Calling the Pressure, Avoiding the Current
Calling the Pressure, Avoiding the Current
Greetings, everyone! Ellie here from Shields 169, Sirene, with a post-race report from the perspective of the bow girl.
We got out to the boat early yesterday, rigged quickly, and headed north of the bridge with plenty of time to spare. We had two substitute crew members: one who hadn’t raced a Shields in a few years, and one who was completely new to the class. On our way to the course, we popped the kite and talked through maneuvers to get everyone comfortable.
The start was busy, as usual. Because of the current, we knew we wanted to pick a side and avoid the middle of the course upwind. Our original plan was to go left on the course, but we ended up with a clean start near the boat. The flooding tide pushed everyone back behind the line, giving us a clear lane up the right side, which turned out to be a good play, as there was solid pressure over there.
Our first upwind leg was smooth, with minimal tacks and clean lanes most of the way. I was on pressure-calling duty, which felt especially important last night - it was puffy!
We rounded the top mark and offset cleanly, hoisted the kite, and jibed right away to stay in the maximum current. We held pace with the boats around us all the way to the gate. At the gate, we rounded the left mark to head back to the right side of the course for the second beat.
The rounding wasn’t our smoothest as there was a knot in the halyard on the way down, but we got it sorted quickly. Up the second beat, we had to tack more frequently to stay in clean air and find our rhythm, but we managed to hold our position. For the final downwind, we again set and jibed early to stay in the current and pressure. Our focus was on maintaining speed and preventing boats behind us from stealing our breeze.
We rounded the left gate once more, then made our final upwind push to the finish, which was south of the bridge. Once again, we favored the right side to stay out of the current, and in the pressure. The breeze had become patchier by then, so we carefully worked breeze lines and tacked strategically to stay in the best pressure.
It was a beautiful night of racing. I always look forward to Wednesday nights and never take for granted the chance to sail classic boats, in our stunning bay, alongside some of the best sailors in the world.
-Ellie McClean, Sirene (169)
