First race tomorrow
 

Friday afternoon will be my first race with the new (to me) Santana
23. In fact I have some work to do before we can launch the boat,
little stuff like put the rudder back on ;)

Most PHRF racers around here like to carry a lot of people.... like 6
on a J-24, or 9 on a 30' racer/cruiser... and I have rounded up three
other people, all experienced, to sail with me. Some raised eyebrows
and comments about 'couldn't you talk anyone else into going with you'
but I don't like crowds. The forecast is for winds ~6 knots anyway, no
need for mountains of self-propelled ballast.

I have sailed the boat a few times, so it's not a complete mystery.
Still, any advice accepted... I already know better than to get in
pinching contests....

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

First race tomorrow
 

wrote in message
...
Friday afternoon will be my first race with the new (to me) Santana
23. In fact I have some work to do before we can launch the boat,
little stuff like put the rudder back on ;)

Most PHRF racers around here like to carry a lot of people.... like 6
on a J-24, or 9 on a 30' racer/cruiser... and I have rounded up three
other people, all experienced, to sail with me. Some raised eyebrows
and comments about 'couldn't you talk anyone else into going with you'
but I don't like crowds. The forecast is for winds ~6 knots anyway, no
need for mountains of self-propelled ballast.

I have sailed the boat a few times, so it's not a complete mystery.
Still, any advice accepted... I already know better than to get in
pinching contests....

Fresh Breezes- Doug King


Pointy end goes first. LOL Good luck always helps!

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

First race tomorrow
 

On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:06:46 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Friday afternoon will be my first race with the new (to me) Santana
23. In fact I have some work to do before we can launch the boat,
little stuff like put the rudder back on ;)

Most PHRF racers around here like to carry a lot of people.... like 6
on a J-24, or 9 on a 30' racer/cruiser... and I have rounded up three
other people, all experienced, to sail with me. Some raised eyebrows
and comments about 'couldn't you talk anyone else into going with you'
but I don't like crowds.

The last two race series I did were on a Beneteau 310 and then a
Beneteau 343 (same owner, he traded up). On the 310 we raced with
two, and the 343 we had three. Crowded course, short legs. Never
worked so hard while having "fun". Four would seem extravagant.

A note, we were in a non spinnaker class, but still.......

Good luck and have fun.

Frank








The forecast is for winds ~6 knots anyway, no
need for mountains of self-propelled ballast.

I have sailed the boat a few times, so it's not a complete mystery.
Still, any advice accepted... I already know better than to get in
pinching contests....

Bribe the rating committee g

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

First race tomorrow
 

wrote:
Friday afternoon will be my first race with the new (to me) Santana
23.

Most PHRF racers around here like to carry a lot of people.... like 6
on a J-24, or 9 on a 30' racer/cruiser... .... don't like crowds.

Frank Boettcher wrote:
The last two race series I did were on a Beneteau 310 and then a
Beneteau 343 (same owner, he traded up). On the 310 we raced with
two, and the 343 we had three. Crowded course, short legs. Never
worked so hard while having "fun". Four would seem extravagant.

A note, we were in a non spinnaker class, but still.......


For most of the race, only two people are actually doing anything. If
(a big "if") there is a person available who can observe & analyze
conditions on the race course, and feed the helms-person advice (by
which I mean "good" advice, which will help the boat make faster
progress around the course), then that's very good... and it certainly
keeps one busy. However in my experience there are far far more people
who think they can do this than really can. Hence my own preference
for fewer people, not more.

I imagine trimming on a Benny 343 is a good workout!


Good luck and have fun.


We did have a lot of fun, although the winds were pretty light. The
race was abandoned due to light & flukey wind, however the racers
(about 9 boats from Ensigns up to a 38' Morgan) wanted to sail. So the
RC agreed to do a start sequence.

I flubbed and nearly went the wrong side of the committee boat...
salvaged it by tacking the boat through a tiny gap between the RC boat
(a lovely 30' Bristol) and an Islander 28 which then tried to get in a
pinching contest to close the door. I did have to pinch for about 40
seconds but rolled over them cleanly, and in about 10 minutes had
built up a half mile lead on the nearest boats.

That seemed to be our biggest gain, for the rest of the race we might
have gained some on the bigger boats but the Ensigns ate our lunch on
the long downwind leg and we lost perhaps half our lead on them... had
the race been scored, I'm pretty sure they would have corrected over
us. There were 3 bigger boats that owed us time, they were pretty far
back and the Ensigns definitely bagged them. The whole race was about
4 1/2 miles and took about an hour and 45 minutes.

Then the wind picked up and I asked the crew if they wanted to sail
around for fun, and they all said "He## yeah!" so we got in a nice
spinnaker run in about 10~12 knot winds.

DSK

First race tomorrow
 

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:52:59 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

wrote:
Friday afternoon will be my first race with the new (to me) Santana
23.

Most PHRF racers around here like to carry a lot of people.... like 6
on a J-24, or 9 on a 30' racer/cruiser... .... don't like crowds.

Frank Boettcher wrote:
The last two race series I did were on a Beneteau 310 and then a
Beneteau 343 (same owner, he traded up). On the 310 we raced with
two, and the 343 we had three. Crowded course, short legs. Never
worked so hard while having "fun". Four would seem extravagant.

A note, we were in a non spinnaker class, but still.......


For most of the race, only two people are actually doing anything. If
(a big "if") there is a person available who can observe & analyze
conditions on the race course, and feed the helms-person advice (by
which I mean "good" advice, which will help the boat make faster
progress around the course), then that's very good... and it certainly
keeps one busy. However in my experience there are far far more people
who think they can do this than really can. Hence my own preference
for fewer people, not more.

I imagine trimming on a Benny 343 is a good workout!

Sure is. Even with self tailing gear and a good helmsman who didn't
have an oversteer tendency it was a lot of work.

The 310 was actually a 311. Course was on Pickwick lake

Both boats had big mains and a tendency toward tenderness and rounding
up if not reefed properly in gusty conditions. Add an owner who is
reluctant to reef and the fun begins.....

Frank

Good luck and have fun.


We did have a lot of fun, although the winds were pretty light. The
race was abandoned due to light & flukey wind, however the racers
(about 9 boats from Ensigns up to a 38' Morgan) wanted to sail. So the
RC agreed to do a start sequence.

I flubbed and nearly went the wrong side of the committee boat...
salvaged it by tacking the boat through a tiny gap between the RC boat
(a lovely 30' Bristol) and an Islander 28 which then tried to get in a
pinching contest to close the door. I did have to pinch for about 40
seconds but rolled over them cleanly, and in about 10 minutes had
built up a half mile lead on the nearest boats.

That seemed to be our biggest gain, for the rest of the race we might
have gained some on the bigger boats but the Ensigns ate our lunch on
the long downwind leg and we lost perhaps half our lead on them... had
the race been scored, I'm pretty sure they would have corrected over
us. There were 3 bigger boats that owed us time, they were pretty far
back and the Ensigns definitely bagged them. The whole race was about
4 1/2 miles and took about an hour and 45 minutes.

Then the wind picked up and I asked the crew if they wanted to sail
around for fun, and they all said "He## yeah!" so we got in a nice
spinnaker run in about 10~12 knot winds.

DSK