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NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
While some people were battling hurricanes, we had a regatta and
sailed in our first real race in the Santana 23. The crew was relatively inexperienced, the winds varied from light to not-so-light (about 2~3 knots up to 12 knots & back), the regatta was Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club's 25th annual Oar Race. The story of the Oar Race is interesting, there was a founding member (John Walsh) of the FHYC who had sailed for years with an English friend on his yacht, the CLARA. The CLARA was not only a classic, but had been one of the "little ships" of the Dunkirk evacuation at the beginning of WW2. When the English friend passed away and CLARA was sold, the FHYC member was given one of her oars as a commemorative. Years went by and then john Walsh passed away himself. The CLARA's oar was made into a memorial trophy which hangs in the community center with a brass plaque explaining the history, and a series of small plaques with the names & boats of the winners over the years. No, we didn't win it. But I hope to one day. First of all, I made several mistakes which cost us time. The start sequences was not clear and I misjudged both the time & distance it would take to circle. That cost us a bit less than a minute. The wind was light and we got the boat accelerated & up to a close-hauled course, on a long port tack. This was the favored side and the wind gave us some luck, before long we had a pretty clear lead but I could see patches of no wind, ahead & to leeward. It looked to me like we were sailing out of our wind streak. So, even though it meant pointing the boat about 90 degrees away from the mark, I tacked the boat and we went about 4 or 5 minutes on starboard, out to the middle of the river. Yes the wind was a bit stronger, but in a less favorable direction... and the lulls I saw did not affect the other boats that stayed on the same tack very much. The result was that we lost a place and could not gain it back on the spinnaker run, we ended up in 2nd place by about a minute corrected time. The winner was a San Juan 30 which was very well sailed. The next day, we had some short round-the-bouys races and again I did not get us very good starts. Still, we got up into the pack and the rookie crew learned everything pretty cleanly. We did not do anything fancy, no tacking duels, we didn't even pull the daggerboard up on the short spinnaker runs. We ended up with a couple of close seconds and one first. We were definitely first in our class for much of the first two races, since we were ahead of all 4 boats that owed us time and the one we owed time to was quite far back. We need to work on some basic maneuvers, our tacks were not very good and I always called the spinnaker douse early so as to get it down clean before getting around the mark. At one point, the genoa wincher/ trimmer kept getting the sheet clinched (over-ride) on the winch and they were ignoring my advice about how to avoid this problem... a trial of patience for all concerned. At the end of the day, everybody was talking about how much fun it was, so it couldn't have been too bad. The boat needs work too. I have a very fancy carbon/mylar 155% genoa which I actually don't think is such a great sail, an equally fancy kevlar scrim blade (about 110%) which does seem like a great sail, a plain-jane dacron main (probably about 15 years old but has great shape), and a blown-out red spinnaker. At some point we will spend some money on new sails but in all honesty, I have other priorities like rebedding all the deck hardware and building a new fore hatch right now. Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
wrote in message
... While some people were battling hurricanes, we had a regatta and sailed in our first real race in the Santana 23. The crew was relatively inexperienced, the winds varied from light to not-so-light (about 2~3 knots up to 12 knots & back), the regatta was Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club's 25th annual Oar Race. The story of the Oar Race is interesting, there was a founding member (John Walsh) of the FHYC who had sailed for years with an English friend on his yacht, the CLARA. The CLARA was not only a classic, but had been one of the "little ships" of the Dunkirk evacuation at the beginning of WW2. When the English friend passed away and CLARA was sold, the FHYC member was given one of her oars as a commemorative. Years went by and then john Walsh passed away himself. The CLARA's oar was made into a memorial trophy which hangs in the community center with a brass plaque explaining the history, and a series of small plaques with the names & boats of the winners over the years. No, we didn't win it. But I hope to one day. First of all, I made several mistakes which cost us time. The start sequences was not clear and I misjudged both the time & distance it would take to circle. That cost us a bit less than a minute. The wind was light and we got the boat accelerated & up to a close-hauled course, on a long port tack. This was the favored side and the wind gave us some luck, before long we had a pretty clear lead but I could see patches of no wind, ahead & to leeward. It looked to me like we were sailing out of our wind streak. So, even though it meant pointing the boat about 90 degrees away from the mark, I tacked the boat and we went about 4 or 5 minutes on starboard, out to the middle of the river. Yes the wind was a bit stronger, but in a less favorable