Contrary to what has been posted, the race was not totally a drifter. Otherwise, no one would have made it through the flooding current at the Narrows which was reportedly 4 knots at peak ebb.
The start was very light but built to a rather steady 5-7 one-jibe run to the bridge after the first turn at the Naval Weapons pier. Most boats held high and ended up bucking the stronger flow in the main channel. We went low to stay out of that and got a nice push into the bridge from the flow out of Raritan Bay. About 10 boats converged at the bridge and spent a frustrating hour or so gaining and losing ground, but always moving decently through the water. One by one someone would punch through into the better water inside.
It was still tough going but I thought very interesting and exciting to see the dynamics change back and forth. There were seams and back currents that made the difference…just like finding wind.
We were very surprised and disappointed when the Tybee folks bailed on us. Almost immediately the whole situation changed and a nice breeze filled in to allow the “chosen” to start making their approaches to the Statue. Every sense you had came into play. There were tide lines, moving ships, anchored barges, wind shadows and oh yeah…….the big orange Staten Island Ferries that came from both directions at warp speed. There was a new challenge every time you looked around and fortunes were gained or lost many times.
Eventually we converged with several of the leaders for the rounding which could be in either direction. I had planned our approach to go counter-clockwise but as we got close, commercial traffic forced us the other way. We held a slight lead over Jon and Ladi on the I20 coming in from the Brooklyn side. The Capricorn (Bracco/Saffer) squandered a big lead going to the Hoboken side. They came in behind and jibed inside us going around while we all had to stay clear of the security zone and park ranger boats.
Once around it was a beat all the way home in a building sea breeze and haze. The highlight of the race was double trapping, pacing the Staten Island ferries. We jumped the stern wake of one going one way and found absolutely flat water in it’s wake. Another one going the other way carried us on it’s bow wake for awhile and eventually drove over us. We dropped in behind him and he sucked us all the way to his dock.
After that, it was a very pleasant close reach/beat all the way back. We all misjudged the heading going back across Raritan Bay and bore off too soon in the haze. That meant that we had to tack around the Navy pier mark after giving away the height we had in the bag.
We arrived on the beach just after 7pm and the wonderful folks at Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club helped us ashore and fed us again.
Although the harbor was very intimidating, we never felt in danger. The SHBCC chase boats were always nearby. This was absolutely the most interesting and exciting cat race either of us had ever done.
Jack Woehrle Hobie Wave #100, Tiger Shark III HCA-NA 5022-1 USSailing 654799E Alachua FL/Put-In-Bay
