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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
fkern's LiveJournal:
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| Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | | 1:42 pm |
| | Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 | | 10:19 pm |
WYC Wednesday Night Race - Seeing Red
 This was a start to weather with the committee being favored on the left. I figured that most of the J120s would try to come in from the right on starboard. Instead I opted to traverse the line on port and then tacked when we reached the first boat who happened to be Hot Ticket. Rod and I did our rope a dope to weather to finally force her to tack. When we crossed again were clear ahead and rounded in 1st place. After this we just covered and kept ahead. The last leg down Hot Ticket and Night Moves were sparring downwind. HT decided to stay closer to the Canadian shore where NM gybed back to the entrance channel following us. By the red buoy we heard screaming and then HT put up their genoa to get around red DP8. Oops they had forgotten it was a mark on the new course. They did deserve another chorus of "Oh Canada" Result: 1st out of 5 J/120s Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/race/WYC%202008%20Results%20%20Fall%20Race%201.pdf | | Monday, July 21st, 2008 | | 8:53 pm |
Chicago Mac - You can breath now, we finally finished!
 This was race that at the start was very miserable conditions. It rained steadily for two hours before the start. We had already rigged an external display for the computer since I had cracked the laptop screen so that was a bit of distraction. When we got to the starting line we saw that the wind was coming out of the south at no more than 2 knots. Fred Roselle filled in as tactician so I could steer the start. We ran the engine up to 5 minutes before the gun from the west side of the line a little bit to the north. This would allow us to reach to the line. Unfortunately, there were a few boats from the previous start who had the same idea. In fact the boat in front of us had to push themselves around the committee boat. Fred advised me to nearly skim the committee boat but he soon changed his mind when he saw that activity. Although we were a minute late crossing the start, we were one of the first in our section to cross. The real beauty of it was J/120 Flyin' Irish was approaching on port tack to our starboard tack. This forced them to gybe away where we immediately gybed back on port, throwing up the .5 oz drifter and then sped away ahead of everybody. I could see farther east up the line everyone was caught in a giant hole and not moving. In fact I understand that J/120 Night Moves was called over early and it took them at least a half hour to restart. Farther up the course the wind went west with more force at about 5 knots. We put up our 3/4 ap spinnaker and managed to stay just ahead of Flyin' Irish. As the wind went more northerly we were forced to go to the ap #1 headsail. At this point we seemed to get passed by Perseverance. We just kept running into other boats in front of us that would gas us where Perseverance would not have the same problem. We did mange to stay ahead of Irristable and Flyin' Irish.  As midnight approached we seemed to come into our own. The wind died and crew was on their game for pushing through it. As daylight came up were again in the lead among the J/120s.  During the day the wind went back to the south at about 10 knots so we used the .6 oz runner. The fog was so thick that most of the day we could not see more than another boat at a time. In fact it got really spooky when we could hear a ferry boat horn going off and not knowing where they were. As we got close to the Manitou Islands we knew were a little ahead of Perseverance but 6 miles east. If they were going to go between the islands and the Michigan shore we knew it would cost them extra distance. As we passed through the Manitou Passage we could see them about a mile behind us.       Past the Manitous Perseverance drove a quarter mile up to our stern. When we thought the wind was going back we prepared the code 0. Unfortunately we did not come up with the lift and she nearly passed us to the north. As we approached the Graves Reef light the wind lifted and we managed to round it with Perseverance 12 feet behind us. We went in defense mode and entered the straights of Mackinac about 100 yards ahead. At this point I decided I wanted to stay closer to rumb and put up the .6 runner in 4 knots with the air abeam. About 7 miles west of the bridge we saw wind filling in from the south and steered towards it. When we reached it we tacked in front of Perseverance and got a quarter mile lead again. At this point we simply did a loose cover to finish 2 minutes ahead.  This was a tough race not because we only won it at the end but had to win it many times. Sort of like ground hog day. As we went through the straights we thought it would never end. At the gun, we could start breathing again. Crew: Fred Roselle, Steve Roselle, Colleen Flanagan, Nancy Caldwell, Jeff Henderson, Dale Marshal, Harald Kolter Result: 1st out of 12 J/120s in class, 11th overall Link: http://racetomac.nemexinc.comRace tracking: http://charthorizon.com/races/2008_chicago_mackinac/htdocs | | Monday, July 14th, 2008 | | 9:35 pm |
Bayview Mac - How about an Irish coffee?
