Reflections on a Great 2011

Happy New Year!!

This is a bit of reflection of 2011:

2011 has been a good and busy year. We started sailing Bella Mente in the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West race in early January. The team not only was first to finish but also corrected out 1st overall. It was a very enjoyable trip down the keys, sailing all downwind in good breeze. web site http://www.keywestrace.org/2011race.html#

Next came my first trip to Chile to Sail on Phoenix, a Soto 40. We had 10 boats sailing one design.

The Soto is a lot of fun in South America. Sailing in Chile was just like sailing in California. The water was cold, lots of sea life, and kelp. The water even smelled the same.

We had a very good regatta to and won it on the last leg of the last race. Sailing is very good and competitive. Can't wait to get down there more.

While I was in Chile, Bella moved tot he West Coast and had another refit. This time we added 5 feet to the back of the boat to make it longer. We also added sail area to the main and spinnakers. This was all to race the boat to Cabo in March. The race was of course to be down wind but it ended up the other way as there was a low that covered the course. After beating for over 24 hrs, the mast came down while leading the race.

Not fun as we never had the time down wind to test the refit out for Trans-Pac. This was the low of the year for me.

In April, I traveled to Dubai to sea trail the new Farr 400. With a new one design like this this was a good time to see how the boat sailed and get some idea of what to change and make it better.

It was a lot of work getting the boat in the water and sailing. We made some adjustments and sent the boat off to Europe to race. Next stop for the boat Barcelona.

From Dubai, I traveled to Mallorca to meet Joc, my Brother Dave and some other friends to do some training on our bikes.

I know the island pretty well but over the next 3 weeks we were able to see a lot more of this fantastic place. The first week was an organized training session.

We road every day and I did around 275 miles and over 17000 ft. of vertical. For me this was a big week.with big mountains. We then joined the Bekking family on the east side of the Island.

From there we toured around, played some golf and I also did some biking. It was a lot of fun, a real vacation with good friends.

Next stop Thailand to sailing on Hannes Waimer's TP 52 Team Premier. It was great to sail on the TP again. We spent some time tuning the boat up and we felt we got her going pretty well. We started by winning the first race. The boat and crew were good and we ended up winning the Top of the Gulf regatta. It was fun for me as I got to drive.

Hannes was happy as  his boat was worth more and has since been sold to Australia.

In Barcelona with the Farr 400, we put the boat together in a rush, ship was late, and got out on the race course. The boat rated pretty high in IRC but we wanted to see how she went. In a light air event we did not fair too well on corrected time, but she was very fast as we sailed with he 50 footer boat for boat.

Then it was off to South America again to sail Sotos in Ilhabela, an island near Sao Paulo. It was tough sailing there. Narrow channel with a lot of tide. 14 boats, good competition

We ended up finishing ok, but not great 5th. The Mitsubishi Sailing Cup had 3 regattas of 4 days each. The Soto class has done a great job promoting the fleet and had some great help with sponsors.

I joined the Flying Jenny 7 team in June for the NYYC Annual Regatta. FJ7 is the old 2007 Bribon, TP 52. Pete Pendleton spent a lot of time fixing her up and this was to be her first buoy race. We sailed a very consistent series with all 2nd's. To win the regatta. I did a lot of driving in this event which was fun for me. It was a windy lumpy regatta outside. We kept the boat together and sailed pretty well. It was great for me to sail with a local Annapolis team.

From Newport RI to St. Tropez for the Giraglia Race on the Farr 400. We added area to the main and the boat was better balanced with more power. We sailed in a 98 boat class that ranged from TP52's down to pretty slow 38 footers.

Our boat was fast but again did not rate well in IRC. For the long race with our speed we sailed in the top 15 boats in a 220 boat fleet. It was mostly light winds. We beat the open 60's to the rick 170 miles into the race and corrected on all the boats that finished ahead, but then the little slow boats sailed in with more wind to correct out..

Back down to Ilhbela for the Rolex Ilhabela Sailing Week. This again was sailed in Soto's. Another hard regatta as the class is getting more competitive.

We ended up 7th out of 12 boats, not our normal result.

