| 27.Jun.05 | It was, at times, a wild ride back. With the temps on the mainland in the nineties, the southwesterly built early and it was a spinnaker run home. Early, it was light going across Block Island Sound, but by the time we made the turn at Point Judith, we started to see some major pressure. As we got up toward Beavertail, the wind was honking and we actually topped out at over 14 knots (the boat, not the wind). And yes, Virginia, the blades do hum at those speeds. And to think that some people complain about that and try to eliminate the hum! Well, it was all the two of us could do to take down the kite, but with the help of Russell (our auto-pilot) we got the job done with no damage to the kite. We speculated about the five poor Annapolis boats going in the opposite direction. We made it from R"2" at New Harbor to R"2" in Wickford in about three and a half hours. Not bad! Here's the story on the sailmakers in a format similar to what I did for Key West. Since the Block Island boat used local sails, I've eliminated it from consideration and divided the world into four quartiles (5 boats in each quartile). I've also put boats into the category of the maker of the main and jib, even if they might have used a different sailmaker's spinnaker. North: 7 boats, 2 in first quartile (4th,5th) / 1 in second quartile / 2 in third / 2 in fourth Ullman: 7 boats, 1 (2nd) / 1 / 3 / 2 UK: 3 boats, 0 / 2 / 0 / 1 Quantum: 2 boats, 1 (1st) / 1 / 0 / 0 Doyle: 1 boat, 1 (3rd) / 0 / 0 / 0 Conclusions? The sailmakers are pretty even. Also of interest was that only five of the 21 mainsails were delivered in 2005 and twelve in 2004. Four were earlier. But remember that a 2004 may have been purchased late in 2004, so the sails may be newer than it seems. Overall it was a good BIRW. We sailed races every day and had nine races for the week. The wind was light and fluky at times, but that's hard to avoid. Current was a factor as it always is. There was no significant damage reported to me and nobody got hurt. The competitions was as good as it has ever been. There was a higher premium placed on going in the right direction than there was on boatspeed and boat handling (in my humble opinion). As far as I know, most of the owners enjoyed themselves and will be back again. We're down a little in numbers this year, but I'm available to help you get a program going for next year. Hope to see more of you in 2006. Let me know if you have any comments on the commentary (nelson@j105.org). Oops. Almost forgot. Look back at the non-predictions from June 15 below. Of the five boats that I mentioned as contenders, all five finished in the top five. I don't know how GUMPTION got mentioned. They never said they were coming to Block in the first place. Kevin was out there watching in his powerboat, however. Copyright 2005 J/105 Class Association, all rights reserved. |
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| 24.Jun.05 | Took to Rodman's Hollow this morning. Since "Peg's Cottage" is close to Rodman's, I had to walk it and see the land that has been conserved for the ages. There's quite a bit of diversity there in both fauna and flora. The first part of the walk was through deep covered underbrush. Later it turned into more of a jeep trail, then simple walking trails through the meadows and onto the bluffs overlooking the southwest rocky coast. There were three deer "grazing" in the meadow. There were beach roses and, of course, birds everywhere. Yes, despite the continued building on Block, there is plenty of land being set aside for posterity and it is growing every year. Judging from a map at the trailhead, it appears that maybe 20 percent of the island is protected now. It's a good sign that those attending Race Week in the future will be able to enjoy more than just the racing. Today the wind piped up and was from the southwest early. The RC got off two races and the breeze held steady out of 220-230 for most of the racing. I would say it averaged 14 knots in the first and 16 knots in the second. Both courses were four leggers to 235 degrees at 1.7 miles. There was considerable current at the weather mark early in the day and boats were being swept down to the mark. Boatspeed and boathandling were major issues compared to the other days of sailing around the buoys. It was a fair test of sailing ability and the early leaders again came on strong. PRETTY SKETCHY won the first race and had it sewed up before the last race. SAVASANA sealed her fate with a ninth in the first race, but finished strong with a win. ECLIPSE had a 3-2 to move them into third. KIMA had a great start in the first race, but alas, it was a bit too great and she was called back to restart. You may have noticed a lack of "tent talk" in these commentaries. Because of all the family activities, I did not make it down to the tent. But another reason is that I chose not to buy the $50 bracelets this year. It seems to me that when you pay as much as you do to enter a week-long regatta you should be able to attend the awards presentations without having to pay an additional fee to get into the tent. Also, when a sponsor donates hats for the event, you should not have to support the organizer by buying bracelets at $50 a crack to get your hats. The liquor and the hats are not worth the $50. If you feel similarly, e-mail me at nelson@j105.org. End of sermon. Hope you enjoyed the commentary. I'll be back on Monday with one last summary. Copyright 2005 J/105 Class Association, all rights reserved. |