 This one started wild and wooly. On the way out to the start, rain started coming down in sheets. Then the wind came. Visibility was so bad that two boats rammed each other in the prestart area. We hung out on the Michigan shore side before the race. When we finally traversed the starting line before the gun we found that the restriction mark that had started right behind the committee boat had drifted a third of the way down the line. This made for an interesting start.  We ducked just to the left of the restriction mark and then being leeward boat enabled us to get good boat speed. With the gun we put up our .6 oz spinnaker beside Hot Ticket. HT put up their .75 up because of their fear of more thunderstorms. I noticed a little wind shift and gybed towards shore. Flyin' Irish followed us on this path.  South of Harbor Beach,the wind died, especially out in the lake. We did spot some cat paws closer into shore so we got in closer. This enabled us to sail farther north than most of the J/120s except for FI. When the wind filed in it enabled us to get a good lead.  After this point the wind picked up feom the west southwest. WE used our 3/4 oz spinnaker mostly up the rest of the leg. We still managed to stay ahead of FI but we had aproblem just before the weather buoy. I did not get the crew up in time and we rounded up a couple of times to go to new headsail. FI rounded 5 minutes before us. The last leg was a fetch nearly the entire distance for abou 65 miles at 18 to 20 knots. We could never make up the distance finishing second. Just finishin the 400 mile on a 18 to 22 knots to Bermuda, this seemed like a walk in the park. Crew: Nancy Caldwell, Mike Badendeick, Colleen Flanagan, Rod Weston, Brian Gennebaugh, Dale Marshal, Nathan Caspers Finish: 2nd out of 8 J120s Link: http://www.byc.com/mack/results.cfm?Class=J120&Class2=OD Pink Pony - no explanation necessary =>  | | Thursday, June 26th, 2008 | | 7:35 pm |
| | Monday, April 28th, 2008 | | 10:06 pm |
Regata del Sol al Sol - St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico - Race of the sun to the sun
 This race is 450 miles from St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico off of Cancun. What makes it extremely interesting is that the gulf stream flows at about 3 knots north up the gulf of Mexico, then loops south along the Florida coast. The race starts right off the pier outside St. Petersburg inside the bay. After a slow start at 10:20, with moderate running wind, Carinthia got out of Tampa Bay within a few hours with clear skies and warm weather. Early on a shoal draft J120, Tampa Girl, passed us at the outer buoy. As the sun set were on a windward reach with the code 0. During the night the wind shifted to 110 degrees and we gibed in the gulf southernly current. We then got pretty much on the rhumb line when then encountered the northernly current on the other side. At that point we made a hard right and crossed over to the other side of it. Once out we just followed the shore to Isla Mujeres. For some reason our GPS stopped calculating our position so we had to finish with handheld. I found out later that there was 32nd satellite added at the end of February and our Northstar could only read 31. This caused it to regularly get lost, especially the last 30 miles. Because we had two spare portables we still found Isla Mureres. We finished at 18:51 on Sunday night. In any case we finished ahead of Tampa Girl by about 1 and 1/4 hours corrected time. Carinthia won the spinnaker race division and placed 3rd overall in the entire fleet. As an additional plus I found out even though we were 4th over the line we beat the last record set by a TP52 named Rosebud. You can follow the race and look at the standings at http://charthorizon.com/races/2008_tampa_islamujeres/htdocs . The event website is at http://www.regatadelsolalsol.org      Under and past the Tampa Bay bridge with Tampa Girl in pursuit.      Although you can not see them well a family of dolphins came to play.--->     Mexican Navy at the finish | | Sunday, February 10th, 2008 | | 4:16 pm |
Miami Nassau Race - Again Irked by IRC
 | This race from Miami to Nassau began with nearly 2 knots of air out of the southeast. Because the air was so light the start was delayed for nearly an hour at 10am. In fact because of the outgoing tide current we got pushed over the line early. We went back to start over. We then went right towards the cut and got a good push from the current and nearly got back in the lead. By noon the wind was at 8 knots with a boat speed of 6 knots. |
 | | Crossing the Florida straights we stayed in sight of the J125 and the J44 with a lot of reaching. On the Florida side we had a current of 5 knots so Carinthia would have to point at least 30 degrees high just to keep our north south position. |
When morning broke the rain was coming down in sheets. Boat speed was continually good as we would get a buildup and more astern. As you can see we tore the .6 oz at the tapes and we went to the 1.5oz with no loss of speed. |  |
