You are racing in one fleet, and your buddy is
going racing for the first time in another fleet.
He is a competant sailor, with limited racing
experience. Just before leaving the yacht club,
he asks you for advice.

Without being technical. What is the best advise
you can give him, in one sentence, that if he follows
it, will give him the best chance for a respectable
showing?

Try to stay near the front and mimic the leading captians tactics, you won't
pass them, but they shouldn't pull away from you either.
"Bart Senior" wrote in message
et...
You are racing in one fleet, and your buddy is
going racing for the first time in another fleet.
He is a competant sailor, with limited racing
experience. Just before leaving the yacht club,
he asks you for advice.

Without being technical. What is the best advise
you can give him, in one sentence, that if he follows
it, will give him the best chance for a respectable
showing?

On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 22:26:10 -0400, "Philip Carroll"
wrote this crap:

Try to stay near the front and mimic the leading captians tactics, you won't
pass them, but they shouldn't pull away from you either.
"Bart Senior" wrote in message
. net...
You are racing in one fleet, and your buddy is
going racing for the first time in another fleet.
He is a competant sailor, with limited racing
experience. Just before leaving the yacht club,
he asks you for advice.

Without being technical. What is the best advise
you can give him, in one sentence, that if he follows
it, will give him the best chance for a respectable
showing?

Don't run out of beer.





Pathetic Earthlings! No one can save you now!

Try to stay in clear air and stick with the fleet.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
"No shirt, no skirt, full service"

SAIL LOCO wrote:
Try to stay in clear air and stick with the fleet.

That's good, but I'd add "stay close to the starting line and push in
there hard 10 seconds to go, don't wait till the gun to step on the gas."

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

The one thing that I think is most decisive would be to tack with the
windshifts, preferable without getting out on a limb.

OzOne wrote:

Get a good start, stay out of trouble and stay with the fleet.

Sounds reasonable enough, but isn't getting a good start and staying
out of trouble somewhat contradictive ?

Peter S/Y Anicula

Where I race most, windshifts are more important than current for most
of the time, but
I suppose that if you sail in an area with significant current, this
should be your primary concern.

Peter S/Y Anicula


"Peter S/Y Anicula" skrev i en
meddelelse ...
The one thing that I think is most decisive would be to tack with
the
windshifts, preferable without getting out on a limb.

OzOne wrote:

Get a good start, stay out of trouble and stay with the fleet.

Sounds reasonable enough, but isn't getting a good start and staying
out of trouble somewhat contradictive ?

Peter S/Y Anicula

OzOne wrote:

Nope, Usually in a small fleet there's tons of gaps to jump into and
at 30 seconds to go there's still plenty of time to slot into one at
full steam.
Even at 10 to go, you can be off the sterns of the early birds and
going hard for a slot.

Bit more difficult when you get 50 or 60 boats on the line, but then
a
newby probably wouldn't be in there anyway.


In our Wednesday night races the startline is often not quite 90
degrees to the wind. The line is usually not very long, compared to
the number of starting boats. This sometimes results in quite chaotic
situations close to the favourable mark.
A newbie would most likely be better of at the unfavourable end of the
line, staying out of trouble and getting clear air.

Did I mention getting clear air?

No, but you should have.

Peter S/Y Anicula


OzOne skrev i en meddelelse
...
On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 12:48:23 +0200, "Peter S/Y Anicula"
scribbled thusly:

The one thing that I think is most decisive would be to tack with
the
windshifts, preferable without getting out on a limb.

OzOne wrote:

Get a good start, stay out of trouble and stay with the fleet.

Sounds reasonable enough, but isn't getting a good start and
staying
out of trouble somewhat contradictive ?

Peter S/Y Anicula

Nope, Usually in a small fleet there's tons of gaps to jump into and
at 30 seconds to go there's still plenty of time to slot into one at
full steam.
Even at 10 to go, you can be off the sterns of the early birds and
going hard for a slot.

Bit more difficult when you get 50 or 60 boats on the line, but then
a
newby probably wouldn't be in there anyway.

Did I mention getting clear air?


Oz1...of the 3 twins.

I welcome you to crackerbox palace,We've been expecting you.

Do you use fancy instruments, that gives you the true wind-direction,
on Etchells ?

Peter S/Y Anicula

OzOne wrote:
No instruments at all.
Compass and windex.

I really like that.

The boat I race on has these instruments. For a long time they did not
work properly, which created more confusion than results. Now they
finally work as intended, and, as the skipper says "It's almost like
cheating". The advantage is that you only have one variable to relate
to. Sounds simple but it really makes it a lot easier to get an
overview over the windpattern. Maybe a true champ would not need them
?

Peter S/Y Anicula