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Team Full Tilt Race Report, Saturday, May 20, 2006
My crew Corey M. & I entered my Tornado "Full Tilt" in the annual "Hardway" distance event this past Saturday. This race starts in Santa Barbara and finishes in Ventura harbor. There are several courses between the different fleets participating. The ORCA class big multi's typically go around Santa Cruz island for a ~70 mile distance...though this year they voted for the lesser 45 mile option of going around Anacapa island.
This year's event was officially opened up to the beachcats for the first time thanks to much lobbying by several individuals, including Ventura Nacra driver John S. Though John could not make the event himself, he did a lot of leg work promoting the it and even shuttled teams to SB the morning to the race!
We had 7 boats turn out....4 I20's, 1 Hobie Tiger, 1 Prindle 19 with spinnaker and our T. We were given the shortest course, sharing with the non-spinnaker class keelboats. Start outside SB harbor, Oil Rig Platform "C", Platform "Habitat", Platform "Grace" then finish inside Ventura harbor...for a 29 mile race distance.
Our Track:
Winds were light and variable under 10 kts with heavy looking marine layer.
The beachcats were the last of 7 starts, 5 minutes after the ORCA class multi's which included Afterburner (the 52 foot Bladerunner-design "beachcat-on-steroids"), two Farrier Tri's (F31 Indefatigable" & F28r "No Regrets") and a Reynolds 21. Corey & I are also teammates on Afterburner. We held station near the starting area and cheered her on as she made her wind-up to the line...quite a site even in the lighter air!
Five minutes later, we made our start, and were late to the line...finding ourselves on starboard just aft of Lee Wicklund's I20 and in about 4th or 5th behind other I20's and the Tiger. It was pretty much a reach and the I20's were starting to double trap. We went one-up for a little while and managed to work our way to weather of Lee's boat, though we needed to head lower to the mark....this would have to wait until we could break the overlap with Lee to leeward. The sun had started to break through the marine layer, which gave us hope for more pressure later in the day. I was surprised at our boatspeed on this part of the race as we were passing leading boats...I20's typically extend on us in light stuff where they can trap full time and we cannot, just like they had in the recent San Diego CatFight events. But the sea state was quite flat in comparison to San Diego and it wasn't a beat, so perhaps this made all the difference.
After a few minutes, we found ourselves to be the weather-most boat, with both an I20 sailed by Chris S. of Marina Del Ray and an Tiger sailed by Jim P. ahead & to leeward. We were doing 10's & 11's by GPS, sailing a little high of Rhumb to keep wind well forward of the beam, main & jib only as it was a little tight for spinny in my opinion. After ~30 min., the Tiger was to leeward ~10 BL's and ahead. She hoisted spinny and starting going a fair bit lower than rhumb line, but stretching forward more. Only time would tell if the extra distance sailed would pay off. Chris S. in the lead I20 shortly followed suit and raised his spinny, taking a lower course. We held our higher line with main & jib only, and slowly extended on the trailing boats doing the same.
We go for a few more minutes before hoisting the spinnaker. We struggle to sail with it so high on the wind. At 2/3 distance to platform "C", Chris douses the spinny and heads back up to the Rhumb line, crossing way ahead of us. The Tiger, still with spinny up, follows him higher and manages to cross 2 or 3 BL's ahead of us, giving us some bad air problems for a little while. We manager to soak low to clear our air and start inching ahead of the Tiger. At "C", we are leeward & well behind Chris' I20, some 500+ yards back. The Tiger is on our windward hip, about 8 BL to weather. All others are well back and seem to be fading. We had a lot of frustration keeping the spin. full, as each little wave and speed change causes it to over-run & collapse, despite trying hard to anticipate it by steering & sheeting. We continue on for a long time, slowly losing more ground to the lead I20 and not doing any damage to the Tiger. Trailing boats seem to get closer occasionally. We try heating up a bit for a while. We close gauge on the leader, but he is still way ahead. We pass Platform Habitat with no progress.
Just about halfway through the race, we try something new. I take control of both the helm & the spinny sheet...reasoning that we were over-controlling the sail/heading, not knowing how much each was adjusting things with the velocity changes. This made an immediate impact...the sail now rarely collapsed and we didn't need to head way down, ease big time to re-fill it again. Boat speed was much more consistent and our heading was on average lower than before. After several minutes, it was also apparent we were closing on Chris! At about 1 mile before Platform Grace, Chris gybed back toward the rhumb line, as he, the tiger & us had all climbed some distance off it over the past couple of hours. Rest of the fleet was lower and about on Rhumb, though quite further back. Chris crossed ahead some 10-20 BL's in front, but this was much closer than he had on us earlier. The tiger gybed back next, crossing a few BL"s behind us. We hung in for another 10 minutes before following them. After gybing, we were astonished to see Chris now mired way, way back in the rest of the fleet...like 4th or 5th! The Tiger had fallen further back still.