 In the last part of the race we managed to stay ahead of the J125 who had a faster rating. In the last 10 miles we passed Golddigger, a J44. This group sailed a nearly flawless race with almost 35 sail changes. Again I stuck it to us myself. If I would of registered the boat in IRC we would of placed 1st overall.  |
Happy, Sleepy, Doc, Grumpy | | Whadya mean, no beer? Wait a minute this is not Hot Ticket! | |
 | | The plot above got a little cruddy because in the middle of the race we discovered our alternator had fried and we let the laptop battery run down. (Click on the chart for a larger image) |
 | Crew: Chuck Bayer Jr., Bob Declercq, Lynn Kotwicki, Mike Kirkman, Mike Badedieck, Colleen Flanagan, Ken Flaska, Karl Kuspa, and in the buoy race Jim Dundas
|  |
 | In the buoy race it blew between 18 and 22 knots. We managed to lead in both races. Towards the end of the 2nd race Jim Dundas tried to move the boom with his head and we took him to the hospital for observation. Fortunately he got only four stitches behind the ears with no other permanent damage. BTW the doctor would not let him walk out of the hospital with the head bandage on. |
 As you can see above this race was a big deal here. This an event that was part of the old SORC. With the fantastic facilities on Paradise Island and hospitality of the Nassau Yacht Club this is a race nobody should miss!
Results: 3rd in long distance race, 1st in buoy race, Winner of Governor's Trophy
Link: http://www.miaminassauraceweek.com/ |
| | Thursday, October 11th, 2007 | | 1:07 pm |
WYC Wednesday Chimo Night Race - Stirred not Shaken
This race started in the Detroit River in front of the Windsor Yacht Club. The course went up past DP5, DP7 and then up to R8 in the shipping channel out in the lake. The wind was coming up the river at maybe 5 or 6 knots from the Windsor side. I wanted to start from left side by the buoy but got there a little early. We gybed to starboard along the line until the gun. Night Moves was on our right and eventually started to gas us. I could tell there was less pressure in the middle because of high rise blocking the wind so I called for a gybe. When we hit the island side it was clear with less current and more air and were making time on the other J120s. As we got pushed into the river we got caught with Hot Ticket our left and had to concede a place to them. We continued with a chute out the leg where we went to a head sail at R8. We allowed Jayhawker to get up on us and they rounded ahead of us at R2. The next leg was at about 45 degrees apparent but I could see everyone getting lifted farther down. We went high on the leg and when we got farther down we would put up our code 0. At that point we rolled right past Merlin and beat them to mark Dp7. They immediately tacked and we went a 100 yard past and did the same thing. At this time a free for all started. 4 J120s were tacking back and forth. We entered the river with Merlin in the lead, Jayhawker, Us and Hot Ticket. We had tacked a little to the center of the river and got more pressure there. We managed to roll Jayhawker and nearly reached Merlin. It was an exciting race and a fitting end to our Michigan season. We came out of it in 2nd in a close race and recovered enough to end up first overall for the Wednesday night season. Result 2nd out of 6 J120s Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Chimo%20Race.pdf | | Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 | | 8:30 pm |
WYC Wednesday Night Race - Who needs wind?
The first leg was 110 degrees with light air around 5 or 6 knots out of the northwest. The starts in front of us were starting on port with spinnakers. The boats farther in the lake were getting more air so they seemed to get a little more speed. I noticed about 7 minutes before our start some cat paws coming from the south shore. I could see there was a major shift coming (180 dgrees) and actually motored for 15 seconds before the 5 minute gun to get to the new air. We hung around the right pin before the gun and put up our spinnaker. Hot Ticket reached up to us and got across first with Merlin and Night Moves in a hole farther down the line. Up the first leg I could see the pressure was still on the right side of the course so I tried to bias the us there. It was enough to round mark A with us on the inside of Hot Ticket. They tacked immediately where we held out tack about a 100 yards since Merlin right behind stretched their tack out also(port tack was favored). Going farther up the leg we managed to hold our lead with Ticket and they crossed behind us on the next tack. At this point I only wanted to cover HT and stay to their right. Hot ticket had a battle with a fishing boat and went aground. After a number of tacks in lighter and lighter air Merlin managed to catch up four boat lengths behind us. At DP5 the wind shut down and essentially we drifted in ahead of them. We could still win the race even without wind. Go figure. Result: 1st out of 4 J/120s Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%207.pdf COURSE 5 - 4.6 nautical miles Start to A (110o) leaving it to starboard -then to DP7 (275o) leaving it to starboard -then to DP5 leaving it to starboard -then to finish line.  | | Friday, September 28th, 2007 | | 9:44 am |
WYC Wednesday Night Race - Where's Waldo?