direction... and the lulls I saw did not affect the other boats that stayed on the same tack very much. The result was that we lost a place and could not gain it back on the spinnaker run, we ended up in 2nd place by about a minute corrected time. The winner was a San Juan 30 which was very well sailed. The next day, we had some short round-the-bouys races and again I did not get us very good starts. Still, we got up into the pack and the rookie crew learned everything pretty cleanly. We did not do anything fancy, no tacking duels, we didn't even pull the daggerboard up on the short spinnaker runs. We ended up with a couple of close seconds and one first. We were definitely first in our class for much of the first two races, since we were ahead of all 4 boats that owed us time and the one we owed time to was quite far back. We need to work on some basic maneuvers, our tacks were not very good and I always called the spinnaker douse early so as to get it down clean before getting around the mark. At one point, the genoa wincher/ trimmer kept getting the sheet clinched (over-ride) on the winch and they were ignoring my advice about how to avoid this problem... a trial of patience for all concerned. At the end of the day, everybody was talking about how much fun it was, so it couldn't have been too bad. The boat needs work too. I have a very fancy carbon/mylar 155% genoa which I actually don't think is such a great sail, an equally fancy kevlar scrim blade (about 110%) which does seem like a great sail, a plain-jane dacron main (probably about 15 years old but has great shape), and a blown-out red spinnaker. At some point we will spend some money on new sails but in all honesty, I have other priorities like rebedding all the deck hardware and building a new fore hatch right now. Fresh Breezes- Doug King Sounds like fun! I was teaching today on the lake. The winds were light, never over 5kts. It was the third of a four-day class (3 hours per) on two Holder 20s, which are in ok shape but with totally blown out, ancient sails. Works for newbie students I suppose. There were three couples, so I split it men vs. women. The only two with any sailing experience were two of the men. This was the class' second day on the water. The course was beam reach, port tack to the first mark, then tack to close hauled to the second, then down to the third, a jibe, then home. The guys got smoked for all their experience. They just couldn't work together very well, and ended up hitting the first mark, so I made them go around it again. The women had trouble getting into irons at one point, and they lost the lead briefly. The gained it back on the run, trimming properly, and the jibe, taking time with the latter and getting it right. The guys did a poor jibe and rounded up badly (there was a strongish gust) when they forgot to ease the main. They never got their lead back and lost by five boat lengths. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
|
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
"Capt. JG" wrote:
Sounds like fun! I was teaching today on the lake. The winds were light, never over 5kts. The Holder 20s should move well in that, even with blown-out sails. The thing about light-air sailing is that it takes patience & finesse, it really isn't like "normal" sailing IMHO. But it's good practice since we can't always have *real* wind.... well, you can in some place ;) Works for newbie students I suppose. There were three couples, so I split it men vs. women. The only two with any sailing experience were two of the men. This was the class' second day on the water. The course was beam reach, port tack to the first mark, then tack to close hauled to the second, then down to the third, a jibe, then home. The guys got smoked for all their experience. They just couldn't work together very well, and ended up hitting the first mark, so I made them go around it again. The women had trouble getting into irons at one point, and they lost the lead briefly. The gained it back on the run, trimming properly, and the jibe, taking time with the latter and getting it right. The guys did a poor jibe and rounded up badly (there was a strongish gust) when they forgot to ease the main. They never got their lead back and lost by five boat lengths. It's definitely a team sport, working together is more important than brilliance. And hitting the brakes with bad maneuvers.... either because of skippers un-smarts, or because of crew clumsiness... takes a long time to get back up to speed. In a PHRF race you simply can't ever gain back lost time. It sounds like a good teaching exercise... would the school ever invest in new sails, or maybe get some 2nd hand but better sails from Holder 20 owners that have upgraded recently? There is a class organization, that might help. Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
wrote in message
