Round The County 2015Cassiopia test new mastWed, 25th Nov 2015By Vince Townrow  Round the county 2015 started with a bang, died in the middle and finished with a light breezes. Saturday morning started with winds in the mid-twenties gusting in the 30s. The start was with starboard reach, a gybe to port for the reach over the Islands, harden up after Patios Island, round Turn Point and a beat to the finish at Roach Harbor. Day 2 started so light that about 30% of the fleet were unable to get a start within the 1/2 hour allowance. Those who got away worked their way into a 10 knot SE breeze that allowed the fleet to beat to Davidson Rocks. A fetch up Rosario Strait to the finish at Lydia Shoal in a dying breeze tested resolve and added challenge before the time ran out. As the debut for “Cassiopeia” (Davidson 72) after a 2 year refit, new mast and new Ullman jib and Code 0 Round the County was a great success. Conservative sailing was the order for the day with a start showing full main and jib on starboard. We gybed and chased down the fleet across the top of the Islands. We rounded Turn point and beat to the finish at Roach harbor. Day 2 started very light where we were able to set the Code0, and work out into the breeze. We changed to the jib to work upwind around San Juan Island. We tacked showing great speed along the south side of Lopez and rounded Davidson Rocks. The Code0 was set on the close fetch up Rosario Strait. The Code 0 delivered speeds of about 8-9knots in a 6 knot breeze with the Windex over the tab. The jib was set to get thru the difficult breezes and transitions around Blakely head and then the Code 0 delivered again in the light breeze to the finish. The Ullman Sails performed flawlessly and were a great part of the weekend. Overall 24th in a 114 boat fleet. Not bad for a sea trial. This article was posted on Wed, 25th Nov 2015 |
