From Martin Herbert aboard the Kay D, Sept. 15, 2024:
Forecast north wind with good strength from 10-1 bode well for a Round Prevost Race attempt. The tides might show some slack before building to a good push home on a clockwise attempt.
The wind started building earlier in the morning and, fearful of a dying wind in the afternoon, I arrived at the club by 10:00 and rigged the Kay D. I had to wait for a lull so that I could paddle out of my slip and not be blown onto the mud flats of low tide. It was a struggle, but I finally made it out and hoisted sails. I hovered above the line waiting for a good gust, jib reefed and spinnaker pole set, and when it appeared I hoisted spin and hit the line at 10:18:07. The wind was oscillating from dead downwind to beam reach and keeping me on my toes. I had planned to sail the spinnaker until the Sisters then douse it, leaving the pole up and beating to Peile Point, but when I got to Second Sister the wind allowed me to beam reach the spinnaker almost all the way to Scott Point, douse it and close reach to Prevost with speeds hitting 7 knots.
Once past Peile Point the Kay D bore off and re-hoisted the spinnaker, unfortunately with a big hour glass low on the sail. Down it came, then hoisted again with some wicked wiggling of sheets and verbal admonitions. Once full, there commenced a series of surfs in the 7.5 knot range that lasted the length of Prevost and saw the Kay D passing Portlock Pt light, the half way mark, one hour and one minute into the race.
Still under spinnaker, the Kay D headed up for Bright Islet trying to figure out the best path. The wind around the point was showing strong close in and, as the tide was supposedly from ahead, we sailed close to shore. Just before Bright Island the wind headed and the spinnaker was taken down. I moved out for better wind and crossed a tide line and the speed plummeted from 5 knots to 3.8 so I headed up and recrossed the line. We were in a knot and a half of back eddy inshore and a gust off the shore cemented the resolve to stay close to land. Divers and Ellen Bays both delivered gusts that got us over 6 knots and we rounded Point Liddell doing 7.5 knots and giving Acland Island a wide berth. So far in the race there had only been one gybe and no tacking. This is the easy part—the upwind challenge was ahead.
