HLKK 2022-09-07 R10

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alex
luti
Posts: 455
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 20:38 pm
Location: Espoo
Vene: Subbota

HLKK 2022-09-07 R10

Post by alex »

The forecast was Northerly 8-10 kts, gusting to 12-16 kts by different models, although it looked like the worst forecast was not going to happen. G1 was the obvious choice.

We expected route 2, and it happened.

We made a lame start, about 30 seconds late. It looked like everyone was late except St. Olga. However, we quickly passed her.

The first leg to the Green mark was a straight line on a beam reach. We were thinking about going on the right side of the rocks to stay away from the shore, but we buried that idea before the start. Lucky Too took that way, and it seemed to have worked for them. We picked the left side option closer to Varsasaari. There was a problem. Unexpectedly, we caught up on Albin Nova "Aurora" ahead of us and came to a dead end - we wouldn't be able to overtake them on the leeward side. If we took the windward side, they could have lifted us into the lee of Varsasaari, where both of us would get parked forever. Keeping going behind them at their pace was insane. We took the windward option; they tried to lift us but gave up soon, and we passed. But we got into the lee and lost a lot of speed on that engagement - Sans Rival and Merel caught on us. We hoisted the spinnaker shortly before the Green mark. At the mark, we were 4th after Minnamari, Lucky Too, and Ariel.

After the Green mark, the wind shifted, and we gybed to STBD. It helped to push away Merel, who just hoisted their gennaker on PORT tack. The wind was messy because the boats were reaching the mark behind us and we had to quickly gybe twice. But then the wind settled, and we set the course right to the next Red mark. Sans Rival and Aurora to the left side of us had slightly better AWA, sailed marginally faster, and overtook us on this leg, although they didn't build any significant distance. Aurora boldly tried to overtake Sans Rival on her leeward side and parked in the wind shadow.

After the Red mark, it was again a straight spinnaker course to the farthest leeward mark of the racecourse. We were a few boat lengths behind Sans Rival and Aurora and had St. Olga close behind. Aurora gently tried to overlap with Sans Rival on the windward side; Sans Rival was gently lifting them. We also had to sail higher because they were producing enormous backwind together. During this lifting game, St.Olga shortened the distance. Then Aurora went bold with the windward overlapping, and Sans Rival went bold with the lifting. They skyrocketed 30 degrees of the course, fast. It allowed us to make separation from them, and with no distraction and a straighter course, we overtook Aurora first and then Sans Rival just before the leeward mark. Before the mark, we were quicker with the drop-the-spinnaker drill and had better wind angles, and slipped around the mark 2-3 boat lengths before Sans Rival.

The upwind leg was very shifty. We worked our way through the channel nicely, although we had to go below all FR2 class boats rushing under the spinnakers, and then we had the FR1 fleet coming, too. We used all shifts to our advantage, and Aurora and Sans Rival worked in counter-phase. To the Red intermediate mark, we again came together with Aurora, and she overtook us just before the mark (they overstood on the previous tack and came to the mark close reaching, fast), and Sans Rival was well behind already. After the Red, it became wider, and Aurora sailed to the corners while we stayed closer to the middle. With the shifts, we came to the upwind Green mark very close to Aurora.

The final leg was close reaching, and we calmly sailed to the finish having only Aurora relatively close ahead of us, and they sailed away pretty fast on this wind angle. We crossed the line 5th after Minnamari, Ariel, Lucky Too, and Aurora and were 3rd in the corrected results list. The rest of the fleet was far behind; the next boat crossed the lines minutes after us.

It was a fun race. Many thanks to the RC, the crew, and the competitors!
Last edited by alex on Thu Sep 08, 2022 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
alex
luti
Posts: 455
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 20:38 pm
Location: Espoo
Vene: Subbota

Re: HLKK 2022-09-07 R10

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