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Race Report - 2019 Down the Sound [E32-3]

Geoff W.

Makes Up For It With Enthusiasm
Blogs Author
E32 Race Report: Down the Sound 2019

TLDR: Got 3rd in class in a 2-day race series, got new sails, had a good time.

So, two big events happened this weekend in Seattle - the first is Seafair, replete with the log boom raft up, Blue Angels screaming around all week, lots of alcohol, lots of powerboats, hydroplane races, all of that.

For those of us that just want to sail, the other event was Down the Sound - the 2nd of the "Triple Crown" double/singlehanded race series. The first was Race to the Straits, which I wrote about previous, and the third is Jack and Jill coming up in September. It's a 2 day race, the first day takes you from Seattle, down Colvos Passage on the west side of Vashon Island, to Gig Harbor. The second day has you do the same in reverse. I did these races non-flying sails as I still don't have a spinnaker to use, though I am working on trying to solve that problem.

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This race was big for me for a few reasons - I just had my brand new sails installed the night previous, so not only was this their first shakedown but it was also me really hoping that the money gamble on new sails helping performance would pay off like I hoped. I got a full battened dacron crosscut main and a 135% overlap genoa made from DP's "Tec" cruising laminate. I had previously had a 150% (at least) dacron jib that was sort of a personality trait of the boat - huge, bagged out, did awesome for wing on wing but as of late I just could not hold a comfortable degree of heel or speed upwind. It furled like a sack of potatoes so depowering was hardly an option.

The race was also the first with my girlfriend of about a month, so I looked forward to see how we did together as partners and hoped I wouldn't get too "race intense" and no "boat yelling" :)

Day 1

The day started with extremely light winds from the north and a building ebb tide, exactly what you don't want when you have to go downwind. I set the jib sheets through the outside track and cars moved fairly far forward, and eased the outhaul and let the main out quite a bit. I started and the wind immediately shut off, and I frustratingly sat there and listened to the loose sails slat around in powerboat wake while I watched the other boats in my fleet catch a nearby wind line and start moving. Eventually we got enough of something to get going and made our way with the rest of the fleet down past West Point lighthouse. It was comforting to see me start to put trees on the early starters, and the wind kept building as we moved south. I stayed a little farther out in the channel than I should have, as I fought a bit of tide that other folks weren't.

Eventually we got down to the entrance to Colvos Passage, which is a big tide rip area as the ever-constant northward flow from Colvos meets the rest of the current ripping around Blake Island and north from the east side of Vashon. Lots of boats went too far out and got caught in a tide rip that carried them literally backwards. The advantage of not being 1st means you see other boats screw up ahead of you, so I dipped close to Blake Island and managed to miss most of it, though I should have gone in a little farther - the other boats in my fleet got a bit farther ahead by dodging the rip a little longer than I did.

Once we got into Colvos, known for the current that always flows north, the wind started to build and we had a super fast trip downwind. I mostly played "followed the smart guys" as we stayed close to shore - you could see the "right choices" pay off immediately for current relief as people stuck in the middle of the channel parked their boats while those on the edges kept moving.

Lots of deep reaches and wing on wing - I'm still either not very good at deep reaching or there's just a very small angle that's worth it on the E32. Otherwise if the wind is high enough it seems like wing on wing is almost always giving me the best VMG. Winds built to 20kts by the middle / end of the passage and we were hitting hull speed constantly while wing on wing, even surfed a wave to 7.2kts once. I started to roll pretty hard once the wind built that high and had to make very sure to keep the wind from coming around on the jib. Without a whisker pole, the jib would collapse and re-fill with that painful WHOMP...you can just see the silver dollars raining on the deck from the rig and sail each time that happens.

We passed most of our fleet except a well known Q-Class boat named Grayling, the boat I KNEW would beat me, and then the J109 in the fleet came up to pass me. An Olson 30 kept broad reaching down the passage behind me but couldn't make it in front of me until they stopped reaching and went wing on wing as well, then they slipped ahead, finishing a minute before me.

4th place finish on Day 1.

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Day 2

The upwind leg was what I was most looking forward to - not because of the promise of tons of tacks up Colvos Passage, but because I really wanted to see how my sails did and I know the E32 is a better upwind performer than downwind or reaching (compared to other boats).

The day started with 8-10kts from the north and we rocketed across the start with the rest of the fleet. My boat to beat at the beginning was Blue Lullaby, a Newport 28, and my "smart boat to follow" was Selchie, a really well sailed Thunderbird. We kept trading tacks, slowly gaining on the early starters but never pointing quite as high as I would have liked. I also didn't do a heroic job skippering - lots of times I'd end up pinching on accident. The partnership between me and my girlfriend Jenna was great, though - we really started to get in a groove on how to do the mechanics of a tack. I'd go helm over, blow the working sheet, she'd pull in on the new working sheet and get it in the tailer, I'd put the winch handle in and grind the jib in while she jumped up to wrestle the main into position. Having a 2:1 traveler pulley system really hurts me here as it's super hard to get enough force and leverage into the main to pull it up when it's loaded like it was.

The current was with us all day, so we got to ride the conveyor belt northwards nicely. Grayling the Q class quickly slipped up from behind and hauled ass northwards - that boat is crazy. We caught that same rip as yesterday right outside Blake Island and hauled ass eastward across the Sound - too far, actually. We barely got above Alki Beach and ended up having to go farther into Elliot Bay than we should have. The J109 caught back up by this point.

By the end of the day Grayling was 1st across the line, not just in my class, and the J109 close behind. A C&C 38 finally caught up and crossed the line a minute ahead of me as well, so I got a 4th place finish Day 2 as well. Fortunately it all corrected out and I got 3rd place in class for the series!

Upwind was great - we managed speeds of 6.2 - 6.4 kts all day, though stayed overpowered with the #2 for most of it. I still can't quite figure out when to twist the main vs. when to ease the traveller. The main starts to get pretty loose and crappy looking, even though speed stays the same. It just never felt like we were pointing as high as the rest of the fleet, or going faster than boats we should've been going faster than, but I bet every racer on the course said something similar in their head.

We ended up tacking around 35 times overall. Jenna was exhausted :)

The Ericson 32-3 is a great boat. I think it performs comparably and even favorably to a lot of boats of similar vintage. I look forward to continuing to get to learn how my new sails work (car position is gonna take some work) and getting my upwind speeds together! It feels good to have gotten 3rd in class when the 2 boats that beat me were a Q class and a J109. Even with PHRF-rated staggered starts, I didn't expect to be able to beat those guys.

Day 1 Navionics Track:
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Day 2 Navionics track:
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Overall class results:
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