... "Capt. JG" wrote: Sounds like fun! I was teaching today on the lake. The winds were light, never over 5kts. The Holder 20s should move well in that, even with blown-out sails. The thing about light-air sailing is that it takes patience & finesse, it really isn't like "normal" sailing IMHO. But it's good practice since we can't always have *real* wind.... well, you can in some place ;) Yeah, some of the patience involves sitting on the boat about 40 feet from the dock, waiting for the "real" wind. LOL Works for newbie students I suppose. There were three couples, so I split it men vs. women. The only two with any sailing experience were two of the men. This was the class' second day on the water. The course was beam reach, port tack to the first mark, then tack to close hauled to the second, then down to the third, a jibe, then home. The guys got smoked for all their experience. They just couldn't work together very well, and ended up hitting the first mark, so I made them go around it again. The women had trouble getting into irons at one point, and they lost the lead briefly. The gained it back on the run, trimming properly, and the jibe, taking time with the latter and getting it right. The guys did a poor jibe and rounded up badly (there was a strongish gust) when they forgot to ease the main. They never got their lead back and lost by five boat lengths. It's definitely a team sport, working together is more important than brilliance. And hitting the brakes with bad maneuvers.... either because of skippers un-smarts, or because of crew clumsiness... takes a long time to get back up to speed. In a PHRF race you simply can't ever gain back lost time. It sounds like a good teaching exercise... would the school ever invest in new sails, or maybe get some 2nd hand but better sails from Holder 20 owners that have upgraded recently? There is a class organization, that might help. Not in my lifetime. Some beacon of brilliance used electrical tape on the docklines to keep them from fraying. Do you have any idea what happens to electrical tape after sitting in 100 degree for a week? -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
On 11 Sep, 02:59, wrote:
snip First of all, I made several mistakes which cost us time. The start sequences was not clear and I misjudged both the time & distance it would take to circle. That cost us a bit less than a minute. The wind was light and we got the boat accelerated & up to a close-hauled course, on a long port tack. This was the favored side and the wind gave us some luck, before long we had a pretty clear lead but I could see patches of no wind, ahead & to leeward. It looked to me like we were sailing out of our wind streak. So, even though it meant pointing the boat about 90 degrees away from the mark, I tacked the boat and we went about 4 or 5 minutes on starboard, out to the middle of the river. Yes the wind was a bit stronger, but in a less favorable direction... and the lulls I saw did not affect the other boats that stayed on the same tack very much. The result was that we lost a place and could not gain it back on the spinnaker run, we ended up in 2nd place by about a minute corrected time. The winner was a San Juan 30 which was very well sailed. Not a bad result. It reminds me of of a race that I was in a few years ago. We had a disastrous first leg in the "Round the Island" race. By the start of the second leg, we were at least 2, maybe 3 hours behind the leaders. Instead of tacking along the SW coast of the Island in a SE wind, we went 7-8 miles offshore to do the leg in a single tack. Our gamble paid off big time, and we gained about two hours. I can remember feeling almost lonely at times. We were in a race with about 2000 boats, and we couldn't see another boat! It felt really weird. Fortunately, it paid off. It could have easily gone the other way, but as we were already near the back of the fleet, it didn't matter. The next day, we had some short round-the-bouys races and again I did not get us very good starts. Still, we got up into the pack and the rookie crew learned everything pretty cleanly. We did not do anything fancy, no tacking duels, we didn't even pull the daggerboard up on the short spinnaker runs. We ended up with a couple of close seconds and one first. We were definitely first in our class for much of the first two races, since we were ahead of all 4 boats that owed us time and the one we owed time to was quite far back. We need to work on some basic maneuvers, our tacks were not very good and I always called the spinnaker douse early so as to get it down clean before getting around the mark. At one point, the genoa wincher/ trimmer kept getting the sheet clinched (over-ride) on the winch and they were ignoring my advice about how to avoid this problem... a trial of patience for all concerned. At the end of the day, everybody was talking about how much fun it was, so it couldn't have been too bad. The boat needs work too. I have a very fancy carbon/mylar 155% genoa which I actually don't think is such a great sail, an equally fancy kevlar scrim blade (about 110%) which does seem like a great sail, a plain-jane dacron main (probably about 15 years old but has great shape), and a blown-out red spinnaker. At some point we will spend some money on new sails but in all honesty, I have other priorities like rebedding all the deck hardware and building a new fore hatch right now. I replaced my genoa this year.... and I learned a big lesson. I would never, ever, take the manufacturers standard sail kit again. You may remember that I posted a question about my "flapping leech" 9 years ago. Well, as soon as I hoisted the new genoa I realised that my previous sail had been a complete POS from day one. The new sail just sets into a correct shape, even if there is no wind. I can point 5-10 degrees higher, AND the boat powers better. My new jenny is made by Hood. I am not recommending them in particular, but I am extremely happy with its performance. Regards Donal -- |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
wrote in message
