The 2007 Great Pumpkin

Going into the Great Pumpkin, Breakaway just finished the SSS Vallejo race and the five hours of upwind sailing in moderate breeze proved to be great training for the Great Pumpkin. The new head sail from Boston/Doyle that replaced the boat's original 2002 sail also proved to make a huge difference in our pointing ability.

The Pumpkin started with a teaser breeze that came up before the first warning signal and then slowly faded before the start. With the flood, it took us over five minutes to hit the start line. Lesson learned - do not stray too far from the line this time of year as the wind cannot be relied upon to get you back. There was no recovery from that start.

In the second race, the wind had filled in nicely. This time Breakaway stayed near the line and we had a great start. Upwind, Lance and Simon kept the boat balanced and the jib trimmed and I focused on driving. Our strategy was simply to stay put as we were being lifted and tack when we were headed. I focused on pointing and Lance and Simon focused on the other boats and tactics. We ended up being third to the weather mark a few boat lengths behind Layla and Ricochet. Following the leaders down wind, our new spinnaker (much larger than the original) helped us maintain our relative position. At the leeward mark, Salsa was nipping at our stern and its pole was just two feet away from an inside overlap at the zone. We did a tight rounding and headed back up into pointing mode. We maintained our position and finished third. Our best finish ever!

In the third race we determined the pin was favored by 10 degrees or so and started near that end with Layla. As I recall, we were being lifted on the left side of the course and stayed there as long as we could. We tacked over and hit the layline 10 or so boat lengths from the pin. When we were on the layline, Cloud Nine passed in front and tacked above us and a couple of boat lengths in front. Breakaway was in second! Because Cloud Nine was above us, they fell off my radar screen and I rounded close to the pin and managed to foul Cloud Nine a bit as it came down to round and its spinnaker touched our boat. That was the end of the race for us as we do not have much practice with penalty turns.

At the end of the day we rafted up at the RYC and had some drinks, enjoyed the Halloween costumes and celebrated Columbia Yachts' decision to build the Ultimate 20. The food, drink and band were superb. RYC can be counted on to do a great job in these areas! Everyone also welcomed the new owner of Babe, Phil Kanegsberg and his family to the fleet.

Sunday the wind teased us all a bit and then faded away completely. After two hours of bobbing and drifting in the flood, the race committee cancelled the race and we all called it a day.On the way in we managed to collect a pumpkin that was missed by a larger boat. With its low freeboard, lifelines and roomy cockpit, the Ultimate 20 is the perfect boat for pumpkin catching!

Final results

PS - Geoff, Its great to hear you have decided to keep Ricochet and continue racing in the fleet.

Story by John Wolfe