Log - Oct 17, 2015 - Frostbiting

I've never really gone frostbiting before, but that all changed last Saturday.

Forecast/Observations: At about 3°C and wind blowing stank from NE, it looked like I might not be out on the water for too long.

Focus: Last sail of the season (closing day in a week) so I'm just going to have fun.

Having researched cold-weather sailing, I came prepared with the following:
- normal boots (I didn't have any neoprene socks, but could have used them
- 7mm wetsuit (lower and upper)
- my trusty red base-layer under the wet suit
- knit hat
- gloves
- windbreaker over PFD

which turned out to be enough for the hour or so we were out.  Full gloves rather than those with fingers cut off are recommended for next time

Went out with Mike T and Ken S in Lasers.  As I was wearing my 7mm wetsuit, I couldn't move particularly well (especially with the upper on).  But at least I was warm (yay touque!).  As a first for me, the boat blew off the dolly while I was launching (I had the centreboard in the cockpit, which was snagging the mainsheet, which meant the main was sheeted in).

Lesson learned - make sure main is free when launching, especially in high wind

Was going on a close reach (no close-hauled) to Quebec shore, and blasting along.   I actually had trouble sheeting in all the way (which meant I had trouble putting the vang on).  I should probably have headed up and applied the kicker, but just dealt with the weather helm instead.

The wind seemed constant across the river, but the waves were definitely bigger and more chaotic on the Ontario side.  Thus, I'd typically go up to Quebec, tack, head on a broad reach to Ontario.  I was practicing getting "into" the groove of the waves, but capsized several times on gusts (I didn't have an angle-limiting knot in my mainsheet, so a few times the main went past 90).

Three or four swims later and I called it on account of cold.  Back at the club, the hail started to fall while I was de-rigging - wish I had a camera.  I had a nice 12 year old scotch waiting for us, which helped to warm the toes.

Log - Sept 19, 2015 - Gar, talk like a pirate on me Byte!

Avast, ye readers who be lookin' for some new-fangled speak.  This here log entry be made by Capt'n Chicken Gybe.

Forecast: She be blowin' stank (20+knts, gusts up to 30)
Observed: She be blowin' stank (whitecaps, 3' waves, relatively steady, sustained gusts of very heavy wind)

When me be arriving at the port-o-call, me hearty had already rigged up a Byte CII.  She not be a vessel that you'd normally catch Capt'n Gybe on, especially after the wounded knee incident, but me couldn't scupper a perfectly rigged boat.  The one cursed' thing I was warned about was that the hiking strap had just been replaced, and I should check the know to see if it was seamanlike.  But Capt'n Gybe wastes not time on knots!

I set me course for Aylmer Island, nearby which (where the old salts tell) the Ghost Ship can be found (i.e. I was told Mike R and Annie had taking a H16 out towards there).  Me legs be burning like the pits of Hades as I hiked on the close reach, but alas!  The cursed knot came undone, and me went down to Davy Jones.

A jury-rigged knot later and I was sailing again, although not trusting the hiking strap...

A kiteboarder in trouble was spotted, just as I cam within hail of the cat.  We stood by for rescue while the boarder tended his lines.  Eventually, he untangled, and made it to shore.  A broad reach back to the club concluded adventures for this day.  Muscles sore next couple of days, and rum prescribed to medicate.

Lessons learned: The cunningham was the control I used most to de-power, although the vang was useful too.  Didn't let out controls bearing  off, leading to an awkward gybe.  Pay more attention next time.  PUT CLEW ON BOOM BEFORE HOISTING SAIL!

Log - Sept 5-6, 2015 - KSC Open In an Albacore

Labour Day Weekend is the traditional time for the KSC Open Regatta.  Albacores and Lasers from across the globe (well, us and NSC) convene to battle for suppremecy.

Saturday Light to very light winds.

Race 1: We arrived at the club late, and had some issues rigging the boat.  Primary that the boom was too long for the sail, and the outhaul couldn't be attached properly.  We did a poor jib jury-rigging it but it definitely affected our sail shape.  There was a bit of wind, but not tonnes.

We started in the middle of the pack, and took the starboard tack.  One by one the other boats started tacking, and we aimed to keep in the pack.  Due to crew limitations, the tacks were not executed efficiently, and between that and a slow boat we soon gave way.  Finished last of the Albacores, but we beat the Lasers.

Unfortunately, my crew wasn't feeling very well.  I took her up to the cottage, and didn't race in races 2-4 (which apparently had more wind...)

