First Rum Race of 2018 on Galveston Bay
- Thread starter Bill19233
- Start date
Second Rum Race of 2018. Couldn't keep up with the leaders on the long upwind leg tacking into 20 to 25 apparent, finished just out of the points. Had a great time, though!
I knew that, didn't think of it. Thanks Jackdaw, guess I was preoccupied with "Rule 18". Need a dang checklist for every situation!
The leg was straight dead downwind. Put up the whisker pole on the jib instead of jibing back and forth off the wind with the A-sail. I don't think you gain much on my boat doing it that way, with the big main shadowing the A-sail 20 or 30 degrees both ways.
Another racing tip of the day. In light air. remember to think about prevailing current no matter how light.
I did great to the first mark on this light air coastal race, and had most of the fleet behind me, so I continued south. Several hours later I noticed a bunch of boats hugging the shore were gaining on me. It took me a while to realize that I had forgotten about the shoreline counter current that runs opposite of the Gulfstream offshore current. On a normal race day this would not have been anything to be concerned with. but the average speed over the course for the winning boat in my class was 2.4 knots. So while I was fighting a small current, the boats on the beach were being aided by that small counter current. We still ended up in fourth, but we could have won. LESSON LEARNED
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