This was the exhange of emails between John Anderson and myself the day of the Solomon’s Race

2006 Solomon’s Island Race

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 12:58 PM

Subject: RE: Re: [cat27fleet8] Solomon's Race

All,

Just to let you know, Swell will not be racing tonight. I hope the wind turns out better than expected so that you can have a great race.

Damn John,

It won't be the same without you there! But we will think of you tomorrow morning while we are in the adverse current and no wind!!

See ya next one,

John

This was the exchange of emails between John Anderson and myself the day of the Solomon’s Race. Little did I know it would be so prophetic.

This year’s Solomon’s Race was lightly attended with only seven boats racing as Ernie from Finesse had his daughter in town, John Anderson from Swell had crew cancel on him and a couple other boats were taking a break. Boats doing the race were Four Little Ducks, Red Rum, Snagglepuss, Airborne, Cheshire Cat, Pussycat and Hi Tide.

Our crew on Hi Tide was Danny Thomas, Jeff Sanger, Ross Arnett and of course Mike Rickels. Before we left the slip we made sure we appeased the Fleet Safety Officer by making sure we had the radar reflector up, strobe attached to a throwable, lights on all the life jackets, verified operation of all running lights and most important discussed the Man Overboard routine. Then we hashed out our tentative strategy. Basically it was two words, “Rhumb Line”! We knew there would be times we would have to get out of the current but we all understood where we would try and stay, i.e. Eastern Shore.

Out to the start we watched the earlier classes go off. It appeared that the pin was favored but that once on the course, the right side had more wind and was out of the current more. We then noticed some oscillations and for a couple starts the boat ended up being favored. We decided to split the difference and try and start down the line. After all, it is a 40 + mile race and we didn’t need the perfect start, we just wanted to get off clean. As we approached our start there was a gaggle going down the line. Not wanting to be stuck with them we delayed a bit. Then a second gaggle approached windward of us. We had to defend to make space for us so we then took up Red Rum and held them off at the committee boat. I hoped this would not come back to haunt me! Then at the perfect time we turned down with space leeward and speed. The gun went off but as we went out the wind then shifted even more left and all the boats down the line were already clear ahead. Cheshire Cat I believe was all the way down at the pin with the best start.

Now the concept was get clear air speed and get back right as soon as possible. From here all the way out to 1 AH it was a cat and mouse game of who would go right enough (but not too much) to achieve the most gains. Both Pussycat and Red Rum went way right, Pussycat at times looked like they were going to see friends at Chesapeake Harbour for a while. All the boats made gains and suffered losses as there were lots of changes in crossings. Right was so important because of the stronger wind and current relief and lee. Red Rum played this combination the best and we followed them around 1 AH followed closely behind by Four Little Ducks and the rest. Of course with the flood current everyone then dug in right again behind Thomas Point Light looking for their current relief. This is where night time closed in and everyone disappeared. Ducks had gotten by us right before the dark and Red Rum, Ducks and we were now headed out from behind Thomas Point. This course would take us out into the current and now we had to make our first strategy revision.

Looking at the current charts we discovered that there would be an ebb current coming out of Eastern Bay in about an hour. Since there wasn’t any real way we could get out of the current we decided to fight the current for an hour and take a hitch across the bay to get into the mouth of Eastern Bay. We would then tack back out and hopefully ride the current out and down. Pussycat has been famous for doing this in several past Solomon’s wins. As we approached Eastern Bay we thought we saw Four Little Ducks ahead almost at Bloody Point light. We felt better about our decision. They tacked back out and crossed ahead. We could see no other Catalina at this point. We figured everyone else was either in the middle or west. Mike noticed we were getting lifted by a geographic as we headed deeper into Eastern Bay and called that we should hold on this tack as long as possible as he thought we might also enjoy a lift on the opposite tack as well when we headed out. Digging in we went until we felt we might not clear Poplar Island and then tacked out. The lights of Four Little Ducks were way ahead but to leeward. As we headed out we did in fact pick up both a following current and a lift. As we continued out we were lifted inside of Four Little Ducks to leeward. We then continued down the bay as by now the current was just turning. Ducks then tacked over and converged on us just crossing ahead of us. As part of the fun in night racing we then started Quacking at them just to play with their minds. Just then a spot light came on and we thought they were messing with us back. After the race we found out the boat we thought was Four Little Ducks we think ended up being Red Rum. I am sure they wondered who the hell was quacking at them in the middle of the bay!!! We continued down the bay close to rhumb line. The boat supposed to be Ducks was now on our Eastern hip.

As the night wore on we worked out on the boat on our hip and they slowly fell off west of us and behind, especially when a LARGE FREIGHTER appeared. Our strategy was to stay close to Rhumb line and to stay east of people. As we worked down the bay coming from West of us and crossing in front now was Four Little Ducks for sure. We couldn’t figure out how they did that especially after we had seen them behind us. It didn’t make sense. A lot of things don’t make sense that late at night. Again, we had the boats confused. They stayed on our eastern hip until another LARGE FREIGHTER appeared then we lost them again. Continuing down the bay the wind started getting lighter and lighter and was clocking. This put us going more West. Checking the current charts told us that the current would be changing again soon and we would be in the middle of a flood current. We then decided that we needed to get East so we could get into shallower water and hopefully into a more favorable wind. The wind dropped more and we tacked a few times to try and stay into wind lanes. Danny Thomas was very instrumental here as he was successful using the moonlight to see the wind on the water. We kept the boat moving and slowly moving south and east.

