Chester Race Week 2018
Second in Class for the week!
For 2018 the skipper was finally convinced to enter Persistence in Chester Race Week rather than crewing on other boats. CRW requies a lot of organization and commitment for the boat and the crew. Where to stay, where to berth the boat ... and most importantly who will run the boat. This year we had Danger (aka Dave) and Christian on foredeck and mast, Kate Navigating and alternate pit (as well as many other tasks), Tracy pit, Greg on main, Gilles jib/spin trim, Mike jib and downwind helm, Heather upwind helm and starts, Andrew Tactics. This is a pretty good crew on any given day and was great in Chester!
The delivery was hard!
Dock space was booked at The Rope Loft in Chester and Tacy, Heather and Mike delivered the boat by way of Rogue's Roost on the weekend of Aug 11/12. A great night at anchor and then an easy trip to Chester. The next day Mike and Greg jumped on Liz White's Rogue Wave to bring it from Halifax to Chester. Along the way we saw marine life and a very large sea turtle floating lifelessly on the surface.
Day 1
Rounding Windard mark. Day 1 Race 1
The first day was 10-15 knots increasing with possible bad weather in the afternoon. Persistence was in Distance 3 class of five boats. Persistence (PHRF114), Poohsticks J92 (99), Razzmatazz Abbott 36 DK (96), Sail La Vie Jenneau 409 (87) Wild Thing VI (81). We expected to be last boat across line all week but were suprisingly competitive! On day 1 we did not have Christian but had a crew of 8 and the boat was moving well. The first race was ideal conditions and was a long W/L with two laps. The wind at start was fluctuating 9 - 13 knots and had some boats opting for smaller headsails while Persistence went with our 155 #1. This paid off as there were lighter spots during the race. One boat (Poohsticks) said later they were flying their #3 and on four ocassions brought the #1 on deck only to have the wind come up again. We finished the race in 18 knots TWS and were the third boat across the line despite having the slowest handicap!
It was now after 3PM and an ominous black wall of cloud was approaching along with a nasty forecast. The distance 4 and 5 fleets were told they were done for the day and 1, 2 and three had a second race started with very long legs once again. We started with our 140% #2 headsail in 15-20 knots TWS. The first upwind was busy but we were doing ok although a bit over powered. The wind continued to build and the wall of dark was approching from downwind. The first downwind leg had sustained periods of 25knots TWS and had us sailing directly into the black weather. Thunder was now heard in the distance and the rain began in earnest. We switched to the #3 (100%) on the downwind leg and then at the mark had a disastrous takedown. A spin sheet wrapped around Danger's leg with a filling spinnaker and 25 knots of wind! Gilles leapt to the rescue and freed Dave but not before the windward sheet/guy detached from the spin and the leeward sheet was lost overboard. Now the spinnaker was flying horizontally from the mast with no way to corral it back aboard ... and we were well past the leeward mark! Somehow we finally managed to get an extremely soggy spinnaker onboard and below and started to sail upwind into horizontal rain coming in sheets. It was cold and miserable and amazingly we were not very far behind out fleet. Mercifully the race committee abandoned the racing due to expected worsening weather and more thunder. Day one was in the books with us finishing 2nd in the first race and 2nd for the day.
Day 2
On Day 2 the winds were different. Contrasting to Day 1 perfect wind in race 1 and stormy conditions in race 2 this day had very little wind. After a long wait we finally were under way. It was a slow almost tortuous affair with Sail La Vie heading out for hopes of a sea breeze and the others simply trying to get to the WW mark. As we were finally approaching the mark a breeze came up and we increased from 1-2 knots to six knots! It was short lived and we bobbed around at the WW mark as it was trying its hardest to become a LW mark. Eventually we started moving and although frustrating we did manage to finish 3rd.
Since it was just shy of 4PM (no races to start after 4) the RC ran a second race for the day. They started the slower classes first on a very short W/L course with two laps around. There was A LOT of congestion on the course and especially at the first LW mark as the faster fleets overtook the slower fleets. Poohsticks made a great move at 1st LW mark approaching on a fast port reach and gybing inside some stbd boats right at mark. That move and their good sailing in a congested fleet gave them 1st while Persistence squeaked out a 2nd and once again fisished 2nd on the day.
Day 3
Persistence leading Sail La Vie and Poohsticks after WW mark
Another sunny day with a light forecast. The race committee opted for a longer race with some reaching legs to make up for the lighter winds. Persistence had a great upwind leg 1 and rounded WW mark leading the class. Leg 2 was a 1.5 mile close spinnaker reach on stbd and was followed by a close port reach for leg 3. Persistence was moving well but long legs on close reaches favoured the sprit boats Poohsticks and Sail La Vie and particularly the J92 Poohsticks. By the end of leg 2 Poohsticks and Sail La Vie had passed us. The gybe from close stbd reach to close port reach went very well on Persistence but not so well on the Beneteau 42s7 Wild Thing. This kept us ahead of the larger boat for most of the next leg but eventually all of the faster boats did pass us. We crossed the line after 3.5 hours last in our fleet but finished 2nd on corrected time. Once again 2nd on the day.
Day 4
Waiting for wind with Sail La Vie and Black Pearl
Forecast for the last day ... no wind and fog/wet. We headed out at 11. There was no wind, however it was warm and almost sunny! Thus began the annual CRW no wind raftup day. We waited for a considerable time as the wind would start to puff in one area and then go away and try again in another. Finally the sea breeze prevailed bringing in a 4-5 knot breeze and with it fog. We started and then went left and the fog came in. We could see Razzmatazz but no other boats in our fleet so we decided to keep an eye on Razzmatazz. We saw the C&C 99s one by one come out of the fog and cross us on their port tack. That was it .. just us and Razzmatazz in a longish W/L course with 2+ mile legs. Kate was below giving us bearings and distances as we were basically blind. We started to see the Distance 1 boats coming downwind one by one in the fog and then finally we could see our WW mark. We were ahead of Razzmatazz by a bit and then saw the rest of our fleet. They had gone to the right of the course and were all behind us and Razzmatazz! Downwind in the fog on tight angles with many gybes. Andrew was trying to keep us moving and called for a lot of gying! This continued for a second lap to the same marks and we again went left. Razzmatazz passed us by the WW mark and we were chasing them the entire downwind leg. We finally sailed out of the fog for our downwind finish in a drag race with Poohsticks as they would cross us on their tighter angles. Razzmatazz crossed the line first and Persistence crossed third .. one second behind Poohsticks in a 2.5 hour race. We finished out our race week with a first place finish and second overall! We tied Poohsticks on total points but Poohsticks sailed very well and beat us after the drop. Scoring for the week can be found here https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=4668
Not bad for our first Chester!
