While steaming back into home port of Oyster Bay this morning we happened to cross paths with Rendevous who announced they had won a race ( we assume yesterday ) while towing an inflatable ! Well done crew !
Not everyday that one beats an Alerion 38 (the Capitan and crew of which race more in a year than I have in my life) on uncorrected time while towing a RIB. 20 kts of wind for a broad reach from start to finish certainly helped keep us well above hull speed for an hour or so and then in the mid-6 kt range when the wind calmed down some, so we shook out the reef and boosted the speed. Did not even need the 12 sec/m that they gave me for towing the dink. (The race is geared to the cruisers in the club and so they make provisions for those of us who tow our dink and then anchor out for the night before returning to the club.)
Only two of us ran the race in the end, with others bowing out - it was a bit sporty. Very exciting finish as we finished within two seconds of each other. Even got my wife to sit up and pay attention.
Downside is that next time instead of giving us time for towing a dink, they will want to add it’s waterline to Rendezvous’ for our rating.
Well done ! Don’t win so clearly next time !
We did a race on the weekend, 22 boats. We won our division and was 9th overall behind a couple multihulls and other fast boats. At the dinner afterwards one of the other skippers came up and said…. Hey, that nonsuch is no slouch at all! … No, it’s not!
I’ve sailed “LOON” a “ No slouch” N260 with a wing keel , carbon fiber mast and boom as what I can only describe as ‘rack and pinion ‘ steering . ( no cables but direct rod connections from the wheel to the rudder) A two inch turn of the wheel is very very noticeable. It was difficult to keep the boat under 7.5k in 12k of breeze.
( LOON is owned by Christina & Juan Corradi in Newport RI)