Light was now appearing and we could just make out three Catalina 27s West of us and a little behind. These we determined were Four Little Ducks, Red Rum and Snagglepuss. From our vantage point where they were looked awful flat and calm. Just then we started to enjoy a little new air from the East and started to move. We dialed in the sails to this little new wind and slowly we started to pull away from the boats west of us. They continued to languish in a calm. Being East looked like it was going to pay off. We were now on our way to 76.

As we approached 76 the wind died again and divided into distinct fingers of wind on the water. We now played a game of hopping from finger to finger tacking ever closer to 76. This is where we passed several J30s, and PHRF A, B and C boats. We then rounded 76 in a little wind and noted the time as being 8:12 am. We wanted a reference point on the boats behind. The wind built a little more and we actually cracked off to maintain a course to 9. I was afraid that we should stay higher but was counseled differently. As we approached the mouth of the Patuxent the wind started getting lighter and lighter. We looked back and took a time reading on the next Catalina 27 rounding 76. We noted that we were two miles and 28 minutes ahead of the next Catalina 27. Mike and I looked at each other and said “It’s not enough!” We then knew we were going to have problems. All I could think about at this time was the disaster that befell Swell two years earlier when they too had such a huge lead going into a dieing breeze. Now the wind was going really light and we cracked off trying to work to shore still way short of Drum Point light. We looked back and our worst fears were being realized. Here come Four Little Ducks, Snagglepuss and Red Rum, working the soon dieing air.

On Hi Tide there was now a great deal of displeasure highlighted by a lot of expletives. We were very disappointed having such a lead only to have it taken from us. It was then we decided we were not going to let this race get away, but we were going to win it again and we were going to do whatever it took!

We had gone towards shore hoping to work a little land breeze. A couple J 30s tried the same thing and were just ghosting along. We were making the slightest way in the crabpots then the wind completely shut off. Of course when the sun comes up and it gets calm, here come the POWER BOATERS!! We started getting rocked left and right by waves and what little way we did have it stopped. Then watching the crab pots we realized we were now actually starting to drift backwards. I sent Mike forward to stealthily anchor us. We then kept watch to see how the other Catalina’s were doing. They still had wind but were almost stopped. They then did stop and we watched them against the trees and sure enough the trees were gaining on them as they too fell victim to the adverse current. We watched as they slid backwards betting on how long it would take them to anchor. Sure enough after a short while we saw people scurrying on deck and anchoring. Four Little Ducks position remained unchanged but RedRum was still drifting back. As it turned out Carl told me they had difficulty getting the Anchor to bite.

After waiting around and bobbing in the powerboat wake for what felt like an eternity, the wind started to fill in just a bit from the South. I knew we needed to jump on anything we could to get back in front of the group. Fortunately we were at a hot angle to the wind. We pulled up the hook, raised our chute and started to move. Of course now everyone else follows suit. We reached south across the Patuxent and joined in with Red Rum and Four Little Ducks. Carl had his boat moving well and just squeaked by us as we had to deal with starboard gybe boats. All three boats were now within a boat length. We gybed on top of Red Rum blanketing them and stealing their air. We rode over top of them and turned down trying to maintain our heading towards the finish. Ducks split with us was a little further south of us and started to move well in some of their own wind. Red Rum was trying to reach up back behind us when the wind again died. Chutes were hanging but we could now feel the slightest of air from in front. We then raised our Jib, induced some shape to get the sail to draw, and then started to just barely pull out ahead of Red Rum. I must add all of this exciting nail biting sailing is around 1 knot or less now. We had retaken the lead and were moving away. Again the other boats scurried and put up their jibs and they too started to move.

The goal now was to cover the next closest boat Red Rum. Where ever they went we followed. However we also kept a wary eye out for Four Little Ducks and Snagglepuss. Fortunately Snagglepuss had dropped a ways behind on the wind shift and Ducks became embattled with a catamaran. This boat truly did screw over Four Little Ducks, now Red Rum and Hi Tide pulled a little more ahead. Cover, Cover, Cover I thought. Everywhere Red Rum went we made sure we were with them. Just then a Large commercial research Vessel (read Wind Blanket) overtook all of us and then stopped ahead and windward of us. Our Boatspeed dropped and the expletives again started to flow. The Vessel then slowly proceeded to stay ahead of us all the way to the finish. They even almost went through the finish line. I know they were trying to stay clear of the racers but it seemed they had a mission to screw us over. We kept pressing on and managed to finally reach the finish line and get the well earned gun. We truly felt we had won this race twice!!! After 40 some miles, Red Rum crossed only seconds behind closely followed by Four Little Ducks, Snagglepuss, Pussycat, Cheshire Cat and the NEVER GIVE UP Bunch on Airborne!

It is always amazing to race 40 miles overnight only to always have the other boats right on your heels when the sun comes up. That is a testament to the really good racers we have in our fleet and the wonderful concept of One Design Racing. Thanks go out to Danny Thomas, Jeff Sanger, Ross Arnett, and Mike Rickels who kept us focused during the low points of this race.