Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Racing Day 3
Friday, March 6, 2009
Day 2--Cheeseburgers Eating People...
The wind piped up prior to the start, forcing a head sail change from the #2 to the #3 less than 5 minutes before the start. Bow men Matt & Mike were super happy about this.
Circling at the start we ran into fellow Lake Minnetonka sailors, Sammy Rogers and Dave West. Go Minnetonka
With Doctor at the helm for the start, we started out well-- near the committee boat. However we were overpowered and forced to bail to port about a third of the way up the beat , but we caught a nice shift and the next time we tacked we were in the top three boats. Then captain Tom took over at the helm and drove until we turned the corner on a reach and was relieved by Dave for more stellar wave driving.
We then tacked near the port layline and for a while we were in second place. We had to duck behind a Farr 65, which put us in fourth as we rounded the layline. Then we bore off on to a close reach, but struggled a bit in the large (7-8' feet at this point) waves. Then we rounded the mark on the south western tip of the island and tacked to port and sailed close hauled, but again we were over powered compared to most boats in our fleet.
Along the western shore of the island the waves got to be about 14 feet and we decided to take one reef in on the main, which improved the balance on the helm and increased our speed about a knot. This decreased our leeway on port tack.
When we rounded the north island buoy we shook out the reef and set the spinnaker on a dead run. After the jib was doused we noticed we had lost a batten on the #3. The steering was difficult in the large swell-- now up to about 12 feet. We had one major spin out. We watched two boats attempt to jibe and fail miserably so we decided to douse our kite and tack with just the main. With the spinnaker we were doing 10-12 knots.
After the jibe, we hoisted the #3 jib and we were doing 9.7 knots. With the weather looming behind us we decided to keep the spinnaker stowed and just reach with the jib only.
Near the southeastern buoy the squall we were watching hit us with a vengeance. Anyone with a spinnaker still up was in a serious broach situation. We were glad we didn't have our kite up at that time. The winds were gusting to 40 at this point.
We rounded the mark and sailed close hauled to the finish. After finishing, we sailed back towards the harbor and when we went to take down the main realized the halyard was jammed. So Jeff "Kookabura" Solum went up & released the shackle, sending the main sheet to the deck.
We came home to Tammy & Wendy having prepared a wonderful dinner. And now, the night is young and we're on our way to Kim Sha beach for the evening's party...
Pictures to (hopefully) follow. Kinda hard to snap shots in these breezes.
Tomorrow's winds are forecasted to be 22, gusts over 40. Bring it on!
IGY Commodore Cup Award Ceremony Night!
Day 1 of Racing-- Kattack Racing takes home the Gold!
Photo 1: Post Victory celebration with Seanman, Nicolie and Tammy
Photo 2: Kattack Racing on the rail
Cheers!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
More of our first day...
The first 24 hours...
Hey boys and girls... We are NOT in Minnesota any longer!!!
We're here and having a blast. This weather sure beats the 2.5 feet of ice on Minnetonka.
Here's a recap of our first 24 hours...
-9 am dock time came a little too soon-- the Heineken was flowing last night.
-Winds were blowing 15 knots at 7 am!!!! Thanks to Tammy for being so excited and telling us all this long before we needed to be awake.
-Big Mike climbed the mast and did some minor repairs and cut his toe.
-We ran aground before leaving the gazillion dollar marina, but we got off that quick (Minnetonka All Stars know what to do in this situation)
-We made it past the draw bridge (Way to drive Boss Man Tom!!)
-Wendy said no pooping on the boat- period. That's rule #1 and no deviations allowed.
-We got the bitches hiking and man can those bitches hike (Yeah to our Minnetonka All Star Women!!!)
-Louis, Louis! Our Brazillian First Mate for the day.
-Matt is the best bow man in all of the Dutch West Indies!!!!
-Stephanie wears red lipstick even when sailing in St. Maarten. And of course she put on a nice black cocktail dress for the water taxi ride back to the dock (she says it's a cover-up, but we know the truth-- the 3 inch heels give it away).
-Nicolie can grind like no other woman can. Grind girl, grind!
-Tom exchanged burgees with the Commodore of the Sint Maarten Yacht Club tonight!
-Jana & Tammy ran the provisioning mission from hell and ran across the draw bridge seconds before it opened up for the night. We had the best dinner of Tuna, Salmon and Flipper. Mmmmmmmmm good. (but poor little Flipper!).
-Dave is happy to be on a big boat once again and even happier to be with Minnetonka All Stars. Who says living in Florida is so good?
-Tom can drive that bitch! Whoa baby...
-5-7 foot swells and 18 knot breeze--- oh so NICE!!!
-Jeff Solum needs some work on his freestyle. Nicolie and Wendy are giving him some swim lessons tomorrow on the swim from shore to anchor.
-Doctor is well... being Doctor and keeping us all on track.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Schedule of events
Tuesday 3 March 2009
10.00 – 16.00 Budget Marine Match Racing Cup
o Water Taxi Service from 10.00 – 16.00 to spectator boat.
16.00 – 18.00 Early Registration Commodores Cup
19.00 Prize Giving Budget Marine Match Racing Cup’ @ Sint Maarten Yacht Club
Wednesday 4 March 2009
11.00 – 17.00 Registration @ Sint Maarten Yacht Club
11.00 – 17.00 Water Shuttle between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Budget Marine
19.00 – 22.00 Welcome Back Sailors Party @ Sint Maarten Yacht Club
Thursday 5 March 2009
9.00 - ± 15.00 IGY Commodores Cup
9.00 – 17.00 Water Shuttle between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Budget Marine
11.00 – 17.00 Registration @ Sint Maarten Yacht Club
16.00 – 1.00 Water Taxi Service between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Participants fleet
16.00 – 1.00 Water Shuttle between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Port de Plaissance
19.30 Prize Giving IGY Commodores Cup @ Port de Plaisance
Friday 6 March 2009
7.00 – 9.30 Water Taxi Service
9.00 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta
9.00 – 17.00 Water Shuttle between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Budget Marine
16.00 – 21.00 Sailors Lounge @ Sint Maarten Yacht Club
16.00 – 2.00 Party at Kim Sha Beach
14.00 – 1.00 Water Taxi Service between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Participants fleet
Saturday 7 March 2009
7.00 – 9.30 Water Taxi Service between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Participants fleet
9.00 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta day 2
16.00 – 21.00 Sailors Lounge @ Marigot Waterfront
16.00 – 2.00 Party at Marigot Waterfront
14.00 – 1.00 Water Taxi Service between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Participants fleet
Sunday 8 March 2009
7.00 – 9.30 Water Taxi Service between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Participants fleet
9.00 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta day 3
16.00 – 21.00 Sailors Lounge @ Sint Maarten Yacht Club
12.00 – 2.00 Party at Kim Sha Beach
18.00 – 20.00 Prize Giving St. Maarten Heineken Regatta
14.00 – 1.00 Water Taxi Service between Sint Maarten Yacht Club and Participants fleet