This past weekend was the 2019 Etchells Nationals hosted by the American Yacht Club in Rye, New York. In typical Long Island Sound fashion the event served up marginal racing conditions at times with moments of great breeze at other times. Saturday was a two race day with a variable westerly breeze. The race committee got off on time. On our boat we struggled to gel as a team quickly and with little practice time prior to the first race, race one was a struggle. After a tough start we got out to the right which proved to be the correct side with a right shift coming down the course. As the race progressed, we were hindered by the new crew not being familiar with the boat and lost a number of boats through some bad boat handling and sailing. This race was the most consistent breeze of the event and it was nice to sail in that while the conditions allowed. Race two was more of a roll the dice sort of race. A huge fleet spread meant that some teams were going to be big winners or big losers. We luckily were able to connect into the top mark with a small bit of pressure but as the race moved along we managed to find ourselves in a number of large holes. Some further bad decisions on our part led to a deep finish. A wonderful dinner hosted by the Etchells fleet and featuring a youth team fundraiser ended the evening.
Day two was sailed in a much lighter southerly and racing was difficult. Again the inexperience in the driving position unfortunately showed through and we struggled to get the boat going the right way. In race one of the day we found ourselves in a spot between Ched Proctor and Jay Cross and quickly got shoved out the back. Two quick decisions by the driver led to two quick tacks and that was essentially the race. Back to back tacks in under 6 knots of breeze cost us close to six boat lengths and at that point it became impossible to find a lane up the beat with the course being as skewed as it was. Race two featured a huge play on the last beat where we one tacked the beat and gained a few boats after a dismal start to the race.
Day three ended without even starting. By 1300 the fleet was packing boats up and heading home. In our camp, the boat performed fine. I can’t say that we were the fastest boat out there but we certainly weren’t the slowest. It was a difficult weekend on our boat with new people on board who have never really sailed anything other than dinghies and as skippers. The dynamic of three people on board and distinct roles for each person proved hard as apparently the bow and driver were used to making all the decisions all the time. This led to a breakdown in the communication chain in the boat and inevitably to poor results. It was good to get out and do some more racing but my biggest take away was that we were not adequately prepared for this event. Hopefully we can take this lesson onto the next one and continue the climb up the leader board.
Thank you to those that helped us this weekend.