By Geoff Becker
Team Helly Hansen: Skipper, Tim Healy, Tactician/Trimmer: Geoff Becker, Trimmer: Sam Stokes, Bow: Gordon Borges
Day 2 3 races, 2 heats/race (races course 4, 4 legs and downwind finish) Wind 6-12 knots from the South, shifty again!
Again, on Day 2 of Chareston Race Week 2014, three races (two heats per race) were sailed in a puffy and shifty sea breeze. Team Helly Hansen again had our ups and downs finishing the day with scores of 1st, 10th and 3rd, moving us into a tie for third overall. With the short course and challenging wind shifts it was important for us to be prepared to tack or gybe quickly in reaction to the oscillations and positioning of other boats.
In conditions where there are a lot of significant puffs and wind shifts, there are often time where the boat needs to react quickly to the breeze when it changes. For example, when sailing upwind toward a puff that looks to be a significant header wind shift, the boat might need to tack immediately as the shift arrives. It is important that the skipper and crew are ready for the new wind to arrive, and be prepared for the likely to outcome when the shift does arrive. For such transitions to go smoothly, there has to be discussion and communication on board before any reactionary maneuver happens.
As a new wind approaches, the driver and the tactician need to discuss what is likely to happen when it arrives. The conversation can be something like this…
Tactician: “Here comes a big puff, it looks like a header.”
Driver: “Do you want to tack on it, or keep going straight?”
Tactician: “We need to tack as it hits us, so everyone be ready.”
The same type of conversation can be used in many other scenarios on the racecourse. For example, when sailing on port tack and approaching a boat on starboard tack…
Driver: “Here comes a starboard tack boat…I am not sure if we are crossing?”
Tactician: “We are lifted, we need to continue straight, so try to cross, but duck behind if we can’t cross.”
Being prepared for new wind puffs and other scenarios on the racecourse can ensure the boat is prepared for a maneuver well before it has to be executed. If these types of discussions don’t take place, boathandling will certainly suffer and often a crew will end up with more than their share of crash tacks and tight situations with other boats. A little prep work and communication will go a long way and keep the whole crew more involved during the race.
Our takeaways from Day 2 are…
1. Be prepared for puffs and wind shifts as they approach
2. Communication is the key to reacting quickly to those changes
3. Discuss likely scenarios as the occur during the entire race
TOP 30 after Day 2:
1 | USA 187 | Catapult | Joel Ronning | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 24 |
2 | USA 248 | Scamp | Will Welles | 1 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 27 |
3 | USA 316 | Superfecta | James Barnash | 10 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 29 |
4 | USA 2 | Helly Hansen | Tim Healy | 3 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 29 |
5 | USA 397 | Hot Mess | Rob Britts | 3 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 35 |
6 | USA 179 | Africa | Jud Smith | 10 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 36 |
7 | USA 51 | Black River Racing | Doug Strebel | 8 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 44 |
8 | USA 96 | Savasana | Brian Keane | 2 | 20 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 46 |
9 | USA 34 | Perseverance | Bennet Greenwald | 8 | 4 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 47 |
10 | USA 245 | USA 245 | Ian Liberty | 5 | 13 | 3 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 53 |
11 | USA 364 | School’s Out | John Aras | 13 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 17 | 55 |
12 | USA 167 | Kraken | Gary Tisdale / Adam Burns | 5 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 56 |
13 | USA 94 | Lifted | Jim Cunningham | 6 | 6 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 56 |
14 | USA 45 | Wild Child | Henry Filter | 6 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 21 | 10 | 61 |
15 | USA 159 | Torqeedo | Chris Carroll | 2 | 17 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 11 | 64 |
16 | USA 11 | Menace | Kerry Klingler | 7 | 24 | 14 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 65 |
17 | CAN 246 | Touch2Play | Rob & Sandy Butler | 11 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 15 | 71 |
18 | USA 217 | Joint Custody | Jenn & Ray Wulff | 7 | 5 | 8 | 19 | 26 | 8 | 73 |
19 | BER 308 | Elusive | Chuck Millican | 9 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 20 | 12 | 75 |
20 | USA 185 | Turbo Duck | Bodo & Nick von der Wense | 4 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 25 | 77 |
21 | BRA 403 | Bruschetta | Mauricio Santa Cruz | 17 | 23 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 77 |
22 | USA 15 | Junior | Don & Tim Finkle | 22 | 25 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 78 |
23 | USA 174 | Magic Bus | Gregg Mylett | 19 | 2 | 21 | 21 | 16 | 3 | 82 |
24 | USA 151 | Reach Around | Thomas Bowen | 12 | 21 | 2 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 83 |
25 | USA 171 | Running Wild | Peter Vessella | 14 | 12 | 9 | 19 | 12 | 19 | 85 |
26 | USA 26 | Jungleland | Chris and Carolyn Groobey | 15 | 23 | 22 | 5 | 14 | 7 | 86 |
27 | USA 326 | Aquaholiks | Martin Johnsson | 12 | 10 | 42/DSQ | 4 | 13 | 6 | 87 |
28 | USA 99 | Nostalgia | Blake & Lud Kimbrough | 20 | 18 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 22 | 87 |
29 | USA 86 | Stampede | Loring / Pasquinelli | 9 | 26 | 9 | 25 | 8 | 18 | 95 |
30 | USA 035 | Moxie | Cole Allsopp | 19 | 13 | 26 | 8 | 18 | 13 | 97 |
_______________________
Day 1 3 races, 2 heats/race (races course 4, 4 legs and downwind finish), Wind 6-14 knots from the SW, shifty!
