Hula W32 - Wins First in class and First overall

  • October 10, 2017 6:24 PM
    Message # 5307902
    Anonymous member (Administrator)


    Hello Bud,

         Darlene and I thought you would get a kick out of this...

         HULA just raced Saturday October 7th in the Edmonds Corinthian Yacht Club's Big Foulweather Bluff race.  64 sailboats competed in the 18 mile race just north of Seattle, and HULA, our Westsail 32 finished first in class and FIRST OVERALL!!!!   People were genuinely shocked at how quickly A Westsail 32 got around the course.   We love our Westsail!!!

         Sincerely,

    Bill and Darlene Stange

    HULA Westsail 32


    Last modified: October 10, 2017 6:27 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • October 11, 2017 12:23 PM
    Reply # 5309165 on 5307902
    Deleted user

    Congratulations!

    That is a nice looking hull fairing I see in the photo, just in front of the rudder.

    Just be careful you don't reduce our handycap #'s to much. we don't want to be ranked with the J-105's

    Here is hope for Fair winds and Great sailing for Hula

    Norm

    see Blow by Blow from another boat http://sailish.com/index.php/2017/10/10/big-little-duel-in-foulweather-bluff-race/


    Last modified: October 11, 2017 3:28 PM | Deleted user
  • October 11, 2017 1:10 PM
    Reply # 5309267 on 5307902

    Ahoy Bill and Darlene,

    Good job.  I see you guys beat 30 of the 64 boats, "Boat for boat".  Just to name a few for all to see here:  Catalina 34, 36, 38, and 47;  Beneteau 32, 40, and 46.  J 30 and a 105.  Erickson 38;  Baba 40 and a Perry 42; C&C 34; Hanse 40; Sabre 38; and a Swan 44, just to name a few.  And right in Bob Perry's back yard - literally.  Hahahaha.  Way to go.    Could you take just a minute and give us a brief description of the conditions and your choice of sails?  Thanks,  Dave.                                  Norm, thanks for the link. 

    Last modified: October 11, 2017 4:08 PM | Anonymous member
  • October 18, 2017 2:12 PM
    Reply # 5321195 on 5307902
    Anonymous

    Hi guys,

        Conditions for the race were as follows:  the first leg was a dead downwind leg of about a 7 mile distance.  We flew our .75 ounce full size spinnaker.  The wind was pretty light, about a 5 knot average.  The boat definitely goes downwind best in these conditions when the apparent wind is kept between 90 and 110 degrees.  By reaching up it may seem like the extra distance is excessive, but boatsapeed of around six knots can be maintained by sailing high, and it would drop to around two knots if we point right at the mark.  We rounded the first mark in the lead by about a boat length ahead of "Bingo", a Perry 24.  

         The next leg was a 5 mile close reach to Pilot Point.  The wind was increasing slightly, to around 10 knots.  Hula flew a large genoa.  We had moved the staysail roller aft to allow for tacking of the large headsail, even though we only had to tack one time the entire race.  We stretched our lead on the second leg.  I was pleased to see that we had almost half a mile lead on second place at this point.

         The third and final leg was about a 6 mile close hauled (for a Westsail) leg in wind up at 17 max apparent.  The genoa was not enjoying it, but I knew a sail change woul kill us, and I don't have much confidence that our smaller jib is a race winner.  We hardened up on Port tack after clearing Pilot Point.  Two reasons for this, one, the ebb tide would be less near the beach, and I knew we would be unable to lay the finish line on starboard after the tack, ok and three, we had a little bit of our lead I was willing to burn by getting closer to the lay line.    I was hoping for a slight right windshift  after we flipped over, because we were low of the finish line.   We were granted our slight right windshift, and we were able to just barely lay the finish line.  The last leg seemed close hauled to us, but to others, like the Transpacific 52's that were able to pass us on the last leg, it probably seemed a small bit reachy.  

         The Foulweather Bluff race is a unique race in Puget Sound in that it is one of the only races where one can ever hope for any reaching at all.  Most of the other races are straight upwind then straight downwind.  At any rate, I was pleased nearly beyond belief at how well our Westsail 32 performed!

         Ps: I will be racing this Sunday on a Baba 40 (a Bob Perry 40' double ender) named Airloom.  The owner is a very good friend of mine and I race on his boat a lot.  I will be sure to remind him, at an appropriate moment and on behalf of all you Westsail 32 owners, that HULA beat him in the Foulweather Bluff race on elapsed time by over 20 minutes!!!

         Bill Stange

  • October 19, 2017 11:01 AM
    Reply # 5322444 on 5307902

    Congratulations Bill and Darlene , well done . And thanks for the account of the race , Mark .

  • October 20, 2017 9:52 AM
    Reply # 5323805 on 5307902
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Bill:  
    Thanks for the details of the race -- interesting in the light winds how well the Westsail performed - and how important your local knowledge was...


    Jay