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Great Fleet 7 Weekend!

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/04/2005 : 11:32:16

Hey, if you are reading this, are in the Southwestern US, and have not contacted us about Fleet 7, get on with it! We had a ball this weekend.

Friday, Utopia and crew arrived from Oceanside, and so did Charlie from the far east. After my intense sailing day Thursday, Friday was a welcome relief. We had sunny skies, air temps in the 80s, and good wind almost all day. Everyone arrived at L dock about 4 PM. Utopia and crew had dinner plans, so Charlie and I hopped on Indiscipline and sailed until well after dark, returning around 8:30, hungry and ready to eat. The trouble was, one of my good dock friends was there. What a joy to have crew (Charlie) to flake sails and put the boat away while I gabbed with "Tuna Bob" as we call him.

After a late night burger, a stop at the market, a quick sleep, Charlie and I were up at 5:30 to go fishing. Joe from Utopia joined us, and we promised to get in a day of fishing and back to the dock before the kids were even up. In ultra light air we found ourselves motoring up to La Jolla. We metered a lot of fish! Then we employed my usual technique, turn the boat downwind and drift back towards home at a knot or two while jigging. We got some hits and some fish followed the lures up to the boat, but no hookups other than some epic battles with the kelp. We did pop the spinnaker for the "run" home but the morning air was so light we ended up on the Honda. Back in the slip by 10:30 as promised.

The rest of the morning was spent in boat chores, paddling the kayaks, Charlie took his opportunity in the big city to go shopping for a digital camera. I cleaned the boat, tuned my rigging and got all my racing gear ready.

Around noon the folks started showing up for the picnic / beach party. By 1:30 we were anchored off the beach in Mariners Basin. Indiscipline had her anchor down and all the C25s were rafted up. Our S2 race boat Endeavor was anchored right behind us. Combinining kayaks and some dinghy shuttles, we soon had everyone on the beach. Ken and Monica, owners of Endeavor, had about 10 family members show up and cooked food for 20. So even though we all had our own lunch, ours stayed in the cooler in favor of their delicious fare. Soon kids were exploring by kayak, I was flying my stunt kite, an a croquet game was going on.

Amy, Karen, and Heidi (plus friend) showed up, Amy with 2 medals from the invitational track meet!

Before you knew it, it was time to pack up for the long awaited night race. The winds that were just too light for my stunt kite continued to fade. Mike motored up on Mara. We all made a quick stop at the dock to offload beach gear and change a few crew spots around. Endeavor had 3 of her 4 crewmen for the Newport-Ensenada (I was on Indiscipline to give them a worthy opponent). Joe (Utopia) joined me as crew. Gary and Susan on Classical Cat and Mike on Mara rounded out the fleet.

We sailed out into the perfect sunset in very light air. At 6:30, as planned, we formed up and headed back downwind for home. It was just twilight.

This was a downwind, ultra light air "duel in the dark". Gary soon showed his downwind skills and the tall rig pulled away from the group. Mara, with only a 110 and a standard rig was well out of it. But Endeavor hoisted her asym and I followed with our spinnaker and for us it was race on.

Endeavor and Indiscipline battled for the next 2 hours neck and neck. I did reach across their stern and gain boat speed but as we re-entered Mission Bay the rocks and jetties restricted gybing tactics. It was downwind, but boat speed moved the apparant wind ahead and all boats were on some kind of a reach. By the end, as the feeble breeze shifted Classical Cat was about 100 yards ahead, Indiscipline finally broke out of the wind shadow and pulled about 2 boat lengths on Endeavor. I saw the wind shift ahead and they were focused on their sail. However, a good part of the finish was which boat drifted in the current fastest. I think my symetrical spinnaker is superior to the gennaker. I was running it poleless and could gybe very quickly as the breeze moved around. Tey all thought I looked like I was still flying the stunt kite - up on the bow with both sheets in my hands!

I had had enough so I doused the chute, packed it, fired the Honda, and motored the last few hundred yards to the slip, as did everyone else. It was about 8:30 PM. Everyone had excellent night practice. Soon we were sitting on a little patio, eating mexican and italian food, replaying the events of the race while planning the next one!

The party continued Saturday night and Sunday, but my mini-Spring Break was over. I was dog tired and had too much sun. I spent Sunday doing some long neglected yard work, catching up on sleep, and reading Buddy Melges "Sailing Smart". What a great little book!!!

Indiscipline 1978 FK SR #398

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Sloop Smitten
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 04/05/2005 : 14:00:15

Good write-up Jim. We left around 9:00 am Monday morning into a 6 foot rough seas being windblown by 15 knots of wind. Within a mile out of the harbor I had half my crew of four seasick so I turned around and dropped them off at the dock to let them take the car back home and Emily (my 13 year old daughter) and I turned around and headed back out. We sailed closehauled for the first 2-1/2 hours at 5+ knots with the 110 which, combined with the oncoming current, I am sure was close to hull speed. The wind died down about half way through the trip and we doused the jib and motored the rest of the way through the choppy seas. The auto-pilot was useless in the rough seas, as it is a reactionary device, so I took the tiller the whole way, learning how to read the oncoming swells and adjust to aviod a broach. We reached Oceanside about 6:00 pm and I raised thhe jib again to assure we could maneuver the high swells in case the engine swamped. No problem was encountered however. We never encountered another boat the entire 30 mile trip, probably due to the rough conditions. The C25, as many have stated, performed admirably in those conditions and left me with a greater appreceiation of her seaworthiness. It was the rougest seas I have sailed in yet and was a good gauge of how much I have learned and how much more I need to. Thanks to you and the rest of Fleet 7 for making our visit a weekend to remember. I look forward to hooking up again later this summer.
Joe

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 04/05/2005 : 16:10:18

I went sailing Monday night in strong winds (but starting to die down) and wicked rough seas - 5 footers at 3 or 4 seconds. I was worried about you. Glad you made it OK. Certainly a good decision to have the family go home by car.

Any Fleet 7 folks with photos - please email them! I want to update the web pages.

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.