Feeder race Saturday for the Green Island race in Port Clinton. Forecast for 14-15 knots out of the Northeast going east and diminishing to 10 knots. No problem, right? Our club decided to start the race in Sandusky bay off the club. 12-14 at the start true wind, apparents in the 16-17 range. No problem. Reef in the main (first time on this boat) and partially 130% on the furler. Idea was that we would roll out the furler as we fell off to head northwest, then fly the reaching kite and runner the last part of the 17 miles. 7 crew total including 2 newbies. Well as Robert Burns penned "The best laid schemes of Mice and Men oft go awry, And leave us nothing but grief and pain."
1/2 mile into the race we exited the wind and wave shadow of the Cedar Point Peninsula. We were now out of the 12 ft deep bay and and into the 30 foot deep ship channel which is not very wide. Shallow water to the west and a breakwall to the east make for a perfect funneling
effect down the channel.The wind picked up to 17knots true gusting to a high of 23 knots. WRONG sailplan for that wind! The wind had been blowing out of the northeast for at least 12 hours with a 220mile fetch. The channel has a 2 mile long breakwall on its east side that funnels waves straight down the channel. Waves were as much as 8 feet, steep, confused and about 10 feet apart. Yikes. We were about 2/3 out the channel when we were gliding down the backside of a big wave. We were in the trough when a rogue 8 footer hit us from abeam and rolled the boat as the next wave broke over the top of the boat. The force of the wave knocked me off the tiller and onto my back in the cockpit still holding the extension. The J/92 has a lot of righting moment and popped back up hard enough that the 2 newbies slid halfway under the lifelines and had to be pulled back on board. The boat auto tacked without the sheet releasing. Fortunately one of the crew pulled me up off the sole and I was able to head down as the windward sheet was released and we gained control of the boat. No time to waste as we got the boat going and immediately tacked back to beat into the waves for a couple of hundred yards before we went to a close reach at the turning mark. We dusted ourselves off for a half hour before the wind went to 90-100 degrees apparent and 14 knots true.Time for the A3 reaching kite. Went up no problem. Wind immediately starting gusting to 19 and boat accelerated to 10 knots. That lasted for about 10 minutes until very confused 4-6 footers started throwing us around and we broached 4 times. Yikes. We rolled out the 130% and took off at 8 knots. As we rounded Catawba Island we put the reaching kite. Again big gusts and we accelerated to 13.6 knots. We were a mile at the finish when we had just passed a C&C 121 when the snap shackle let go on the A 3. Got it down and limped in with just a full main and still going 7.5-8 knots.
Lessons learned. Ditch the furling and use a full main and the 3 or number 4 . Have a more knowledgeable person on the vang. Make sure crew is to weather and behind the helm in those conditions. My wife is a real trooper. Doing foredeck and putting up with my mistakes.
We did a lot better on Sundays race in lighter winds of 9-14 and lower waves finishing 3rd in class. We didn't win but we corrected out on a Melges 32 and Beneteau 40.7 in our start. Both former multiple Green Island race winners. Race was 18 miles.
1/2 mile into the race we exited the wind and wave shadow of the Cedar Point Peninsula. We were now out of the 12 ft deep bay and and into the 30 foot deep ship channel which is not very wide. Shallow water to the west and a breakwall to the east make for a perfect funneling
Lessons learned. Ditch the furling and use a full main and the 3 or number 4 . Have a more knowledgeable person on the vang. Make sure crew is to weather and behind the helm in those conditions. My wife is a real trooper. Doing foredeck and putting up with my mistakes.
We did a lot better on Sundays race in lighter winds of 9-14 and lower waves finishing 3rd in class. We didn't win but we corrected out on a Melges 32 and Beneteau 40.7 in our start. Both former multiple Green Island race winners. Race was 18 miles.
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