Cinco De Mayo Regatta  May 4-5, 2024
report by AnnMarie Covington

The Cinco de Mayo Regatta is sponsored by Neuse Yacht Racing Association and held at Blackbeard Sailing Club.  The Wayfarer Fleet had five boats in attendance:  Richard Johnson and Michele Parish, Uwe Heine and Nancy Collins, Jim Heffernan and Lynn Marie Abram, Pete Thorn and Ann Brice and AnnMarie Covington and Sergio Rosa. The forecast called for medium wind around 8 with gusts to 12.  On Saturday, when the Wayfarer Fleet left shore around 10:15 to sail to the race course, the wind was very light. Racing was postponed at 11:25 due to lack of wind.  Around 12:30, my crew, Sergio, and I began to see ripples forming on the water down river.  Within a few minutes, the wind had filled in and Bill Jarvis had started the sequence for the first race. 


The wind continued to build.  It was a steady breeze with a few small gusts and not many shifts.  My crew and I hiked out so much that our bodies were horizontal and I still had to let out the main to keep the boat flat.  There was quite a bit of chop, so Sergio let out the jib a tiny bit to open the slot between the main and the jib.  This gave us more power and allowed me to bring in the main a little and still keep the boat flat. 

We sailed four very fast races on the Saturday. Richard and Michele sailed incredibly well. In the third race, he and Michele were ahead the entire race, up until the last inch.  On a downwind final leg leaving the signal boat to starboard, Richard was on starboard tack on my port side and we were on port . Our booms were pointing away from each other. The wind was blowing about 15 knots.  We were both dead downwind, sailing fast with spinnakers full.

We reached the signal boat and the three-length zone just before we converged, and Richard was required to give us room to finish.  Another complication was a 420 sailing upwind between us. The maneuvering was intense. We couldn't head up because we were on port tack (We were the give way boat, Richard had rights) and we had to avoid a gybe or our boom would hit Fetch. We also had to avoid our boom hitting the signal boat! Finally, we heard the horn blow for the first boat and the whistle for the second boat immediately afterwards.  We overheard the race committee person say "11134 first".  Whew!

In the fourth race of the day, Richard and Michele led the entire way.  Sergio and I couldn't catch them.


On Sunday, the wind was a bit stronger (above) than on Saturday.  The wind was blowing in a similar direction.  It was steady with very few shifts and the river was choppy. The wind was strong enough that three of the Wayfarers decided not to race. We set up the boat for heavy air with the mainsail sweated snug, all the chocks in, jib halyard at maximum tightness, outhaul tight, bridle set fairly low, vang on and Cunningham set so wrinkles on the main went to the middle of the window. 


Then Sergio and I decided to try something different.  He routed the jib sheet directly from the clew through the block on the thwart, bypassing the barberhauling effect of the lead on the jib sheet track (above). Thus we were sheeting from further off the center line and opening up the slot between the main and the jib massively.  I was able to bring the main much closer to the center line, without increasing the heeling force.  Sergio instructed me to pinch so much that the jib was actually luffing.  This configuration gave us power and pointing.  Two things gave us more power: Luffing the jib instead of the larger main, and the huge slot allowed the large amount of air to flow past the jib and onto the back of the main. The boat settled down and the helm was completely neutral.  An added bonus is that we were sailing much higher!  When a puff would come, we would "ease, hike, trim" and feather up as usual. We sailed three more races with lots of planing and surfing the swells.   I had never gone that fast before!  It was an amazing day.

BSC Treasurer, Stephanie Davies (l), congratulates 3rd-place Wayfarers, Uwe Heine and Nancy Collins.


Runners-up were Richard Johnson and wife, Michele Parish.


Defending champion, AnnMarie (with Sergio Rosa) did it again in 2024 after her 2019 victory.