This was a weather start in about 8 knots of air with the left pin slightly favored. We came in on port and tacked to starboard when we got close to Merlin on the left side of the line. We could not this time got up in Merlin's lane when she got lifted. We could not get control of her because they managed to stay on our right hip. Up towards the top of the leg she managed to get in our lane and tacked on the layline before us and managed to get lifted to the mark. That put us at the top B mark in 2nd. At this point in went dark quickly with the rain coming on. We gybed back and forth a couple of times looking for mark D and just could not find it. This proved to not be problem for Hot Ticket and Night Moves where they rounded it on top of us and quickly rolled us on a broad reach. As we approached DP8 Jayhawker got inside of us and to injury to insult I steered the boat too slowly and stalled at the mark causing us to touch it. We did our penalty turn and then went up the right side of course because we felt there was more pressure there. We managed to round right after Night Moves and stuck to them until DP5. Since it was almost dead downwind we managed to start gassing NM and then got on the left side of the river where there was more pressure. This put us in the position of passing her to finish third. This race was not successful mostly since we could not find that mark D. In the group of boats ahead of us we just could not see it. Maybe if Colleen had been there.... Result 3rd out of 5 J120s Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%206.pdfCOURSE B - 7.5 nautical miles Start to B (065o) leaving it to port -then to D (261o) leaving it to port -then to DP8 (208o) leaving it to port -then to CC (063o) leaving it to port -then to D (309o) leaving it to port -then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard -then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.  | | Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 | | 8:45 pm |
Grosse Pointe Yacht Club Bluenose - How Carinthia Got Her Groove Back
 This was a triangle race running around the triangle clockwise. The wind was varying between 335 and 348 degrees with wind speeds around 12 knots. Because the first leg was going to be a close reach I felt it was important to start at the left pin upwind from all the other 4 J120s. At 1.5 minutes before the gun I ran up toward the pin on starboard and when I felt there was enough room to tack on port. We managed to be near full speed at the gun where the leeward boats were going a little slow because of maneuvering. Merlin was the next boat down and they could not get up us before the start because the where too far down the line(thanks Doug). With a clean start I could sense the others were drifting south of the rhumb line we went down with them in the puffs to give cover. Every time the wind went left we gave them some gas. Hot Ticket got caught in the group and got squirted out the back. They then went to the north of us but I was not concerned because there were other slower boats up there to block there air. Merlin went way low on the course but I felt it would only be extra distance and when she came up to our line at the mark we would still gas them. With Jayhawker on our line behind us we would go up to their lane the wind backed and still get faster down the leg by doing so. We got the first mark in first place. After gybing we put up the .6 oz spinnaker. We were going slow at first so I saw an open spot above us and got the boat moving again. At the end of the leg we needed to gybe before reaching mark W. We had it catch on the spreader so it was necessary to go behind the C&C35 to our left since we were on port. We did a Mexican takedown so we managed to accelerate and get above most of the boats ahead of us on another close reach. The last 2 miles of the leg the wind went to 50 degrees apparent so we put up the code 0. We used it around the last mark and the short dogleg in first. This race was determined at the start and if executed well there would be no pasing lanes for the boats behind us. It feels good now that Carinthia has her groove back. Result: 1 out of 5 J120s Link: http://drya.org/race2007/Results/gpycBN.htm | | Thursday, September 20th, 2007 | | 10:21 pm |
WYC Wednesday Night Race - Never Give Up
This was another race to mark D on broad reach in 10 knots of wind. I tried to get us to the committee boat side at the gun because it was favored. Unfortunately Merlin had maneuvered to the middle of the line and at about 20 seconds to the gun had forced Hot Ticket over to our side from leeward. I originally thought there was room to squeeze through but by the time the gun went off there was only a half a boat width to make it. At the last possible moment I told the crew we were going to spin to the left ( we already had the spinnaker up). We did a 360 turn, getting the spinnaker half way down. Back on course we put the chute back up and started on our way. Merlin just ahead had problems with her spinnaker and we gybe rounded just behind her. Fortunately we rounded from far out and managed to get an inside on