With the popularity of the J/70 in the past year and a half the fleet sizes continue to push the limits of many venues including Charleston Harbor for the 2014 Charleston Race Week. The J/70 fleet has grown to almost 80 boats this year and with the limited space the organizers decided to sail the regatta in heats, allowing all the boats to fit on the course. To make the heats, the entire fleet was divided into four colors (groups) and each race was sailed with two separate race starts with two colors sailing in each start. For subsequent races, the colors would rotate allowing each color to sail the others in a round robin format.
Three races, of two heats per race, were sailed on Day 1 in a shifty SW sea breeze. The shifty conditions were challenging enough, but you add 40 competitive boats in each heat and you have a lot of opportunities to pass and be passed. Team Helly Hansen ended the day with a 3rd, 8th and 4th earning our team 5th overall moving into the weekend. While our scores show some consistency, there was nothing consistent about our day. In fact, in Race 2, we were never in 8th place until we crossed the finish line, spending much of the race in the bottom half of the fleet.
When the conditions are such that there are large gains and losses possible on the course, it is important to keep a mentality that you have to do the best you can with the options you are given. Off the starting line in Race 2 we had a bad position and were forced to tack shortly after the start. That clearing tack immediately caused us to be out of phase heading toward the middle of the course. What happened next might seem familiar to almost every sailor; we bounced around the middle trying to find a clear lane on the lifted tack, while boats continually tacked in front of us forcing us to tack away, etc., etc.. We eventually made it to the first mark, but only managed to stay ahead of a handful of boats.
Now what? The good news was, that the whole fleet was tightly packed and there looked to be opportunities to catch groups of boats if we could maintain our focus. We worked hard to minimize the distance we sailed to the next mark, keeping our sailing lanes as clear as possible. That meant trying to stay away from other boats in general, in a position where we could make our own decisions as to where to sail to get the next shift. Often, when there are a large number of boats tightly packed, it can be easy to get caught so close to a group of boats you become trapped by the group and forced to sail in the direction of the group.
With the conditions being so shifty, we thought that if we sailed away from packs, there would eventually be chances to gain as long as we waited for the shifts in our area to work in our favor. Instead of tacking or gybing on every shift, we would sail toward the bigger shifts we could see and let the packs battle for the smaller shifts making more maneuvers. This strategy worked, as we were able to move up in the fleet each leg until finally crossing the finish in 8th place.
Looking back at that race, many of the places we gained during the race were a result of packs of boats slowing each other down, getting in each other’s way and trying to get every little shift (very much like the way we sailed on leg one). After the first mark, we tried to maneuver less and stretch out away from packs of boats whenever possible. Sometimes just settling in, sailing straight and stretching out can be the best tactical move, even in shifty conditions.
