To enter "Falcon in Newport Cup Regatta"
Our team gathered to sail in Newport, RI in late June for this season's
first weekend on Falcon (Swan 56, USA 42233). The boat splashed later
than usual this year because our owner Mark Minkus has been spending
much of his time and attention on business overseas. This last weekend
in June was two days of practice followed by a single short distance
race (The Newport Cup Regatta organized by the International Yacht &
Athletic Club in Newport, RI).
Practice went well. We integrated three new faces into our crew. On
Falcon we usually sail with 15 (mostly) men, sometimes as few as 13,
twice I think we had 17. We tested all the electronics and resolved a
minor glitch or two. Steve Benjamin, our North Sails sailmaker and
tactician, brought us two new sails which we tested for fit and
performance (a new medium #1 genoa and a new #3 asymmetrical
spinnaker.) They sized up very nicely and the "Falcon" graphic on the
kite was SHARP. Owner Mark hadn't steered since last October but he
fund the groove in fairly short order. To commemorate this
accomplishment he and his wife took us to a very nice team dinner (at
Café Zelda, actually, co-sponsors of the regatta).
Our race on Saturday was a somewhat low-key affair ... yet quite
important because it was our first test against "live" competition.
There were 31 boats in three divisions. In our division (the fastest)
we were handicapped as third fastest close behind Chippewa, a Swan 68,
and Hissar, a 12-meter class yacht (New Zealand's KZ-5 which in the
1980's nearly won the America's Cup). Chippewa is much longer (we are
56-feet long) but we weigh MUCH less. They outperform us upwind with
their longer waterline length but we outperform them downwind with our
"turbocharged" sail area-to-displacement ratio. Hissar (about 65 feet)
goes upwind like a rocket (as do almost all AC-boats) but downwind they
are heavy and have a small kite - again, downwind advantage to Falcon.
The course was 18 and a bit miles around Conanicut Island in
Narragansett Bay. Shortly before the start the race committee told us
it would be a "counterclockwise" course. With the northwesterly wind
that meant 5 miles upwind, about another mile upwind across the
northern end of the island, 9 miles downwind on a broad reach, then
tight reaching back to the start / finish line. The breeze was fairly
light, between 6 and 10 knots but tending on the lighter side of that
range.
The slower divisions started ahead of us -- more than twenty smaller,
slower boats for us to avoid and pass. In our division of eight we
started cleanly but Chippewa and Hissar immediately started moving out
on us (as predicted). Chippewa was slightly faster than Hissar and WAY
faster than us - they powered away from us impressively. We picked our
way through the fleet and arrived at the first mark in third place. At
the "top" of the island Chippewa was a LONG way ahead of us ... more
than 4 minutes. Hissar wasn't far behind them. Both looked
uncomfortably SMALL. Steve Heimlich, one of our trimmers, asked me if
we would close the gap. I explained that we are significantly faster
downwind and I hoped we would make up the deficit but wouldn't bet my
son's college tuition on it.
We started closing on both as soon as we "turned the corner". We
peeled a few times between our reaching kite, the 1A, and our "Code
Zero". The AC-boat Hissar we ground down first. As we neared them we
saw that she was using a symmetrical spinnaker. It wasn't as efficient
as our asymmetrical kites, designed more for running than reaching. We
approached her transom, put the wheel to starboard to ensure that they
couldn't take us up, then just "rolled over" them. They were helpless
to fight us off. One down and only one still ahead of us. We were
chasing Chippewa as hard as we could.
We looked ... and looked ... we WERE closing that gap. Like Hissar,
they were flying a symmetrical kite. With that sail their choice was to
sail "deeper" with speed, or try to match our angle but slow down. As
we got closer to the southern tip of Conanicut Island the sea swells
started rolling in ... Chippewa had a hard time keeping their chute
filled. Winds remained light, 7 - 10 knots. On Falcon, sailing a
slightly tighter angle with asym kites, we kept our chute filled and
mostly kept our boat speed between 8 and 10 knots.
We aimed at Chippewa's stern. When only about two boatlengths behind
we put our nose up a bit. They had seen us go through Hissar and tried
to fight us off. but we faked them. As they came up we went low. Their
move and some unlucky swells deflated their kite and significantly hurt
their boatspeed. We managed to get ahead of them to clear air before
they regained that boatspeed. For a minute or so we sailed beside them
(in clear air) ... then we started pulling away. YEAH.
We reached the southern end of the island about 30 seconds ahead. On
the last leg we used both the Code Zero and our light #1 headsail. We
continued to very slowly pull away and increase our margin. It was a
thrill as we approached the finish line, watching the Regatta Chairman
carefully load the shotgun (with blanks!). BOOM! YEAH We crossed about
2.5 minutes ahead of Chippewa. On handicap we corrected further ahead,
6.5 minutes ahead of Hissar and 7 minutes ahead of Chippewa. Even
better, on corrected time were first in the fleet as well. HOORAH!
Owner MM wasn't able to attend the awards ceremony at the IYAC but our
boat captain CT Olander accepted our first place trophy on Falcon's
behalf. A number of our crew (who shall remain nameless) then proceeded
to "lead the way" during the victory celebration. It was an excellent
first regatta for Falcon and we hope a precursor of success to follow.
Randy Needham
Navigator
Falcon USA 42233
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