2017 OYRA Duxship

[Photoboy]

It will be a whale of a time!
Image © San Francisco Whale Tours

Jibeset Linky


Synopsis: GREATER FARALLONES...AND CORDELL BANK NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARIES...

BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC TODAY WILL RESULT IN INCREASING NORTHWESTERLY WINDS. EXPECT THE STRONGEST WINDS TO ARRIVE LATER TODAY AND OVER THE WEEKEND. STRONG WINDS WILL RESULT IN INCREASINGLY HAZARDOUS SEA CONDITIONS.

Today
NW winds 5 to 15 kt...increasing to 15 to 25 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. W swell 6 to 8 ft at 12 seconds.
Tonight
NW winds 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 4 to 6 ft. W swell 8 to 10 ft at 12 seconds.
Sat
NW winds 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. NW swell 8 to 10 ft at 12 seconds.
Sat Night
NW winds 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. NW swell 7 to 9 ft at 11 seconds.
Sun
NW winds 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. NW swell 7 to 9 ft at 11 seconds.
Mon
NW winds 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. NW swell 8 to 10 ft. Slight chance of showers.
Tue
W winds 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. W swell 6 to 8 ft. Chance of showers, then slight chance of showers. .....san francisco bar/fourfathom bank forecast..... in the deep water channel...combined seas 3 to 5 ft at 12 seconds... Increasing to 5 to 7 ft at 12 seconds tonight. across the bar...combined seas 4 to 6 ft at 12 seconds...increasing to 6 to 8 ft at 12 seconds tonight. Maximum ebb current of 0.8 knots at 05:06 pm friday and 1.8 knots at 05:00 am saturday.

.....SAN FRANCISCO BAR/FOURFATHOM BANK FORECAST..... IN THE DEEP WATER CHANNEL...COMBINED SEAS 3 TO 5 FT AT 12 SECONDS... INCREASING TO 5 TO 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS TONIGHT. ACROSS THE BAR...COMBINED SEAS 4 TO 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS...INCREASING TO 6 TO 8 FT AT 12 SECONDS TONIGHT. MAXIMUM EBB CURRENT OF 0.8 KNOTS AT 05:06 PM FRIDAY AND 1.8 KNOTS AT 05:00 AM SATURDAY.

[psycho tiller]

15-25 knots, 8-10 ft waves. Perfect conditions to be on a zodiac snapping pictures of the fleet! Should we look for you out by the Duxbury buoy PB?

[Photoboy]

15-25 knots, 8-10 ft waves. Perfect conditions to be on a zodiac snapping pictures of the fleet! Should we look for you out by the Duxbury buoy PB?

I just got some new bungee cord and found my old harness...Thinking aerial assault might be in order!!!

[Photoboy]

Lit!



Mary McGrath, Rich Pipkins, Thomas*Rankin, Michael*Andrews, Karl*Crawford sending it
at the OYRA Duxship! It was a barn burner for sure with winds ramping up to the mid to high 20's
and gusts in the 30's. The J-125' Cant Touch This finished the 31.nm in 4 Hours, 4 minutes and 5 seconds.

Even faster around the course was Zachary Anderson's Shock 40' Velvet Hammer completing the run up to Duxbury Reef,
down to the Entrance Buoy and back to the STFYC race deck in 03:45:27 and Dave Macewen's SC 52 Lucky Duck finishing
next at 03:50:34.

Full report to follow!



RESULTS

[Andy Newell]

Wow. Just wow...

The forecasts called for 18-23 with gusts to 30 and did not disappoint. We did not have the guts to fly a kite except for a few minutes right after the start. Then it was one sail change after another, kite to 1, 1 to 3, reef the main, 3 to 4. The swells were big but not unusual. Just a bit messy on the way out and a couple had no back side seemingly leaving the boat in mid air before crashing into the next swell. The reach from Dux to the Lightship was uneventful screaming along on a beam reach. We decided to go back to our #3 but keep the reef. After a white knuckle gybe at the Lightship it was another near-beam reach with lots of nice swells to surf down and plenty of pressure even with a reefed main and small jib. Our top score of the day was about 12.5 knots and top wind measured was 34.4, although our instruments probably added our falling off a wave to the wind speed. We only stuck the boom in the water a couple of times and had decent control, though it required focus and some aggressive steering. My arms and hands still hurt!