... On 11 Sep, 02:59, wrote: snip First of all, I made several mistakes which cost us time. The start sequences was not clear and I misjudged both the time & distance it would take to circle. That cost us a bit less than a minute. The wind was light and we got the boat accelerated & up to a close-hauled course, on a long port tack. This was the favored side and the wind gave us some luck, before long we had a pretty clear lead but I could see patches of no wind, ahead & to leeward. It looked to me like we were sailing out of our wind streak. So, even though it meant pointing the boat about 90 degrees away from the mark, I tacked the boat and we went about 4 or 5 minutes on starboard, out to the middle of the river. Yes the wind was a bit stronger, but in a less favorable direction... and the lulls I saw did not affect the other boats that stayed on the same tack very much. The result was that we lost a place and could not gain it back on the spinnaker run, we ended up in 2nd place by about a minute corrected time. The winner was a San Juan 30 which was very well sailed. Not a bad result. It reminds me of of a race that I was in a few years ago. We had a disastrous first leg in the "Round the Island" race. By the start of the second leg, we were at least 2, maybe 3 hours behind the leaders. Instead of tacking along the SW coast of the Island in a SE wind, we went 7-8 miles offshore to do the leg in a single tack. Our gamble paid off big time, and we gained about two hours. I can remember feeling almost lonely at times. We were in a race with about 2000 boats, and we couldn't see another boat! It felt really weird. Fortunately, it paid off. It could have easily gone the other way, but as we were already near the back of the fleet, it didn't matter. The next day, we had some short round-the-bouys races and again I did not get us very good starts. Still, we got up into the pack and the rookie crew learned everything pretty cleanly. We did not do anything fancy, no tacking duels, we didn't even pull the daggerboard up on the short spinnaker runs. We ended up with a couple of close seconds and one first. We were definitely first in our class for much of the first two races, since we were ahead of all 4 boats that owed us time and the one we owed time to was quite far back. We need to work on some basic maneuvers, our tacks were not very good and I always called the spinnaker douse early so as to get it down clean before getting around the mark. At one point, the genoa wincher/ trimmer kept getting the sheet clinched (over-ride) on the winch and they were ignoring my advice about how to avoid this problem... a trial of patience for all concerned. At the end of the day, everybody was talking about how much fun it was, so it couldn't have been too bad. The boat needs work too. I have a very fancy carbon/mylar 155% genoa which I actually don't think is such a great sail, an equally fancy kevlar scrim blade (about 110%) which does seem like a great sail, a plain-jane dacron main (probably about 15 years old but has great shape), and a blown-out red spinnaker. At some point we will spend some money on new sails but in all honesty, I have other priorities like rebedding all the deck hardware and building a new fore hatch right now. I replaced my genoa this year.... and I learned a big lesson. I would never, ever, take the manufacturers standard sail kit again. You may remember that I posted a question about my "flapping leech" 9 years ago. Well, as soon as I hoisted the new genoa I realised that my previous sail had been a complete POS from day one. The new sail just sets into a correct shape, even if there is no wind. I can point 5-10 degrees higher, AND the boat powers better. My new jenny is made by Hood. I am not recommending them in particular, but I am extremely happy with its performance. Regards Donal -- Damn... I wish we would have had an opportunity to get out on your boat last we were there... maybe next time. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
On 12 Sep, 03:23, "Capt. JG" wrote:
wrote in message ... On 11 Sep, 02:59, wrote: snip First of all, I made several mistakes which cost us time. The start sequences was not clear and I misjudged both the time & distance it would take to circle. That cost us a bit less than a minute. The wind was light and we got the boat accelerated & up to a close-hauled course, on a long port tack. This was the favored side and the wind gave us some luck, before long we had a pretty clear lead but I could see patches of no wind, ahead & to leeward. It looked to me like we were sailing out of our wind streak. So, even though it meant pointing the boat about 90 degrees away from the mark, I tacked the boat and we went about 4 or 5 minutes on starboard, out to the middle of the river. Yes the wind was a bit stronger, but in a less favorable direction... and the lulls I saw did not affect the other boats that stayed on the same tack very much. The result was that we lost a place and could not gain it back on the spinnaker run, we ended up in 2nd place by about a minute corrected time. The winner was a San Juan 30 which was very well sailed. Not a bad result. It reminds me of of a race that I was in a few years ago. We had a disastrous first leg in the "Round the Island" race. By the start of the second leg, we were at least 2, maybe 3 hours behind the leaders. Instead of tacking along the SW coast of the Island in a SE wind, we went 7-8 miles offshore to do the leg in a single tack. Our gamble paid off big time, and we gained about two hours. I can remember feeling almost lonely at times. We were in a race with about 2000 boats, and we couldn't see another boat! It felt really weird. Fortunately, it paid off. It could have