Jayhawker, causing us to gas her and move up to 4th. At mark B it was a spinnaker drop rounding. This leg we caught up to Merlin and managed to pass her when she went left and we went right. Just before DP7 we crossed behind Night Moves and on the next tack we were in front. The only boat to catch was Hot Ticket. The only chance we had was to go farther south on the Detroit River and almost caught them when we had the wind pressure they did not. In any case we were stern to bow and they only beat us by 13 seconds. If we would of had a 1/4 more mile we would of passed them. It just goes to show even in last place never give up. Result: 2nd out of 5 J120s Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%205.pdf COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard -then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard -then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard -then to D (296o) leaving it to port -then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard -then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard. | | Sunday, September 16th, 2007 | | 12:21 pm |
BYC Long Distance Race - The Good, The Bad, and the Real Ugly
 This was a romp counterclockwise around Lake St. Clair. The wind was out of the northwest at about 15 knots. We managed to get to the line a little ahead of the other boats. But after the 3/4 spinnaker went up the trimmers got an overide and collapsed the spinnaker. This caused night Moves to roll us and we had to ride her stern. It was a very fast leg with boat speeds between 7 and 10 knots. We managed to only broach only once. After getting slowed down under a Na40, Hot Ticket got in just ahead of us at Thames River buoy. At this point I thought we had good chance to pass Night Moves. They put up their #3 and it was blowing only 14 knots and sure to go slower. Hot Ticket only had 4 people so they most likely would be unable to do well going to weather. Both predictions came true. On this leg the wind was shifting 25 degrees so it was necessary to continually tack. Somehow the only boat to catch up was Merlin. We must of come together with Merlin at 7 times and manged not to lose ground. The last time we tacked towards them and got hit with a header in the middle of the tack. We could not tack back because the wind speed was down to 5 knots by this time. So we rounded buoy g27 in the shipping channel behind Merlin but still ahead of Jayhawker. What happen next was simply amazing. Even though Jayhawker was only two lanes above us they got a lift and we got a header. If we would of tacked I thought we would cross behind them. They simply took the lift almost all the way point huron buoy where we just managed to sail into a hole. We rounded the buoy in 3rd and put up the .6 spinnaker since the .75 had a rip in it. Luiz and I repaired the rip and when completed we put up the .75. We almost caught up to Merlin and Jayhawker but they managed again to leave us behind. The rest of the race we got headed and went back to the ap1 to finish in the river. We finished at about 8:30 so it was relatively fast. We had about 30 tacks on 2nd leg so the crew never got bored. I felt we had good upwind boat speed and most of the time we were in the hunt to win so it was good bad and ugly. Result: 3rd out 6 J120s  | | Thursday, September 13th, 2007 | | 2:29 pm |
WYC Wednesday Night Race - A nice fall evening
This race started in 3 knots of air with the port tack favored going to dp8. I decided to start on the middle of the line since I thought it was important that we had good boat speed with the light air. The other J120s fought for the pin end and even though it was favored I knew there would be problems if we had do a lot of maneuvering before the start. After the gun we seemed to do well against the other J120s. Hot Ticket came down to our line behind us. Just as fast they got a lift we did not get and got even to us to windward. Down by the mark I tacked to starboard before HT did. Since were a little behind I thought that the current would push us down and may get a small lift. We did manage to round on the inside of HT and got our spinnaker up quickly. Farther down the leg Merlin who was in first went high on the reach leg to get around the other boats where I decided to go low because it seemed that the fleet in front of us was also going high. In any case Merlin rounded far in front of us and HT got in on the inside. The next leg was a close reach. We rounded the next mark and tried to get to weather as close as possible. HT got behind a J105 and was force to tack to starboard. I thought this was perfect for us since we could get downriver faster. On the next crossing we were in front of Ticket and the rest of race we just covered her to hold our lead. I thought this was well sailed race. The worst mistake I made was to no recognize that there was more wind pressure on the left side of the course on the first leg. This allowed Merlin to get in ahead of us. Result: 2nd out of 5 J120s Link: http://www.wyc.info/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%204.pdfCOURSE 3 - 6.3 nautical miles Start to DP8 (243o) leaving it to port -then to A (091o) leaving it to port -then to CC (291o) leaving it to port -then to DP7 (251o) leaving it to starboard -then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.  | | Saturday, September 8th, 2007 | | 8:36 pm |