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| 23.Jun.05 | Can you believe no bike ride today? I was feeling the pain (joint pain, literally) so I decided to sleep in and do a short walk at 6 a.m. I walked down to the end of Cooneymus and found the beach access. It looks out on the rocky beach and R"6" on the southwest corner of Block. There was a smoldering fire left over from last night. So how does one organized an "entourage" of 16 folks to come to Block? You start in January by making reservations for housing (in our case two houses). You also need to get your ferry reservations for several cars on the day they first become available (also in January). You make sure that your children have chosen their spouses well. And you choose for your crew gourmands who think watching Emeril and Iron Chef is the exciting. They you allocate the weeks' meals to two crew, three children, with the leftover days going to the Class party and the first night when everyone is trying to conserve calories. The on-shore crew takes to the beach during the sailing and explores the many sites of the island. Works for us! Again, early it looked like an excellent sailing day, especially inside the harbor (always has more wind there). We got out to the course and the RC announced their intention to run three races. They set their course to 45 degrees, but before they started the sequence, they acknowledged that the wind was going left and postponed while the wind settled down. Finally, they got off the races to a course of four legs to 1.3 miles at 65 degrees. But by the time the J/109s started, the wind shifted right and there was a general recall. After a ten minute delay, the 109s got off without a change of starting line or course. Then the 105s started without incident with the wind shifting back to the left. KIMA started at the pin end and looked pretty good for a little while. But before long the RC shortened the course for all six classes to two legs. The wind died away to nearly nothing and it took forever for the fleet to round the weather mark. The favoring current pushed us up to the mark for a bit, but then it too died. After the fleet rounded the weather mark the wind switched around to the south and the spinnakers were dropped and the fleet beat to the finish. KIMA finished deep again and the leaders mostly did as well. These have been hellacious conditions for the RC, especially in getting off fair racing for six classes. My comments here are not meant to criticize the RC, only to describe the conditions and the racing at Block Island Race Week. It is not always possible to have a fair test of sailing skills and it is better to sail then not to sail. You will not find such commentary on the BIRW web site. In the second race the course was set to 4 legs to 210 at 1.3 miles. In the first race there was a left shift for us, a pileup at the pin end, and a general recall. There were a passel of protests and some contact at the pin mark boat. In the second start under "I" flag KIMA started in the middle of the line and, for a change, I can describe what happened at the front of the fleet. The lefty persisted and there was no change of course. Most boats tacked over to port right away. KIMA made it to near the starboard layline on one tack and rounded not far behind RUM PUPPY and RESULTS. We jibed halfway down the leg and reconverged with those boats near the leeward mark. On the second upwind, it was MORNING GLORY passing us by going left and on the second downwind TENACIOUS almost passed us by going left. So we got our best score of the regatta, fourth, and the three leaders all had very bad results. In fact, they added 74 points to their scores in two races. Please do not copy any of the commentary here without permission. And to make it official: Copyright 2005 J/105 Class Association, all rights reserved. |
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| 22.Jun.05 | Another sunrise. Another ten miles today. It was a little warmer. Those who have read these blogs in the past know that it is unusual to have wind this early in the morning. Well today, again, it was blowing with decent pressure from the west. We should have more excellent racing today with no waiting around. So what is new on Block Island this year? Not much. There is still construction going on and, if anything, the houses being built are bigger than there were. And yes, there is a new Starbucks in town. But instead of a large green building with all the amenities, this Starbucks (if it really is part of the chain) has its block lettered name in the panes of the window facing Corn Neck Road and is in the same building as a fitness center. Change comes slowly to Block Island. The long running controversy is whether Champlains Marina can be expanded into the mooring fields of Great Salt pond. Oops! The forecast was wrong. It started out from the west, but