Won my first race on my E32-3!!

[Geoff W.]

I am stoked as hell to be writing this right now. Delightful came in 1st place at Goosebumps earlier today, Seattle's winter racing counterpart to summer's Lake Union race Duck Dodge. We raced 2nd start (slow boats) against maybe 20 other boats.

Winds were 6-8kts gusting to 11-13kts on the lake, perfect for my (only) headsail, a 135% heavy cruising genoa. No spinnaker, so all my downwind legs were wing-on-wing, but we were flying at 6.5kts or so dead downwind! It was nuts, I've never gone that fast wing-on-wing before. We had an amazing start and shot ahead into a lead that we never gave up -- we were most closely followed by a 40-footer that started gaining on the first downwind leg but goofed up their wing-on-wing and never quite made it up. First around every mark on both laps. The boat handled excellently, we only got overpowered a couple times (while racing.....I may have rounded up for the first time ever short-tacking back towards the dock), the crew was enthusiastic and did a great job.

We actually got to the committee boat on the finish and they thought we finished too quickly to be in second start!

Not bad for just starting sailing in April

 

[bgary]

Awesome!!! great job...

 

[Frank Langer]

Congratulations! Great to see you enjoying your boat so much!
Frank

 

[Teranodon]

Well done!

Was it scratch racing or handicap?

Too bad your results sheet only shows the names of the boats you beat. It would be fun to know what makes/models you left in your wake.

 

[Geoff W.]

Scratch race, I think? It's a beer can regatta, no handicaps.

 

[Geoff W.]

Did a little tooling around to put together what I could for makes/models...it's a wide variety out there.




1st Start
1 - Tipsy Gypsy - Soverel 33
2 - Surt -
3 - Selchie - Thunderbird
4 - Scat - STU 26
5 - Tantivy - J109

2nd Start
1 - Delightful - Ericson 32-3
2 - Sella Blue - Nordic 40
3 - Itchi Butt - 505 dinghy
4 - Tailwind - Capri 25
5 - Necessary Evil - Catalina 30
6 - Cake or DEATH - ????
7 - Supernaut - ????
8 - Seoladh - Ranger 33
9 - Blue Jeans -
10 - Mirabel -
11 - Ignitor - Martin 29
12 - Inconceivable -
13 - Where's the Beef - Ranger 26
14 - Anakena - Ranger 22
15 - Grasshopper -
16 - Kanza -
17 - Twisted Journey -
18 - Maestrale -
19 - True Blue -
21 - Lionheart -
22 - Monoloco -

 

[oldfauser]

Congratulations!

Great job The 32-3's are fast in the right conditions...

 

[Tom Metzger]

Congratulations!

I noticed that you didn't mention that you had a tail wind behind you all the way. :0

 

[tenders]

Casual racing should come with a label from the Fleet Surgeon General: Warning! This could be the beginning of a very long, very expensive, very pleasant addiction.

 

[Geoff W.]

I noticed that you didn't mention that you had a tail wind behind you all the way. :0

My other hobby is bicycling -- there's no such thing as a tailwind.

Casual racing should come with a label from the Fleet Surgeon General: Warning! This could be the beginning of a very long, very expensive, very pleasant addiction.

Fortunately I have friends with bigger, better-equipped boats for the "real" races, but I think Delightful is suited just fine for these beer can regattas! Now to figure out a spinnaker...

 

[kapnkd]

I am stoked as hell to be writing this right now. Delightful came in 1st place at Goosebumps earlier today, Seattle's winter racing counterpart to summer's Lake Union race Duck Dodge. We raced 2nd start (slow boats) against maybe 20 other boats.

Winds were 6-8kts gusting to 11-13kts on the lake, perfect for my (only) headsail, a 135% heavy cruising genoa. No spinnaker, so all my downwind legs were wing-on-wing, but we were flying at 6.5kts or so dead downwind! It was nuts, I've never gone that fast wing-on-wing before. We had an amazing start and shot ahead into a lead that we never gave up -- we were most closely followed by a 40-footer that started gaining on the first downwind leg but goofed up their wing-on-wing and never quite made it up. First around every mark on both laps. The boat handled excellently, we only got overpowered a couple times (while racing.....I may have rounded up for the first time ever short-tacking back towards the dock), the crew was enthusiastic and did a great job.

We actually got to the committee boat on the finish and they thought we finished too quickly to be in second start!

Not bad for just starting sailing in April

View attachment 25960

Congrats and WELL DONE!!

Owned my 32-II since '73 and mostly cruised in the early years with only occasional racing. Later moved to Michigan and as my son grew, he became interested in the racing side of it all. So, as a father and son team along with his early teen friends for crew we went out for the Wednesday nite "beer can races" as they were called. We were going up against all adult, experienced and very competitive boats. Thank goodness for PHRF ratings and classes!

At first the others would laugh and say, "Here comes that Ericson" but as we got into it, added equipment and sails - it became, "Uh OHH! Here comes that Ericson!" followed by, "Here comes that dam Ericson again!"

Seems our rating along with the proper equipment and a son who really got into the spirit of it at the helm proved to be a winning combination as you can see by the photo of just some of the flags we've won. Not sure how the 32-3 rates, but if anything like the MkII - you should do well!

We even set a record on the then annual Trans-Erie Race for our class back in '99 that stood for 10 years and took a first overall that year! We've even taken "Boat of the Year" at our yacht club several times with her (and my son's abilities at the helm)!

