Log - Race Night Hobie 16 - June 18, 2015

So following up last week's not-a-race-night, I decided to take H16 number 84 out again.  I was fortunate enough to sail with Ken E who has a lot more experience in these things than I, and a lot more experience in general tactical situations.

Light winds (<5 knots) with the occasional gust of up to 8-10 and no waves.  Racing was Tony and Rob (H16 01), Ken S (Laser) and Steve/Carla (Tasar) with Mario running RC in a longer-than-normal course.

Set up
Last week, I had the jib tack attached to the bottom hole of the stay adjuster.  The idea was to have the jib as far away from the mast as possible to reduce the chance of the batons getting caught on the wire halyard.  Now that I found the clip I figured I could get the jib closer to the mast, and this might help some of my jib trimming issues.  The jib got caught on the mast a couple of times during tacks, but letting the jib out when bringing it across mitigated that, and it would probably not be an issue in higher winds -- it's just a matter of paying attention.  Airflow did seem better across jib.

Set up notes for next time -- second bottom hole seems right for light winds.  Will have to look up whether to go "up" or "down" for heavier air.

As per last week's notes, we were better at moving the jib blocks along the tracks, which definitely made a difference.

Race 1:

I was skippering with Ken E on crew.  Good start, just behind and to port of the monohulls.  The start was in a gust, so even though Ken S could point better than us, we were able to cross him before we had to keep clear.  S&C just took off, and the Tasar was going as fast as we were (and pointing better!)  The cat's lack of pointing ability combined with a couple of unlucky headers and generally slowing wind speed meant we rounded in third, behind the monohulls but ahead of Tony.

We elected to point higher than normal on the reaching leg, trying to keep speed up.  This also allowed us to defend against Tony and Rob.  As we approached the leeward mark, we elected to head up and continue on port rather than tack.  We accidentally discovered a patch of really good air to the right of the course.  Contrary to what the landscape would suggest, this patch of air was both fast and was a bit of a lift.  We were able to pull farther ahead of Tony/Rob, and eventually came in 3rd.

Race 2:
Ken E skippered this one.  Steve and Carla took off for a sail, so this one was a three boat race.  Start was decent, although Ken S won it.  Pointing issues again took their tole in the low winds, and no one could touch Ken S. The reaching leg worked out a bit different this time.  In even lower winds, we again pointed high to keep boat speed up.  Tony pointed right at the mark, and the boats were exactly in line when we passed the gybe mark.  I guess in these conditions, we were going about the same speed regardless of point of sail, so the shorter distance paid off for Tony.

The second reach was a good tactical move by Ken E.  We were initially in Tony's wind shadow.  As Tony pulled ahead, Ken headed up, and covered Tony.  He then headed down and defended.  We rounded leeward ahead of Tony, and again went to our "good air here" spot.  A shortened course meant we finished at the windward mark, well ahead of Tony.
 
Lessons learned:
- The cat has a big sail, and can cover like anyone's business -- use it, especially in light air.
- In extremely light airs, if boat speed does not change with point then just point it at the mark