Southern Straits 2009

Danger here, semi-conscious after a twelve hour nap and a cup of joe. Spent some time looking at the results (http://www.southernstraits.ca/results/Straits2009LongCourseResults.htm) and glorying in another great team effort. Top to bottom (age and seniority to youth and enthusiasm) our bunch can't be beat. You all know what you did, but let me mention a few things that I thought deserved acclaim. From Micah building a sprit and buying a kite to take the old girl into the 21st century, to Jason building the kite in two days, just in time to hang from the sprit that got bolted onto the boat the night before the race and rigged the morning of, (gotta love the Max build-it-on-the-fly style!), to Paul and Sue and Rueben doing food (love that pizza and chili, we have the best food don't we?), Sarah and Maaike making great sammies (did you wear gloves to handle the meat Sarah or did Maaike do that part?) Jefe doing logistics (this time mostly pushing for meetings, you bastard!!!) and bringing the water, Crash showing up for every work night, and stepping up for Nav work and safety, Steve for training and working on electronics and helping out with the bottom, and of course our thanks to our long distance crew, Seattle Mike (wish I could figure out how to shut that guy up!) , Super Dave (great to have you on board, mate even if you did fall asleep on the rail!) and Maaike two, too! Great attitudes from one and all, the newcomers, Daragh and Reuben pitched in and did yeomans work, Daragh was a star on the bow and Reuben worked till he was completely non-responsive. 

And so you all know it's not just us, Micah told me this later. Tom Gornall was telling him how 'Max has the best crew in the fleet, they have fun, great team sprit, great sailors, Max has something that no other boat has" just at that moment as they were returning to the docks from the club house they saw Paul....skipping and singing at the top of his lungs with Sue down the gangway with out a care in the world. He smiled and thought to hisself 'ya this is the best team we could have.'

Lots of us worked on the bottom and the inside of the boat and the results were evident with boatspeed and point.

Without blowing too much sunshine up your collective butts, I like how we have so many people who can move around the boat, it seems like almost everyone can step into three or four (or more) positions and do them well and with no complaint, knowing that the guy or girl on runners is just as essential to the boat as the guy on the helm. You all know how hard you worked and now everyone else knows too.

So with that, here is your Straits report. Great weather, super light off the start, took 15 minutes to get across the line, since we didn't know if we would be in the start until the flags went up, so we couldn't commit till the moment of. In no breeze. Occam's schooled the fleet, hitting the line with speed (well, about a knot, which was better than Glory, who was going backwards with a guy up the rig and no headsail, Sue commented that the Kits barge can play has never worked on Straits) then put the bow down and got into the river. Took the sleds almost to Ballenas before they passed them.  We played the middle of the fleet, not trusting the southeasterly until the front was well over us. Yours truly cost us a few lengths by insisting that more north was better, then being humbled by TB on the next crossing. Micah overruled and we headed out into the middle of the strait. 

Left DOI and Harwar behind on the Sunshine Coast, when we and the Banditos headed out and they played the shore. The southeasterly filled in and we ran to Ballenas, then split tacks with the Banditos and rounded Flat top just behind. Had a couple spectacular crossings with boats in the night, notably Radical Departure and Mischief. Super Dave got the tiller handed to him in the middle of the night and logged sustained eight to nine knots. He also had the great idea to call Victoria Traffic to find out how many barges a tug was towing, since it was hard to tell. The tug driver lit his tow up like a Christmas tree for us. Super Dave is a pretty smart guy! Well, that's two thirds right.

Time Bandit legged out on the run to Halibut bank, and we could just see the top light by the time they rounded Ballenas again. We were pretty discouraged as we made our rounding, but lo and behold there they are, just sitting there behind the island. They had sailed into a hole and we brought up the new breeze with us. I guess they just got too close to the island. So it was off again, in a building breeze, so we peeled to a three and beat down to Entrance, went back to the heavy one after the rounding and then it was a two horse race for the reach home. We lost ground steadily but were still hanging in heading for the line when they tested the south once, then again for a long time while we took shorter tacks toward Atkinson. Afterward we learned from Tom Gornall that they tried that as a Hail Mary to get a few more minutes on us. We crossed the line about six minutes after them for first in div and third overall! Fruity rum drinks all around on the dock and mutual congratulations with the Occams bunch in the clubhouse afterwards as we all were more than a little punchy with sleep deprivation. 

Great breeze all the way around the course other than the death zone near Flat top, but even that was minimal. Some of the best weather for Straits we've had, fairly warm, minimal rain and just under 25 hours to finish. Well done Maxies, we are all looking forward to a great season.

And all you regulars who weren't there, maybe some motivation to re-prioritize your lives, eh? Heh heh.

So anyway there is your very long winded Straits report. I'm going back to sleep. G'night.