Every year in OYRA we usually have 1-2 heavy weather 'gear buster' races. We did not really have one last year but this one qualifies. I notice that 5 of our 33 racers did not finish, interestingly some of our larger boats and some of our smaller boats. Hopefully what caused these racers to turn back was minor. Does anyone have any intel on that?

[BobJ]

I heard Hana Ho call in their DNF - their backstay parted so they motored back in. The Condor Men were long gone by the time we returned to RYC so I don't know what happened with them.

Your race and sail plan sounds similar to ours. Peak surf speed was 18.5 knots. Skip's record of 18.8 is still intact.

[Andy Newell]

Sounds like Moore 24 Slight Disorder had a lower lose some strands, but they got home with the rig.

[psycho tiller]

We got off light as far as gear breakage goes. Just a cam cleat on the mainsheet and no reverse gear going into the slip at the end of the day. Somehow the bolts that hold the bracket for the transmission cable fell out. Must have shaken loose while crashing through that nasty chop by Point Bonita! It was an awesome, exciting day of heavy winds and swell but nothing is more exciting than coming into the slip hot and having no reverse. Luckily no damage to the boat. Really disappointed none of the crew were willing to put a body part between the boat and the dock though. So hard to find good help these days

[JimQuanci]

Ran into Buzz in the RYC parking lot... Condor's top toggle car on their main (that hold their square head up) broke... they were near Duxbury so rounded the mark and hoisted their new A5 for a test run home (skipping the Lightship).

No problems on the Buffalo... just a few rig shaking bangs falling off the backside of a few waves. Had the shy kite aboard but decided to go conservative - the jib top is huge (155%) - and a few 30k gusts as we neared the bridge made us gun shy.

[Photoboy]

Jim Goldberg and crew sailed his J-109 Junkyard Dog to PHRO 2 glory.

"This regatta has been circled on my calendar since last year" Jim said "Last year we got schooled on the the hitch from Bonita when Elan tacked early
and got in favorable current and arrived at Duxbury WAY ahead of us. This year we reproduced their move and they seemed to have reproduce our move from last year,
This time we arrived at Duxbury well ahead of them and managed to hold that lead to the finish"

Jim reports flying the A3 at the start in an early morning easterly then switched to white sails for most of the rest of day. About 3 hours to Dux in lumpy water,
a screaming reach to Lightship, attempted to fly A4 but was being sent to far south so douse and rode the white sails all the way back! Jim and crew would beat Nick Schmidt's E-37 Escapade to the
finish line by 31 seconds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BViC3bnHqL0

[Photoboy]

Bob Walden, skipper and chief cocktail provider aboard the Cal 39 Sea Star reports that
things got interesting after blowing up the shy kite early in the day but still managed to keep
arch rival Andy Newell's J-35 Ahi in reach as they approached the Gate...

"The plan was to set our kite and carry it for the 5 minute run to the finish and reel the big tuna in"
Bob says "We got a wrap on the set, which, in retrospect, would have reduced sail area just fine for the ride
down' but it unwrapped, and the results, as you can see were not pretty"

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

[Andy Newell]

I only heard about Sea Star's hoist, I was driving and too busy to turn around and look. All I heard was "Sea Star is hoisting" and I think I asked "how's it working" and the response was something like "not too well". Kudo's to Bob for trying.

[Panama Red]

Bob Walden, skipper and chief cocktail provider aboard the Cal 39 Sea Star reports that
things got interesting after blowing up the shy kite early in the day but still managed to keep
arch rival Andy Newell's J-35 Ahi in reach as they approached the Gate...

"The plan was to set our kite and carry it for the 5 minute run to the finish and reel the big tuna in"
Bob says "We got a wrap on the set, which, in retrospect, would have reduced sail area just fine for the ride
down' but it unwrapped, and the results, as you can see were not pretty"

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

At 1st glance, I thought they were heeling on purpose to clear the span.

[Nick S.]

On Escapade we had a nice start at the pin, then reached out to the center of the bay with the #1.
The flood was building along the city front and there was a tide line just west of the start, so getting out early was important.

We peeled to the #3 after we made it under the gate, losing the lead to Elan in the process, who were sailing doublehanded and started with their #3...

