Pre Start Comments:

Wingit: First off, my regular crew (Amy aka Lee Helm) bagged it and went to Seattle for the weekend, so I requested help from IT in the form of Kostadin Ilov. He's been out once before on a day-sail, so I figured he could steer in a pinch.

Tigre: We got there at the starting line at about 10:45 and warm up for about 45 mins. I began to notice there is no F27s yet. I thought you guys quit due lack of wind. Finally I realize this starting line was for Jack Frost race and saw a whole bunch of sailboats at another starting line. I started the motor and got there at about 11:40.

Escape: Tom Bliss as crew had raced with Todd Olsen for 2 seasons helping him get up to speed. He has raced with Gary on White Knuckles. This was my first serious race at the helm of an F-27.

Cinnamon Girl: It was nice to start ahead of the monos, but I now understand why we often start last. The box was a minefield.

Already There: The start box was a little dodgy. We had to avoid a few wandering monos, but didn't have any drama with the multis.

Three Sigma: Pat "mom" Harvey has logged a lot of miles sailing aboard Three Sigma, most of them cruising. This year, she decided she wanted to try her hand crewing in a double handed race. Not to bad considering this year's RoS race fell just 4 days shy of her 74th birthday!!! Go Mom!!!

Flying Circus: First sail of the year, crew backed out so I singlehanded. A good day to be out on the bay. I liked Ray's new graphics.

The Start:

Wingit: The start was hectic because I was flying a big genoa and noticed some of the other F-27s had regular jibs - so during the postponement I was struggling with a head-sail change while Kostadin tried to avoid the Berkeley pier and assorted obstacles. It was very useful having the R/C announce everything on channel 71, it saved some of the chaos at the start.

Escape: Start was clean, within a second or two of the gun, middle of the line. we were not quite up to full speed.

Already There: We thought the left end was favored, so we started there.

Tigre: I was confused about the starting time so I got to the starting line late. I think I was the last one at the start.

Three Sigma: Because the line was set along the starboard tack angle, the port end was favored (duh!). Also, from our pre-race observations, the left side of the course was heavily favored off the line. We were a little late getting into position, heading up the line on starboard. At the gun, it seemed as if EVERYBODY except Cinnamon Girl immediately tacked onto port, to cross the line. This worked perfectly for us, as we intended to continue up the line on starboard and tack right at the Committee Boat. Unfortunately, when Blade Runner tacked onto port, she went into irons and stalled directly in front of us. In order to avoid a collision, I was forced to duck her, then proceeded up the line. As planned, we tacked within a couple feet of the Committee Boat (much to the delight and relief of the cheering Race Committee).

Cinnamon Girl: I played it rather conservatively, and crossed the line about 20 seconds (or slightly more) late and was in some dirty air of Blade Runner and Three Sigma... Gotta love Blade Runner's tack onto port right in front of Three Sigma (on starboard). Agreed that the line was not 100% square to the wind ;-)

Flying Circus:I took the right end of the line, not so many boats. I was just ahead of Tigre.

The Beat to Little Harding:

Wingit: Our plan had been to tack early onto port, which is usually the quickest route to Little Harding, but when we actually did so I realized it was a mistake, because both the wind and tide were making the left side favored. So we went back and tacked up the edge of T.I., then followed Three Sigma across towards Angel. It started getting a little heavy as we tacked up towards Little Harding, and we nailed the port-tack lay-line from about a mile out.

Three Sigma: We got off the line, and had our own lane of clear air. We knew that the port side of the course was favored early, and were pleasantly surprised when everybody seemed to be going right. After tacking to protect the left side, our first crossing situation (F-27 class) was Wingit, who approached on starboard. In order to protect the left, we tacked into a lee-bow position instead of ducking. We timed the tack perfectly and were able to accelerate up to full speed in perfect position. We slowly pulled ahead, eventually forcing Wingit to tack away to clear her air. We threw a couple loose-cover tacks, in an effort to consolidate our position. With most boats now positioned near the north end of T.I., it was decision time.....when to tack across. We were the first to go. We immediately went into "pointing" mode, on a line that ended up allowing us to lay the mark perfectly. We were the third boat to round (first in class), about a minute behind the two Tornados We almost got to see a perfect pitch-pole, as one of the Tornados buried the bows up to the mast, soon after rounding). Wind at Little Harding was in the low 20s.

