Baddeck Regatta Week 2015
It was all about the hangar!
The week long regatta in Baddeck Nova Scotia has been running for over 100 years. The format consists of dingy racing as well as yacht racing over six days. In the "Yachts" class there is one race per day most days with two races on Thursday and the "The Gardiner Hubbard Bell" race on the final day. The winds typically come up at noon so start time is a very civilized 12:30PM with the races taking approximately 2 hours and starting 10 minutes from the dock. A great format for us old folks.
This regatta had a special interest for us. Not only was it our first Race Week on Persistence but also the other Frers 33 in the area "Equinox" owned by Rod Stright would be racing. This was our first head to head test of the boat against a sister ship.
Persistence with Debroth 42 Soto Voce and Viper 830 Flying V
Persistence and Equinox during Gardiner Hubbard Bell race
A bit too much heel
So where does the hangar come in? In the race on Friday at the finish the starbord genoa car broke free of the track (or was about to). Bearings were falling out and with Harken cars this means the car will come off the track within the next few minutes. There was no way to attach the jib leads properly so we had a problem. That evening Jon and Mike spent an hour pushing the bearings back into place and wrapping the car with a lot of electric tape and hoping it would hold for one more race. This of course set the stage for the Gardiner Hubbard Bell race ...
Gardiner Hubbard Bell Race
During the week Persistence had faired reasonably well against Equinox and against the rest of the fleet. Respectable finishes but not outstanding. We even managed to beat Equinox in one race and lead for six of seven legs in another (until we blew it ...). The Saturday race was the big one. 20 miles according to the deed of gift and in more open water. The winds were forecast as 15-20 knots which seemed normal. At the start we hoisted the jib only to find our jury rigged stbd genoa car did not have the sheet run properly. A tack to port and frantic scrambling had this sorted out less than 30 seconds before the start, all the while with us forced to be on a lengthy port tack. Somehow we managed a great start despite this and were on the far right of the course. While on the right we noted we were being lifted so we decided to stay to the right. This paid off for us on the first leg. In addition our new 140% genoa seemed the right sail for the 17 knot winds and was our fastest sail. We managed a good downwind and a second upwind leg also going to the right. We realized that we were having our best race of the week. In fact this was shaping up to be our best race of the past few years!
The course was three long upwind legs of approx 3NM and matching downwind legs and then a dogleg to the finish. The winds were 17 gusting to 23 knots. We had managed two very good upwind legs and as we were completing the second downwind leg we were ahead of the Frers 33 Equinox by a fair margin. This was our yard stick and our goal for the week so we knew things were going well. We rounded the leeward mark to port and started upwind when the jury rigged genoa car flew off the track. What bad luck when every thing was going so well. This is where the hangar comes in. Our foredeck crew stowed the pole in record time and we flipped to port while Mike ran below to grab a plastic coat hangar. The diameter of the hangar rod was about the same as the car bearings so two straight sections of hangar rod were jammed on each side between the car and the track and the entire mess taped together with electric tape and a prayer. We flipped back to starbord and it held! Meanwhile we were still ahead of Equinox (but not by as much) as we sailed our last windard 3 mile leg. One more downwind leg, then a reachy dog leg to the finish off the club. The repair held and Hangar saved the day in our finest moment of the season!
Gardiner Hubbard Bell trophy which lives in the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck. A great way to finish a week!