easily gone the other way, but as we were already near the back of the fleet, it didn't matter. The next day, we had some short round-the-bouys races and again I did not get us very good starts. Still, we got up into the pack and the rookie crew learned everything pretty cleanly. We did not do anything fancy, no tacking duels, we didn't even pull the daggerboard up on the short spinnaker runs. We ended up with a couple of close seconds and one first. We were definitely first in our class for much of the first two races, since we were ahead of all 4 boats that owed us time and the one we owed time to was quite far back. We need to work on some basic maneuvers, our tacks were not very good and I always called the spinnaker douse early so as to get it down clean before getting around the mark. At one point, the genoa wincher/ trimmer kept getting the sheet clinched (over-ride) on the winch and they were ignoring my advice about how to avoid this problem... a trial of patience for all concerned. At the end of the day, everybody was talking about how much fun it was, so it couldn't have been too bad. The boat needs work too. I have a very fancy carbon/mylar 155% genoa which I actually don't think is such a great sail, an equally fancy kevlar scrim blade (about 110%) which does seem like a great sail, a plain-jane dacron main (probably about 15 years old but has great shape), and a blown-out red spinnaker. At some point we will spend some money on new sails but in all honesty, I have other priorities like rebedding all the deck hardware and building a new fore hatch right now. I replaced my genoa this year.... and I learned a big lesson. I would never, ever, take the manufacturers standard sail kit again. You may remember that I posted a question about my "flapping leech" 9 years ago. Well, as soon as I hoisted the new genoa I realised that my previous sail had been a complete POS from day one. The new sail just sets into a correct shape, even if there is no wind. I can point 5-10 degrees higher, AND the boat powers better. My new jenny is made by Hood. I am not recommending them in particular, but I am extremely happy with its performance. Regards Donal -- Damn... I wish we would have had an opportunity to get out on your boat last we were there... maybe next time. As you know, I would have enjoyed it too. The amazing thing is that I am likely to take another asa member out on Setanta this weekend. This newsgroup actually does bring people together. I may not have ever met Doug, or Haggie, but if I meet someone who has met them, then I will feel a kinnship with people who are very far away. Donal -- |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
wrote in message
... On 12 Sep, 03:23, "Capt. JG" wrote: wrote in message ... On 11 Sep, 02:59, wrote: snip First of all, I made several mistakes which cost us time. The start sequences was not clear and I misjudged both the time & distance it would take to circle. That cost us a bit less than a minute. The wind was light and we got the boat accelerated & up to a close-hauled course, on a long port tack. This was the favored side and the wind gave us some luck, before long we had a pretty clear lead but I could see patches of no wind, ahead & to leeward. It looked to me like we were sailing out of our wind streak. So, even though it meant pointing the boat about 90 degrees away from the mark, I tacked the boat and we went about 4 or 5 minutes on starboard, out to the middle of the river. Yes the wind was a bit stronger, but in a less favorable direction... and the lulls I saw did not affect the other boats that stayed on the same tack very much. The result was that we lost a place and could not gain it back on the spinnaker run, we ended up in 2nd place by about a minute corrected time. The winner was a San Juan 30 which was very well sailed. Not a bad result. It reminds me of of a race that I was in a few years ago. We had a disastrous first leg in the "Round the Island" race. By the start of the second leg, we were at least 2, maybe 3 hours behind the leaders. Instead of tacking along the SW coast of the Island in a SE wind, we went 7-8 miles offshore to do the leg in a single tack. Our gamble paid off big time, and we gained about two hours. I can remember feeling almost lonely at times. We were in a race with about 2000 boats, and we couldn't see another boat! It felt really weird. Fortunately, it paid off. It could have easily gone the other way, but as we were already near the back of the fleet, it didn't matter. The next day, we had some short round-the-bouys races and again I did not get us very good starts. Still, we got up into the pack and the rookie crew learned everything pretty cleanly. We did not do anything fancy, no tacking duels, we didn't even pull the daggerboard up on the short spinnaker runs. We ended up with a couple of close seconds and one first. We were definitely first in our class for much of the first two races, since we were ahead of all 4 boats that owed us time and the one we owed time to was quite far back. We need to work on some basic maneuvers, our tacks were not very good and I always called the spinnaker douse early so as to get it down clean before getting around the mark. At one point, the genoa wincher/ trimmer kept getting the sheet clinched (over-ride) on the winch and they were ignoring my advice about how to avoid this problem... a trial of patience for all concerned. At the end of the day, everybody was talking about how much fun it was, so it couldn't have been too bad. The boat needs work too. I have