Last weekend I got to go sailing again. Had a great time, though unfortunately it was the final regatta of the season.
Before taking the boat out, I had to replace the dolphin striker rod as a result of the rigging failure in the Rock Lake regatta two weeks ago. For those unfamiliar, the dolphin striker is a vertical rod that goes through the middle of the front crossbeam. The top of it supports the fitting that the mast sits on, while the bottom, sitting underneath the crossbeam, is braced against an aluminium strap that puts upward force on the middle of the crossbeam.
Anyhow, the replacement rod arrived here last Thursday, and with the mad schedule I had last week I didn’t get a chance to look at fitting it until 11pm Friday night – and I was due to drive to Wisconsin for a regatta the next morning.
By the time I got the striker rod replaced and loaded up the car and put the boat on the trailer it was about 2am. I went to bed and got up at 7am, finished loading the trailer and took off for Lake Kegonsa about 9:15am. I had been averaging only about 4 hours sleep/night all week and I was really feeling the effects and wondered whether I was being stupid attempting to go sailing. However I pressed on and got to the lake, north of Stoughton, WI about 11:45am.
The launching area was at the northern end of Williams Bay. The rest of the fleet were already out racing when I got there. I set about rigging the boat, and one of the other guys who wasn’t sailing that weekend kindly came over to give me a hand. My crew from the last regatta had elected not to come this time, so I rigged the boat without the jib to sail solo. A few boats came in for various reasons, but the race committee had decided against taking a lunch break. Eventually I got out on the water about 2pm. Instead of joining the racing I decided to just practice. I especially wanted/needed to try sailing solo with the spinnaker. Fortunately the wind was pretty light to start with and the conditions were ideal to try the kite for the first time.
Hoisting the spinnaker for the first time was pretty exciting. It all went fine, and then I also got to gybe with the spinnaker up for the first time, which also went fine. Pretty cool. The start line was right down the other end of the lake, and I didn’t manage to get there in time for the final race, but I was happy just to sail around.
We all had dinner that night at a local restaurant called Springers overlooking the Lake. They weren’t really well equipped for such a large number (maybe 30 people) and the folks on one side of the table got their meals about 30 minutes before the other side (my side). While we were there, Dave and Sue Repyak, a couple from the club who live a few miles away very kindly offered to put me up for the night, along with a couple of other couples. So I saved the cost of a hotel for the night (which is what I had planned) and was glad to get to know a few people better.
On Sunday we had a couple more races. This time I did make it to the start line. However it soon became clear that I have a lot to learn about making the boat go fast. I came dead last in the first race, and was so far behind on the second that I didn’t bother finishing. I found the load on the mainsheet quite high and I didn’t really feel that I had full control in a breeze. However I did get to fly a hull a few times, but never got out on the wire. so I was never really powered up properly and it wasn’t surprising that I was so far off the pace. Nonetheless, I had a ball. I really enjoyed the starts. I hung well back in the first race, but did a pretty good job in the second.
All in all a great weekend. Shame that it was the last regatta of the season. I can’t wait for 2006!
Hey, here are some photos! Courtesy of Moving Target Photography. Ignore the dragging sheets! Lots more photos of the regatta can be found here.
