The Home of Burden IV

Burden IV was declared the overall winner at this years NOOD.

http://www.sailingworld.com/nood-regattas/detroit-mi/burts-burden-takes-detroit-nood-52366.html

We have the cerificate in hand and we will sail at 1.075 with the masthead kites.  Should make for some fun rides.

BYC has approved the new course which rounds the NOAA weather buoy NE of Alpena.  All the boats will be on the same course so we can crush some Catalina 30's, sounds like fun passing 200 boats.  The new course also means a longer reach/run first leg which makes the decision for the bigger kites that much easier.

2nd is like kissing your sister (don't have one, wouldn't know).  Them's fightin words.

No Chance. 

A moderate downwind first leg with dying breeze at the end sealed our fate.  We tried to match Power Tripp's speed and angle, but continued to lose ground in the lightening breeze.  Perhaps a little more heat to try and engage them might have worked, but we were waiting for them to jibe and wanted to stay inside.  Getting rolled by Sagitta and Marge didn't help matters.

Four minutes behind after ten miles left us in a little hole, but we can usually dig out of them.  We tried to work right on the beat and it finally paid at the end with a shift and we rolled into the W mark.  Five miles to go and a lot of time to make up.  Most of the fleet went right on the slightly favored board, so we stuck left out to the channel to see what we could find.  The farthest left boat had a great angle so we stuck with it. 

Sailing across the channel we got a huge left shift and tacked.  We were now pointed at the finish, but a down bound freighter blocked our path.  We sailed 30 degrees high for five minutes as he cleared and we sailed across his transom into the wind shadow.  By this time Power Tripp had reached up onto our bow, but we had still gained a little.  10 more degrees of lift and we could set the Code 0 and really make some moves, but it wasn't to be.  The breeze slowly died on the shore and we watched the fast boats in our class finish and we were stuck in 0-3 knots of breeze.  Like I said, no chance. 

Congrats to Power Tripp as they got the breaks they needed to win the season. 

What started out as a nice tactical dual with Power Tripp ended up in a dice roll with us rolling craps.  We wanted the right side of the beat and of course came off the line going left.  After a few exchanged tacks with the fleet and the right paying we finally made it over the right side of our class in good shape.  Power Tripp got just to the right of us and found some pressure and cleared some lanes to weather and all we could do was watch.  The fight was not over as a big lift came and we set the code 0 and climbed up to their bow in the lightening convergence zone. 

Soon after this we were becalmed and PT tacked into building pressure on the Canadian shore.  We questioned going with them, but decided not to as we were pointing at the mark and it looked like the windline would hit us about the same time and we would be bow to bow heading into Thames.  Big mistake.  PT got into the lane of pressure and powered over us to lead into Thames by six minutes.  The rest of the race was a parade with no major shifts and increasing breeze which allowed PT to use their longer waterline and easily correct over us. 

They now have a three boat lead for the season and a one boat lead for the second half.  We need some help in the Bluenose, but we have seen them self-destruct before so the fat lady is just clearing her throat.

It turned out to be a beautiful day and night of sailing.  The J120's decided not race in the light breeze and really missed out.  Anybody else see those huge fish jumping all afternoon?

Trying to change from a light #1 to a #2 with 30 seconds to go is usually a recipe for disaster.  We calmed ourselves and made the change after the first tack of the beat and played the favored left side of the course.  Our tacks were a little off with four regular crew missing, but we still had a shot at crossing Power Tripp at the mark.  A last minute righty got us there two boat lengths behind, but still in good shape. 

An uneventful run led to a match race beat with us holding Power Tripp w/in four boat lengths until the end of the beat where they blanketed us and we reached in on a big starboard lift.  All the talk on the boat was jibe set or no pole set or quick jibe with the big righty.  Power Tripp rounded and jibed into a very slow set as they hooked the kite up.  We hoisted on a bear away and almost got hooked under Pterodactyl, a quick jibe (at least the main jibed) and we were on the favored board to the finish.  We had a little trouble getting the kite filled, but we still had our time saved.  About 3/4 of the way down the run and poles on the headstay we had an issue with Grizzly (under headsail) taking Pendragon up and into our air.  We slowed by a knot and a half and Power Tripp inched away to win the race by 5.75 seconds.  Bummer.  They are now two boats ahead of us with two to go.  Burt, hurry back as Tyler drives us crazy in the back of the boat with all the chatter.

Never, ever go East.  A slow first half and rounding at NGS made hard work for Team Burden in the second half of the race.  We sailed hard in the breeze and climbed the rankings to second. 

Burden stayed patient through the trying light conditions and took another bullet in IRC A.  For the second time this year we jibed into clear air and sailed away from the competition.  Next regatta is July 8th on the A course with windward leewards.

IRC A start is approximately 7:45.  Todd will be on his way to Bermuda on Natalie J, but the GPS will be programmed and onboard.