Detroit Yacht Club Sweepstakes Regatta - Another St. Stupid Day
This was to be a 2 race windward leeward series. The first race was set in about 6 knots of air with the line straight. We started in the middle but Hot Ticket managed to get on the left of us and eventually we had to tack to port and duck Ihnsanity. We wanted to get on the right side of the course but we soon found out that the left side had more pressure near the shoreline. We rounded the first mark in fourth place but picked off two boats on the downwind side by going near shore. After rounding the leeward mark we tacked to starboard to get back to the shore. We got a lot of distance up to HT but after rounding we stayed near the shore on the downwind leg. It turned out there was more pressure this time out in the lake and Night Moves nearly caught us at the finish. Because of the lack of wind they canceled the second race. Just another typical day on Lake St. Stupid. Result: 2nd out of 4 J120s Link: http://drya.org/race2007/Results/dycsweep.htm | | Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 | | 11:06 pm |
WYC Wednesday Night Race - A nearly perfect race
 The first leg was a broad reach on port. This time I got the boat to the line on the left side to the windward side of the 3 other J120's. We managed to get the boat to mark d in 1st with Night Moves and Merlin with the 3/4 oz. chute in 12 knots of wind. We made the turn gybing the spinnaker. Unfortunately the chute was a little slow coming around and I let NM get on the inside to windward. This was the noisy leg as Kurt o NM would not shut up. I am glad he was on the other boat. We managed to get just ahead of NM at mark B and this time getting tight to the mark so they had no room to pass. This allowed us to gas them on this weather leg and gain some ground in front of them. We stayed on port until the lay line which allowed us to gas NM all the way in on starboard. The following leg to D was another reach so there was very little to gain or lose there. I just tried to stay between NM and mark D. The leg to DP7 was a weather leg. Hot Ticket and Merlin went to the left side of the course where we stayed on the right to cover NM. At DP7 we simply went on a close reach and managed to hold off Merlin and NM to finish 1st. COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard -then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard -then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard -then to D (296o) leaving it to port -then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard -then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard. Result: 1st out of 4 J120s Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%203.pdf | | Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 | | 10:15 pm |
WYC Wednesday Night Race - Party at the end of the world
 We knew that the thunderstorms were going to show but did not know when. The first leg was a broad reach on port. Again I got the boat to the line early. The crew was quick to point out that I was going to be early so I turned the boat back in time before the gun. We managed to get the boat to mark d in 3rd behind Merlin and Hot Ticket with the 3/4 oz. chute in 8 knots of wind. We made the turn gybing the spinnaker. Merlin and HT took each other up where we stayed on rumb. About a third the way down the leg the wind hit from behind at 30 knots. Immediately we rounded up so the first order was to get the spinnaker down. After a couple of attempts we managed to get it down. Then the wind picked up to the high 30's and I considered taking down the main and quitting. I had even started the engine. HT already had ripped their main in half. Merlin was just ahead. I decided that it would be better for the main if we continue going down wind rather than try to take it down. We rounded around mark b with just the main and the ap #1 rolled. Merlin took theirs down and put up their #3 on this reach leg. Since we had only 6 people without Brian and Sandy on board we decided to ride it through until the wind would die down to put up the #1. The wind went down to 18 knots on the leg to D so we unrolled the #1. We caught up considerably to Merlin and just before mark DP7 they did a bareheaded change of their headsail to the #1. This allowed us to catch up to their stern. At DP5 we put up our code 0 since the wind was at 80 degrees. Merlin put up their 3/4 spinnaker after us but not soon enough. We managed to roll them and finished 30 seconds ahead. This was an exciting evening with Night Moves, Hot Ticket, and Jay Hawker dropping out. Jay Hawker got their prop shaft wrapped around a line so it took a while for them to get back to BYC. As the storm hit and while they were flying their kite, the yacht "Risky Business" had a man overboard. Within 45 seconds, they got the boat around and sailed back and got the man back on. The yacht "Epic" clocked the wind at 48 knots true and we got to see a water spout travel up the fleet. COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard -then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard -then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard -then to D (296o) leaving it to port -then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard -then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard. Result: 1st out of 5 J120s (only 2 finished) Link: http://wyc.info/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%202.pdf | | Saturday, August 25th, 2007 | | 5:13 pm |