On the way home I stopped by New Zealand to look at the new Southern factory for Bella Mente. We are building a new boat and I have been involved with the design and construction with a very good full team of guys. The new boat will be done in March 2012. After NZ, I stopped and meet Joc in Hawaii. Because of a conflict I was not able to sail with Bella to Hawaii but was able to meet them as they won the Barn Door Trophy for first to finish. I was very proud of the team and my input in the refit that help them win the race.

It was nice to do a race at home on the Flying Jenny. We entered the Governor's Cup that was a late afternoon start to sail to St. Mary's college about 50 miles down the bay. It was mostly a beat and having the big boat was a good thing. Adding getting two big shifts on the way and it was an easy win overall.

Ilhabela was followed by the Mit Sailing Cup in Buzios. Great place to sail and visit. It was a bit more up market area as most of the Rio people make the trip for nice vacations. It was a breezy regatta and we did manage to win a race but over all dropped to 9th.

Joc and I then drove from Annapolis up to Nantucket to sail in the IOD Celebrity invitational. This is a fun regatta that have brought in a lot of great sailors to race with team as tacticians.

To benefit the Nantucket Community Sailing foundation. I was teamed up with Heather Gregg-Earl and Richard Werdiger. We had a great time. They shared the helming and we ended up a very steady 3rd. The regatta was won by John Dane..

In Late August it was back to Rio for the last Mitsubishi Sailing Cup event in the Soto's. Rio is a very tricky place to sail, I loved it. The wind came from everywhere with good shifts along with tides that kept things interesting. We sailed really well to take a fourth. Torben Grael won with his son Marco driving. He did a great job. It was a lot of fun to sail with Eduardo Souza Ramos over the year. We won 3 events and watched the class grow. I hope to sail more down there, many new friends and great new places to go.

Next stop was San Francisco. We brought in a new Farr 400 to sail in the BBS. Of course the ship was late and it was hard to get up to speed.

We learned a lot about the boat in the Bay's condition as it was dog off chains. I think this was the windiest BBS I can remember. Speed of over 22 knots in the boat..

We would have finished off well but there was one race that we ran out of spinnakers so we did not sail. That pushed us to fourth in the series.

Back home for the last race with Flying Jenny, the IRC Mid Atlantic Championships. Good fleet including Numbers. We started with a bang winning the distance race in breeze, a reach fest around the bay. The next 2 days were light but we were able to win. Making it a clean sweep with Jenny and I for the year. Looking forward to sailing with the Team in 2012.

Then it was back to San Francisco for the Leukemia Cup and the Pumpkin Regattas on the Farr 400. We sailed very well with the boat in both regattas, taking second in the LC and first, with a sweep in the Pumpkin. Best of all was how our little boat raised over $15,000. But the regatta did over one million dollars. A great way to end the year.

                                                 Our LC Crew

looking back at the fleet of 220 boats that were behind in the Pumpkin regatta.

Looking forward to a great 2012, and more time like the above.

Fun Sailing in Palm Beach

Blasting thought the Gulf streem in a Northerly is a lot of fun. 18-23 knots on a good TP 52

Very cool

Sweeping up Pumpkins

It is always fun to sail with friends, but to go home and race with friends on a great boat in fun race, priceless…

I traveled to the SF bay area to race the Farr 400, Team Premier in the Great Pumpkin Regatta.  This is a fall, Halloween classic raced out of Richmond YC.  The last one I did was in 2005 with Money Penny Swan 601.  This year they ran 3 short races on the Berkley Circle and on Sunday they had the 1 big Pursuit Race for all the Pumpkins that starts near the YC in Richmond the only marks are Alcatraz and Angel Island.  Which you can go either way. 

This year the weather was perfect, sunny warm, and in the fall when it is like this, there is not so much wind.  I think the weather had a lot to do with 270+ boats entered.  Saturday windward leeward races were short and light.  We were racing in the Sport Boat A division.  The first race was 3 legs, not 3 miles.  PHRF A class started 5 minutes ahead.  We won the start at the committee boat and our powerful sail plan push us ahead and into the fleet ahead near the first mark.  By the time we rounded the bottom mark, we were first boat on the water and went on to win with minutes to spare.