died after they started four of the six classes. Then we waited, and waited, and waited, until it clocked around 180 degrees to the east. The RC then posted a course of 1.5 miles to 105. This was marginally successful for the first four classes, but by the time the 109s and then the 105s came up, the wind backed 20 degrees. No problem… just run the race anyway even though the boats could barely cross the line on starboard. ECLIPSE and KIMA were called over early after dip starts and went back to restart. It was a port tack beat to the weather mark and by the time we got there, we were in the top half of the fleet. But the current was adverse and the offset mark was upwind of the weather mark by now. So KIMA hit the weather mark, did a 360 and then beat for the offset. Still there were a half dozen boats behind us after the close reach to the leeward mark. At that point the RC finally made a course change to 55 degrees. We went hard right and the wind went hard left, so KIMA had one of her worst sailing days in ten years of racing. The wind ranged from 6 to 12 knots and the rains came and went. By the end of the afternoon, the RC had had enough and sent us home in the sun. Thank goodness for that. RESULTS got a good result in this crap shoot, and a first for the race. The leaders kept their places with medium finishes. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Stay tuned. |
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| 21.Jun.05 | I was bound and determined to see the sun rise on the longest day of the year (5:13 a.m. sunrise and 8:22 sunset here on Block). So I set my alarm at 4:45 and was on the road ten minutes later. I got to Southeast Light at 5:14 just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. The sky before dawn was red (sailors warning?) and beautiful. With the 30 minutes of light before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset it makes for a sixteen hour day. Today I did a quick 10 mile loop to the south and stopped for snapping some photos. The highlight was some white tailed deer hopping in the meadow by Fresh Pond. It has been cold here, but I'm not complaining because I think the cold brings wind. If you get warm June days, I think there tends to be a lot of waiting around on the race course. Keep your fingers crossed. They threw us a curve today. I've never in nine years had a 'Round the Island race on Tuesday, but they decided that the conditions today were ideal and they called for it. I had to send home for the computer and the charts. The wind was from the SW (about 220) and expected to start out at about 10 and blow up to 15 in the afternoon. And that is what it did. We sailed in the ebb (west to east around the island). We had a weather mark 2.5 miles to weather and then around the marks of the island. There was a push on the first leg, and the boats that went into the southwest shore seemed to get to the weather mark first. KIMA went out and we started off behind the fleet. It was a close reach with the current across the southern shore of the Island to Southeast Light. ECLIPSE was one of the first boats to raise their kite and made out well close to shore. Up the west side of the island it was a close spinnaker reach. KIMA played with SEA SHADOW, TENACIOUS, JATO, JOYSEA, and KETCHUPLESS. We each tried to pass the other to weather and use slower boats as picks. It was close going until SEA SHADOW managed to hold their chute while the rest of us brought our kites down until the end of the leg near 1BI. SEA SHADOW led, followed by KETCHUPLESS, JATO, JOYSEA, and KIMA. On the way back, the boats that ducked into shore to seemed to make out better than the boats that went west from 1BI. KIMA went out. According to Sean McGinn on INDEFATIGABLE, SAVASANA won the race by going into shore while PRETTY SKETCHY and INDEFATIGABLE were two and three after coming out. As usual, it was where you went as opposed to how fast you were in the 'Round the Island Race. One unusual aspect was the big boats that started later than us did not roll us like they usually do (we were the third start of nine). There was enough wind for us to stay ahead until the north end and then the big boats passed us upwind. The race committee was awfully busy taking finishes as most of the boats finished in a very short period of time. Tomorrrow it is back to 'Round the Buoys Racing. Stay tuned. |
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| 20.Jun.05 | The morning bike ride started at 5:10 a.m. and went on Cooneymus to Central, down to the marinas, then to north light and back on Corn Neck Road. Then back to Central and across Beacon Hill to West Side Road. Beacon Hill is a new road to me and had some of the biggest hills I've seen on the island. I felt like Lance Armstrong going through the Alps. I hit a high of 32.5 mph going down the hill toward north light and then slowed to 4 mph going up the hills of Beacon. There are a few vineyards on BI and one of them is called Beacon Hollow Vineyards. These are very small vineyards of just an acre or so. Over all, the ride was 14.95 miles taking me 1 hour and 15 minutes. Yes, I have new instruments for my bike. Would that my boat instruments are so