Crescent Sail Yacht Club Regatta - Another nail biter
 This was a port reaching start with the first leg at 29 degrees to mark D. The wind was coming out to maybe 100 degrees at 11 to 12 knots. It was needed that we start at the left side of the fleet. We only had 6 people for this race so we had problem getting the .6 oz. spinnaker up twisting the head. Hot Ticket got their nose ahead of us to leeward. Ihnsanity and Night Moves got above us so we stayed low since we knew there was more pressure farther out in the lake. We rounded right behind Hot Ticket. The next leg was a close reach at 20 knots. Ihnsanity almost caught us but had to round behind us. The next leg was a weather leg with the favored being port. We were not able to tack because Saturn, a Melges 32, was to leeward and waited a half mile to tack. We had to still wait because a good portion of the boats behind us were blocking us. Ihnsanity managed to pass us because they did not have to overstand the mark and more people on the rail. At the next mark we were unable to gain on the boats in front but did not lose any places even though we were extremely light on rail weight. At this point there were major shifts so we tacked and almost caught HT. We finished just behind HT in 3rd. Result: 3rd out of 4 J120s Link: http://www.drya.org/race2007/Results/csyc.htmCourse: Start, D, C, B, A, Finish | | Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 | | 3:06 pm |
Bayview Mackinac Race - Go East Young Man and Seek Your Fortune!
 This race started with the wind wind out of the north at about 15 knots. It was a difficult start when we had Flyin' Irish come down and foul us. This caused us to get in their windage so we bailed on port crossing to the right of the fleet just behind Merlin's stern. It was forecast that the wind would moderate that evening with the wind eventually filling in from the southwest. We also knew because the air temperature was close to the water temperature that there would be no offshore effect at night. Since a high pressure was going to travel over Saginaw Bay we decided to stay east and try to get around it to the north before it got too far east. After dusk the north wind started to die. Although we did not get a lot of wind we managed to keep moving the entire time. At about 2 am on Sunday we were about a 1/4 mile behind and left of J120 Hot Ticket. The wind went to about 55 degrees apparent and we put up the code zero. This allowed us to pass Ticket and slowly horizon them. Fortunately for us Ticket did not see the sail change before it was too late. As we got further north we got the stronger wind before Ticket. When daylight broke we had the NA40, Velero, to our right, Hot Ticket a mile behind, and Natalie J to our left. At this point, we thought we had a good night but until we got closer to the mark the realization came about we were also with some Santa Cruz 70's, a very good sign. In fact after rounding the mark a couple of more 70's passed us and that was because they had a 30 foot waterline advantage.
At this point it was a straight shot down to the straits. We made an effort to not get within 5 miles of the Michigan shore because we felt the wind would get soft there after sunset. At this point we discovered that the alternator had failed and we had limited time on the batteries. We cut all power consumption down to only the instruments and gps. The boat kept moving all the way to the point at Bois Blanc Island. It was necessary to make a couple tacks in 2 or 3 knots of air but crossed the finish line at 8:54 am, 20 minutes ahead of Power Tripp and 2 hours ahead of Hot Ticket. Fortunately for us the wind shut down behind us. Because our batteries were low we had to sail into the dock. This prompted a safety inspection from the race committee and they did check to see we had the mandatory fuel left. Obviously we passed it with flying colors. I think we did well because we came up with a strategy and stuck to it. We wanted to stay on the eastern third of Lake Huron so we would have all the options needed when the wind changed and the belief that the wind would be a little stronger on the eastern half of the lake. The crew performed nearly flawlessly and getting others up when we needed to make major sail changes. When we docked in the harbor there were only two 50 footers, 46 foot Natalie J and the SC 70s, 2 of which had motored in earlier in the race. This is one race that I am still overwhelmed by, 1st in class and 1st overall - what a race, what a year.