Our takeaways from Day 1 are…
1. Do the best you can with options you have
2. Avoid packs of boats for tactical freedom
3. Stretch out and sail straight to help get back into phase
Overall results for all classes: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=968
J/70 Results after day one:
J 70 | ||||||||||
1 | 76 | USA 187 | Catapult | J 70 | Joel Ronning | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
2 | 59 | USA 45 | Wild Child | J 70 | Henry Filter | 6 | 3 | 1 | 10 | |
3 | 85 | USA 179 | Africa | J 70 | Jud Smith | 10 | 1 | 2 | 13 | |
4 | 42 | USA 167 | Kraken | J 70 | Gary Tisdale / Adam Burns | 5 | 6 | 3 | 14 | |
5 | 17 | USA 2 | Helly Hansen | J 70 | Tim Healy | 3 | 8 | 4 | 15 | |
6 | 45 | USA 248 | Scamp | J 70 | Will Welles | 1 | 7 | 10 | 18 | |
7 | 18 | USA 397 | Hot Mess | J 70 | Rob Britts | 3 | 4 | 11 | 18 | |
8 | 46 | USA 364 | School’s Out | J 70 | John Aras | 13 | 5 | 1 | 19 | |
9 | 50 | USA 316 | Superfecta | J 70 | James Barnash | 10 | 2 | 8 | 20 | |
10 | 19 | USA 217 | Joint Custody | J 70 | Jenn & Ray Wulff | 7 | 5 | 8 | 20 | |
11 | 51 | USA 245 | USA 245 | J 70 | Ian Liberty | 5 | 13 | 3 | 21 | |
12 | 54 | CAN 246 | Touch2Play | J 70 | Rob & Sandy Butler | 11 | 7 | 6 | 24 | |
13 | 72 | USA 51 | Black River Racing | J 70 | Doug Strebel | 8 | 9 | 7 | 24 | |
14 | 44 | USA 96 | Savasana | J 70 | Brian Keane | 2 | 20 | 4 | 26 | |
15 | 39 | USA 34 | Perseverance | J 70 | Bennet Greenwald | 8 | 4 | 15 | 27 | |
16 | 55 | USA 185 | Turbo Duck | J 70 | Bodo & Nick von der Wense | 4 | 14 | 13 | 31 | |
17 | 25 | USA 94 | Lifted | J 70 | Jim Cunningham | 6 | 6 | 19 | 31 | |
18 | 53 | USA 159 | Torqeedo | J 70 | Chris Carroll | 2 | 17 | 14 | 33 | |
19 | 41 | USA 151 | Reach Around | J 70 | Thomas Bowen | 12 | 21 | 2 | 35 | |
20 | 43 | USA 171 | Running Wild | J 70 | Peter Vessella | 13 | 12 | 9 | 35 | |
21 | 62 | BER 308 | Elusive | J 70 | Chuck Millican | 9 | 15 | 12 | 36 | |
22 | 29 | USA 174 | Magic Bus | J 70 | Gregg Mylett | 19 | 2 | 21 | 42 | |
23 | 48 | USA 86 | Stampede | J 70 | Loring / Pasquinelli | 9 | 26 | 9 | 44 | |
24 | 82 | USA 11 | Menace | J 70 | Kerry Klingler | 7 | 24 | 14 | 45 | |
25 | 33 | USA 95 | Muse | J 70 | Heather Gregg-Earl / Joe Bardenheier | 4 | 30 | 13 | 47 | |
26 | 80 | BRA 403 | Bruschetta | J 70 | Mauricio Santa Cruz | 17 | 23 | 10 | 50 | |
27 | 36 | USA 68 | Noname | J 70 | Ron Thompson | 21 | 27 | 5 | 53 | |
28 | 26 | USA 97 | Loki | J 70 | Michael Zupon | 16 | 15 | 22 | 53 | |
29 | 28 | USA 62 | Lucky Charm | J 70 | Ken Corsig | 28 | 1 | 24 | 53 | |
30 | 47 | USA 157 | Spring | J 70 | Dave Franzel | 18 | 11 | 24 | 53 | |
31 | 37 | USA 99 | Nostalgia | J 70 | Blake & Lud Kimbrough | 20 | 18 | 16 | 54 | |
32 | 49 | USA 152 | Sundog | J 70 | Kathy Parks | 25 | 25 | 6 | 56 | |
33 | 79 | USA 219 | GetMyBoat | J 70 | Vortex Racing | 33 | 16 | 7 | 56 | |
34 | 35 | USA 335 | Nitemare | J 70 | Amy Neill | 15 | 11 | 31 | 57 | |
35 | 81 | USA 48 | Wicked Witch | J 70 | Larry Landry / Paul McDowell | 13 | 20 | 25 | 58 | |
36 | 31 | USA 035 | Moxie | J 70 | Cole Allsopp | 19 | 13 | 26 | 58 | |