Sunday: Light to very light winds

Single handed today.  I made some repairs ashore -- added a line to extend the outhaul, rigged the main properly, used tap to fix a few holes in the mainsail, etc.  Also, carrying a whisker pole today.

Race 5 - A bad tack just as the race was starting meant that I was near the back of the pack, fighting with Ken for 2nd-last place.  Ken had more boat speed than I did on the upwind, but started later and I rounded the windward mark first.

I made a mistake here -- I mistook a lull for a wind shift, and set the whisker pole for wing-on-wing.  After a few minutes I realized my mistake, and moved the jib back to a reaching position.  Ken made up several boat lengths, and had mark room at the gybe mark

On the second reach we played leapfrog.  The wind was almost directly behind us, and it came down to whom could read the shift first to get the sails on the correct side of the boat.  Ken happened to be in front when we rounded and the race was called FOC.

Race 6 - a storm blew through between race 5 and 6, and the course shifted 90+ degrees.  This was FUN.  I actually had to hike...  Then the wind died before the next race :(

Again, a bad start.  The "upwind" leg was actually a close-hauled leg on port, and the "reaching" leg was oscillating between a starboard reach and dead-upwind.  The wind died, but I went to the port side "top" of the course as I saw air there.  I made up some distance from my bad start, but didn't catch Ken and Corinne.

Lessons learned: Rig the boat up WELL beforehand, to make time for repairs.  Stay very close to the line in very light airs.

Log - Aug 31, 2015 - Race night sucks

After last week's success, I was enthused for the final race night of the summer series.  But it was not to be...

Forecast: Wind from NE 10 knots around 5:00pm, dropping to about 5 knots by 8:00
Observed: Wind from N around 7 knots, dropping to 5 by the time the race started at 6:30 and 3 by 7:00

First of all, I wasn't feeling too confident in my boat.  The traveller was a bit stretchy, the daggerboard was as smooth as 40 grit sandpaper painted over with a clogged brush, and the cunningham was incorrectly adjusted and didn't actually pull on the luff at all.  But that's okay, right?  I'll just win the race through tactics!  Don't take 259.

There was some air at the start, and everyone was having a good time messing around in the boats.  Mike T and Steve H were having fun covering each other and forcing each other around the middle of the line.  I thought I could take advantage of their distraction, and went to the boat end.

The start whistle goes, and I'm definitely the first to start... wait... what's that?  A second whistle? And why is RC holding up the individual recall flag?  SHIT!

I bear off to go back down beneath the line.  Oh no!  Ken S is there, with right of way.  SHIT! I turn back up, tack, bear off around the committee boat, and finally start.  Everyone else is ahead by 10 boat lengths.

On the first upwind leg, most people seemed to be going right.  I took a chance, and went left.  Given the wind, right might have been slightly faster, but I'd never "catch up" with them by following, and figured if I go left, catch a lucky break and get a localized puff then I'm back in the race.  Remember my post on not taking risks?  Well, I didn't follow my own advice.  I'm now 20+ boat lengths behind rounding the first mark.

It didn't get any better.  I kept taking risks, justifying to myself that "I had to do something to get back into the race" and they never paid off.  Race night sucks.

Steve won, followed by Ken E.  I'm not sure where Carla, Ken S and Mike T finished.  Tony and Rob were behind me in the H16, but I still feel like it was my worst performance of the year.

Optimists, out and about!

My daughter just turned 6, and my beautiful wife and I got her some sailing lessons for her birthday.

Some background on this...

First understand that the wee one first met our club's head instructor (Emily) when she was 4 years old.  That spring and summer I took her out in an Albacore for the first time, and even went on a couple of race nights with her.  My daughter instantly fell in love with Emily, who would play games and entertain her while I rigged up the boat.  Seeing Emily was probably more exciting for her than sailing!

When she turned 5 that summer, I let her take out an Optimist.  We first sailed together (two people crammed into the bathtub) and then was going to let her sail by herself with me in a second Opti.  That was pretty funny, and she sure goes faster than I do...

This year, Emily is back and now has an assistant, Heidi.  Now my daughter has two best friends at the club. She turned 6, and I figured it's time to get her some proper lessons.  I contacted Emily and we scheduled some.  My daughter learned safety, how to tack, how to gybe, picked up some really good habits, and had a blast.

This week's race night, I get an e-mail from Emily asking if the wee one was coming.  Emily and Heidi together took my daughter out in an Optimist to the race course, and they were running their own races.  My wee one, of course, came in first every race (I'm so proud!).