a very fancy carbon/mylar 155% genoa which I actually don't think is such a great sail, an equally fancy kevlar scrim blade (about 110%) which does seem like a great sail, a plain-jane dacron main (probably about 15 years old but has great shape), and a blown-out red spinnaker. At some point we will spend some money on new sails but in all honesty, I have other priorities like rebedding all the deck hardware and building a new fore hatch right now. I replaced my genoa this year.... and I learned a big lesson. I would never, ever, take the manufacturers standard sail kit again. You may remember that I posted a question about my "flapping leech" 9 years ago. Well, as soon as I hoisted the new genoa I realised that my previous sail had been a complete POS from day one. The new sail just sets into a correct shape, even if there is no wind. I can point 5-10 degrees higher, AND the boat powers better. My new jenny is made by Hood. I am not recommending them in particular, but I am extremely happy with its performance. Regards Donal -- Damn... I wish we would have had an opportunity to get out on your boat last we were there... maybe next time. As you know, I would have enjoyed it too. The amazing thing is that I am likely to take another asa member out on Setanta this weekend. This newsgroup actually does bring people together. I may not have ever met Doug, or Haggie, but if I meet someone who has met them, then I will feel a kinnship with people who are very far away. I agree... never met Haggie, but I can vouch for Doug. I hope it's not Bubbles! That would disturb me. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
On 13 Sep, 02:41, "Capt. JG" wrote:
wrote in message ... On 12 Sep, 03:23, "Capt. JG" wrote: wrote in message ... On 11 Sep, 02:59, wrote: snip First of all, I made several mistakes which cost us time. The start sequences was not clear and I misjudged both the time & distance it would take to circle. That cost us a bit less than a minute. The wind was light and we got the boat accelerated & up to a close-hauled course, on a long port tack. This was the favored side and the wind gave us some luck, before long we had a pretty clear lead but I could see patches of no wind, ahead & to leeward. It looked to me like we were sailing out of our wind streak. So, even though it meant pointing the boat about 90 degrees away from the mark, I tacked the boat and we went about 4 or 5 minutes on starboard, out to the middle of the river. Yes the wind was a bit stronger, but in a less favorable direction... and the lulls I saw did not affect the other boats that stayed on the same tack very much. The result was that we lost a place and could not gain it back on the spinnaker run, we ended up in 2nd place by about a minute corrected time. The winner was a San Juan 30 which was very well sailed. Not a bad result. It reminds me of of a race that I was in a few years ago. We had a disastrous first leg in the "Round the Island" race. By the start of the second leg, we were at least 2, maybe 3 hours behind the leaders. Instead of tacking along the SW coast of the Island in a SE wind, we went 7-8 miles offshore to do the leg in a single tack. Our gamble paid off big time, and we gained about two hours. I can remember feeling almost lonely at times. We were in a race with about 2000 boats, and we couldn't see another boat! It felt really weird. Fortunately, it paid off. It could have easily gone the other way, but as we were already near the back of the fleet, it didn't matter. The next day, we had some short round-the-bouys races and again I did not get us very good starts. Still, we got up into the pack and the rookie crew learned everything pretty cleanly. We did not do anything fancy, no tacking duels, we didn't even pull the daggerboard up on the short spinnaker runs. We ended up with a couple of close seconds and one first. We were definitely first in our class for much of the first two races, since we were ahead of all 4 boats that owed us time and the one we owed time to was quite far back. We need to work on some basic maneuvers, our tacks were not very good and I always called the spinnaker douse early so as to get it down clean before getting around the mark. At one point, the genoa wincher/ trimmer kept getting the sheet clinched (over-ride) on the winch and they were ignoring my advice about how to avoid this problem... a trial of patience for all concerned. At the end of the day, everybody was talking about how much fun it was, so it couldn't have been too bad. The boat needs work too. I have a very fancy carbon/mylar 155% genoa which I actually don't think is such a great sail, an equally fancy kevlar scrim blade (about 110%) which does seem like a great sail, a plain-jane dacron main (probably about 15 years old but has great shape), and a blown-out red spinnaker. At some point we will spend some money on new sails but in all honesty, I have other priorities like rebedding all the deck hardware and building a new fore hatch right now. I replaced my genoa this year.... and I learned a big lesson. I would never, ever, take the manufacturers standard sail kit again. You may remember that I posted a question about my "flapping leech" 9 years ago. Well, as soon as I hoisted the new genoa I realised that my previous sail had been a complete POS from day one. The new sail just sets into a correct shape, even if there is no wind. I can point 5-10 degrees higher, AND the boat powers better. My new jenny is made by Hood. I am not recommending them in particular, but I am extremely happy with its