Sailed in the BAMA Doublehanded Farallones race Aboard Westsail 32 Tortuga. Thanks to Rik Williams from Westsail 28 Irish Rose for being such awesome crew! The conditions were pretty epic with the steady winds in the mid 20s, peaking in the 30s while rounding the Island. Heard there was a dismasting, lots of boat carnage and saw the USCG Helo overhead headed to the island. Could not make out what was happening on the radio. Hope all our fellow racers are OK! The winds were out of the south (due to the storm fronts passing over) which is not the normal direction, so it was literally a single port tack all the way out! We made amazing time rounding the island at 12:30. We started out with the working jib, staysail and single reefed main. By the time we rounded we were down to just the staysail and double reefed main ripping along at 6-7 knots. We kept a good distance off the island due to the huge swell at that point. It was about 10-15ft. Put in a jibe and then we’re roaring back to the gate. The wind started to lighten up a bit and we were getting pushed north away from the entrance, so we put the jib back up to try and help us point higher and make the entrance. We got about 6 miles off Point Bonita and we were too far north to make the entrance and then around 5pm the wind went from the teens to single digits. It was difficult to make any progress in the big swell and light wind. The bow was getting thrown off the waves and we could not point. We tacked back and forth for another couple hours but could not make any progress, only doing 1-3 knots. We finally called it a day after that and motored back in fighting the ebb that was building. Getting back to the dock took almost 4 hours and of course the wind picked back up and was blasting out of the East so we were bashing our way in the ebb to get back in the bay! All in all it was a great day with challenging conditions. It was hard to not be able to finish after make such great time out and back (the fastest Tortuga has ever done it!) Thanks to all the volunteers of the BAMA race comitte! #Westsail32 #fullkeelracing #Westsailtheworld
Sailed in the BAMA Doublehanded Farallones race Aboard Westsail 32 Tortuga. Thanks to Rik Williams from Westsail 28 Irish Rose for being such awesome crew! The conditions were pretty epic with the steady winds in the mid 20s, peaking in the 30s while rounding the Island. Heard there was a dismasting, lots of boat carnage and saw the USCG Helo overhead headed to the island. Could not make out what was happening on the radio. Hope all our fellow racers are OK! The winds were out of the south (due to the storm fronts passing over) which is not the normal direction, so it was literally a single port tack all the way out! We made amazing time rounding the island at 12:30. We started out with the working jib, staysail and single reefed main. By the time we rounded we were down to just the staysail and double reefed main ripping along at 6-7 knots. We kept a good distance off the island due to the huge swell at that point. It was about 10-15ft. Put in a jibe and then we’re roaring back to the gate. The wind started to lighten up a bit and we were getting pushed north away from the entrance, so we put the jib back up to try and help us point higher and make the entrance. We got about 6 miles off Point Bonita and we were too far north to make the entrance and then around 5pm the wind went from the teens to single digits. It was difficult to make any progress in the big swell and light wind. The bow was getting thrown off the waves and we could not point. We tacked back and forth for another couple hours but could not make any progress, only doing 1-3 knots. We finally called it a day after that and motored back in fighting the ebb that was building. Getting back to the dock took almost 4 hours and of course the wind picked back up and was blasting out of the East so we were bashing our way in the ebb to get back in the bay! All in all it was a great day with challenging conditions. It was hard to not be able to finish after make such great time out and back (the fastest Tortuga has ever done it!) Thanks to all the volunteers of the BAMA race comitte! #Westsail32 #fullkeelracing #Westsailtheworld