By Airwaves Writer Tyler Colvin. Any chance I get to escape the weather in New England I typically take, so when I got the call to crew on a boat for the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Butler Cup (Grade 3) I didn’t hesitate. The event, running November 15-16 out of Long Beach Yacht Club, is named in honor of Frank Butler, designer of the Catalina 37 and president of Catalina Yachts. Frank donated a fleet of 11 boats to the Long Beach Sailing Foundation who continues to maintain and repair these boats two decades later. Also used for the Congressional Cup, the longest running match race in North America, the Catalina 37s have been sailed by world-class sailors since their inception.
Final Results here
My first time sailing the boat would also be with a crew I largely had never met. Skipper Shane Young, Long Beach Match Race Team member and former Cal State Long Beach Sailing Team standout had the helm with the assist from tactician Steve Flam. Main trim was another LBMR Team member Max Moosmann, with John Hill (former CSULB Sailing Team skipper) at primary trim and myself at offside trim. In the pit was Chase Young (brother of Shane) and on the bow was LBMR Team member Ben Wheatley.
Saturday morning dawned with a mild 4-6 knot southerly that built slowly throughout the day. We motored out of the harbor and towards the Long Beach Pier (same venue as Congressional Cup) to get some practice in before our first match. Format was a double round robin, meaning 58 races in two days, which, in the current wind conditions, was a formidable task for the race committee.
After a first race mishap in the pre-start against Justin Law (2014 Hinman Trophy winner), it was apparent we were out of sync. A late entry to the box and sloppy boat handling handed Law leverage that they maintained for the rest of the race. As the breeze built and our communication increased, so did our pre-start maneuvers, speed and decision making. Our first loss would also prove to be our last as we finished up the day at 6-1 with key wins over Bill Durant and Dave Hood.
Day 2 brought screaming Santa Ana winds that blew all hopes of an early start out the window with gusts upwards of 25 knots (above the Catalina 37 wind range, as specified by the Long Beach Sailing Foundation). After a brief meeting we sat on land until noon, hoping that by then the land breeze would have switched to a sea breeze with more manageable wind speeds. Due to the loss of time on the course, the race committee amended the sailing instructions to reflect a Day 2 format of semis and finals for the top four teams (first to 2 points) and a single round robin for the bottom four teams.
Out in the harbor the course was set further out than Saturday to take advantage of as much breeze as could possibly fill. As luck would have it, our semi-final match up was with Law, a revenge match of our only loss of the weekend. Taking advantage of our starboard entry, we forced an early penalty and started clear ahead, leading by several boat lengths at the first mark. A spinnaker mishap and some ill-timed jibes saw that lead squandered and by the final run Law had a good-sized lead. Luckily for us a combination of a poorly timed penalty turn and failing to completely exonerate gave us a late victory in match one.
Match two was light and shifty with Law yet again winning the start. We stayed close and made our move on the last run pulling off a clean hoist and jibe to new breeze. Letting us split to course left, Law and company parked themselves in a massive hole on the (course) right while we marched on into the finish. Just like that we were on to the finals. “No worse than second overall!” joked Ben.
Unfortunately, this was about the time that the wind decided it had had enough and quit entirely for the day; nothing but random puffs scattered across an otherwise glassy bay. Without a full set for the top four boats, the medal rankings came down to the previous day scores. Both our boat (Young) and Durant had 6 points, but with the tiebreaker we scored first overall and winners of the 2014 Butler Cup.
The Butler Cup Race Committee deserves ample recognition for the job they did pulling off the first round robin on Saturday in less than ideal conditions. They were quick to adapt to the situation and their quick thinking allowed all 28 of the first days races to be completed. Additionally a thank you to the other skippers and their respective crews, Bill Durant, Dave Hood, Justin Law, Wendy Corzine, Sandy Hayes, Lisa Meier and Stephen Ashley, for making the event competitive and fun.
Full results can be seen here or on the Long Beach Yacht Club website. Thanks to the LBYC for facilitating this event and the Long Beach Sailing Foundation for providing the boats.
Blog
Team Training Practice Sessions: Making the Most of Your Time!