After racing, we did a couple capsize drills in the Opti.  All in all, a great day!

Log - Aug 24, 2015 - Race night and sailing with boom past 90

It's been a while since I took out a Laser, mostly because I've been catarmaraning (is that a word?) the past month or so.  Then the commodore of the club sent me a picture he had taken earlier this year of me in the old trusty single-hander... and all I could see were mistakes I was making

So, I decided to work on those.

Forecast: Light to Moderate winds, anywhere between 6 and 12 knots from SW

Observed: Very Light to Light winds, from WSW

Focus: I wanted to focus on getting the controls set correctly.  This would help me keep the boat flat, and reduce weather helm.  Everything else flows from there.

Pre-Race:
It was single-hander night at KSC, apparently.  Carla was in a Byte CII, Mike R and Ken E (and myself) in Lasers. Before the race, I was trying to get a hang on roll-tacks in the very light winds. I actually dry-dunked in about 4 knots trying to see how far I could heel the thing, but fortunately nobody saw it (or were too polite to say anything...)

Tony and Annie were in a H16, but the winds were light enough that they were not a factor.  Mike T was running RC with a nice short course (about 20 minutes per race with 6 legs- I pity the cat).  Also on the course, Hannah, Emily and Heidi in Optis!  Another post on that later... 

Before the race I had resolved to crank on the vang much more, and keep just enough curve in the outhaul to shape the sail.  I figured too tight (especially for the vang) was better than too loose, even though I do prefer a bit looser controls in very light air to keep the power up.  I also knew that tight controls would let me get the most out of any roll tacks I could pull off cleanly.

First Race:
I had a good start, with Mike and Carla to my port side (and behind!), and Ken to starboard.   I didn't have a good view of the mark prior to starting, so I didn't realize how much boat end was favoured.  Ken an I approached the mark on opposite tacks, and I had to bear off to duck him, as he had right of way.  I tacked right behind him, and Carla tacked within a couple inches of me.  I was able to put some distance between Carla and myself before rounding in second a few boat length behind Ken.

Ken was ridiculously good at defending and keeping his boat flat.  There was no passing him on either of the reaching legs, and he caught a couple of good gusts.  He was still a good two boat lengths ahead at the leeward mark.  Upwind, I was able to use roll tacks to play the shifts a bit better, and made up some distance.  We were both coming onto the windward mark on port, and I had to make a move.  I thought a header might be coming so I tacked early just as the shift hit and I was on the layline.  Ken waited a few more seconds before tacking, and was too far "up" the coarse.  This let me get inside him at the mark, and I was able to round first.  Downwind was nothing to write home about in the very light air (Ken was lighter, but I was able to heel more, reduce my wetted area and get more of the sail in the air, so we were about the same speed).  I blew the gybe and rounding the leeward mark, but had enough of a lead that Ken wasn't able to capitalize on it.  Me 1st, Ken 2nd, Carla 3rd, Mike 4th, Tony and Annie 5th.

Second Race: Everyone seemed to have a bad start.  It seemed everyone was tacking back and forth looking for air, and that was okay with me (I was starting to get the hang of the roll tacks).  Again, it came down to Ken and I in the lead.  This time I was able to get inside him at the 1st windward mark, and rounded 1st.  From there, it was a matter of defending.  I put about about a half of a boat between Ken and I for each of the reaching legs and again upwind.  Downwind, I got lucky, and caught a gust that no one else did.  The wind was really dying at this point, and I had a trick up my sleeve.

This is something else I've read about but have not been able to do successfully.  It's used when there is not enough wind to hold the boom out.  I let (or push) the sail out past 90 degrees (not as much as the diagram, but that's just an exaggeration), and heel the boat.  Because the boom is up in the air, it wants to fall down, but because the boom is in front of the mast the mainsheet holds it in place. This keeps the boom on the correct side of the boat, keeps the sail area high up in the air, and moves the centre-of-effort on the sail closer to the centreline of the boat (meaning less rudder has to be used.)  You can steer pretty effectively just be heeling more or less (more heel = bear off, less = head up).

The bad thing about this technique is that any lateral forces on the sail either hit the front of the sail, slowing you down, or add to the heeling force, possibly putting you in the water.  If the wind picks up, or the direction becomes shifty, you're better to sheet in lest you get into a death-roll situation.

The technique seemed to work, at least last night.  I was able to put several boat lengths between Ken (who was sailing his boat flat) and I, and rounded the leeward mark with tons of time to spare.  Another bullet!  Actually, placement for everyone was the same.

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