WYC: Races 3 and 4
Week 3 of competition at Wickford Wednesday Night Racing was a much lighter air race. A beautiful evening on the water and our usual but still stupendous golden dusk light... But light air is not a friend for Papa, our heavy water/fuel/amenities laden Nonsuch 30.
We didn't have the prettiest start, which forced us to a side of the course we tried to do our best with, but we finished second to last. On corrected time, which takes into account different boat makes, models and sizes and tries to level the playing field, we ended up 4th for the race! In the overall standings we were in first, tied with little Double Entendre with 6 points overall, with Bizzy Ball trailing only by one point in third place. We watched as Class One sailed all the way to the Jamestown bridge and back, hoping they would have enough wind to finish the race!
Most recently at race number 4, it was another light air evening. With 85 degree heat throughout the day and 90%+ humidity, it was one of those hot and sticky days setting heat records all over Rhode Island and Boston. The weather forecast had unchanged conditions and threats of popup thunderstorms for the entire week, but it was terrific to get out on the water where it would be coolest.
A nice westerly kept everyone cool and provided enough breeze for racing. But yet again, it was rather light air and a death sentence for Papa with our boisterous crew of 9 people! Sailing a triangle racecourse for the second week in a row, we tried to connect the puffs on that first upwind leg but with such unsettled breeze we ended up sailing into the biggest hole on the racecourse just by the windward mark.
What had looked promising turned disastrous as we played catch up for the rest of the race. Thanks to our big sail we managed to make up some ground on the downwind, but it wasn't quite enough. We finished second to last again but thank goodness for corrected time which put us in 3rd! With Bizzy Ball not racing that evening, the overall standings left us in in 2nd place, one point behind the overall leader, Double Entendre (who can thank their PHRF rating for correcting them into second place even after their last place finish out on the water!) And congratulations to the Bamford's in their J24, the newest addition to Class 3 at Wednesday Night Racing who everyone with a stupendous bullet in race 4!
All photos can be found on my website under the WYC Viewing Gallery for Personal Purchase!
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