Racing Center

Fog - dense cool fog - met the boats heading up into Cumberland Sound for the race, but they discovered rays of sunshine, clear skies and pleasant breezes on the north half and western side of Cumberland Sound. The dense fog in the St. Marys River inlet and sound between Fort Clinch and Cumberland Island never lifted, and fog lightened but remained on the south side of the sound and the mouth of the Amelia River as the day progressed. The race start was delayed from 11:00am to 11:30am, and before the start the eastern legs of the race using Yellow Turning Buoys C/D and E/F were replaced by Green 24 and Red 25. As noted, the fog did not lift so another mid-race change was announced by the race committee to finish the race between Cumberland Sound Buoys Red 26 and Green 27, thereby omitting the need to race across the Sound in fog to Amelia River Buoy Red 2 and the planned finish line in the Amelia River between buoys Red 4 and Green 5. Five Boats with 22 sailors came out to race, with other club boats not racing due to travels, repairs and other reasons. Thanks to Nan and Jason Walker for providing the race committee boat and race support from their pontoon boat Pau Hana.

A port-end start was favored with four boats choosing that end. Valkyrie chose to run up the line on starboard tack hoping to block the port-starters, but she was just a little late to do that before tacking to port with the rest of the fleet and heading for Mark 1 which sat right on the edge of the fog bank. Lola was right at the start line, but had to watch her speed so as not to cross early. Tiger Tale had a perfectly time start at full speed, led the way to the first mark and never surrendered the lead. Tiger Tale tacked too early and was short of the second mark, so had to take two more tacks to make the mark. Others behind her saw this so they tacked a little later and fetched Mark 2, closing the gap on Tiger Tale, but still never catching up to her.

The two downwind legs westward along the south shore of Cumberland Island saw some closing of the distance between the boat, but the order remained the same until the finish. A decision to make an early tack north across the sound to Cumberland Island on leg 4 of the race proved a very good decision for Morning Glory which resulted in a favorable gain on Salty Sally and Lola as they came together at Mark 4. Salty Sally further closed the gap with Lola as they approached the finish line. Lola's track north of the finish mark caused her to take two jibes to get down and around the mark to finish. While still finishing ahead of Salty Sally, this tactical error caused her to lose third place on adjusted time to Salty Sally by a mere 5 seconds! Still a fun day for all with the fog adding some mystery and challenge to the race, particularly having to find Marks 4 and 5 as they became enveloped in fog.