Race Report - Warroad 2011

Day 1: West-north-west wind around 15kts with gusts to 20kts in the open
water and, as usual, gusts to 25kts approaching the finish line at Warroad.
During the day the wind backed slightly to West. Beautiful 25 degree sunny
day. At the start, a few boats carried their chutes (it was tight) down to
Bare Island then dropped the chutes as they turned to head toward Gull Rock.
Rounding Bare, it looked like Goliath was simultaneously cleaning their
boat bottom with the chute, trying to catch shrimp, all while sailing
backwards for a while. Turns out this was a good plan as they went on to
win the day.

After Bare, it was a close reach to Gull Rock with boats at hull speed.
Rounding Gull, with the wind backing to the West, it was a beat to the
finish. Fleet was spread across the course with some to the extreme south
and some modestly north. Some stayed up the middle. While the wind was
oscillating nicely, there was no clear advantage to any side of the course.
The two Abbots (Raven and Black Night) had a good battle up this leg with
Black Night slipping by Raven on a shift about 2-3 miles from the finish.

Many boats had to pick their way through the channel (but eventually made it
to get into Warroad. Knock-Out and Grand Cru stayed outside at anchor for
the night.

Day 2: Golf?

Day 3: From about 7am the wind was coming from the South-West at 12-15kts
setting up for what looked to be a beautiful downwind race all the way.
Fogger started at 10AM with their iconic pink chute charging for the rock.
5 minutes after their start, a massive persistent shift to the south east
came through. As the fleet watched, Fogger kept his chute up and was now
sailing North (were going the wrong way!). For what seemed like an
eternity, finally their chute came down and the boat turned to the west, but
still no headsail could be seen. Strangely, for the fist time in three
days, Fogger's laugh could not be heard. We would later learn that not only
was their headsail not ready to go, but the jib sheets were not run.
Anyway, the rest of the fleet now set-up their headsails and off everyone
went for this unexpected upwind leg. The wind was very patchy and the early
boats to leave had a chance to stay in the wind. Some of the early boats
had success, some were just out of range. The later boats sat parked up
just off the starting line for an hour or so. AI and Borderline made it
around Gull Rock and did a horizon job and the rest of the fleet. It was a
two boat race and AI just managed to hold off Borderline over the last 20
miles.

With pending severe storms, Grand Cru dropped out after 1 1/2 hours of
"racing" after realizing that they were only 1 mile from the start line and
had spent the last 30 mins going backwards. Good times. Fogger dropped out
as well. Remaining fleet stuck it out and the wind filled in at the end
with some boats having a great ride. Kite reported over 16kts of boat speed
before their asymmetric tack blew out.

Boats arrived back at Sportsman lodge just as the storms began to roll
through. Fortunately, no serious storms rolled over Oak Island.

Day 1
Goliath
Kyte
AI
Borderline
Grand Crew
Black Night
Raven
Knock out
Vixen
Sloops
Fogger

Day 2
AI
Borderline
Goliath
Sloops
Knock Out
Kyte
Vixen
Black Night
Raven
Fogger DNF
Grand Crew DNF

Winners
AI
Goliath
Borderline