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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.


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.


... In the last
race the foredeck kid (a substitute for the regular) grabbed the 3/4 oz.
chute instead of the 1.5 oz. and it blew out halfway down the leg. The
leach tape parted at the head and it took us a while to recover the sheet
from its entanglement with the rudder. We finally dropped out after
noticing the fleet was almost out of sight. I take full blame for the
fiasco--I could have asked for the lightweight chute to be doused and the
correct one brought up, but chose to risk it. Not a good weekend.


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. On the one in
question--the second--the sheet was in rather snugly. One or two other
boats had doused the chutes and gone to their genoas. The leach tape began
to part at the clew, tore loose to the head, and the tape then parted from
the head, allowing the whole mess to drop into the water and suck under the
boat and foul the rudder. The whole process happened in less than five
seconds. I called the previous owner and asked about that chute. He
confirmed that it had seen more use than the 1.5 oz., thanks to light air in
the summer on Lake M. I also believe we may have caused a small tear during
the jibe at the location where the tear began. Mistakes.

Max