2014 J/70 Annapolis NOOD Regatta Report & Results

By Geoff Becker
Skipper: Will Welles    Tactician: Geoff Becker   Trimmer: Emory Williams   Bow: Collin Leon
Day 3   2 races (Race 5, 4 legs…Race 6, 5 legs)    Wind 10-15 knots from the West, with gusts up to 20 knots.
Building west winds provided some excitingly puffy and shifty conditions for the final day of the Annapolis NOOD Regatta. Upwind and downwind were challenging for the fleet as the breeze pumped up to 20+ knots and then would die down at times to around 8 knots. With the up and down winds today, many boats had up and down scores in the two races. Our team was no different, finishing in 22^nd in Race 5, our worst race of the series, and then bouncing back with our best race finishing the regatta with a bullet in race 6. Our final score was good enough for 7^th overall and we certainly had to be happy for that result after all the tough sailing during the regatta.
In shifty conditions many have a strategy to sail up the middle of the course and stay on the lifted tack. While that plan works well in most venues, the wind today was so puffy and shifty; the big changes in the wind seemed to come from the sides of the course. Big right puffs from the right and big left puffs from the left never seemed to be able to make it completely across the racecourse. When this happens, the two directions clash as they cross the racecourse and often there is much less wind and less favorable shifts in the middle.
These conditions were especially challenging when behind in the fleet, because the leaders would sail toward the sides leaving only the unfavorable middle free of traffic. When that happened today, we decided to choose a side that looked best overall and head to that side regardless of shifts on the way. This made catching up difficult because the only boats we were likely to pass were boats that tried to sail up the middle of the course.
This strategy also played true on the downwind legs and there seemed to always be more breeze on the edges. We tried to determine which side might have more breeze, while rounding the windward mark, and then sail higher angles to stay in the bigger pressure. That worked very well for us in the final race as both the higher angle and being on the edge of the course allowed us to get the boat up on a plane more easily and move us up to the front of the fleet.
Our takeaways from Day 3 are…
1. Sometimes the sides are best in shifty conditions.
2. Sail toward the side that will have the most pressure long term.
3. Use the edges downwind to stay in the biggest puffs.
FINAL RESULTS:

1	USA 96	Savasana	J 70	Brian Keane	4	2	6	1	9	6	28
2	USA 51	Black River Racing	J 70	Doug Strebel	6	14	2	2	1	10	35
3	CAN 246	Touch2Play	J 70	Martin Kullman	7	3	1	20	5	3	39
4	USA 40	B Squared	J 70	Bryan Cameron	13	8	4	15	6	4	50
5	USA 85	Ocho Cinco	J 70	Allan Terhune, Jr	3	13	12	6	20	2	56
6	USA 187	Catapult	J 70	Joel Ronning	1	1	20	11	17	9	59
7	USA 2	Scamp	J 70	Will Welles	14	10	7	12	22	1	66
8	USA 482	X	J 70	Dan Cheresh	2	33	3	4	14	17	73
9	USA 217	Joint Custody	J 70	Jenn & Ray Wulff	21	6	5	7	7	29	75
10	USA 86	Stampede	J 70	Bruno Pasquinelli	10	26	24	8	10	5	83
