Gov Cup Preview

The weather for the Gov Cup is looking as unstable as the weather for A2N and Solomons.  The GFS model forecasts for Friday at 1800 and 1900 as of Thursday evening show light wind WNW at 1800 with a big swirl just south of bloody point.  By 1900, they show NW 10-15.   Other models show similar instability and they are all changing almost by the hour.  The one common element is an eventual settling out of the west sometime around or after midnight.

No matter what happens with the wind, it is nice to have a summer without the frequent southerlies that seem to haunt these distance races.  Plus, if the clouds hold off, we’ll have a half moon for a good part of the night and then maybe a brief view of venus at dawn.  Hopefully viewed with a Dark and Stormy in Horseshoe bay.

Crew:

Jim Comegys

Denis Hope-Ross

Trey Lord

Brendan McCabe

Jeff Seltzer

Dan Shelton

Larry Wigger

Solomons Island Race

We had a fun race down to Solomons on Friday night with a big A1 class of 16 boats including four J120s.  I have written a summary of the race here. 

Newport Race Reflection

Heron arrived in Annapolis at 19:00 Thursday, making the return trip in 53 hours.  Now, she once again looks like a cruiser (well, a racer-cruiser anyway) with the roller furling genoa up and the dinghy outboard on the stern.  The freeze dried food is home and on its way to the attic to await next year’s race.

I have started to analyze the track and our log and am humbled by how well we performed.  Not surprising to anyone on board or to many of our supporters for sure, but a bit overwhelming how everything came together so perfectly.

I’ll post a summary of my thoughts on the race later this week.

Heron returns

At 1420, we are leaving the east passage of narraganset bay headed home.

Thanks to all of you who helped make this race happen. Thanks especially to Tracy who spent so much time and effort prepping the boat, buying gear, and planning meals.

Thanks to Ted, Sean, Buck, Larry, Ken, and Trey for pushing so hard for three days straight.

Greg

Results

Press release from 6/9:

9 June – 1000

11 boats are still racing. 44 boats have finished. 5 boats have retired. Stephen Sherwin and Timothy Charters aboard Nasty Medicine, a Corby 41 have won the double-handed class. Flying Jenny V!, David Askew has won IRCII. Heron, Greg Leonard, has won the battle of the J/120’s and PHRF II. Rick Born, Windborn, another J/120 corrects to 2nd in the class.

My additions:

We were the top PHRF boat by 2hrs 50 minutes (corrected time), a large margin based on recent years results.   We finished before all the PHRF II boats including the ones with faster ratings.  We beat every IRC II boat on elapsed time (not even accounting for the correction).  I think that if we had an IRC rating that we would have won IRC II as well. 

We are the only boat with a corrected time under 3 days.

Life is good

We are beating east of block Is. Making 6.4 SOG. 52M. Great heading and speed. Just passed by GR BIS bouy.

Obviously, we are happy about of position, but are keeping the throttle down to finish as soon as possible.

It is a beautiful day in block island sound. Life is good.

Next update probably after finish.

Cheers

morning update

we are south of montauk beating in light winds. Between 5 and 6, the wind backed suddenly leaving us scrambling  to quickly douse the R2 and set the #1 genoa. Then, we put up the new R3 reaching spinnaker. That lasted for about an hour. Then the wind backed again leaving us beating.

We just tacked onto port and are sailing around 30M basically to the gap between montauk and Block Island.

This big wind change is a challenge, but of course that is one of the reasons we do this.

Ken has taken on the role of Top chef.  This morning, he prepared a lovely course of eggs and bacon for some and eggs, green pepper and ham for others.  Last night, he concocted a sort of tuna jumbalaya surprise. The surprise wasn’t really in the food itself, but appeared in the head which stopped up over night. Let’s see if we can get Ken to unstop it later today.

The sun is coming out now literally and figuratively. We are making just of 5 kts in a good direction.

Upcoming decision: which side of block Is?

Cheers.

midnight update

We are still sailing fast on port gybe with the R2. The full moon is awesome especially as it is off and on obstructed by the clouds.  I could imagine an Edgar Allen Poe poem about the sky as it looks now.

It is cool on deck, but mostly dry. No boats in sight. It is quiet except for the wooshing of the water and the grinding of the spinnaker sheet winch. All in all a beautiful night for sailing.

evening update

We are still on starboard gybe. The winds have continued to back a bit and we are now able to sail mid-to-upper 50s Magnetic. It is a gorgeous evening. Clear and cool, though not cold. Everything has dried out. We are having chips and salsa on the starboard deck while Sean is at the wheel and Trey is trimming the R2. Trey has some great music playing on his IPOD.

Livin’ the Dream.

Afternoon update

We just crossed ahead of a fishing boat with lines down in the water. She changed course and throttled back for us.

See attached for pictures of the boat down below before the sun came out and of the dolphins that joined us last night.

Our wind has continued to back (counter-clockwise). We gybed from port to starboard gybe and continue to make good progress to Newport.

Today was hygiene day with teeth brushing and other personal tasks.

Larry is composing an ode to the so-called “beef stew” substance that he ate for lunch. It begins with “Thank god for Tabasco, Cajun spice, and every other spice in the drawer.” Check back with Larry for the remainder.

This morning, we had a puzzle with our house batteries. We would charge for about an hour, but it would only last for two. It turned out that two of the wing nuts on the battery terminals were loose. It has stabilized now that they are tighter.

dolphins small

down below small