38 Viper 640’s hit the race course on Long Island Sound.  Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT went above and beyond to host a wonderful event.  Even though the championship was cut short due to weather, the RC did a great job in getting 7 races completed.  Each day provided completely different conditions which made for tough sailing in an unfamiliar area.  Although no sailor on our boat had ever sailed on the sound, we worked hard to learn and improve throughout the regatta, and it resulted in 5th overall and winning Race 4.  Here’s a quick summary and a couple key takeaways.

Day 1 provided 3 races of 4-6kts coming off the south shoreline with as much as 1.5kt current right to left.  The RC was forced to jockey the course down current to provide as fair a racecourse as they could.  Our team does not sail in current regularly, so it was a hot topic on our boat the entire regatta.  Our goal for Day 1 was to be a little conservative, consistent, and not lose the regatta the first day.  Not ideal results, but we held in for a 12/8/5 to hold 6th after 3 races.  We struggled a bit early adjusting to the tacking angles.  Hovering below 5kts of upwind boatspeed meant we had a 20-25% side push from the current.  We worked hard to learn and improve every leg, which we did.   Downwind we were fast every race.  The Ullman kite is beautiful, and really allows you to sail deep in displacement mode.  We felt we held on just enough, as we are thinking there’s 9-12 races left to sail.

Day 2 provided 3 races 8-12kt steady easterly running straight down the sound.  We were excited to get out and jump back in the hunt.  1st race of the day we come out swinging.  There was a very slight current moving down course, which made most of the fleet a little late at the start.  We were conscious of that, and took advantage starting close to the RC and nose out.  We led from start to finish, and the result launched us up to 4th and very close to 3rd.  Ah but then the dreaded kelp!  Race 5 we caught kelp so bad it sucked up into the keel box.  The kelp was hard to see and not always floating on the surface. We got some off during the race, but it took until 2 min before the next race to clear it completely.  Without being able to do our pre start routine, we got caught on the wrong side and worked to salvage a 7th.  At the end of 6 races, we were still in 6th, but closed the gap on 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

Day 3 provided 20-22kts gusting to 25 with 8’ swells rolling down the sound.  The RC only completed 1 race as the winds were increasing throughout the day and safety concerns were arising.  We call this survival mode.  Just keep the boat upright and take your time with every gybe and rounding.  Although we finished 8th, our strategy moved us into 5th.  This ended up being the final race of the championship.  Our goal was top 5 and we succeeded while still learning so much.

Some takeaways-

1.  Trust your own wind and tide research!  Having never sailed in the area, I spent a lot of time before the regatta trying to learn about the conditions.  Then at the event, you hear everyone talking about conditions.  Locals offering advice.  I found that our team started the event leaning on local advice more than our own research and that was a mistake.  If you put the time in to research and learn, then trust it.  If it ends up being wrong, reassess and then maybe seek out local advice.

2. When unsure about which side of the course is favored, just sail fast and stay with the good guys.  We did this more and more on the first day after our early struggles.  And it kept moving us up the leaderboard.  Above all else you have to sail your boat fast.  Many times we found ourselves in unfavorable situations, but we stayed focused on sailing as fast as possible.

All in all we had a successful regatta, and enjoyed Noroton’s hospitality.  Next stop – Sarasota Winter Series.