You've started out well and sound like you've been bitten by the bug! ...ENJOY and good luck!! For me, it was the greatest thing to spend time with my son and his friends on the water together! ...They are all grown now but still talk about those fun evenings and times on the water!

Fair Winds!!

 

[tenders]

I loved when you guys were doing that (grew up on Lake Erie myself) - Kerry used to post here with progress on your huge refit and subsequent racing success - and I'm still happily sailing your old North dacron main.

 

[kapnkd]

I loved when you guys were doing that (grew up on Lake Erie myself) - Kerry used to post here with progress on your huge refit and subsequent racing success - and I'm still happily sailing your old North dacron main.

Glad to hear that our old Main is still serving you well! ...You sure it isn't a Hood sail??? - Had one of those too way back when. (It got hard for me to keep up with young Cary as he kept changing sails to get more performance out of CaryOn.)

I'll still be posting more refit and upgrade updates before long again. All the serious cabinetry work is finally done, the cabin sole has been put back together and painted or re-plasteaked as well. I'm adding LED floor lighting but am not going to post anything till I have it all in. It will include floor lighting, above the V-berth storage box lighting and starboard main salon side storage lighting. All is controlled by a DMX controller [that does every color of the rainbow besides red] and individual decoders. (Hopefully it will all work and look as great as it does in my mind,)

Here's a teaser for now....The lower shelf handrail and seatback board [not shown] nicely conceal this area with a lock box for additional security>

 

[Geoff W.]

I loved when you guys were doing that (grew up on Lake Erie myself) - Kerry used to post here with progress on your huge refit and subsequent racing success - and I'm still happily sailing your old North dacron main.

Anyone have these threads handy? My boat is basically stock, so an open canvas for improvements. I don't plan to SERIOUSLY race her, but knowing what sort of upgrades were good "bang for the buck" on race performance would be awesome. Read: mast track, spinnaker, new sails

 

[bgary]

I don't plan to SERIOUSLY race her, but knowing what sort of upgrades were good "bang for the buck" on race performance would be awesome.

Yeah, that statement is pretty much the first step down the slippery slope (laughing)

Bruce

 

[Christian Williams]

The bang for the buck is:

--Clean bottom
--New sails
--Avoid spinnaker class racing.

A sailmaker will listen to your intentions and make recommendations (a factor to consider is longevity of product).

Re spinnaker, uh, it's gear and gear is expensive, and our hull speed is restricted.

And as others commented, the slippery slope is handicap racing. Upgrades such as props and spinnakers change the rating. Others outspend you, which is not nice. Guest skippers who just won the Farr 40 Worlds warp your sense of fairness. Chaps buy faster boats, just because they can.

Fun, though. Human nature's the issue. Our own.

 

[bgary]

Upgrades such as props and spinnakers change the rating.

This can be significant. Base PHRF rating for an E32-III in Puget Sound (PHRF-NW) is 162.

Makana's PHRF is 180 (nearly 20 seconds per mile different)... IIRC, that was
-- 6 sec/mile for undersized headsail (120% vs the standard 150%)
-- 6 sec/mile for undersized spinnaker (165% vs standard 180%)
-- 6 sec/mile for fixed 2-blade prop, not in an aperture

There are (at least here in PHRF-NW) additional rating adjustments for "cruising class" (roller-furling headsail, bow-mounted anchor, etc), and signification rating adjustments for declaring "NFS" (no flying sails) when entering a race. It seems quite possible to be very competitive against local-level racing...

Not that I've paid any attention to any of that. Nope, not me. Nope!

Bruce (180 for an E32-III seems like a giant-killer rating. If someone was paying attention to such things...)

 

[frick]

Go faster

Feathering or folding prop.
A rigid Boom Vang is a great upgrade.
Get rid of weight... Like water and extra fuel.
Rick

 

[Geoff W.]

Not that I've paid any attention to any of that. Nope, not me. Nope!

My "boat dad" (the guy who got me going) has a Ranger 33 I am interested in competing against...their rating is 172 this year. I could see myself ending up similar to that, but I am declaring NFS and have a 135% genoa. Didn't know about the prop bonus....I might end up rated more favorably than them 180 seems like it would be nuts for the fleet around here.

Application is in to the handicapper, very curious how it turns out.

Side note - we were discussing the race on Sunday and he said something about me being a "heavy boat".... hey, I'm 700lbs lighter than the Ranger!

 

[kapnkd]

Anyone have these threads handy? My boat is basically stock, so an open canvas for improvements. I don't plan to SERIOUSLY race her, but knowing what sort of upgrades were good "bang for the buck" on race performance would be awesome. Read: mast track, spinnaker, new sails

Not to sure how to get to ‘em but I and my son Cary especially are more than willing to tell you what worked for us. Perhaps via the private connection on this site???

Mostly, it was creating a clean smooth bottom (cleaning off years of salt water barnacle residue) along with upgraded sail inventory. We started (cost wise) with slightly used racing sails of Mylar that really made her come alive! We added a hard vang system from Garhauer that was incredible! (To me, the old timer, it simply LOOKED REALLY COOL until I realized what it actually did DO!) ...Later came better winches, a preventer and more as we went from cruising class to spinnaker class.

Looking back, lots of money spent - BUT - the fun times with my son and his friends as they grew and for sure now treasure as long lasting memories make it a great investment in also character development and creating tomorrow’s confident leaders.

Absolutely NO regrets other than the time went so fast!