One postscript story - on Sunday afternoon a bird landed on the good ship Hot Ticket. He promptly took a dump on Bobby Kirkman's head and then attacked elder Bob Kirkman's glasses. They therefore named him little Frank. A little later Mike Kirkman was releaving himself when little Frank then went after his plumbing and almost got it with his claw. Little Frank, the son I never had.
Results in J/120 Class:
Link: http://www.byc.com/mack07/results.cfm?Class=J120&Class2=OD
Carinthia 43:14:28 1
Hot Ticket 45:16:13 2
Jayhawker 47:09:08 3
Ihnsanity 53:55:33 4
Capers 54:04:13 5
Flyin' Irish 54:27:42 6
Night Moves 55:30:30 7
Merlin 56:34:20 8
Irresistible too56:37:45 9
Jahazi 74:10:00 10
Results overall: (1st of 158 boats corrected time)
Link: http://www.byc.com/mack07/results-overall.cfm?Div=Division I - IRC
USA 25497 Carinthia Frank Kern Monday - 08:54:28 43:14:28 47:26:07 J120 1
USA 28990 Power Tripp James Kraft Monday - 09:17:18 43:27:18 47:40:12 IRC B 2
USA 15044 Velero VII JOHN S. BARBOUR Monday - 12:22:51 47:22:51 48:19:42 NA40 3
CAN 4151 Mystery Stephen Jay Monday - 16:23:54 51:33:54 48:59:12 CC 35 4
USA 25328 Hot Ticket Robert Kirkman Monday - 10:56:13 45:16:13 49:45:07 J120 5
USA 50596 Natalie J Philip D. O'Niel III, D.D.S. Monday - 07:36:07 41:36:07 50:02:49 IRC A 6
USA 43737 Gaucho Sanford Burris Monday - 09:29:47 43:29:47 51:01:16 IRC A 7
USA 18970 Nitemare Thomas W. Neill Monday - 05:25:11 39:15:11 51:20:34 GL 70 8
USA 70 Evolution Kohler/Reichelsdorfer Monday - 05:26:06 39:16:06 51:54:45 GL 70 9
The crew included: Mike Badendeick, Colleen Flanagan, Fred Rozelle, Steve Rozelle, Bob Declercq, Nancy Caldwell, Nathan Caspers, Rod Weston | | Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 | | 11:29 pm |
WYC Wednesday Night Race - Nuts
 This was a downwind start in about 8 knots of wind. The plan was to start at the left side of the line. We could of stayed on starboard. Then when I got the other 2 boats extended out on right side of the course, we could jibe on port to be first to the mark. Night Moves immediately got a hourglass in their spinnaker and we got ahead. What I should of done is immediately jibed but NM got on our wind and rolled us to the first mark. This got us around second and the next leg was to weather We stayed on the left where Hot Ticket went to the right and was first to round the next mark. The next leg was a near fetch and we still rounded in third. On the next downwind leg we went to the left and then right and jibed on a header. We rounded in 2nd and went down to DP7 just behind HT. We then got caught in small boat traffic when the wind died. We managed to drift past HT but NM managed to get on the right side of the river and passed both of us. COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard -then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard -then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard -then to D (296o) leaving it to port -then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard -then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard. Result: 2nd out of 3 J120s Link: http://www.wyc.info/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Spring%20Race%206.pdf |
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fkern's journal
Carinthia finally made it to Newport, Rhode Island! I felt that the difficulty of preparing for this race an accomplishment itself. It is a ISAF category 1 event we needed to increase some of the safety equipment to those standards. It is a requirement that a portion of the crew take the safety at sea class and just filling out the paperwork.The race is 650 miles and crosses the gulf stream. I was lucky enough to get veteran Chuck Beyer as navigator. With the meanders of the stream with weather forecasts so it was important to get the right guy. Also aboard was Bob Declercq who has done many successful offshore races with me, the world famous Jeff "New York Times" Henderson, world traveling racer Lynn Kotwicki, Jim Best, who is truly a great all round offshore racer, the skilled Joe Mayfield, and Erik Witte, who has done quite a bit of ocean racing.
