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On Jun 26, 8:34 pm, "Maxprop" wrote:
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"Maxprop" wrote:
Three races: 6th, 9th, and DNF with 9 boats.

Pretty uneventful--just some really poor sailing on my part.

The 1D35 is a pretty technical boat. Plus it is far enough up the
power curve that the reflexes developed in sailing heavier, lower-
powered conventional boats are not really helpful.

My background in racing is strictly in dinghies. The boat feels sluggish
compared with, say, a Snipe or MC Scow.


That's hard to believe. It has far more horsepower per pound than the
MC, which is in turn a lot more powerful than the Snipe. OTOH because
it's a keelboat, it won't feel as jumpy and certainly will not be as
responsive when you move your feet as the small boats.

It's absolutely more powerful than *anything* I've ever sailed on before.
It was actually shocking the first time we planed in roughly a 20 kt. wind
in a practice session on a broad/beam reach. The dry boat only weighs 6550,
and it shows. We were all hooting and howling for an hour. Talk about
adrenaline. As to your other comments, the Snipe was more weight and
balance sensitive than the MC, which probably has something to do with the
hull planforms. The flat scow tends to be very stable when on its bottom or
on plane, and it really isn't that squirrelly when up on an edge. The
Snipe, OTOH, is sensitive in any condition. But one learns to adapt, and
neither boat gave us any problem, beyond the beginner stages. The 1D35 is
quite stable on all points of sail. It's cockpit is large, and while I've
been trying to keep movement by the crew to a minimum, they do move around a
bit with almost no consequences. On windward legs they sit on the weather
rail as railmeat, of course, but off wind they find their places and tend to
stay there, with the obvious exception of the bow man who moves back when
not in a sail change or spinnaker jibe. I've discovered I can move back and
forth between the weather and lee cockpit sides when steering, even in light
air, and the boat really doesn't get bent outta shape at all. It's very
responsive to even small helm input--the tiller, a large stainless loop, is
long and powerful and the high-aspect spade rudder is looong--but not nearly
as sensitive to input as say the Snipe. Even the MC, with its smaller
rudder, was not as sensitive as the Snipe.


One of the best texts to help make the transition is Bethwaite's "High
Performance Sailing" in which he covers the development of the skiff
classes and has a number of clear diagrams showing what works, for
example where to aim the boat seeking best VMG on different points of
sail in different wind strengths.

I believe it's the one I've had for some years. Great book.


It is, and he carefully lays out how to ell when you want more power,
when you want less, and how to prioritize shifts versus pressure
depending on the boat's characteristics.

IIRC, I based most of my dinghy racing on his book. My placings improved
about three or four boats after reading and digesting the book. You just
aren't going to beat the best sailors in your fleet, no matter what, but it
was nice to see their transoms regularly and close-up.


While it's true that a good sailor can step into any boat and do well,
boats with very different characteristics need to be handled
differently.... very differently sometimes. For example, catamaran
racing is almost a different sport.

Agreed. I find them a bit boring, but that's coming from someone who
enjoyed Finns and Lasers, so I'm prejudiced. The Thistle was the most
challenging boat for me--keeping the rail out of the water when tacking in
heavy weather wasn't my strong suit, and it ships about 100 gallons
instantly if the rail buries.

How hard was the wind blowing? If you were running DDW there shouldn't
have been that much pressure on the chute unless it was blowing pretty
good.

Both offwind legs were broad reaches in 15 kts. plus.

I can see blowing out a 3/4 in that. Bummer.

I take the blame. The kid on the bow was a fill-in--our regular wasn't able
to be there--and he did a great job. I'd love to keep him as he's about 30
lbs. lighter than my regular guy. But he grabbed the wrong turtle and we
hoisted the wrong sail. If I'd been smart I'd have doused it immediately
and gone to the 1.5 oz, but I chose to stick with it rather than trade. Bad
move, and my fault. Cost us a finish.


Can't resist Mondy morning q-b'ing.... did you think about running
deep to take some pressure off the 'chute while you get set up for a
change, then shifting to either reacher or heavier chute?

Nope. Never cross my mind, which was my mistake. That's precisely what one
of the other skippers asked me after the race. Not sure you saw it in
another post, but that same skipper sold me one of his spare 3/4 oz.
asymmetrical in order to keep us "competitive." These are great folks, all.

Max