F17 Takes overall ………
May 10, 2008 Pensacola Sea Buoy Race Recap – an F17 review by Bob Curry
Wahoo! The day started out cloudy with winds out of the west (255 degrees) at 10-15kts and an incoming current. As expected, the usual gang of area Nacra 20s, a square topped Nacra 6.0NA, a Nacra F18, a F18HT, a F16, a Nacra 500 with spinnaker, and the lone Nacra F17 set sail at 1130 for the Pensacola Sea Buoy located out Pensacola Pass and offshore.
The race committee had set a leeward pin favored line out in the current which was scheduled to go out beginning somewhere around 1145. With the winds more westerly and the “river” beginning to flow out up the leg, I decided to start at the leeward pin on starboard with rights and sail a quarter up the line before tacking on to port tack heading out into the bay. With getting out to the starting area first, I was able to see that starting at the leeward pin on port tack would take me over a shoal area and cause two tacks when I should be concentrating on boat speed. I also figured out that when the left shift was forecasted to appear, a more direct route towards the pass would net a bigger gain than by sailing along the shoreline to the south. My plan was to simply keep the 17 on it’s best point of sailing into the breeze, upwind instead of reaching.
So with my starting plan squared away, the gun goes off and I’m executing properly when I notice I’m getting sandwiched in between two Nacra 20s. I slow down to allow the top 20 to almost role over me then I tacked to port. It so happened it was the perfect move to avoid the shoal area! The F18HT had started at the committee boat and we were now locked in a parallel speed battle towards the pass. The other boats were all sailing away from the pass towards the south shore to get out of the current but I found that by pointing at the pass instead of running parallel to it I just might gain a lot of distance on them with the expected wind shift.
As the HT and I are speeding towards the pass, the wind is increasing steadily out in the bay. A couple of adjustments later and I’m keeping pace with the double-handed HT! I look over my shoulder and realize the others along the south shore are sailing in flatter water but in slightly less breeze. As the wind begins to shift to the left, the HT and I are now sailing a closer course to the pass than all the others who had made multiple tacks to the shoreline. Wow, this feels good!
At the pass, all the boats finally converged with the Nacra 20s getting out first. You can imagine the look on their faces when they realized I was so close at that point! The winds outside in the Gulf had subsided a bit leaving a very confused sea and it was difficult making headway and trying to keep the F17 powered up enough to remain on the trapeze. As the others in front had footed and had to make two tacks to get around the sea buoy, the upwind ability of the now fully powered up F17 saves the day and without tacking rounds the sea buoy.
With the spinnaker fully engaged and tugging relentlessly on the sheet, it was a fantastic sleigh ride back to the pass. Sometimes it paid to trapeze off the back of the boat and at other times it paid to sit in on the hull. It was all about sailing the most direct course and the fastest! The swells were a blast surfing down them, popping wheelies off the crests, and running into the spinnaker a few times with the massive apparent wind attacks! As I sailed into the pass and started the final leg east towards the finish line, I can see the lead 20s’ blue spinnaker. Oh boy, they are in site! Now it is get on the trap and make this F17 go as fast as I can without having a mishap. The winds inside are up again and it makes for a very fast hull flying sail to the finish line. The first Nacra 20 finishes 14 minutes ahead of me but it is not enough to correct out on the F17. Yippee as the same F17 won this race in 2007. Oh by the way, this was Outlaw’s final sail with me at the helm so it was just fitting for us to end a spectacular and magnificent career together with a win!
