The GOOD, the BAD & the UGLY...series race #2

It was bound to happen.  Every single time I'd had this boat out--I had the time of my life.  Finally, we had an adventure that wasn't exactly fun.

The GOOD...
The weekend started great!  Like we often do, we headed up to the lake on a Friday night.  We had a heifer calf born on Wednesday but mamma's tetes were too swollen and the heifer which I've been calling Tinkerbell was too starved or stupid to find the udder.   I found the cow and calf Thurdays in the woods.  The calf wasn't nursing yet and getting weak in the heat.  Friday morning, I noticed the mother was up in the field without her...that happens.   Friday evening as we were preparing to leave, I found mamma heifer in the stables cooling off with the other cattle--minus Tinkerbell.   I found her in the woods and carried her up, put them together in the foaling pen and softened the udder tetes with warm water while Angie made a bottle.   It took a bit to pin her and get her drinking a bottle.  My folks and Wife saved the calf bottle feeding her until she found mamma's faucets.  

Galactica's Shadow on the dike....

Anyway, that was the start of the weekend.  We got to the lake after dark and motored into a cove by the Ray Behrens Campground to anchor for the night.  We had a relaxing night and morning on the water.

Morning in Ray Behrens campground cove.

After breakfast, I finished rigging the running rigging and after relaxing and enjoying the peace, we set sail for the Marina to attend an officer's meeting and pre-race briefing.  That was the Good...

Angie at the helm, piloting us out of the coves...

The BAD...

After the meetings,  We loaded the buoys, pump and anchors into Galactica and headed out to set the buoys for the race.   We started having problems with the buoys holding air and we snapped off the remaining cup holder from the pedestal.   Winds were to be 12-14 with gusts.   With this boat, that's the tipping point for reefing.  I had left the reef in when I put the boom on as we were reefed during that awesome memorial day sail.

Filling one of the smaller buoys.

We worked our way back towards the starting line.  The Goose was a bit late coming up so the race start was postponed 15 minutes.

Endeavor, milling around prior to start.

During that time, all the boats milled around waiting for the five minute warning.

Angie, waiting for race start...

 I had the reef in and wind gusts caused us to round up a couple times, so I furled a few turns on the 150 Genoa.   Then it seemed under powered. So I unfurled the Genoa...

Then a gust knocked us over where we rounded up and another corningware bowl slipped over the shelf fiddle and broke on the floor under the table...   So I furled a couple turns...

Meanwhile the 5 minute warning had sounded.   We were in irons, lost steerage, jibed came around and was trying to work towards the line which was dead into the wind.  We were at just the right distance that I couldn't beat close hulled across the starting line and would have to jibe around again and fall off to get a proper tack...The 1 minute warning sounded!

Wild Goose moving into starting position...



The Ugly...

During all the time, my ez cleat would pop and release the genoa sheet in the gusts... my normally orderly mainsheet and foresail sheets management was in a mess...AND I REALIZED THE HORN WAS THE START!  Not the 1 minute warning!   There we were, in irons, wind dropped, no steerage, not allowed to dip the motor into the water to turn us a few degrees.

I do not have pictures for the next 20 minutes which were a symphony of errors, mishaps and just plain bad luck... 

Winds were not the sustained strength I looked up on the web.  All the longer, taller, wider, heavier boats were under full sail and making 6 or 7 knots... As they were past the first buoy and on a broad reach flying towards the second buoy, we finally limped across the start line with my sheets a mess, my sail trim was atrocious and I was so flustered and angry with myself for embarrassing the boat in front of the fleet things just got worse...

Angie and I can sail Galactica pretty well.  She was an angel and didn't see why I was so humiliated.   The fleet commodore suggested that I let out the reef.   It was obvious by that time that winds were now going to stay lower.   We were halfway to the first buoy as the first three sailboats were on their final  broad reach back to the finish line.  I released the reef, and the halyard was tangled....sail trim horrible,  closed hulled in a good 10-12 mph wind and making only 2.6 knots.

I got the main halyard untangled (up above the spreaders) and raised the sail.   Flustered, humiliated I figured we'd finish it.  I was stressed as I had to get back home ASAP since I was flying out that same night to Boston for work. 

Once done with the hard beat to windward, Galactica would fly down the remaining two legs--late but finishing.   As I tacked, I saw that the bolt holding the lower sail ring to the boom was missing and the bottom couple sail slugs were taking the strain.   That's when I called it.  Turned into the wind, lowered all sails and went to retrieve the buoys.

Back to Normal....

So after picking up the buoys, we left the main sail down since it was missing the retaining bolt and sailed back to the marina under foresail only.  It was a wonderful sail back making 4.5 knots with just the Genoa.