performance. Regards Donal -- Damn... I wish we would have had an opportunity to get out on your boat last we were there... maybe next time. As you know, I would have enjoyed it too. The amazing thing is that I am likely to take another asa member out on Setanta this weekend. This newsgroup actually does bring people together. I may not have ever met Doug, or Haggie, but if I meet someone who has met them, then I will feel a kinnship with people who are very far away. I agree... never met Haggie, but I can vouch for Doug. I hope it's not Bubbles! That would disturb me. It isn't Bob. Although, I would be happy to meet Bob. I'm very thick skinned, and I respect the contributions of all the regular asa posters. This isn't meant to sound pompous, but this is a rather freindly group of people who share an interest in sailing. I feel honoured to be accepted by such a diverse group. Anyway, that is enough of the sentimental twaddle. Tomorrow I shall go sailing with an old(asa) hand, and I think that this shows that this group does have real value. Regards Donal -- |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
wrote:
Tomorrow I shall go sailing with an old(asa) hand, *and I think that this shows that this group does have real value. I know, I know!!! And Donal, even though this group has slowed way way down here in cyber-ASA-land, we're all still going onward and I feel very glad to have met many of the regular group. And friends in the real world are worth having! Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
wrote in message .. : : I know, I know!!! : : And Donal, even though this group has slowed way way down here in : cyber-ASA-land, we're all still going onward and I feel very glad to : have met many of the regular group. And friends in the real world are : worth having! : : Fresh Breezes- Doug King If you can abide having rabble as friends. . . Wilbur Hubbard |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
Wilbur Hubbard wrote:
wrote in message .. : : I know, I know!!! : : And Donal, even though this group has slowed way way down here in : cyber-ASA-land, we're all still going onward and I feel very glad to : have met many of the regular group. And friends in the real world are : worth having! : : Fresh Breezes- Doug King If you can abide having rabble as friends. . . Wilbur Hubbard Well, Neal, they are generally the best kind... sort of a Groucho thing. Cheers Marty, friend to the rabble(rousers) |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
On 14 Sep, 18:28, wrote:
wrote: Tomorrow I shall go sailing with an old(asa) hand, and I think that this shows that this group does have real value. I know, I know!!! And Donal, even though this group has slowed way way down here in cyber-ASA-land, we're all still going onward and I feel very glad to have met many of the regular group. And friends in the real world are worth having! Well, I suppose that I should describe my day. Bart arrived 30 minutes later than expected. This didn't matter too much, as the tides this weekend meant that we couldn't go anywhere anyway. The Solent is funny that way. We went out across the Solent, choosing a course which kept the breeze on our beam This meant that our return journey would also have the wind on the beam. For much of the trip the wind was about 13 kts, which is just perfect for Setanta. She lifted her skirts and danced along without any effort in the sail trimming department. We sailed for about 3 hours. This summer has been absolutely awful. I have only had 4-5 weekends of sailing before today. Each of them was in uncomfortable conditions (F5+ either on the nose, or up the backside). Today was lovely, and I really wasn't bothered about getting the very best out of the boat.. The wind was right, the boat liked the conditions, and we talked. We didn't trim the sails for that last 0.1 of a knot. We just chilled out as the breeze powered the boat along. Setanta really likes 13 kts on the beam. I've now met two members of ASA, and it just makes me realise how lucky I am to have stumbled into such a group. Where are Scotty and Katy? Regards Donal -- |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
wrote in message
... On 14 Sep, 18:28, wrote: wrote: Tomorrow I shall go sailing with an old(asa) hand, and I think that this shows that this group does have real value. I know, I know!!! And Donal, even though this group has slowed way way down here in cyber-ASA-land, we're all still going onward and I feel very glad to have met many of the regular group. And friends in the real world are worth having! Well, I suppose that I should describe my day. Bart arrived 30 minutes later than expected. This didn't matter too much, as the tides this weekend meant that we couldn't go anywhere anyway. The Solent is funny that way. We went out across the Solent, choosing a course which kept the breeze on our beam This meant that our return journey would also have the wind on the beam. For much of the trip the wind was about 13 kts, which is just perfect for Setanta. She lifted her skirts and danced along without any effort in the sail trimming department. We sailed for about 3 hours. This summer has been absolutely awful. I have only had 4-5 weekends of sailing before today. Each of them was in uncomfortable conditions (F5+ either on the nose, or up the backside). Today was lovely, and I really wasn't bothered about getting the very best out of the boat.. The wind was right, the boat liked the conditions, and we talked. We didn't trim the sails for that last 0.1 of a knot. We just chilled out as the breeze powered the boat along. Setanta really likes 13 kts on the beam. I've now met two members of ASA, and it just makes me realise how lucky I am to have stumbled into such a group. Where are Scotty and Katy? Regards Ah yes... Bart... great guy, excellent sailor. I've met several ASAers... four or five and actually talked with a few more. I think Scoots is around somewhere. Haven't heard from Katy in a while. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
