Just thought I share some blow by blow of Quality Time’s 3rd race. Plastic Classic is held annually for boats over 25 years. Race then dine format.

QT isn’t rigged for racing, not even close. We’re pudgy carrying a maybe 1000 pounds of extra comfy cruising stuff. So I target a legit last place. 1st year we were so far back they had to rename it. Last year captain didn’t attend the pre-race meeting and missed the detail about a mark being moved.

This year we prepared; that is, replaced the fraying halyard with a lighter one. Had been meaning to do that for a couple of years. Nice shinny blue and saved about 3 pounds. However QT’s rope clutch doesn’t like any line. I had thought the old halyard was just falling a part; but no, its the rope clutch wearing out. (Yes another repair).

Made a point to attend the pre-meet; good thing as the H mark wandered away last night. All the courses changed.

I was looking for additional crew, 1 more would be perfect. Bill and I work smoothly together; but I wanted Carl along for pointers. He couldn’t. In the meantime I saw NOAA’s prediction of 0 to 5 knots and overcast. I decided 2 crew would be enough. Then I studied very light wind sail trim. Sail trim for very light and very heavy are surprisingly similar. Mast bend, vang, outhaul, cunningham, halyard, traveler, jib cars and sheet tension all must be constantly changed. On QT the only practical adjustments are to halyard, traveler, and sheets as they’re led back to the cockpit.

NOAA be wrong, again. Race starts in moderate winds – that’s like a car’s 3rd gear – and winds are freshening.

We’re going to need a lot of halyard tension. The rope clutch can’t hold it. We by pass the clutch tying off on an aft cleet. It holds, but there will be no way to adjust it if the wind changes.that leaves only the sheets and traveler adjustable. Just have to hope the wind and waves are constant.

Wind lets us approach the starting line on a reach. We make a trial run. Holy cow, 6 kts boat speed and only 1 minute from our chosen mark to the committee boat. Let’s try that again.

There’s the 5 minute warning horn. Time to get to our chosen start point. 4 minute flag. We’re hove to waiting. Bill time? 3 minutes. Jibing around to a reach. Bill time? 2 minutes. Staring the run. Bill time? 1 minute. We’re too close luff up to slow a bit. Gun. What? Oliver is over early and taking a penalty dead in our path, gotta get around her. No Way is to blocking to favored side, can we squeeze?. Whew. Felt like 2 foot on either side. Puts us well to the back of the pack but the P mark is dead ahead. The telltales are telling me the sails are trimmed perfectly. Good work crew!

4 boats are windward, 1 leeward, all are ahead; don’t know where the others are. What’s that swooshing? Ah a boat sniffing our stern. 6 kts, 5.8, 6.2, 6.5, 6.3 wind is oscillating and puffy but we’re screaming along. Got a bit of weather helm but all the telltales flying. Need more weight on the rail. We’re all converging to the same 10 foot line by the mark a mile off. And we all have 10 foot beams.

We nose out 3 of the 5 and the guy on our butt is 10 foot away. Its No Way. Shes smaller, lighter, and sailing well.

Make the tack; not pointing well; the hinder guy tacks better. The guy forward isn’t accelerating well. Bill: Captain, we’re 4 feet and getting closer. Decision time, we go starboard. Boat to right, boat to the left, need speed, but our wind is dirty. Bear away a tad; guy to the right reminds us “to make our course”. Translates to “idiot can’t you see us?” Crew trims jib. Much better. We pull away. The windward boat falls back. Now its a duel with No Way. Wind is picking up and we’re both over canvased, he’s luffing his main, I’m not, so our ride is harder but we’re pointing better, getting clear air, and slowly pulling away. Onwards to A mark. What? We just passed Enigma? She’s 6 feet longer and Kevin is good. Whats gotten into QT? She’s hot today! Could we be in the money? Freaking wild.

Wind fresher. We’re heeling way too much for speed. Must tension outhaul. Must tension vang. Must reduce main sheet, must move jib cars. Must, must, must and just can’t do any. Crew is willing but captain deems too risky. So sail on. Bang, What’s that? Rig jumped. Hold breath. All seems OK. Mental note inspect rig.

Tack at A; I hear heee-hawww from another boat; we’re all having a great sail. We tack left.

Everyone is going left, but El Book says keep in a 60 degree cone. So we tack away to the right. Tack back near F’s layline. Dang everyone is ahead; Captain blew the strategy and the race. (Found out later, going right losses 99% of the time). But there is corrected time. We get 189 seconds per mile. So maybe a mid pack finish?

F mark to G is dead down wind. Everyone poles out their jib. We do also. Perfect. Bill, the whisker pole is shrinking. It won’t hold the lock. We’re falling back. Try again. Try again. Stubbornly. Bill take that damn thing down, we’ll downwind tack. But its way late, lost too much ground. Pretty sure we’re dead last; maybe there’s a dumb captain trophy?

But let’s make a good committee boat pass. Ready to harden up at mid channel mark, 10 seconds 5 seconds, go. Rounding up – what? The preventer jammed? How the, oh, that rope clutch bypass messed up the feed. Oh well another 5 seconds isn’t going to matter.

Race done. Drop cloth sails, start iron sail. Hydro-locked. Sigh. Clearing an engine of water is a skill I really don’t want. Countered by sailing into to the slip which always feels good.

Good job Bill.

Hey, not last? That’s great.