The breeze was switched on at Bonita with 20+kts and keeping the main de-powered was the name of the game. Lots of work for the main trimmer, active driving to keep boatspeed up and minimize slamming in often confused chop. Weight on the rail was critical here, we got back past Elan and were both subsequently passed by Junkyard Dog, who was fast upwind.

There was too much breeze at too hot an angle for a hoist at Dux, so a processional jib reach to the Lightship was in order. We watched J. Dog hoist at Lightship and promptly sail off towards Half Moon Bay before dousing. With them as a barometer we decided to forego hoisting until the breeze backed a bit.

After apparent crept aft of the beam we prepared to set, knowing it was the only way to catch Junkyard... So up went our reacher kite. Breeze at this point was 25, gusting to 30. When the boat was on its feet we were fast, hitting 18 knots and rarely out of the teens. There were a few round-ups that were decidedly not fast, but let's not talk about that.

There was some chatter about dousing, but we were reeling in Junkyard Dog at a fair old rate so the decision was made to hold on as long as we could. As we closed in on the gate it became clear that the breeze was not going to back enough for us to clear the south tower. The foredeck was completely awash so a douse into the companionway was called.

Kite down, we had an uneventful jibe at the south tower and went to work resetting the spin gear for the run to the finish. With a nice push from the tail of the flood we quickly came to realize that by the time the gear was reset and kite back up we would be at the finish, so we stuck with the #3 to the line.

Nice job by Junkyard Dog keeping a cool head and not hoisting again, seriously nice job by Jack and John on Elan who were seriously competitive racing doublehanded in the crewed division.

- Nick

[psycho tiller]

On Escapade we had a nice start at the pin, then reached out to the center of the bay with the #1.
The flood was building along the city front and there was a tide line just west of the start, so getting out early was important.

We peeled to the #3 after we made it under the gate, losing the lead to Elan in the process, who were sailing doublehanded and started with their #3...

The breeze was switched on at Bonita with 20+kts and keeping the main de-powered was the name of the game. Lots of work for the main trimmer, active driving to keep boatspeed up and minimize slamming in often confused chop. Weight on the rail was critical here, we got back past Elan and were both subsequently passed by Junkyard Dog, who was fast upwind.

There was too much breeze at too hot an angle for a hoist at Dux, so a processional jib reach to the Lightship was in order. We watched J. Dog hoist at Lightship and promptly sail off towards Half Moon Bay before dousing. With them as a barometer we decided to forego hoisting until the breeze backed a bit.

After apparent crept aft of the beam we prepared to set, knowing it was the only way to catch Junkyard... So up went our reacher kite. Breeze at this point was 25, gusting to 30. When the boat was on its feet we were fast, hitting 18 knots and rarely out of the teens. There were a few round-ups that were decidedly not fast, but let's not talk about that.

There was some chatter about dousing, but we were reeling in Junkyard Dog at a fair old rate so the decision was made to hold on as long as we could. As we closed in on the gate it became clear that the breeze was not going to back enough for us to clear the south tower. The foredeck was completely awash so a douse into the companionway was called.

Kite down, we had an uneventful jibe at the south tower and went to work resetting the spin gear for the run to the finish. With a nice push from the tail of the flood we quickly came to realize that by the time the gear was reset and kite back up we would be at the finish, so we stuck with the #3 to the line.

Nice job by Junkyard Dog keeping a cool head and not hoisting again, seriously nice job by Jack and John on Elan who were seriously competitive racing doublehanded in the crewed division.

- Nick

Great race Nick and team Escapade! That was a fun tight race right down to the end. You guys definitely made us very nervous carrying the kite on the way back in from the Lightship with an occasional sigh of relief from our boat watching a round up or two back there. Seems like every time we gave some serious thought to setting the A3 a round up would come along so we held off. I must have asked our crew at least 100 times "The A3 is ready to go if we need it, right?" If I remember correctly you continued to make up some ground on us inside the bay as we jibed earlier towards Crissy Field. You must have stayed in better wind and/or current staying to the left, great call there too. If the finish was any farther we would have been in big trouble!

Totally agree about Jack and John on Elan. We talked about the same thing on our boat regarding how they were double handed in a full crew fleet, super impressive in a day where rail meat paid off big.

Hope to see Escapade and the rest of the fleet out there next time for more tight racing!

Jim
"Junkyard Dog"