inexpensive. So the forecast held true for today. The wind clocked from east around to the south and stayed in the reasonable range. The RC started by telling us that they expected to run two races, but they ended up giving us three. The J/105s are the sixth start of six classes. There are the Farr 39.5s, the J/44s, the Beneteau 40.7s, the J/120s, and the J/109s ahead of us. So we have a 30 minute wait from the first gun to our start. The first race was 1.5 miles to 85 degrees in 8 knots. The 109s and the 105s were given four legs while the rest of the classes were given six legs. This was true for all three races. We had a general recall because of a right shift. They adjusted the line (a little) and gave us an "I" flag start, but did not change the course until the second time around. The boat end was still favored and the wind continued to clock right so that the boats on the right were reaching into the first mark. In the second and third race the courses were set to 170 degrees with the same weather leg length, but with more wind. Race 2 saw 10-14 knots and race three was a little lighter. The starting lines were not that great. Normally the RC will favor the pin by 5 degrees, but the lines were either square or favored the boat end causing pileups at the boat end. The current and the shifts were significant factors. The boats that went to laylines for clear air seemed to do well, but no single boat managed to dominate. PRETTY SKETCHY seemed to be the most consistent of the boats mentioned earlier, but it will be a long week and there was no clear leader on the first day. Some of the boats expected to contend had one or more bad race today. But there will be a throwout and several boats have used that up already. I'm sorry to report that there were several protests going all the way to the protest room (including yours truly). It's always a crap shoot when you go to protest, but in this case KIMA was vindicated. Usually the first day is the worst for protests and hopefully that will be the case this week. In this morning's Race Week News there are several quotes from me. I guess somebody has been trolling my e-mails to the competitors, because I never talked to a reporter or said any such things. But they were accurate in reporting that we should get IRC ratings without having to each pay a couple of hundred dollars so we can compete for the 'Round the Island Race trophy. More tomorrow. |
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| 19.Jun.05 | Saturday's ride over was uneventful. We left Wickford at 10:30 a.m. and arrived in New Harbor about 2:p.m. We powered all the way over with very little wind or sea. Our house this year is on Cooneymus Road near Rodman's Hollow, one of Block Island's nature preserves. It sits on a hill and we have views to Montauk Point to the west and to southern RI to the north. Our entourage this year is spread into two houses and consists of 16 people including five and one-half grandchildren. Can't wait until some of them can sail with me. This morning I took my morning bike ride of ten miles. After that I headed over to the marinas and measured the two boats that won the "lottery" and then some of the other boats. Everyone seemed in good spirits and ready to race. At noontime we weighed in and all the worrying about making weight was for naught since we were more than 15 pounds under (in part due to a generous scale according to the crew). All I know is that I was three pounds to the good on my promised weight and only one crew was a half pound over. Three were spot on and my two sons were under by five and seven after losing a significant amount of weight. This afternoon boats went out for practice in ideal conditions. My wind indicator showed 11 to 14 knots. We were fortunate to be able to tune against INDEFATIGABLE and ZEPHYR for long upwind and downwind legs. We did not notice a great deal of current, but the shifts were significant, on the order of 10 degrees on average, but some noticed more. Most of the boats had significant practice sessions. This evening we partied at the house of Pam Morris and Andy Gillis, as we did last year. Plenty of beer and snacks and burgers and hot dogs were served and many volunteer grillers helped out. Good fellowship amongst the crews was enjoyed by all. It was good to meet old friends from past years and new folks for the first time. The wind and weather for the rest of the week is currently looking fairly good. The wind we experienced today (from the northeast) is expected to continue tomorrow at the same pressure and shift to the southeast. If the forecast holds it should be a great first day for racing. More tomorrow. |
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| 16.Jun.05 | So you want predictions? I think I'll shy away from predictions this year, but look for the following boats to be up there in the standings: ECLIPSE (won last year), GUMPTION (the hot boat on LIS this year), INDEFATIGABLE (Fleet #14 champ), SAVASANA (always very close), PRETTY SKETCHY (previous winner), SEA SHADOW (just won 151st NYYC), and at least one of the four newly deep Annapolis boats, which I know little about.
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