Alter Cup Journal 2005

2005 Team Seacats Alter Cup Journal
Long Beach, CA
(U.S. Sailing Multihull Championship)

Sunday, April 17 2005, 7:40pm
Well...we recovered with some dignity today. The wind was again light but as the day went on, it became more shifty than it had been all week. This allowed us some opportunity to 'out-think' the competition and overcome some of our boat speed deficit. We finished in a closely contended 8th place in the first race today and went back out after the A-fleet had it's turn. As it was the last race of the week, both Chris and I really wanted to do well. We had a good start in about third place. We wanted to go to the right because we had suspected a left shift in the wind and there appeared to be better pressure to that side. Our start was on the left side of the fleet so we had to wait until the boats under us tacked over before we had a lane to the right side. As soon as a lane opened up, we took it and after everyone had swapped back onto a starboard tack to A mark, we were a little disappointed sitting in 5th place. We came around the mark and decided to run out alone far to the left side of the course and came down into C mark in recovering slightly into fourth place. We made a terrific rounding and accelerated the boat to windward faster than we had all week. We had several boats behind us and sacrificed a little speed to gain height on them to maintain a tactical advantage. We sailed completely out to the starboard layline to A mark and were the last boat to tack for A...shortly thereafter a header got us and we became concerned about reaching the mark without having to tack again...but we were in the highest and best position of all the fleet. Previously, there had been a persistent lift as we got closer to the mark so we were hopeful that it remained in place! The lift persisted and easily raised us to the mark and we rounded with a boat close on our tail but made a near perfect spin set and accelerated from a one boat length lead to about eight boat lengths. We held our line running out to the left side of the course. The wind had been constantly shifting making this side more and more favored downwind. I suppose it was out of desperation but several teams shot back to the right side hoping to make gains including the third place boat. First and second place remained out in front of us but it wasn't long before they too gybed back for the right. We were contemplating following them back when we spotted a large high speed ferry that was going to come across the course. I hoped that if we time it right and catch the wake on the other side of the boat, we may get quite a burst of speed for a few seconds so we held our course until we thought the timing might be right. After gybing and heading further down the course, we reached the large wake about 2/3's the way back and immediately received a huge burst in speed. The third place boat was coming back across the course on starboard and while we had made up a lot of ground, we were on a collision course and they had right of way. We gybed closely on top of them hoping to steal some of their air. As we finally began to blanket them, they gybed away for clear air. Nearing the end of the race, we gybed back one last time for the finish line onto port (again, with no rights). It was a very close crossing but we gained slightly and this time crossed clear ahead of the third place boat and slid across the finish line with only a 1/2 boat length lead! We were glad to have finished the week on a high note - we would have been in A-fleet for the next round if there were one!

Saturday, April 16 2005, 10:28pm
A fun day was had on the water today. The fog rolled in during the first A-fleet race which made the RC shorten course. It quickly evaporated and we resumed another typical sailing day. We were still struggling with the back of the pack but had a few very close battles and although we would get some terrific starts and round the first A mark between 3rd and 5th place, we would slowly slide back in the fleet until the finish line. We were within a second of the boat in front of us for one finish and a boat length for another. Just prior to dinner being served tonight, a fire boat pulled into the club and started blowing all hoses. Reportedly, it was for us and was intended to hose down the Alter Cup boats that were returning from the race course....however, it was about 30 minutes late but still quite a spectacle. Just next to the Alter Cup race course is the Congressional Cup with some huge names in sailing (like Russell Coutts)...I suspect the fireboat may have been for them...:-) Photos of the fireboat are in the Event photo section. Check it out!

