Fast Summer Fun-One Week on threebeans

Saturday, June 27.  Most racing crews do not take over the forward stateroom of a boat and refuse others entry into their “fort”.  But, on this morning, this was no ordinary crew.

For our first cruising trip on our new SC-37, threebeans. I brought my two boys (ages 7 and 5); my doublehanded racing partner Gerry Pearce brought his two boys (ages 8 and 7).  Even in “cruising” mode, though, Gerry and I can’t help but try and make the boat go fast, so despite our under-age crew, we started with eight or nine other boats for a casual race across Long Island Sound from Southport, Connecticut to Eaton’s Neck, New York.

We rigged the boat with the ORC “heavy weather sail”, which had been made to be a dual-purpose cruising and racing headsail.  It is a little bigger than a traditional #4 but quite a bit smaller than the usual upwind headsails.  The sail is made from Norlam dacron and it has a UV strip on the leech and foot so it can live on the furler without a cover.  In 11 knots of breeze, we had plenty of power and the boat felt great – despite the crew weight concentrated in the forepeak!  The breeze dropped into the 5 knot range close to Eaton’s Neck, and the boat was tad sluggish-no surprise given the lack of breeze and sail area – but we were still moving along quite nicely.  The exercise proved that the little jib, with a good reefing setup, will make this boat perfectly fine to cruise, hard on the wind, in just about any breeze. (We already know that the boat loves to go downwind!)

For the race result junkies: we ended up correcting to a third in the race; we lost to a J/109 who banged the right corner and enjoyed a forty degree right shift, and to a Beneteau 36.7 by only 7 seconds.  Not a bad outcome considering that much of our tactical discussion centered on when to have lunch.

After the finish we motored into the cove at Price Bend, pulled the CQR out of the big anchor locker, and set the hook. We inflated the dinghy on the foredeck,and then started pulling gear out of the ridiculously big cockpit locker… the dinghy engine, oars, and swim ladder.  (Even with that stuff out, the locker still held the transom BBQ, the boat’s running rigging, fenders, dock lines and the emergency tiller, and then by the end of the trip, it held the trash bags, too.) Everyone went for a swim and then enjoyed a hot fresh water shower on the transom.  After a change of clothes, we pulled dinner supplies out of the ice-cold fridge (which draws so little power that we just leave it running), and headed to the beach for a shared dinner with the other boats (someone had lugged over a huge grill grate and built a big fire).  Once back on the boat, we were joined by two more kids and their dad; the kids went below to watch a DVD, while the adults stayed on deck for a few cocktails and toasted a great day on the water.

 

Sunday, June 28.   It’s one of those things that non-sailors will never understand: that there is nothing quite like than waking up on a boat and going for an early-morning swim.  Especially if you find that you still have hot water for a shower-even though the engine was run for maybe an hour the previous afternoon and for twenty minutes before bedtime to top off the batteries.

Refreshed, we had breakfast and, with a hot pot of coffee perking on the stove, pulled up the anchor to head home. Unfortunately, the wind was light and right on the nose, so instead of sailing, we motored home at 7 knots – never touching the wheels once the course was set in the autopilot. Back in Southport, the boat got a quick wash, the dinghy was packed into the car, and the boat was ready for racing.

Wednesday, July 1.    Hump day, and it’s time to take a break from the weekday grind and go sailboat racing!  While our home club might be small, it has no dearth of talent or drive.  Our weekday racing is, of course, of the “beer-can” variety-but it is, in fact, good sailing, with a small group of well-matched boats and excellent crews.

As we left the dock, wind speeds were touching the low 20s – highly unusual for a mid-summer night on Long Island Sound.  With only seven guys on the boat, we were going to be a little underweight going upwind, so we set the #4 and put one reef in the main.  After a poor start and a 1.3 mile upwind leg to the first mark, we found ourselves in a ghastly and unusual place – behind two J/109s.  No problem.  We set the 3A reaching kite and by the time we got back to the start/leeward mark, we had blasted by both of them, well into double-digits on boat speed.

With the breeze and the ice box both trending lighter, we lost a bit of ground back uphill; probably should have shaken out the reef.  We gained it back downwind and then saw the same situation on the last upwind leg.  The last downwind leg to the finish was one of those runs you dream about: the boat on a full plane for most of the leg, with speed rarely dropping below 10 and touching the upper 12’s at times, even though we were running fairly deep with the small 3A and seriously undercanvassed with the reef.

In the end, that un-shook reef and a botched last gybe cost us the win on corrected time by 20 seconds to a well-sailed J/109, who at the finish was over a half-mile behind us in a 7.8 mile race.  In our post-race debrief, we decided that the reef was overkill, but not having previously sailed the boat upwind in 20 knots of breeze, we had thought that we should err on the depowered side.  And, we figured that we should have set the big 2A kite for more downwind speed.

Friday, July 3.  Back into cruise mode, we set out to watch the Independence Day fireworks.  Six adults, six kids-plenty of room for all.

As the fireworks boomed, two of the younger kids had enough of the noise and retreated below to watch a movie.  On deck, the rest of us enjoyed a spectacular display – especially the kids who sported “fireworks enhancement glasses”, a product that is now a “must-have” for the next fireworks show and maybe even for the next overnight race…

Sunday, July 5.  Two days later, back into race mode for a “random leg” club race.

With a nice 10 to 15 knot sea breeze, we set up the heavy #1 on the furler, but took a bit too much time doing so and managed to miss the start.  Well, not exactly miss – but be to windward of the line, with only the mainsail up, at the gun.  No problem.  Round the pin, start on the proper side of the line, unfurl the jib, and start sailing to weather.  In last place.

By the first mark, 2.9 miles upwind, we had passed everyone, including a J/46 who shares our PHRF rating of 42.  In fact, the J/46 tried to tack on us a quarter-mile from the mark – but we managed to squirt bow-out to leeward and then outpoint them.  The crew, game faces on, stared down the J/46’s helmsman as they power-hiked with steadfast determination.

Set the 2A kite, run for the next mark at 8 to 9 knots boatspeed, douse the kite, then jib-reach back to the finish at 8.5 knots for the bullet.

And the crew: three adults and, yep, five kids ranging from 5 years old to 12 years old.  Imagine the conversation on that J/46 when they got a look at our rail meat.

In all, a great week of sailing on threebeans: from a two-family overnight cruise in well-appointed comfort, to an exciting race with double-digit boatspeeds as the norm, capped off by a day race, getting kids into sailing, while going fast with ease.  Indeed, while the words might tell the story, the smiles truly show what it’s all about.