I set out with Ken Cooper of Ullman sails Newport Beach to
race Yippee Kai Yay the class 40 on the Crew of Two from Newport Beach Around
Catalina, a 90 mile race on July 21st.
We left from Dana Point the
morning of the race well prepared with food drinks and spinnakers banded and a
socked up 4a. The race started out in Light winds from the Balboa Pier. Ken and
I decided to head out for more wind it’s nice with two people only, making decisions
very little discussion. After sailing for a few hours we were not seeing the
wind we wanted. We could see the Melges 32 skippered by Bruce Cooper and Brian
Peterson and the Hobie 33 sailed by Erik Shampain and Keith Magnusson. At about Seal Beach the wind picked up to
about 15 kts. That is what ken and I were looking for. We loaded one tank in
our water ballast, leveled the boat out some but the wind was still building.
We decided to load the second tank full of water. Now we have a full main, full
weather tanks, and a #2 head sail up. We looked down and now we are pulling
away because we knew the other boats do not have water ballast.
At LA entrance
we decided to tack for the island but the waves and wind were very large so we
decided to tack up towards point Fermin to limit the amount of distance we have
to travel at the island. We reached the island about 40 minutes ahead of the
competition. The wind went from 20kts to 6kts at the west end. Then the wind
died and we fell into a hole about one mile down the back side.
All of a sudden
we see the competition come around the Island. They see us sitting in a hole so
they tack out for more wind. At that time we changed back to a #1 head sail. The
wind was 60 degrees TWA. After about five minutes the TWA went to 100 degrees so
I told Ken to bring up the 1A to set. We got the spinnaker up and the wind
started to build and away we went. Next thing we knew we’re doing a solid
thirteen kts of boat speed and the wind is 17kts. Ken and I discussed changing
to a 2A Plus but we did not want to have any down time. We jibed down the back
side of the Island at least three times staying close to shore.
Our plan was to
cut the East end until the wind died on us then Jibe to the south until we
could clear the wind shadow of the island. After about four more jibes to the
south we finally cleared the shadow and headed for the barn. The wind clocked
to the south about midnight and that allowed us to keep the spinnaker up and
jibe into Newport Beach and we finished at 2:50am at the same place we started.
All around, it was a great race. Ken and I had a game plan from the start; weather,
sails, equipment, strategy… what we call connecting the dots. Fortunately all
the above worked out for us and we won. Many thanks to Ken Cooper for his hard
work on the boat. That’s why they call it crew of 2. In addition of course is the support of all
involved in the boat, in this case especially Ullman Sails NB because we had
some sails repairs to do ahead of this. And I also want to give big thanks to
the South Shore yacht Club race committee team. This race has a history of over
30 years and took over 12 members to manage the the race in a well organized
fashion. This race is one that I recommend to all types of sailors. It is a
very rewarding challenge.
Barry Senescu, Yippee Kai Yay