Saturday, April 16 2005, 7:24AM
I had difficulty getting online last night! Sorry for the lack of an update. The weather was once again light but building throughout the day. We ran two races yesterday in B fleet. During our first race, the wind was quite light and we suffered again with a lack of boat speed coming in 10th place. A VERY large freighter came onto the course and parked right at the top right corner - that and a lightening and shifting breeze led the RC to shorten course and finish us at the last C mark rounding. The wind had built to about 10 knots for the last race. We had one of the worst starts of the entire week - I suppose I was playing it a little too conservative after the OCS (On Course Side) yesterday...but the bad start and sailing in dirty air caused us to tack early for the right side of the course. Turns out that was the place to be and we rounded A mark in about 5th place. We lost a couple of boats on the next downwind leg but held our own again back upwind. We fiercely defended off the last two boats to capture an 8th place finish.

It looks like the forecast is going to be even lighter than the previous days...not good for us! But we'll continue to try and find some way to make the boat quicker in the light stuff and have a good time.

Thursday, April 14, 2005, 1:00PM
Bonnie here with a bit of an update: Jake phoned after their first race with the news that he and Chris finished last. I know, that blows - lot harder than the wind out there - which is part of the problem! When you factor the guys' combined weight, they simply fare better when it's blowing like stink and that's all there is to it. Added to which, Jake actually prefers to sail in ballistic conditions. I was kinda hoping for more carnage á la this year's Tiger Worlds. I've looked ahead at the wind forecast and it doesn't look like things are going to pick up over the next few days, but I'm going to say a little prayer to the wind gods, anyhow. As Jake already mentioned, there's a lot of debris and large pieces of kelp in the water which everyone must steer around and that's causing a bit of bother. Just another hindrance when you're already suffering from being out of your most competitive zone as far as conditions are concerned. At this point, the most important thing for the guys to do in order to remain competitive is to focus on getting some really good starts and not miss any crucial tactical opportunities on the course. That's probably pretty obvious though, huh? Easier said than done, as well. In any case, it's a great chance to meet and sail with some really talented folks...many of whom are friends of ours already. I may be back to chat with you again later on. Until then, do check out the US Sailing site. They've got some good photos, including a couple of Jake and Chris.

Thursday, April 14, 2005, 7:09AM
Results are up at US Sailing !

After thinking back to our race yesterday, and a conversation with Alex Shafer, we figured out that our second upwind leg, where we really slipped backwards yesterday, we had probably picked up a piece of kelp on our board. There are 3 to 4' pieces floating around in the water and while the wind did drop down a little, it still didn't explain how slow we were and how we suddenly couldn't point as high into the wind as the other boats.

We start in B-fleet this morning so we have to rig the boats and sail them out to the ocean side. It's actually a great sail to start off the morning. The forecast looks very similar to yesterday so we are expecting a light start this morning. We really seem to do better when the wind is up over 15 so we're hoping for more wind!

Wednesday, April 13, 2005, 10:08PM (west coast time!)
Today's Photos are uploaded in the Team Seacats Photo Gallery....we're going to sleep!

Wednesday, April 13, 2005, 6:24PM
It was a very interesting day today. The forecast was for a meager 5-10 and it was off to a dreary start. Chris and I rigged our assigned boat and headed out of the channel for the ocean with the other Tigers at about 10:15am. After a 20 minute spinnaker reach to the course, we waited as the race committee tried to set a course. The wind was pretty spotty and was shifting quite a bit. They finally got a course set and started a sequence. We got a great start lined up and with about 30 seconds to go were set to be the one boat at the committee boat and were going to box out three boats looking to barge. Our adrenaline was up but with about 20 seconds to go, the postpone flag went up because the wind was dying (or had died at the A mark). After allowing the adrenaline to subside, we milled around a bit while trying to observe the wind behavior as it came and went. It had been lightly foggy all morning but suddenly we found ourselves enshrouded with about 100 yard visibility! The race committee brought the mark boats in closer to stay in sight and eventually they told us to head for the beach (which was not visible!). We got back to the beach and lunch was served while we waited for the wind to fill. As luck would have it, after one bite of a sandwich, the fog lifted and the breeze filled in and the beach captain barked "Back to the course!". A steady 5 to 10 knot breeze held throughout the race but wasn't healthy enough to compensate for our weight. Although we had a good start, we slowly slipped back in the fleet eventually finishing in 7th place. We came into the beach while the other teams (B fleet) put in their race and again sat while the new A fleet ran a race. Our B-fleet race time came and we put in another solid start in about 2nd or 3rd position off the line. This time the wind had built to a great 12-15 and was enough for us to power the boat to full power and we got to A-mark in 2nd position chewing on Nigel Pitt's and Mike Krantz's sterns. We had a decent downwind run but had trouble dousing the chute as the halyard kept cleating itself. Two boats slid in on top of us while we struggled with the spinnaker but we quickly got things back under control and headed for A. The wind had dropped strength slightly and we found that we were losing speed to the fleet. We rounded A in 7th place. We pushed hard downwind and managed to pick up a position and held 6th place through to the finish of the race.

