer than the forecasted 7 degrees.  The crew all had extra layers, wore wool toques, most wore winter gloves and all expected to be cold.  At the Skippers meeting while drinking complimentary coffee and munching on fresh banana bread it was announced that rather than the Pursuit format of previous years was a common start for the ten boats that entered.   The start area was off the club and smack in the middle of a mooring field - interesting

Nut Case had a decent start and was soon in second position behind the Tartan Thomas 35 "Starfire".  In addition to the PHRF 75 Starfire there were two J24 at 162, a Kirby 25 at 171, a J22 at 177 and four other boats 156 thru 240.  Nut Case was positioned properly as the second boat approaching the first mark and decided with the gusting winds and cold crew that it was safer to leave the spinnaker in the bag rather than potentially making a mistake or causing injuries.  This seemed a sound strategy at first as the lead J24 was having great difficulty taming their spinnaker as was the Kirby 25.  However as we left the cove the winds settled down and the spinnaker boats made huge gains on Nut Case.  This was a short leg and the only one in the race where a spinnaker really made a difference.  We made up all of our losses on the next upwind leg.  The decision to use the older, flatter #3 with outboard jib tracks and a full main really started to pay off.  In addition having Starfire ahead to highlight the winds really helped as well.  We were right where we should be at the end of the windward leg!

The rest of the race was pretty straight forward.  There was a short beam reach and then a slight reach with wind forward of the beam.  Nut Case hit a top speed of 10.4 knots in no waves - this was not surfing.  We continued to make gains on our upwind legs and Ben's tactics and knowledge of the area put us in lifts where Starfire was in knocks or lighter wind.  The J24 and J22 followed our path and we finished the race under two minutes behind the boat that owed us 49 seconds/mile and over 4 minutes ahead of the boat we owed 36 seconds to.  Not bad positioning!  All the crew had big smiles and the race was in fact not that cold and pretty short as we sailed it in only 65 minutes.  To make this even better we had sailed the entire race with a jury rigged traveler that we left at centerline the entire race. 

Traveler - not pretty but at least we could go sailing while we wait for parts

After the race the crew had to leave for study or other plans while Heather and Mike went to the clubhouse.  BBYC had provided complimentary bowls of gumbo for all the entrants to warm them up.  The results were announced and Nut Case was presented with the Danginn Cup and a large cache of prizes!  Second was J24 Lightning McQueen, 3rd J22 Cheap Thrill - a J boats sweep!  The tradition of the Danginn has the winning boat fill the trophy with run and coke and share with all the crews of the participating boats.  This tradition was kept and the club and another skipper refilled the bowl as it was emptied three times.  The Danginn was a first class event at BBYC and we were treated very well.  We will definitely try to make this a priority again for 2013.

The fifty year old Danginn Cup filled with rum and coke

Die Hard Race - Armdale Yacht Club - Oct 20 2012 - The Grand Finale

Another Race, another jury rig.  Vang breaks at start

Final race of the season.  Traditionally followed by the crew and friends coming to the house for supper and festivities.  This year was a s memorable as any other.  The forecast called for 22 knots with gusts to 35 and 20mm of rain.  Looked like a crazy day and with our crew of Woody, Karen, James, Heather and Mike a good time to see how the boat could perform in windy conditions, maybe even a new top speed!

The race starts deep in the Northwest Arm at AYC start line.  From there is a 2 mile trip out the sheltered Arm into the far less sheltered Halifax Harbour approaches where we expected to find the heavier winds.  With the heavy wind and gusty expectations we opted for heavy weather setting on rig tensions, our flatter old dacron #3 and use of the outboard jib tracks.  We were anticipating that reefing may also be required once we exited the shelter of the NW Arm  and that if it was too bad a nice downwind trip home if we bailed.  Course was upwind from AYC to Lighthouse Bank of McNab's Island, then to Mars Rock near Herring Cove, followed from there downwind to Ives Knoll West, a reach around Point Pleasant Park and a downwind trip back up the Arm to the finish.

As we were preparing for the start there was a bang and the boom end of the rigid vang separated from the boom.  We were now four minutes to start time and in sequence.  Woody asked Heather for a short length of line and set about rigging something to hold the boom down.  Meanwhile Mike was sailing the boat to the pre start area Woody suggested and tacking repeatedly in the cramped area while Karen and James were hoisting and then trimming the jib.  With approx 30 seconds to the start the temporary vang solution was in place, the jib trimmed, the boat in good position and the crew ready to go.  Nut Case ended up with the best start in the fleet and was second boat out of the Arm during the long tacking sequence.  Not bad for a boat with a busted traveler and vang!

As we tacked up the NW Arm the crew began to realize that the winds were not quite what was forecast.  We had 10 - 15 knots with some gusts just over 15.  There was talk of changing headsails but a headsail change while tacking in a narrow channel could be ugly and the winds were forecast to be high especially once we reached the Harbour Approaches.  We exited the NW Arm and there was more wind - perhaps 15 knots with gusts to 20.  Certainly not 22 steady with gusts over 30!  We continued upwind under #3 headsail in Ocean Swells of increasing size.  By the time we rounded Lighthouse Bank we were the third boat having been just passed by the faster Bavaria 38.  The Ocean Swells got bigger, the wind kept lessening and eventually we found ourselves bashing thru large swells close together at just over five knots as we approached Mars Rock.  Oh for the power of a #1 headsail!

A tribute to the Montreal Canadiens!  Mike, James, Karen sailing up NW Arm under spinnaker

After Mars Rock the course was dead downwind and we launched our black Doyle spinnaker in very rolly messy seas.  This spinnaker had been cut down to 180% since Charlotettown Race Week and this was our first time flying it since the recut.  The spinnaker looked OK and we were pleased not only with the job done by the sail maker but more importantly by our speed getting back to 6.8 knots.  

Note the shoulders on the black spinnaker

As we approached Ives Knoll West it was apparent that the #3 was the wrong headsail.  We switched to our #1 and had a short upwind leg followed by a reach around Point Pleasant Park.  The winds were now perfect for a downwind trip up the Arm to the finish line.  We used teh Blue spinnaker to see its contrast to our black one and had a great run to the finish without even the need for a gybe!

Woody relaxing at the finish

What a way to end the season.  18 degrees, gentle winds and a great day on the water.  We managed to hold off the Kirby 30 that had been closing on us for a fourth place finish behind two Solings and a Bavaria 38.  Following the race we all retired to Herring Cove for a fabulous pork rib dinner cooked by Heather and a night of good times with friends and fellow sailors.

**** SEASON ENDS ****