"Capt. JG" wrote in message easolutions... wrote in message ... On 14 Sep, 18:28, wrote: wrote: Tomorrow I shall go sailing with an old(asa) hand, and I think that this shows that this group does have real value. I know, I know!!! And Donal, even though this group has slowed way way down here in cyber-ASA-land, we're all still going onward and I feel very glad to have met many of the regular group. And friends in the real world are worth having! Well, I suppose that I should describe my day. Bart arrived 30 minutes later than expected. This didn't matter too much, as the tides this weekend meant that we couldn't go anywhere anyway. The Solent is funny that way. We went out across the Solent, choosing a course which kept the breeze on our beam This meant that our return journey would also have the wind on the beam. For much of the trip the wind was about 13 kts, which is just perfect for Setanta. She lifted her skirts and danced along without any effort in the sail trimming department. We sailed for about 3 hours. This summer has been absolutely awful. I have only had 4-5 weekends of sailing before today. Each of them was in uncomfortable conditions (F5+ either on the nose, or up the backside). Today was lovely, and I really wasn't bothered about getting the very best out of the boat.. The wind was right, the boat liked the conditions, and we talked. We didn't trim the sails for that last 0.1 of a knot. We just chilled out as the breeze powered the boat along. Setanta really likes 13 kts on the beam. I've now met two members of ASA, and it just makes me realise how lucky I am to have stumbled into such a group. Where are Scotty and Katy? Regards Ah yes... Bart... great guy, excellent sailor. I've met several ASAers... four or five and actually talked with a few more. I think Scoots is around somewhere. Haven't heard from Katy in a while. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com Katy is playing games online. http://groups.google.com/group/alt.g...s?hl=en&lnk=sg You can text her. |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
wrote:
We went out across the Solent, *choosing a course which kept the breeze on our beam *This meant that our return journey would also have the wind on the beam. Good planning... but it wouldn't necessarily mean that around here ;) .... *For much of the trip the wind was about 13 kts, *which is just perfect for Setanta. *She lifted her skirts and danced along without any effort in the sail trimming department. We sailed for about 3 hours. That sounds great. I'm looking forward to hearing Bart's report also. I've now met two members of ASA, and it just makes me realise how lucky I am to have stumbled into such a group. *Where are Scotty and Katy? Katysails is OK, she & Mr Sails are doing some traveling & visiting family. Regards- Doug King |
NP (no political content): Recently completed regatta
"jlrogers±³©" wrote in message
... "Capt. JG" wrote in message easolutions... wrote in message ... On 14 Sep, 18:28, wrote: wrote: Tomorrow I shall go sailing with an old(asa) hand, and I think that this shows that this group does have real value. I know, I know!!! And Donal, even though this group has slowed way way down here in cyber-ASA-land, we're all still going onward and I feel very glad to have met many of the regular group. And friends in the real world are worth having! Well, I suppose that I should describe my day. Bart arrived 30 minutes later than expected. This didn't matter too much, as the tides this weekend meant that we couldn't go anywhere anyway. The Solent is funny that way. We went out across the Solent, choosing a course which kept the breeze on our beam This meant that our return journey would also have the wind on the beam. For much of the trip the wind was about 13 kts, which is just perfect for Setanta. She lifted her skirts and danced along without any effort in the sail trimming department. We sailed for about 3 hours. This summer has been absolutely awful. I have only had 4-5 weekends of sailing before today. Each of them was in uncomfortable conditions (F5+ either on the nose, or up the backside). Today was lovely, and I really wasn't bothered about getting the very best out of the boat.. The wind was right, the boat liked the conditions, and we talked. We didn't trim the sails for that last 0.1 of a knot. We just chilled out as the breeze powered the boat along. Setanta really likes 13 kts on the beam. I've now met two members of ASA, and it just makes me realise how lucky I am to have stumbled into such a group. Where are Scotty and Katy? Regards Ah yes... Bart... great guy, excellent sailor. I've met several ASAers... four or five and actually talked with a few more. I think Scoots is around somewhere. Haven't heard from Katy in a while. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com Katy is playing games online. http://groups.google.com/group/alt.g...s?hl=en&lnk=sg You can text her. Ah... well, at least she's having fun. I have her email address. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
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