They ran one more A fleet race after that so tomorrow we should be the first fleet back out (which means we have to sail the boats out to the course again). We had an awesome time but are keeping our fingers crossed for a little more breeze! We did get some pictures and will upload them tonight after we get back from the festivities.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 7:50AM
What a busy day yesterday! Everything went as planned. We got in to the hotel, checked in, grabbed a quick bite for lunch, found our way to the Yacht club, and found everyone. It's an awesome club with tons of boats and friendly too. We arrived just as the first round of sailors were taking the boats out from the club to the ocean side for a couple of practice races. With the Beach Captain (John Williams) and the other sailors that had arrived for practice, we drove out to the beach site to await the completion of the first round. We quickly changed into our gear on the beach and received our boat assignment. It is our responsibility to help our boat come into the beach and get it ready to go back out. Prior to racing, we are allowed to modify our trapeze height and the mainsheet block cleat angle.....and that's it! It was blowing 12 to 15 and Chris and I got half way out to the course when we realized that a port cover was missing from the rear of the starboard hull. We debated about continuing but figured we should return and get it replaced. We drove back to the beach and got the course about 4 minutes late for the race. We ignored the course and turned to join the other boats just to get some stuff worked out on the boat. As per our preference, the mainsheets and spinnaker sheets are way too long but I think we can deal with it - it's better than too short! We brought the boats back in for another rotation and went back out for the fourth, and last, rotation. I think we finished 5th in that race and then sailed the boats about 30 minutes back to the yacht club.

We had the skippers meeting and drew for fleets at around 8pm. We drew "8A" which means that we start in A fleet this morning. I'll try to briefly explain how this new "Round Robin" format works. A fleet races first this morning and then B fleet races. For the next race, the top 5 in B fleet are now in A fleet and the bottom 5 in the previous A fleet race are now in B fleet. After that we rotate top 3 and bottom 3. It's a pretty neat system that puts the top racers against the top racers. The advantage to drawing A fleet to start is that A fleet racers receive between 1 and 10 points for their finish position and B fleet receives 11 to 20 points. This means we're guaranteed between 1 and 10 points for the first race tomorrow.

Having been awake for 22 hours, Chris and I promptly retreated to the hotel to get some sleep. As it was such a whirlwind yesterday, we didn't get any pictures. However, we'll take the camera today and take some shots of the area.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - 7:50AM
Chris and I are now in the Atlanta airport working through the details of all the arrangements...boy that was an early flight out of Greenville this morning! Breakfast and coffee has been had and we've been on the net for a minute checking out the news and such. We expect to get into Orange County Airport (SNA) a little before 11am local time. The hotel is about 30 minutes away so we'll get checked in, grab the gear (fingers crossed that it arrives with us!), and head over to the Los Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach. It looks like some light rain going on there now but hopefully it will clear up by the time we get to the boats. If not, we're waterproof. Judging from the map, the club is less than a mile away but you have to circumnavigate some water to get there on land. Open practice is scheduled from 1pm to 5pm and registration between 4 and 6pm. I'm sure sleep will come easy tonight with the long day AND the three hour time difference. The club area looks pretty neat from the air....check out http://maps.google.com and enter 7201 E. Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90803 and click on the "Satellite" link in the upper right corner!