Hi Everyone ~
First off, congratulations to everyone who came and competed! It was tough that we had all the breakdowns, but still, nice work BJ and Emily - your turned in a great score card!! And a big thanks goes to Don Corey who went so far above just letting us use a his boat - nothing but a top-shelf, first class individual here as many of you already know.
Here is my recap of the event at CRW. Winds – they were certainly strong breezes and the slow filling puffs were passing through, building strongly about 20-30 yards in from the front edge. But they were not of the consistent strength that we have sailed in many times before. Rig – we had the heavy air settings from the tuning guide and had commented to each other that going to weather, the leeward uppers were a touch slack and dancing a little, and the lowers were taut (same on both tacks). Weight – 585lbs, all in mid cockpit area starting to move further back. We are on a port tack, running on a full plane and the puff hits. The water is relatively flat, since our circle was well protected by a barrier island. The main is out probably with the boom halfway between the lifeline and the shrouds (Brad Boston mentioned later that he would not let the boom out past the lifeline) – sheet in hand and the traveler down. I could feel the boat start to load up with a heel and a small bit of stall on the rudder, at the front edge of the puff so I called out I was heading down – anticipating that second puff in the puff. The vang was on but only snug and we had that control line in hand as well. When that second pressure hits, it went quick. I was still driving to a deeper run, no water over the bow, no wild round up and down she goes. Broke about 5.5 feet off the deck and quite a bit above the normal spot by the halyard exit that have been associated with vang related breaks(?). Someone made the reference that exposure to the repeated flexing over the years may have contributed to creating a weak spot.
This was shaping up to be a killer weekend - hope to come back next spring!!
