Today Was Almost a Copy and Paste of Last Week at the Start

19Jul2016 Shields Race Report

Today was almost a copy and paste of last week at the start. We had Socrates Vavolotis and Ron Oard from Shields 158 on Captain Hosea. Ross Cann and boat 158 crew John Andrew and Pamela Coleman were on Limerock. Ida had David Brown, Phyllis Detwiler, Dan Eardley, Geoff Ewenson and Bill O’Hanley.

Summer series 4th race north of the bridge. Forecast was SW wind around 210 at 8 to 14 knots from 1700 to 2100 then a shift to the right. Forget about it. The wind South of Gould was 195 to 205, while at the bridge it was 215 and south of the bridge it started out at 220. Wind speed with 8 to 9 knots. It started out looking like Romeo was a good choice for the first windward to a Tet, then 13 back to the Tet, but the wind started shifting right within 15 minutes. We then shifted the starting line to the East for that right shift. We were South and west of Victor when we dropped anchor and set Limerock as the starting pin with an expected 200 wind axis. We expected at this point to do 13 to windward back to a Tet, 3 times around. The course was set and presented. We had an incoming tide but the wind was only 7 knots. The starting sequence produced a general recall with a large number of boats over early at the center of the line. Shortly after the general recall the wind shifted hard right to 230 but quickly came back to 220. We shifted Limerock (starting pin) forward for a 220 wind axis and flew the I flag in the next starting sequence. The course was changed to Foxtrot to port, Victor to port, 13 to port Victor to port with an upwind finish, just like last week. The wind was shifting right again to 225 but the I flag kept the fleet back far enough that it did not matter. All clear.

The wind held steady at 220 from South of Gould up to the bridge with wind readings from Captain Hosea at Foxtrot at 235. The sailing angles of boats showed that the right swing towards foxtrot did not occur until the bridge. As the boats approached the bridge the wind shifted to 235 at the North end of the course, which called for a Charlie flag at the windward with the new leeward mark being X-ray. The wind stayed 235 for the rest of the night. We had a Charlie flag at X-ray to send the boats to the second windward mark at Foxtrot. The wind was still at 7 to 9 knots. The race was shortened at Foxtrot due to the concern that the wind would continue to diminish, preventing the boats from getting to the next mark.

Sincerely

Bill O’Hanley