37 | 22 | USA 15 | Junior | J 70 | Don & Tim Finkle | 22 | 25 | 12 | 59 | |
38 | 52 | USA 87 | Tick Tock Croc | J 70 | Richard Nesbett | 18 | 31 | 11 | 60 | |
39 | 27 | USA 46 | Loonatictu | J 70 | R Noel Clinard | 11 | 33 | 16 | 60 | |
40 | 21 | USA 26 | Jungleland | J 70 | Chris and Carolyn Groobey | 15 | 23 | 22 | 60 | |
41 | 73 | USA 37 | Grizzly | J 70 | Charles Bayer | 22 | 10 | 28 | 60 | |
42 | 38 | USA 410 | Perfect Ten | J 70 | Joe & Jeff Pawlowski | 21 | 26 | 15 | 62 | |
43 | 13 | USA 169 | Empeiria | J 70 | John Heaton | 14 | 31 | 17 | 62 | |
44 | 9 | USA 488 | Convexity | J 70 | Donald Wilson | 24 | 22 | 17 | 63 | |
45 | 69 | USA 184 | VLLN | J 70 | Patrick Nichols / Mark Nichols | 16 | 18 | 30 | 64 | |
46 | 74 | USA 238 | Zuni Bear | J 70 | Rich Bergmann | 26 | 9 | 32 | 64 | |
47 | 4 | USA 326 | Aquaholiks | J 70 | Martin Johnsson | 12 | 10 | 42/DSQ | 64 | |
48 | 68 | USA 425 | USA 425 | J 70 | Joe Baggett | 29 | 8 | 29 | 66 | |
49 | 5 | USA 510 | Button Fly | J 70 | Andrew and Melissa Fisher | 23 | 14 | 29 | 66 | |
50 | 10 | USA 369 | Cool Story Bro. | J 70 | John Brigden | 23 | 22 | 23 | 68 | |
51 | 24 | USA 207 | Leading Edge | J 70 | Todd Hiller | 26 | 24/SCP | 19 | 69 | |
52 | 12 | USA 340 | Rimette | J 70 | John Brim | 27 | 19 | 23 | 69 | |
53 | 7 | USA 497 | Chinook | J 70 | Frank McNamara | 17 | 24 | 28 | 69 | |
54 | 86 | USA 420 | E.L.E. | J 70 | Matt Braun | 35 | 17 | 18 | 70 | |
55 | 34 | USA 194 | Napoleon | J 70 | Patrick Byrne | 30 | 16 | 25 | 71 | |
56 | 61 | USA 28 | Misson Impossible | J 70 | David Malkin | 28 | 28 | 18 | 74 | |
57 | 32 | USA 379 | Mummbles | J 70 | Brad Kauffman | 32 | 19 | 27 | 78 | |
58 | 40 | USA 220 | Phoenix | J 70 | Peter Firey | 32 | 21 | 27 | 80 | |
59 | 3 | USA 378 | 378 | J 70 | Jeff Schaefer | 27 | 29 | 26 | 82 | |
60 | 11 | USA 357 | Danger Mouse | J 70 | Kristen Berry | 31 | 32 | 21 | 84 | |
61 | 23 | USA 236 | Layla | J 70 | Tim Gibbs | 20 | 30 | 34 | 84 | |
62 | 1 | USA 390 | 20/20 Racing | J 70 | John Arendshorst | 31 | 36 | 20 | 87 | |
63 | 16 | USA 100 | Gemini | J 70 | Blane Shea | 34 | 34 | 20 | 88 | |
64 | 56 | USA 168 | USA 168 | J 70 | Marty McKenna | 30 | 27 | 31 | 88 | |
65 | 30 | USA 199 | Mojito | J 70 | Catharine Evans | 25 | 32 | 32 | 89 | |
66 | 65 | USA 36 | Taipan SB | J 70 | Lloyd Karzen | 24 | 34 | 36 | 94 | |
67 | 67 | USA 388 | US 388 | J 70 | Jack Neades | 33 | 33 | 30 | 96 | |
68 | 6 | USA 358 | Bucephalus | J 70 | Andrea Krasinski | 29 | 35 | 33 | 97 | |
69 | 66 | USA 367 | US 367 | J 70 | Tiller Halfhill | 34 | 29 | 34 | 97 | |
70 | 75 | CAN 361 | emiLee | J 70 | Hadrian Corning | 37 | 28 | 35 | 100 | |
71 | 64 | USA 392 | Slinky | J 70 | Scott Bursor | 35 | 35 | 33 | 103 | |
72 | 2 | USA 91 | Carlos | J 70 | Vinnie Pattavina | 36 | 37 | 36 | 109 | |
73 | 60 | USA 382 | Zombie | J 70 | Kristen Robinson | 39 | 36 | 35 | 110 | |
74 | 14 | USA 204 | Eowyn | J 70 | Peter Winkelstein | 36 | 37 | 37 | 110 | |
75 | 58 | USA 345 | White Rabbit | J 70 | Steve Kiemele | 38 | 38 | 38 | 114 |
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