Flying Scot Midwinters Day 2
Wednesday 25 March
Wind 18-2 mph from the East, temperature 80.
Day two of the 2009 Flying Scot Mid Winters in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Wednesday saw our first postponement. This was due to an easterly wind gusting between 18-22mph making the waves near the breakwater too treacherous for the fleet to leave the harbor. The hour and a half postponement meant that we could spend some extra time in the excellent Top Gun program organized by Greg Fisher. We all left the classroom ready to attempt the perfect start and a little more confident about dealing with the waves on the beat and the downwind portions of the course.
When the postponement flag was taken down we left the breakwater in a pleasant 15mph wind and significantly fewer large waves than earlier. The first race was a windward/leeward five times around with the right hand side of the course favored on the first beat. The wind was decreasing throughout the race and by the second downwind leg, it had virtually stopped. This made the rounding of the leeward mark the second time a challenge as we struggled to round the mark and begin the final beat to the finish. The fleet split significantly to the left and right sides of the course desperately searching for pressure and the better tide. The top five boats decided to favor the right side of the course, where a potential sea breeze could arrive. We decided to follow the left as it gave us a more direct transit to the finish line. Making my crew hike out on the leeward side to keep the boat heeled at the optimum angle we made good progress on the fleet to the right hand side and maintained our position, to finish 6th.
The second race started in an unexpected sea breeze that kicked in a few hours early, much to the amazement of the locals in the fleet and the race committee. The race was a short course windward/leeward three times with a 0.8m beat to the first mark. The current played a large factor and made the right side of the course favored on the beat and the left favoured on the downwind. It was a very tight race with the fleet not having the chance to spread out and we all went home tired and happy looking forward to the buffet dinner at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club that evening.
The reception was well attended and the great food (and drinks!) well appreciated. We all had fun in the raffle and enjoyed the presentation by the Mount Ephraim Yacht Club, where the 2009 National Championships will be held in the first week of August.
Wind 18-2 mph from the East, temperature 80.
Day two of the 2009 Flying Scot Mid Winters in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Wednesday saw our first postponement. This was due to an easterly wind gusting between 18-22mph making the waves near the breakwater too treacherous for the fleet to leave the harbor. The hour and a half postponement meant that we could spend some extra time in the excellent Top Gun program organized by Greg Fisher. We all left the classroom ready to attempt the perfect start and a little more confident about dealing with the waves on the beat and the downwind portions of the course.
When the postponement flag was taken down we left the breakwater in a pleasant 15mph wind and significantly fewer large waves than earlier. The first race was a windward/leeward five times around with the right hand side of the course favored on the first beat. The wind was decreasing throughout the race and by the second downwind leg, it had virtually stopped. This made the rounding of the leeward mark the second time a challenge as we struggled to round the mark and begin the final beat to the finish. The fleet split significantly to the left and right sides of the course desperately searching for pressure and the better tide. The top five boats decided to favor the right side of the course, where a potential sea breeze could arrive. We decided to follow the left as it gave us a more direct transit to the finish line. Making my crew hike out on the leeward side to keep the boat heeled at the optimum angle we made good progress on the fleet to the right hand side and maintained our position, to finish 6th.
The second race started in an unexpected sea breeze that kicked in a few hours early, much to the amazement of the locals in the fleet and the race committee. The race was a short course windward/leeward three times with a 0.8m beat to the first mark. The current played a large factor and made the right side of the course favored on the beat and the left favoured on the downwind. It was a very tight race with the fleet not having the chance to spread out and we all went home tired and happy looking forward to the buffet dinner at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club that evening.
The reception was well attended and the great food (and drinks!) well appreciated. We all had fun in the raffle and enjoyed the presentation by the Mount Ephraim Yacht Club, where the 2009 National Championships will be held in the first week of August.
The wind graph for Wednesday
Complete results are posted on the FSSA home page.
Hans
Labels: Flying Scot, Midwinter Championship 2009, St. Petersburg YC
posted by Flying Scot Blogger @ 10:31 PM
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