Then we had to wait for 2 hrs for the wind to fill in from the west and pick up.  The next courses were very short but fun.  The first race 3 legs took us 21 minutes to complete, the second 5 legs, 29 minutes.  We won both of these races also.  Great fun, boat was fast and a pleasure to sail for everyone on board.  We raced with 8 people, average age somewhere around 48.

The pursuit race on Sunday, we were to start almost an hr after the first boat for a 12 mile course.  In a race that was 0-15 knots, it took us less than 1:40.  We started and went around Alcatraz first.  The wind was very light from the northwest, we hoisted the Code 0 and sailed low to the closest spot that the westerly will fill in.  Went through a small hole, pulled the jib up and sailed upwind in a fast mode to Alcatraz.  The wind built to a max of 15 knots, the boat was sailing very well, I am sure we passed over 100 boats on the way.

Around the famous Rock

We had a fast reach over both islands and then the wind dropped just enough to put the code 0 up again.  As we approached the north west tip of Angel Island the first boats going the other way were just going around, lots of traffic and we were on port tack.  Changed spins to the A1 and sailed with many boats down the straights.  We played the right side and got a good shift to the north as we exited and sailed around the remaining boats with a better angle into the finish.  About 1.5 miles from the finish line we were the first mono hull.  And so we placed.

The Farr 400 went very fast though all these conditions. Only three big Cats beat us.  We were the fastest by far mono hull on the course.  We have learned a lot sailing the boat and the speeds are starting to improve.  We would have won this event, all boats we sailed against in any rule, IRC, ORC or PHRF, the boat was on fire.  Nothing better than sailing a great boat with a great crew.  Check out the results at http://www.jibeset.net/RYC000.php?RG=T027599622

Dee Smith

Farr 400 sea trails

Here in the land of big buildings, sand and sunshine.  Boat is very new but a lot of fun to sail.  Our first outing in 15-17 knots of wind, just trying to make sure she works.  All I can say is she seems very fast and easy to sail upwind.  Nice a stiff but easy to sail through the chop.  And downwind, loves to take off.  We were hitting wind speed fairly easy.  I would compare it to a small TP type of a boat. or  M 32 that goes upwind…

Sails and Spar look quite good.  Boat is strong and stiffly built.  And the best part is, it came out light in the first weighing.  way under 4 ton in IRC measurement trim.  We will be sailing over the next few days.  Will report more later…

We plan to race this boat in Europe starting in Barcelona in May, then on to St Tropez, Valencia and ending in Palma for Copa del Rey… 

Bella Mente Version 7 goes to Cabo

I am sitting here still on east coast time waiting to get down to the boat which to sail to the start off Newport Beach.  Bella is to0 deep at almost 5 meters to get into Newport Harbor, so we a docked at Long Beach.  7 weeks ago, after Bella finished Key West Race Week, we added 5 feet to the Transom, modified the boom, added 20 sq meters to main and 70 to the spinnakers.  The boat also had to be trucked out from FL and a lot of other work to change it from a around the buoys boat to a CA ocean racer.  The shore group has done a fantastic job with all the changes and the boat is very ready and feels much faster.

Three new members have joined the crew.  Navigator Ian Moore, Volvo race winner Mike Sanderson and Kiwi Daniel Fong.  My job will be to do tactics and co navigate with Ian.  We have worked on many other projects before and won many races along the way.  It has been some time but nothing seems to be different other than he is a father of two now.

Looking at the weather it is not going to be too pleasant.  There is a front coming down and will cross the course over the next 36 hrs.  This puts us on the wind shortly after the start and I don’t expect to get spinnakers up for at least 36 hrs in a 70 hr race.  It won’t be too comfortable at all, not to mention the rain.

You can follow the race on the tracker at:http://cloud.iboattrack.com/r/start.php?r=2011_newportbeach_cabo

 

and the race info is at :http://www.nhyccaborace.com/nhyccaborace/Home.html

Just looked at the tracker and the smaller boats that started yesterday have had a good run in plenty of breeze.  It might be hard to catch them…  Well give a good go…

Sailing in Chile

Joc and I have have landed in La Serena, Chile so I can sail with Eduardo S. Ramos on his brand new Soto 40, Fenix. This is the first time the boat sailed with the same basic crew that sailed with last year. We have had two races so far. A 21 mile light air affair down the coast to Tongoy. We had a good start only to be passed by 4 boats in a 8 boat fleet. As we worked out way upwind the wind died and it was time to rock hop around the corner. We were able to get by the others at the turn by staying very close. The distance opened up as we went on to the finish. The picture above is from Matias Capizzano. He has taken many great shots over the last two days of racing. Check out his website on the right to look at more shots of the race and other regattas he covered. Celfin Capital sailed a very good race to take second.