Assessing our own fate, it seemed the gap we had eeked out on the trailing boats was about to disappear, as we were converging with Carl & Gary's I20. The wind seemed slight fresher here than what we had seen further out. They were sailing on the same port gybe & lower, while we were a little higher...maybe a little faster. By the time we were about 10 BL's apart, we decided to gybe back to starboard. Carl & Gary soon came with us, but we had just a little better speed and opened up a small gap on them by the time we reached the platform. We found ourselves in the lead (at least on real time) at the rig, with Carl & Gary in a strong second. Chris was fighting his way back up towards the top 3 or 4 boats...one of which was Lee's I20, we could see taking a line way, way outside, looking for a better breeze. We opted to go well past the rig, because of the enormous wind shadows these things can put out. This seemed like it helped as it appeared Carl's boat tried cut it a bit thin, going closer and ended up having to gybe back & forth a couple of times make it around.
We were now on the home stretch to Ventura, sailing well to port of the layline. Carl & Gary were some 500 yards directly astern of us just after the rig. We kept a close eye on them...weighing whether or not to try to cover them if they started to take a flyer by gybing off to the starboard corner. Winds go a little better as we made the way across the channel...we were hitting steady 8's and occasional 10's. Carl & Gary would at times look as if they had made big gains, then later this would appear to reverse. Around the rig behind us, I could see Chris going way out to starboard, Lee & the Tiger going off to port. Could not tell who was ahead of who.
As we approached within 2-3 miles of shore, we starting getting even better winds, with the sun likely driving a little shore-effect wind. We saw Carl & Gary gybe off and we were faced with a difficult decision...to cover them or head further in to what appeared to be building pressure. Decided to hold for a while more and do a loose coverage. We gybed to starboard maybe 1.5 miles from shore. and could see Carl & Chris way above on the same gybe. Shortly before we made a gybe for the harbor entrance, I saw Chris coming down on port with Carl still on starboard, but could not see who crossed ahead. We struck our spinny as the harbor entrance and sailed old-school main & jib off-wind to the finish line deep inside the protected water. Crossed the line at ~2:50 pm, about 4 hour, 15 minutes elapsed time. I started my stop watch to check the gap to the next finisher...which turned out to be Chris...he had worked his way back through the fleet into second position...crossing some 15 minutes after us. Carl & Gary were right behind him.
From past experience, I had worked out we needed about 40 seconds gap per hour over I20's on corrected time...and folks back at PBYC confirmed this, congratulating Corey & I on our win.
Official Results to be posted here:
PBYC Hardway Results
Thanks to all those that participated and the race organizers, SBYC & PBYC. Hope to see you all again at the Milt Ingram!
Mike Dobbs
Tornado USA 807 "Full Tilt"
First Person Account: 2006 Hardway Distance Race Report
Team Full Tilt Race Report, Saturday, May 20, 2006My crew Corey M. & I entered my Tornado "Full Tilt" in the annual "Hardway" distance event this past Saturday. This race starts in Santa Barbara and finishes in Ventura harbor. There are several courses between the different fleets participating. The ORCA class big multi's typically go around Santa Cruz island for a ~70 mile distance...though this year they voted for the lesser 45 mile option of going around Anacapa island.
This year's event was officially opened up to the beachcats for the first time thanks to much lobbying by several individuals, including Ventura Nacra driver John S. Though John could not make the event himself, he did a lot of leg work promoting the it and even shuttled teams to SB the morning to the race!
We had 7 boats turn out....4 I20's, 1 Hobie Tiger, 1 Prindle 19 with spinnaker and our T. We were given the shortest course, sharing with the non-spinnaker class keelboats. Start outside SB harbor, Oil Rig Platform "C", Platform "Habitat", Platform "Grace" then finish inside Ventura harbor...for a 29 mile race distance.
Winds were light and variable under 10 kts with heavy looking marine layer.
The beachcats were the last of 7 starts, 5 minutes after the ORCA class multi's which included Afterburner (the 52 foot Bladerunner-design "beachcat-on-steroids"), two Farrier Tri's (F31 Indefatigable" & F28r "No Regrets") and a Reynolds 21. Corey & I are also teammates on Afterburner. We held station near the starting area and cheered her on as she made her wind-up to the line...quite a site even in the lighter air! Five minutes later, we made our start, and were late to the line...finding ourselves on starboard just aft of Lee Wicklund's I20 and in about 4th or 5th behind other I20's and the Tiger. It was pretty much a reach and the I20's were starting to double trap. We went one-up for a little while and managed to work our way to weather of Lee's boat, though we needed to head lower to the mark....this would have to wait until we could break the overlap with Lee to leeward. The sun had started to break through the marine layer, which gave us hope for more pressure later in the day. I was surprised at our boatspeed on this part of the race as we were passing leading boats...I20's typically extend on us in light stuff where they can trap full time and we cannot, just like they had in the recent San Diego CatFight events. But the sea state was quite flat in comparison to San Diego and it wasn't a beat, so perhaps this made all the difference.
