Roach Coach Racing Team

RC ended up with a pair of six place finishes for the weekend, but the second test drive for RC could still be called successful (because we found some things we can improve!). The wind was predicted to be 11 knots, but the sea breeze kicked in and it increased a fair amount. RC definitely needs a new tuf-luff as we could have used a couple of sail changes, but decided not to due to having only one groove. The halyards have to be lead back through the jam cleats and to the winches. When we hoisted the sails…they would creep back down (x#!). With more wind we need to have the ability to hoist the sails…and have them stay there! Also, we discovered the rig was too loose; the leeward shrouds were flapping around while close hauled (maybe why we were so fast in light air for the CYC regatta). During the CYC regatta, we heard a faint “sprong”, but couldn’t figure out what it was, we didn’t look that hard both because it was faint and we were paying attention to the race. Either case most everything else worked. There are still a few things to work out to make things go more smoothly (at the time of writing; two double mast-base blocks, one deck organizer and a mast-track end-stop have been installed; another deck organizer is on order ; also a few lines have been shortened and led back to the winches and the rig has been tightened). We can thank my daughter Alexandria for being a big help in holding the screw driver on deck while I worked the wrench from below deck. I had to convince her to help by calling this a fathers-day-re-do as we were racing on Fathers Day). This between swims off the stern of course.

Saturday, we had Rich (driving), Greg (cockpit), Pete (mast-man), Shannon (foredeck). I included a picture of Shannon’s knees and elbows to prove just how hard she was working…also to show the world how well Will Rooks does non-skid as she is sporting deck rash. She didn’t get any blood on the sails, so she gets to drink the extra beer. I have to say that Pete and Shannon (both fairly new to the foredeck) did a great job. We had the spinnaker up and flying on some close reaches with plenty of wind. They had to work together fairly quickly working out the spaghetti that materialized on deck from the lines during and after each sail change. Nice work, especially where the skipper couldn’t really give any direction…I had laryngitis both days! Each time before a maneuver….I had to bang on the deck, or tap Greg on the shoulder. All the rest of the instructions came from Greg. Thanks Greg!

Sunday, we had only three for crew; Rich (driving), Greg (cockpit), Reta (foredeck). So…we decided to put up the new 125%. Rich was feeling under-the-weather (not hung-over btw) and tied the sheets to the tack?!?. This made for a fire drill before the start and obviously we were quite late. We worked hard though and caught up to the fleet, RC is definitely fast as long as we go in the right direction. The skipper made an under-the-weather decision and ended up taking us through more current than expected and lost several positions. Lesson learned and another mental note added to the local knowledge bank! Also, kudos to the crew for doing such a great job, there were only two working all the running rigging, trim and sail changes and they still kept the boat moving fast. I’m sure they both slept well Sunday night!

Altogether, we had fun sailing! The weather was fantastic and we can only hope for more. Until next week!

The weather forecast was calling for lots of rain and wind, but our spirits were not dampened as we headed for CYC on Roach Coach. As it turned out, the wind was light and the rain come only in drizzles (of course we were pretty focused on racing, so if it poured, we didn’t notice).

The Start and first windward leg; we knew there would be a crowd at the start so we decided to make it conservative. It is the beginning of the season and several of the group are sailing together for the first time. Also the deck layout is completely new and this race served as a shakedown sail. We ended up in bad air, but luckily we had a clear lane to tack and go right. It then started to look like we were on a favored tack, FIVE was also on the same tack which gave us confidence to stay the course. It worked out and we were one of the first boats to reach the first mark.

First time around the course; we had a few snags getting the spinnaker up as we rounded the mark, but the foredeck crew did the right thing. We saved lots of time and headaches because foredeck didn’t panic and didn’t rush, they thought through the process, worked out the issues and the spinnaker was flying, and we lost very little ground. Sail trim must have been on the mark as well; we had speed on the other boats and passed them one by one. We owe GO DOG GO a favor. The Roach Coach skipper was a little rusty and we almost sailed through the starting line (against the rules). The skipper of GO DOG GO called over and reminded us. Few! Saved! For the rest of the race we played nice and made sure we kept clear of their wind.

Second time around; Second time upwind we held our speed (credit to spectacular trim
and keeping the boat flat). We turned the windward mark and we were off and running again. We even had the fun experience of passing a 45 footer (rating 75) on speed alone!

Finnish; Around the leeward mark and we chased a J 109 (B fleet) to the finish line and crossed only seconds after. We then enjoyed a nice sail back to the mooring, and then drove to Centerboard Y.C. We literally walked in the door just in time to here Roach Coach announced as 1st place for Class C!