Already There: We initially sucked down some dirty air, but when everybody else flopped over onto port, we stood on a minute longer and soon had clean air. The VMG showed a big advantage on starboard tack, so we flopped back as soon as we could clear the north edge of T.I. There was a parade of Three Sigma, us, and another F-27. Wingit soon overtook us from behind, sailing same course, but faster. Three Sigma flopped over first, then Wingit, then me, putting us all pointing at Angel Island. Three Sigma was sailing faster and higher. We about matched Wingit for a while (he was sailing higher and about the same speed), until he took a hitch to windward and soon took off. We stayed high of the mark so as not to have to tack in the middle of a crowd. That worked well, and we round ed on plane on the first attempt.

Tigre:........then we caught up and got to the Little Harding before Escape and Flying Circus.

Escape: we early on decided to cover Wingit as much as possible. eventually he pulled away. Three Sigma went off on their own after a couple of tacks and made up a bunch of distance. approaching the mark we should have followed Wingit to better get into a blasting reach position for the mark. also we should have paid more attention to what Already There was up to.

Cinnamon Girl: Decided to take the right hand side of the course closer to Angel and got decent wind on that side after it started to pick up; we were close-hauled and had boat speed averaging b/n 7.5 and 8.0. But, I think we really lost the race on this leg as we were focused more on fundamentals (sailing the boat well) than tactics (focusing on wind, lifts, currents, etc.).

Flying Circus:I sailed with Already There on starboard, Jim just sailed past me with ease. I tacked and followed C-Monster. I blew one tack, sailed into a holw near Angel Island, over stood the Little Harding. I could see Tirge and Escape ahead of me.

The Run to South Hampton Shoal:

Three Sigma: We had a pretty sizeable lead when we rounded Little Harding. After rounding, we jibed over, onto starboard, twinged the jib, and had an exciting ride down to Point Blunt, in the freshening breeze (yee haa!!!). We hit a top speed of 17.5, but a quick glance over the shoulder failed to reveal Wingit's position. We were able to keep the bows up, and were really enjoying the high speed sailing. Then came "THE MISTAKE". As we neared Pt. Blunt, the wind started clocking behind us. We continued on, but eventually we took the bait, and jibed towards Southhampton. I knew better than to turn towards the mark that soon, however with the strong winds, and the great boat speed that we were enjoying, it was just too enticing (note to self: don't turn brain off during the race). Our premature jibe left the door open to our right, and Wingit was more than willing to step through. Our position but us dead up wind of the mark, and we were forced to sail DDW (deep and slow). We traded jibes with Wingit, doing the best we could in the light winds. Unfortunately for us, C-Monster got between Three Sigma and the mark, which gave Wingit a little breathing room.

Wingit: On the run down towards Southampton, we went for the middle of the bay to get heavy air, and it was ripping. What happens on WINGIT at high speeds is the main hull gets up on a plane, then it tips forward because of the dagger-board drag unless there's a chance to pull it up some, which there wasn't. So we sat well aft and let it hobby-horse through the small waves. If anything we jibed onto port too early but chose a course that would keep us away from the lee of Angel Island longer than the boats ahead. This seemed to pay off as we overtook Three Sigma at last. We rounded at slack water. Kostadin was amazed how we suddenly had wind again.

Already There: I think everybody was planing on the run down to Pt. Blunt, but Wingit, Three Sigma, C-Monster, and Blade Runner were about a half-mile ahead as they approached Southampton. They were pretty well fanned out, each trying to figure out how to get to the mark on a flabby breeze. It looked to us that nobody had the right answer, so we just went wing-on-wing and steered for the mark.

Tigre: During the run to SH, they passed me and then all three of us got to the SH at the same time. I won the right of the way by changing to opposite tack (to port tack) while I had the overlap with Escape as he was trying to push me out of the way!

Escape: We should have reached more and stayed in better wind/faster boat speed. Instead we tried to cut the corner and ended up going slower. We allowed a boat to slide through on the inside by not being more aggressive at the mark.

Cinnamon Girl: Like everyone, we stayed to the west of Angel and broad reached fairly deep, but enough to stay away from the lee of Angel as much as possible. I think we started to catch up a bit to the other F-27s on this leg. We were surfing most of the small waves and avoiding the leadmines who by this time were heeled well over with minimal rail meat. I'd estimate we were surfing every other wave at one point which was fun to experiment with. We maxed out at 14.5 on this leg and were starting to bury the bows of the amas about halfway up to the aka -- which was making start to wonder. (But, it was really fun to be blowing through the rest of the fleet whose crews were getting soaked in their slug to weather!) After jibing, we were doing fine until we hit the lee. We stayed about as far away from angel as you could but it still seemed like a floating contest.