The second race back started with a twice around windward leeward then back to home base. We had another good start to lead around the 4 marks. Then it was a jib reach in 7 knots of wind lifting to a run as the wind came up to a max of 18 knots. It is a lot like sailing in California. Good size swells that run pretty fast. As the wind built it was first stronger in shore but on the way back it built off shore. We had a good plan not to be either furthest off shore or closest. Santander was second and tried to take the inside lane. They slowed and ended 5th. We opened a good lead on the outside boats but the wind lifted a bit more than I thought it would and when they came back we lead only by about 10 lengths. As we gybed in toward the finish everything was fine until we ran over a big patch of kelp about 4 miles from the finish. We were lucky to hold on to second, loosing by about 20 seconds to Mitsubishi. So after 2 we have a 1,2 and Mtsubishi is in second with a 3,1. Tomorrow we have 2 up and downs. Fun racing looking forward to more, this is much better that winter in Annapolis....

Ft Lauderdale to Key West Race, Bella Sweeps

Good to report that all went well on the race to Key West on Wednesday.  Hap won the start with a gybe hoist and right out to where the wind was blowing 2-5 knots more.  Aided by a 15 degree shift, we came back ten minutes later to a mile lead over the fleet.  And so it started, 50 some gybes later about half way around the Keys we started to harden up and the speed came on.  Wind range was 12-23 knots over the race.  We heard report of up to 30 behind and believe we were staying ahead of the main pressure.

The Gulf Stream was pretty far off the coast above Miami.  This let us stay out in the pressure till we got down to Fowey Rocks.  Then it was gybing almost every 5 minutes or so.  Big work for all the grinders on the boat, they worked all the way down.  Sails we used started with the A2 and Spin Staysail.  When the wind came up to 20 knots we changed to the A4.  At time reaching speed of over 22 knots.  Really fun sailing.  We went through the A3 and onto the fractional code 0 we call the Fro.  This sail along with the GS really pushed the BM along sailing over 18 almost all the time at wind angles of 130-120..  The short beat into KW with the J4 and all was goo in 11 hr 11 minutes for an average of 14.38 knots.  Not bad when you count the 50 gybes and the average 1 knot of current against.

After KWRW the big Bella goes to the west coast for the Cabo race in March.  Looking forward to getting back to my roots out there. 

 

Results:

 

Yacht Name

Owner/Skipper

Elapsed Time

Corrected Time

Class

Fleet

IRC A
1	Bella Mente	Hap Fauth	0:11:10:59	0:17:12:38	1	1
2	Vela Veloce	Richard Oland	0:12:42:34	0:17:26:14	2	2
3	Privateer	Ron O'hanley	0:13:00:07	0:17:51:52	3	3
4	Decision	Stephen Murray	0:13:22:15	0:18:17:28	4	4
5	Denali	Michael Damelio	0:14:58:37	0:19:54:15	5	7
6	Bella PITA	Jim Grundy	0:13:47:59	0:20:27:53	6	8
7	Beau Geste	Karl Kwok			8	14
IRC B
1	Tonnerre de Breskens 3	Peter Vroon	0:15:21:36	0:19:07:23	1	5
2	Sjambok	Michael Brennan	0:15:02:26	0:19:40:22	2	6
3	Kalevala II	Tapio Saavalainen	0:20:01:12	0:20:48:02	3	9
4	Rim Shot	Russell Dunn	0:20:44:27	0:20:53:09	4	10
5	Hot Ticket	Jim Hightower	0:18:57:17	0:21:17:10	5	11
6	Santarella	James Scalise	0:19:55:20	0:21:34:32	6	12
7	AMHAS	MacKenzie Davis	0:19:44:34	1:01:58:53	7	13