Eastport to Solomons 2011

Was a nice day on the water Friday, with a building southerly. By the time the race started, we had 8-10kts from the SSW. The wind pretty much stayed that way all night, making for an upwind pointing match all the way down the bay. Moon was full and the weather perfect. Started off with favorable current so we worked our way across the bay to the deeper water over by Bloody Point. After looking at the GPS track, it appeared to be a good move because our tack angles were less than 90 degrees until the current swapped. After 1PM when the current went foul, the strategy was to hide in the shallows of the eastern shore. That we did....problem is that it was very lonely out there. Seems most people stayed a bit more west. Once we were there we were pretty much committed. One excpetion was Audry, a well sailed Merit 25. We traded tacks with them all night right up until the finish. Both of us rode the long westward leg from R76 back up the Patuxent on port tack bringing us to the cliffs over by Cove Point. Noticing the traffic jam of boats clogged up in the current near PR3 we opten to stay away from there. Local knowledge paid off huge on the final beat to the finish. While Audry tacked back into the Patuxent (flowing outward), we decided to hide behind the fish traps along the shore where there is favorable current and a lifting shore breeze. We gained 5 minutes on them in the last few miles of the race and beat them across the finish line. All in all, staying east was good...as most of the winning boats in their classes stayed east. Also, boats we knew that stayed west did not do as well.
GPS track is here: http://www.tqci.net/~jkriz/AkoniEastportSolomons2011.htm
Results are here: http://race.eastportyc.org/_/eyc/uploads/results/31st_Annual_Solomons_Island_Invitational-2011/31st_Annual_Solomons_Island_Invitational-2011_race1.html

Prep Time

Getting ready for Eastport and Screwpile! Been doing pretty well this year, but the competition is tough...we'll need to bring our best game. :)