Flying Circus: A good ride west of Angel Island, I thought I was catching Tigre and Escape at times. Closed with Escape and Tigre in the lee of Angel Island, but kept going too deep. I rounded SH behind both the F-27.

The Reach to the Finish:

Wingit: I anticipated it building so drove up towards T.I. a little then fell off, first twisting then dumping the main. I actually ran for several minutes with a flat jib before I realized it was stalled, but the objectives were to cover the F-27 fleet and find the finish line.

Three Sigma: As we were rounding South Hampton, over the VHF, we heard somebody report that the wind was 35 knots in the slot (a report that turned out to be FALSE, even though the Race Committee swears that they saw 35 knots on the Committee Boat). As we accelerated away from the mark, we made the decision to take a quick reef. For the first mile, we were in good shape, as we were clearly making up some of the ground lost to Wingit. All to soon, our good fortune ended, as the wind began to back down, and clock behind us. Our attention now focused, not on Wingit in front, but whoever it was behind us, gaining like a runaway freight train (it was Already There on one of her Screeeeeeaaaaming reaches). (note to self: trust your eyes, not the VHF...arrrrgh!!!).

Already There: We got around Southampton on the first try, and took off on my favorite stretch of water in the entire Bay. Chris reefed after rounding (not after Little Harding as I first thought), but we didn't see enough wind to warrant it. The boat felt just right all the way across. We maintained good freeboard on the leeward ama, and didn't have to spill either sail. A few near round-ups due to rudder cavitation were the only remarkable events.

Escape: what a kick! meter hit 16.8 a few times. we never considered reefing-boat felt very stable and under control. very fun drag race. For some reason, Tigre went higher than he had to; we passed him to leeward going way faster. right at the finish, Flying Circus was more aggressive than I was and took us by a few seconds.

Tigre: After SH, Tigre began to pulling away from Dave and Jim for about half way to the finish line. All of sudden, my rudder had a heavy weather helm and couldn't fall off at all or to the finish line. We had been trying to adjust the main and jib sail for a quite bit but this didn't help at all. I still couldn't figure what was the problem. Finally Jim and Dave passed me. After the race and on my way home, I began to realize that the rudder's line may have been slack and causing the rudder to pull up during the reach.

Cinnamon Girl: We rounded right behind the Melges 24 who won their class and we got stuck in their dirty air for the first part of the reach. After the floating contest around Southampton, most of the other F-27s were almost out of sight unfortunately. Sailed back on the reach averaging about 12 knots. About 1/4 mile from the finish, we had our encounter with Defiance which just added insult to injury. Fortunately, we zipped through the finish at 14 knots -- nothing like planing in front of the committee boat, and hardened up and headed for home.

Flying Circus:Another great ride Tirge and Escape took off, once I was able get trimed up a bit I was able to close on the 2 F-27s with a few good rides. Rudder cavitated once. I was below Tigre and about Escape. I tired to go above Escape then below but Jim had me. I was too close at times, sorry Jim. I work upwind and caught a good ride to pass Escape.

Post Race Comments and Observations:

Wingit: A lot of fun!

Three Sigma: Great fun. Good to see such a strong F-27 fleet. Thanks to everybody for helping make this event happen!!!

Already There: All told, we didn't have any interference from any other boats, and didn't make any gross mistakes in sail handling or navigation. The course was simple enough, that there wasn't much room to make a wrong decision on wind or tide (no wind holes except the one you'd expect behind Angel, no huge tides that caused us to miss a rounding). For handicapping purposes, I'd rate this as a "nominal" performance for this boat. We had a great time, didn't break anything, and didn't get anybody hurt. Good day all around!

Flying Circus: Very fun day. On the way back I noticed that one of my lifting eyes had strated to pull out, and was in need of repair. I epoxied some carbon fiber under the deck, fill the holes and replaced the lifing eye and pulled out Monday.

Escape: experience with sail trim and tactics made the difference with us pin-tops. we had a few sloppy tacks, didn't pick our tack spots perfectly, sailed dead downwind for too long a time, and wasn't aggressive at the marks. next time it'll be different! Thanks to everyone...it was a blast! Jim

Cinnamon Girl: Having 7 F-27s on the start was just amazing. I'm hopeful that we have good turnout for other races during the season. As is usually the case, I learned more in 2 hours of racing than in 2 days of cruising. I do think that removing the cruising accoutrements and the accumulated tools from my "winter" projects (which have stretched into spring), would help my boat speed ;-) Chris, thanks so much for drumming up the fellow F-27 owners to make this happen.