11	USA 073	Occams Razor	J 70	Walt Pletcher	20	7	11	3	16	28	85
12	USA 45	Wild Child	J 70	Henry Filter	12	9	19	5	26	16	87
13	USA 35	Moxie	J 70	Cole Allsopp	9	15	35	16	8	13	96
14	USA 179	AFRICA	J 70	Ian Liberty	23	11	15	13	11	23	96
15	USA 209	Trouble	J 70	Peter McChesney	8	12	38	37	3	8	106
16	USA 151	Reach Around	J 70	Thomas Bowen	5	5	13	28	2	57/DSQ	110
17	USA 218	Tsunami	J 70	Todd Olds / Thomas Iseler / Preben Ostberg	15	17	10	34	19	21	116
18	USA 364	School’s Out	J 70	John Aras	43	4	16	9	36	15	123
19	USA 34	Perseverance	J 70	Bennet Greenwald	41	21	25	22	4	11	124
20	USA 87	Tick Tock Croc	J 70	Richard Nesbett	16	23	23	38	21	7	128
21	USA 66	Eagles Wings	J 70	John Gottwald	18	32	32	17	13	18	130
22	USA 302	Off-Piste	J 70	Paul Cannon	29	20	14	19	30	20	132
23	USA 26	Jungleland	J 70	Chris and Carolyn Groobey	31	22	27	26	18	14	138
24	USA 15	Junior	J 70	Tim Finkle	24	25	33	14	33	19	148
25	USA 25	Papawheelie	J 70	Will Keyworth	44	24	8	41	15	24	156
26	USA 185	Turbo Duck	J 70	Bodo & Nick von der Wense	33	36	18	18	24	27	156
27	USA 152	Sundog	J 70	Kathy Parks	17	31	9	39	23	38	157
28	USA 46	Alibi	J 70	Tris Worth	22	29	29	23	35	22	160
29	USA 200	Cat’s Pajamas	J 70	Drake Johnstone	11	30	22	32	12	57/DSQ	164
30	USA 199	Mojito	J 70	Catharine Evans	46	16	26	29	25	26	168
31	USA 44	Gnixe	J 70	Steiner/Lodico/Vickers Chip	40	35	17	24	38	25	179
32	USA 64	Exit Strategy II	J 70	Jack Martin	45	18	28	21	37	30	179
33	USA 38	Goofyfoot	J 70	John Wilsey	25	41	31	45	29	12	183
34	USA 192	Turn the page	J 70	David Becker	37	39	44	10	28	36	194
35	USA 219	GetMyBoat	J 70	Vortex Racing	19	42	36	43	34	32	206
36	USA 381	Tea Dance Snake	J 70	Peter Bowe / Todd Jenner	38	38	34	25	27	45	207
37	USA 91	Carlos	J 70	Mike Sudofsky	27	27	47	42	32	35	210
38	USA 220	Phoenix	J 70	Peter Firey	26	28	40	48	43	34	219
39	USA 159	Torqeedo	J 70	Brandon, Cindy, Lily & Dylan Flack	35	19	21	33	57/DNC	57/DNS	222
40	USA 497	Chinook	J 70	Frank McNamara	36	34	37	31	42	43	223
41	USA 230	iZula	J 70	Kenneth Smith	34	37	39	35	49	40	234
42	USA 243	VitaminJ	J 70	Ted Johnson	32	46	45	44	44	33	244
43	USA 375	Lickity Split	J 70	Stanley Edwards	39	52	49	27	40	44	251
44	USA 37	lil’ Grizzly	J 70	Charles Bayer	28	40	42	51	41	57/BFD	259
45	USA 311	311	J 70	Kurt Winkelmann	30	50	41	52	47	42	262
46	USA 168	Rarity	J 70	Marty McKenna	42	48	48	46	45	37	266
47	USA 382	Zombie	J 70	Kristen Robinson	48	44	51	47	39	41	270
48	USA 154	Spice	J 70	Holly Graf	51	49	53	30	51	39	273
49	USA 365	brotherly	J 70	Kyle / Willy Comerford	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	40	31	31	273
50	USA 357	Danger Mouse	J 70	Kristen Berry	47	47	43	50	46	46	279
51	USA 004	Sport	J 70	Mark Wagner	49	43	46	53	48	47	286
52	USA 10	curragh	J 70	Peter Tuite	50	45	50	36	57/DNC	57/DNS	295
53	USA 420	E.L.E.	J 70	Matt Braun	52	51	30	57/DSQ	50	57/DNS	297
54	USA 204	Eowyn	J 70	Peter Winkelstein	53	53	52	49	57/DNC	57/DNS	321
55	USA 362	362	J 70	David Wicker	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	342
56	GBR 495	Red	J 70	Joe Woods	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	57/DNC	342

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Day 2         1 race (course 4, 4 legs and downwind finish)    Wind 6-8 knots from the SW, dying slowly during the race.
