Sailathon Report

Short Version: a long, but very pleasant and fun day on the water with light wind and smooth seas. Two Wetas, about 20 other boats of various shapes and sizes, doing laps around a triangular course to earn money for a local charity that provides free assistance to elders: Caregivers.

Long Version:

Bruce Fleming and I participated in the 2022 Caregivers Sailathon last Sunday, fOgtober 16. The sailathon, is like a jogathon or walkathon, in which generous people pledge $X per lap to be donated on behalf of participants. Typically, October in SoCal is a beautiful month that is the beginning of a long season of clear skies, warm days, cool nights, and beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The Channel Islands emerge and stand majestically on the horizon. But, this year we have had an uncharacteristically persistent marine layer which has earned many monikers during its usual season, including May Gray, June Gloom, Catalina Eddy. Sometimes it sticks around into Gray Sky July and even, on rare occasion, FAugust. But, this is the first time in my long lifetime I have had to endure fOgtober.

Last Sunday was notable because the gray skies, calm seas, and light winds we had been experiencing all October were still around, as predicted for the Sailathon. The Sailathon triangular course is set near the Ventura Pier so spectators can watch up close and even have a beer at the MadeWest taproom that is on the pier while observing the boats do their laps.

The Sailathon start is at noon and boats complete as many laps as possible before 2:00 p.m. This year we had about 20 boats of all types participating including our two Wetas, a Hobie 18, a 45’ Schionning catamaran, a 42’ Conser catamaran, a Cal 48, a Farr 400, and various J boats, Catalinas, etc.

The pier is about 3 miles from Ventura Harbor, so Bruce and I launched and departed over an hour before the start to be sure we got there in time. As we were drifting inside the harbor, a Cal 48 motored by with his mainsail up. Did he take pity on us and pass to leeward so as to not blanket what little wind we had to propel us? Nah, he just motored close by to windward, stealing our zephyr and roiling the surface with his wake. What a bonehead. The other boats that passed us in the harbor were considerate enough to pass by to leeward. Eventually we made it out of the harbor. Cruising along the glassy, smooth seas, hard on the wind with the Gennaker out, sitting on the leeward tramp, hearing the breathing of and seeing the large porpoises check us out, actually made for a fairly relaxed trek to the start line. We got there with about 15 minutes to spare.

The start was hysterical. The port end was favored, and the wind was non-existent. The Sailathon is NOT a race, but try getting that point across to a fleet of 20 boats including several racers. I am guilty of always considering it a race whenever I am out sailing and see another sailboat. So, being the smallest boat in the fleet, naturally I reached down the line on starboard to start at the port end. Most of the fleet was port tacking the start. Fortunately, we were all only moving along at about 1 knot, so we were all able to avoid collisions. But, that same bonehead Cal 48 did invoke the “might makes right” rule and I was forced to tack over onto port to avoid scratching his topsides with my prod. Their reaction to my, “That’s not cool” comment was to stoically ignore me, like the annoying little mosquito that I was in comparison to them. The Weta is an insect, after all. As soon as they tacked back over to starboard, which stopped them dead in the water, I, too, tacked and glided past them, going twice as fast as them at a mind blowing 1.5 knots. Last laugh mine.

The Farr 400, the local dominant racer with a pro crew, opted to maximize their VMG by footing with a reacher up. I stuck with the more traditional, two sail, point high approach. I was easily laying the mark so I stayed up until I thought I could lay the mark with the Gennaker deployed. Then I unfurled the Gennaker, footed down to the mark and was the first boat around. The Farr 400 passed me just before the leeward mark and then lapped me an hour later. But, other than that, I was the fastest boat and recorded the second most laps.

There has been some discussion regarding using the Gennaker upwind in very light winds to maximize VMG. Obviously the Farr 400 thinks it works best. Bruce and I took advantage of the Sailathon to test that theory. We both carried our Gennakers upwind at times, but he tended to use his much more than I did. With that tactic, after being buried at the start, he did catch up and then pass me just before the windward mark on the second lap. Lucky for me, I was able to employ local knowledge by gybing inside early on the downwind leg and regain my lead. Bruce never did catch me after that, but that is at least partially due to him fussing with his GoPro at times. The third leg of the triangle was a very tight reach, almost a beat. I would carry my gennaker about 2/3 of the leg, then furl it and point up higher to get to the mark, tack around the mark and two sail beat until I could lay the windward mark by footing with the gennaker deployed, just as I had on the first leg. Bruce opted to carry his gennaker for the entire leg, but, come in well below the mark and continue until he thought he could lay the windward mark still using his gennaker. He certainly passed me on the second lap using that tactic, but as the wind increased a wee bit, I think he lost his advantage using that strategy. Conclusion: yes, in very light winds the Gennaker makes for faster VMG upwind, but only up until about 5 or 6 knots of wind.

The first lap took 35 minutes, but the wind did strengthen to about 8-10 knots so I was able to complete 5.33 laps, as did Bruce. Halfway through the Sailathon, sunshine and blue skies chased away the gray, the Channel Islands appeared on the horizon and the sailing became very pleasant. The sail back to the harbor, a nice, comfortable gennaker reach, was the funnest part of the day. I had been about to lap the Conser 42, which belongs to a friend of mine, at 2:00 p.m. so I got to sail back to the harbor near them. Bruce headed out to sea looking for breeze and came in a wee bit later.

After the Sailathon, Caregivers and Channel Islands Yacht Club hosted a chili and chowder cook off, raffled off prizes, and presented awards. Because of the generous donations of my friends, we earned the Cash Me If You Can award for donating the most money of any boat. I also won the Multihull With The Most Laps award and Ventura Sailing Club, whom Bruce and I represented, earned the Ugly Fish award for having the most entrants.

It was a long, but very rewarding and fun day. I am grateful to Bruce for driving up from San Bernardo, to join me. It made the day much more enjoyable having a good friend and fellow Weta sailor to participate with me.

If you do FaceBook, there are many pictures of the event on the "Caregivers: Assisting the Elderly" page.