Island Yacht Club hosted the InterClub Race & Committee. Max Richardson loaned his boat "Cutty Sark", an Aloha 10.4M, to be the Race Committee (RC) boat. Randall Richardson was the Sounder on the shotgun. Betty, Peter Thelin & Sue Rosenof of Island Yacht Club did the flags, check-in & finish recording. George Gurrola, Oakland Yacht Club, was the Primary Race Officer (PRO) along with being the official Scorer. Slackwater_SF, BAMA, called start times/sounds, held a horn/pencil for finishers briefly & brought a 2nd set of race flags & poles.
Preliminary Race Results were posted Saturday evening, May 7th.
Race Committee Work and Results - A Sea Story:
" Dead engine & new sails below, gun jam, finisher snagged pin. "
Finish Line Mark Return S.Rosenof/IYC
Non-competitor above finish S.Rosenof/IYC The starts went off OK with postponements for various reasons. The starting mark pick-up was smooth (luck). The trip from the starting line area to the finish line area was eventful. The diesel engine stopped working.
The diesel engine was great to start the day. The diesel engine stopped working with the RC a few hundred yards from the starting line area. The engine decided the RC needed to sail for a while. The wind & tide had "Cutty Sark" on a collision course with one of the barges anchored for Bay Bridge construction that required the RC to sail.
Sailing a boat requires sails hoisted. The main & jib were on board - the good news. The bad news - both sails were below. Cutty Sark's the main & jib are both brand new.
Plan A: Mainsail on deck was easy enough; it was folded & rolled with a gasket around it. The mainsail bolt rope on the foot did not fit in the boom. Time for the new official path forward.
Plan B: the jib came up on deck; this was a harder operation as it was not folded. I folded / rolled the main, got the gasket around the roll & stowed it below. Plan B - the jib, was taking a while to bend on.
The barge is getting bigger all the time. The increasing size of the barge creates alternatives to the official plan onboard.
Plan A is the contingency at this point, but I haul the mainsail back on deck. The mainsail luff slides went in fine. I figured we could fly the mainsail loose footed, lashing the clew to the boom with a sail tie and hooking up the outhaul. The mainsail is rigged and gasketed to the boom. I can not find battens, but these are details. Kicked myself for stowing the mainsail below.
Plan B: the jib goes up & Cutty Sark sails away from the barge, good news. Hoisting the jib requires grinding a winch mostly the whole way up. The good news is we can sail to the finish area under jib alone.
"Phantom Mist", Beneteau 40.7 OD, passes by Cutty Sark going enroute to the leeward mark. A race to the finish area is imagined for a moment. Phantom Mist got to the finish area well ahead of the race committee boat. The good news is Phantom Mist took their time at the last leeward mark against the second place boat in their division. A mediated finish time was agreed upon for the final results.
Luck gets better for the RC at the Finish Line. The finish mark gets set and the RC boat's anchor goes down, probably a little close to the finish line mark. The RC is on station, but late for the first finisher, Phantom Mist. We had limited manueverability at this point and the jib will not roll up. Sue Rosenof takes the stern as the Recorder. I set the orange placard. We have a boat about to cross the finish line & I take the horn for a line sighting, time & sound. Fortunately, George Gurrola comes to the back of the boat shortly thereafter and he has the official finishing sheets to record boat times (the unofficial recording on the back of a manila envelope works, but looks tacky).
Max Richardson & Peter Thelin went below and fiddled with the diesel engine's wires and fuel filters. The engine starts. We keep the diesel running during the finish sequence.
We attempt to roll the jib on the furler, but it will not roll. The headsail is dropped on deck. Peter clears the jib away & then he completely refeeds/rolls the Harken roller furler. Peter's work on the furler is valid because the line was fouled. The jib goes up again (grind, grind) for another furling attempt, no luck, jib drop. Cutty Sark's new jib probably has a slightly shorter hoist and needs a halyard pendant or restrainer (block on the mast).
Luck gets thin later in the finishing sequence for the remaining racers. One of the boats catches the finish mark on their rudder as they sail through the finish line, swept sideways by the ebb tide. The finish mark, drop weight, anchor line, chain & anchor sail away from the RC boat. The finish mark was saved by the boat's crew, but the anchor & tackle were lost. The race committee announced the new finish line on VHF channel 69 between the RC boat and a barge with distinctively tall cranes across the channel; the good news is the cranes are 90 degrees to the course from the last mark.
US Sailing, Part 3, Conduct of a Race:
Rule 34 Mark Missing: Race Committee Absent
If a mark is missing or out of position, the race committee shall, if possible,
(a) replace it in its correct position or substitute a new one of similar appearance, or
(b) substitute an object displaying flag M and make repetitive sound signals.
US Sailing prescribes that if a finishing mark is missing but another one remains in place, a boat shall finish as close to the remaining mark as practicable on a line extending from its required side at a 90 degree angle to the last leg. If a boat finishes when the race committee is absent, to be scored as finishing she shall note her finishing time and her finishing position in relation to any nearby boats and report them to the race committee as soon as reasonably possible.
The last items of entertainment value for the day were: a) lifting the CQR anchor with "all-chain" rode by hand cranking the windlass, & b) the anchor gets stuck on an obstruction in the water for twenty (20) to thirty (30) minutes. We could have lost a lot of chain. Good news, the anchor finally comes up and the diesel is still running.
"Origami", Corsair 24 Mk II, was on course for the race. Origami was first to cross the start line & finished first on elapsed & corrected time. There is some chance Origami will be out on Race #3, June 11th. However, June 11 is also the Delta Ditch Race, so ...
