Team Seacats

Two races were had this morning as we launched into the lake in sub 40 degree temperatures. Fortunately, the weather had subsided a little and the breeze was a fresh 4 to 12 knots as big wind lines would travel down the lake – usually with a slight shift. We got a commanding start in the first race and Karl and I shot up the course with an early lead. We targeted the finish line while Velocity Sailing fought hard and gambled at the end and nearly lost second place. That left us two points out of first and we were hoping for two more races – if not, we needed to get as many boats between us and them as possible for the last one. The F18 fleet started their next race and we watched them get pounded with a huge left shift leaving them unable to hit the start line on starboard tack. We got ready to start working toward the pin end as the wind died and shifted slightly back to the right. By the time we had 1 minute to go, Karl and I knew we were in trouble. We were deep away from the line and the wind shifted even harder to the left. Once I thought we could lay the committee boat, I tacked onto port but had an F17 on starboard tack on my shoulder. We got a short lift and I thought I might be able to cross him but it evaporated and I had to tack close. I lost my cool for a minute but Karl reminded me that there was still two laps to go. With no other choice but to continue out to the left, we headed for the pin end of the start line well after the start gun had gone off and the fleet had crossed the line. We got to the pin end of the line and found David Strickland and Chris Zander smokin’ on port in a new fresh wind line (that was only on the left). WHEW. We tacked over and followed them up to A mark and passed the rest of the fleet. We managed to get inside Chris and David going down to C and took the lead. The next two laps saw a drag race as the wind continued blowing from the left. We finished first, David and Chris took second, and Trey and Alan (Velocity Sailing) took a third. To our disappointment racing was concluded for the day and even after winning the last two races we were stranded one point behind Velocity after the drops were applied in the scoring.

Although it was a bit cold, this was a great regatta and I enjoyed myself tremendously. Thanks to Karl and Kelly for making the drive up from Tampa to participate! Team Velocity is really starting to come on – we’ll see great things from them in the future. They’re investing the time and resources in the right place and earned their win for the weekend in some pretty tough conditions.

Some more photos will be coming soon. Jeremy King, photographer, was on the course and said he had some neat stuff (including several sequenced shots of our unfortunate break down on Saturday!). I’ll post them as soon as I get them.

Rough day yesterday (i’m running late so the blog will be quick). 1st race we were battling for the lead when we had the downhaul line do a little knitting in the spinnaker block while trying to sheet the spinnaker – got a 4th. 2nd race, had a good one and won it after taking the lead on the first beat. 3rd race, we were both getting really cold and having a hard time staying balanced while the wind continued to build – some gusts probably over 20 knots. Getting in and off the wire was becoming difficult and the fight was frozen out of us (we could still see our breath in the middle of the afternoon with the sun shining). Got a 4th in the 3rd race and the race committee called off racing for the day.

Today, since Wick joined the fleet, we’re now in 3rd overall. Wick’s average score gets applied to Friday’s racing in the system they use here for people that can’t make it all three days. We’re out of 2nd by one point and out of 1st (I think) by three points. It’s going to be cold again today but the wind will be light – we need some good ones!

Although the air temperature is on a steady decline, the racing action was great yesterday and promises to get even better today! We had a good day battling with the Nacra 20 fleet in what eventually became 18knot winds. The day started light and shifty and we split from the fleet to go left in the first race which put us a good bit behind Trey Brown (Team Velocity) but rounding A mark in second. We worked to stretch on the fleet a little and were trying everything to run down Trey and Alan. On the last downwind leg, we finally got hooked into a good line of breeze and closed up on Trey’s heels. They still held on to the lead for the finish in the first race.

The second race we again split from the fleet to go left. This time it paid off gangbusters and we were halfway back down to C by the time Trey and the rest of the fleet were rounding A mark. A big windline had come down the lake and we rode it catching the F18 fleet that started ten minutes before us and the C mark rounding was nuts. One boat was capsized just after the mark and as we’re getting setup to round, I see an F18 barreling on the edge of control coming in on starboard. Recognizing they were going to potentially be a hazard, Karl and I shot low to leave us an exit strategy. The F18 ended up capsizing on top of the mark and I watched as their mast swung down right at us but landed safely in the water one foot behind our rudders! On the next downwind leg, Trey managed to hook into a good gust and ate up our lead. With the F18 still tangled in the A mark and pulling it away, the race committee put a mark boat in place with a “mark missing” flag (which means you round that boat instead of the mark). We were lucky that Karl saw this and alerted me to it and we correctly rounded the boat. Trey wasn’t so lucky and didn’t realize what was going on until he was some distance away. We covered Trey and safely sailed to a 1st in that race.

The 3rd and final race for the day, the wind was ON. We nearly missed the start but got in line and underway in decent shape. It was to be a short Course 5 (one lap) and the Nacra 20 fleet was galloping and huffing in the 18knots of breeze. We slipped back in the back but tacked in a big shift that put us smack on the layline and left the rest of the fleet way overstood. We rounded A in 1st and started downwind while we could see a big fleet equalizing wind line coming down the lake. The rest of the fleet ran us down in that wind line and we started jockying for position to get inside as the fleet all reached C mark at about the same time. Trey had gone to the right side and caught an advantage getting to C first and us second. We spent the next upwind leg trying to find a leg up to climb over Trey but we weren’t able to and finished 2nd.

So right now, Velocity is in 1st with 4 points and we’re in second with 5. Wick Smith and his ‘grandson’ Wick are joining us today (Wick had school stuff yesterday) and they have a lot of talent – it will be an interesting day.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

There’s a new product on the market callend Homekol Seal and Glide. If you can work through the Swedish instructions, you’ll find that this is a super slickery coating for spinnakers. It’s a two part, and apparently catalysing, concoction of some weird stuff. With any luck, it will make our spinnakers much easier to extract from the spinnaker snuffer systems we use on our cats. Before racing begins tomorrow we pooled our resources and coated four spinnakers with several portions the great stuff. We’ll see how it works tomorrow – the beginning of the Spring Fever Regatta. Note: David Strickland says “duhhh-huh”.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

It’s time for a little Spring Fever. Friday kicks off racing on Lake Hartwell in Georgia of one of the premier catamaran regattas in the country. The blue Team Seacats Nacra 20 is coming out to play. Although we’ve had t-shirt and shorts weather for the last two weeks, a cold front is going to come through dropping high temps into the 60′s. While it won’t be the most comfortable ever, the cold fronts usually bring breeze. Stay tuned, the RV is packed and the camera is onboard.

I appologize for not have much going on with the one meter – I’ve spent the last couple of evenings getting the RV ready for the season and packing up things for this event.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.