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.
Showing posts with label light winds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label light winds. Show all posts
Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Tuesday, 1 September 2015
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.
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.
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
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.
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.
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.
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