After a few minutes, we found ourselves to be the weather-most boat, with both an I20 sailed by Chris S. of Marina Del Ray and an Tiger sailed by Jim P. ahead & to leeward. We were doing 10's & 11's by GPS, sailing a little high of Rhumb to keep wind well forward of the beam, main & jib only as it was a little tight for spinny in my opinion. After ~30 min., the Tiger was to leeward ~10 BL's and ahead. She hoisted spinny and starting going a fair bit lower than rhumb line, but stretching forward more. Only time would tell if the extra distance sailed would pay off. Chris S. in the lead I20 shortly followed suit and raised his spinny, taking a lower course. We held our higher line with main & jib only, and slowly extended on the trailing boats doing the same.
We go for a few more minutes before hoisting the spinnaker. We struggle to sail with it so high on the wind. At 2/3 distance to platform "C", Chris douses the spinny and heads back up to the Rhumb line, crossing way ahead of us. The Tiger, still with spinny up, follows him higher and manages to cross 2 or 3 BL's ahead of us, giving us some bad air problems for a little while. We manager to soak low to clear our air and start inching ahead of the Tiger. At "C", we are leeward & well behind Chris' I20, some 500+ yards back. The Tiger is on our windward hip, about 8 BL to weather. All others are well back and seem to be fading. We had a lot of frustration keeping the spin. full, as each little wave and speed change causes it to over-run & collapse, despite trying hard to anticipate it by steering & sheeting. We continue on for a long time, slowly losing more ground to the lead I20 and not doing any damage to the Tiger. Trailing boats seem to get closer occasionally. We try heating up a bit for a while. We close gauge on the leader, but he is still way ahead. We pass Platform Habitat with no progress.
Just about halfway through the race, we try something new. I take control of both the helm & the spinny sheet...reasoning that we were over-controlling the sail/heading, not knowing how much each was adjusting things with the velocity changes. This made an immediate impact...the sail now rarely collapsed and we didn't need to head way down, ease big time to re-fill it again. Boat speed was much more consistent and our heading was on average lower than before. After several minutes, it was also apparent we were closing on Chris! At about 1 mile before Platform Grace, Chris gybed back toward the rhumb line, as he, the tiger & us had all climbed some distance off it over the past couple of hours. Rest of the fleet was lower and about on Rhumb, though quite further back. Chris crossed ahead some 10-20 BL's in front, but this was much closer than he had on us earlier. The tiger gybed back next, crossing a few BL"s behind us. We hung in for another 10 minutes before following them. After gybing, we were astonished to see Chris now mired way, way back in the rest of the fleet...like 4th or 5th! The Tiger had fallen further back still.
Assessing our own fate, it seemed the gap we had eeked out on the trailing boats was about to disappear, as we were converging with Carl & Gary's I20. The wind seemed slight fresher here than what we had seen further out. They were sailing on the same port gybe & lower, while we were a little higher...maybe a little faster. By the time we were about 10 BL's apart, we decided to gybe back to starboard. Carl & Gary soon came with us, but we had just a little better speed and opened up a small gap on them by the time we reached the platform. We found ourselves in the lead (at least on real time) at the rig, with Carl & Gary in a strong second. Chris was fighting his way back up towards the top 3 or 4 boats...one of which was Lee's I20, we could see taking a line way, way outside, looking for a better breeze. We opted to go well past the rig, because of the enormous wind shadows these things can put out. This seemed like it helped as it appeared Carl's boat tried cut it a bit thin, going closer and ended up having to gybe back & forth a couple of times make it around.
We were now on the home stretch to Ventura, sailing well to port of the layline. Carl & Gary were some 500 yards directly astern of us just after the rig. We kept a close eye on them...weighing whether or not to try to cover them if they started to take a flyer by gybing off to the starboard corner. Winds go a little better as we made the way across the channel...we were hitting steady 8's and occasional 10's. Carl & Gary would at times look as if they had made big gains, then later this would appear to reverse. Around the rig behind us, I could see Chris going way out to starboard, Lee & the Tiger going off to port. Could not tell who was ahead of who.
As we approached within 2-3 miles of shore, we starting getting even better winds, with the sun likely driving a little shore-effect wind. We saw Carl & Gary gybe off and we were faced with a difficult decision...to cover them or head further in to what appeared to be building pressure. Decided to hold for a while more and do a loose coverage. We gybed to starboard maybe 1.5 miles from shore. and could see Carl & Chris way above on the same gybe. Shortly before we made a gybe for the harbor entrance, I saw Chris coming down on port with Carl still on starboard, but could not see who crossed ahead. We struck our spinny as the harbor entrance and sailed old-school main & jib off-wind to the finish line deep inside the protected water. Crossed the line at ~2:50 pm, about 4 hour, 15 minutes elapsed time. I started my stop watch to check the gap to the next finisher...which turned out to be Chris...he had worked his way back through the fleet into second position...crossing some 15 minutes after us. Carl & Gary were right behind him. From past experience, I had worked out we needed about 40 seconds gap per hour over I20's on corrected time...and folks back at PBYC confirmed this, congratulating Corey & I on our win.
Official Results to be posted here:
PBYC Hardway Results
Thanks to all those that participated and the race organizers, SBYC & PBYC. Hope to see you all again at the Milt Ingram!
Mike Dobbs
Tornado USA 807 "Full Tilt"
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