Light winds in the morning of Day 2 forced the RC to keep the fleet onshore under postponement for and hour until being sent out to the racecourse for a noon start. The postponement continued out on the water until after 1pm when, after several general recalls, only one race was completed in a light and dying SW breeze. Our team finished 12^th in today’s race dropping us to 10^th overall, but very close to the group of boats just ahead of us in the overall scores.
With the light winds today, boat handling became more delicate and critical in an effort to maintain speed during the maneuvers. Tacks, gybes, spinnaker sets and take-downs were places where a boat could sometimes gain distance when they were done smoothly and very easily lose distance when done poorly. Our boat-handling improved today and that was a result of the philosophy that smoother is better than bigger. Smooth and controlled maneuvers can be more easily performed and repeated by most every crew, where big boat handing can sometimes be difficult to execute accurately.
Boat handling with big rolls, big flattens and aggressive sail trim is impressive to watch and can sometimes help a boat make gains on the racecourse. However, such aggressive boat handling takes time and practice to master to the point where it can be consistently repeatable during a race. Also, when maneuvers go bigger, the margin for error becomes smaller and even the slightest miscue in timing can make a large negative impact on the outcome. In most cases, big boat handling done wrong, produces an outcome much worse than smooth maneuvers done accurately and under control.
Taking your time and making smooth and controlled maneuvers is the best way to produce repeatable, quality boat handling. Sometimes during a race, in the heat of the moment, “taking your time” is not the main focus. To assist in the timing of boat handing maneuvers, it can be helpful to assign someone on the crew to acts as a narrator during the tacks, gybes, etc.. That person can countdown to the maneuver, identify key timing points (like when to roll, when to flatten) and keep the whole crew working on the same timing. Using such a system and getting the timing of the whole crew coordinated is the best way to produce repeatable boat handling.
Our takeaways from Day 2 are…
1. Boat handling is more delicate in lighter winds.
2. Aggressive maneuvers are a harder to perform consistently.
3. Try to produce smooth and controlled maneuvers in light winds.
Day 1,  3 races (all course 4, 4 legs and downwind finish) Wind 6-14 knots from the West moving to the South for Race 3. Puffy and shifty today!_________________________________________________________
Three races were sailed today, Day 1 of the 2014 Annapolis NOOD, in a post frontal west wind that died out in the afternoon and was replaced by a southerly sea breeze. With the dying and shifting breeze, we saw some puffy and shifty conditions in our course area, the mouth of the Severn River and out in the Chesapeake Bay. The J/70 fleet had another large turn out for the NOOD, with 53 boats on a single starting line. Add the big fleet to the squirrely conditions and today was a real test of patience. Our team ended the day with a respectable 14^th, 10^th and a 7^th earning us 8^th place overall after Day 1.

The crew we have for this regatta has never sailed together as a group, even though in various combinations we have all sailed with each other on other crews. Because of that we had to expect some communication issues to occur as we got used to sailing together. Today’s challenging conditions and our new crew dynamic was a recipe for stress and friction on the racecourse today. In some of the cases we handled that friction well and in others not as much.
At one time or another, every sailor encounters stress and frustration during a race. How you deal with those situations can affect the opportunities for passing boats on the way to the finish line. Knowing what to say and how to interact with each other on the boat can help reduce stress and re-focus the group after some bad luck or a negative situation. In our case, being a new group, we found some situations where we just misunderstood what we were saying to each other. We were able to use the time between races to try and resolve those misunderstandings instead of trying to hash it out during the race. Addressing miscommunication issues during a race can easily snowball out of control and surely will detract from the crew’s focus in the race and moving toward the finish line.
Every crew is different, so any method used to reset the stress onboard and refocus the crew will also have to be different. Calm discussions after the race are always a good way to address friction during a race. Trying to solve communications issues during the heat of battle is very difficult and likely impossible. Something simple to try, to help refocus the crew, is to have the conversation stop on the boat altogether for a short period of time. One phrase to use could be, “Ok, 5 minutes of just sailing, no talking.” This gives everyone a chance to take a deep breath, reset and get back to making the boat move forward toward the finish.
Our takeaways from Day 1 are…
1. Try to stay patient in tough conditions.
2. Keep communication lines open and helping the boats performance.
3. Reset the crew when friction becomes distracting to sailing the boat.