By Andrew Kerr
As we know, practice is a critical element in any sport and yet time is seemingly becoming more and more limited as people juggle with the demands of modern life!
Here are some ideas on practice elements & content that can make the most of this limited time. In this article we look at practice sessions both fully crewed, short handed and how evening/ beer can races can be utilized for training as well. For the vast majority of teams there is the need to incorporate a new crew member as very few of us are lucky to have the same team at every event. These practice sessions can help integrate that new crew member into the teams system and subsequently help get the team up to speed in a shorter period of time.
A big thing to key in on is practicing a lot of time and distance work; pick a marker and see how long it takes to accelerate to get there and do this over and over again. This will really help with consistency on the starting line and help avoid the issues of being very early to the line being forced to either run the line, luff, or late and in bad air. The great thing about this acceleration practice is you can do it shorthanded. Even if your team can only practice a couple of these drills or has time to incorporate one element ( a beer can race as a practice for instance) you will see the value both in more consistent sailing and general team comfort level with boat handling. The following are thoughts that might help you maximize your time and effort:
- Practice weekends & after work/ evening sessions (with daylight savings time), or well before the race starts – fully crewed.
- Either set a starting line or find two marks and line them up with an available upwind mark that is less than a quarter mile away.
- Do a 10 minute rolling clock with a practice start at 5 minutes and then a race at zero – race up to the windward mark and then finish downwind by rounding either the RC end to port or the pin end to starboard with a spinnaker take-down and a tactical rounding up to close-hauled.
- Try all sorts of starting approaches increasing your repertoire: port tack approach, starboard tack approach, full speed approach, hang back approach etc. And really work on time and distance and acceleration and holding position.
- Constantly evaluate lay lines to the starting line and to your upwind and downwind mark so that you start to internalize the angles in different conditions.
The more approaches you develop the less predictable you are to your competitors. If another team would like to come out and join in, it would be very beneficial for boat to boat tactics and mark rounding’s and advantageous to both teams. It is more fun too!!
This system gets two starts in a race and also simulated practice with gate marks and leeward mark rounding’s. Some additional team skills to build on are:
- Roll tacking and roll jibing – particularly before the start in light air for max power & speed. Lots of tacks in general, with critique of speed loss & speed build after each one. Take time to really work on the perfect time to release the Jib sheet and steering smoothly through out the turn.
- Simulated late (opportunistic) gate mark selection with the pole down & stored and the chute free flying with the jib up.
- Coming in to the leeward mark on starboard tack and executing a pole down, jibe, chute down and tactical rounding. All types of takedowns and roundings.
- “Thin Building” on the starting line – i.e.: holding position about three lengths off the line, maintaining a good gap to leeward and then accelerating accordingly to top speed.
- If you need to slow down and hold position – try easing the vang to dump the wind off the leech and then re trimming it as the boat gets going. This is particularly effective when it is windy as there is a lot of vang on and even with the mainsail eased out the tight vang will drive the boat side way’s and forward.
- Practice weather mark roundings so that in a breeze you dive down hard and pin out competitors ahead from jibing and in light air you assume the correct angle immediately with the spin trimmer talking pressure on the sheet immediately. Conversely, in light air that you round and stay high enough to maintain pressure on the spinnaker sheet and keep the boat going fast exiting the mark. A good trick is to have the mast person ease the vang an inch or two before the weather mark – this will help the boat bear off more easily and also help the mainsail leech assume the correct shape (top baton parallel to the boom) immediately.
- Practice staying within the lay lines to the starting line and building a team awareness of where the safe starboard tack lay line to the RC and Pin end is.
- A rudderless drill with the team – hold the tiller in the center or tie off and have the team sail the boat with sail trim and weight placement. Try doing a rudderless downwind leg – either hold the tiller in the center or tie it off and do a series of jibes with the spinnaker up. Typically after this drill the skipper will use less rudder on the jibes and the crew will be more in tune with steering the boat with there weight. A great challenge for the team is to see if you can do a start without using the rudder! This exercise is great for team understanding of roll tacking and jibing and helps the trimmers a lot with understanding the dynamics of starts and leeward and windward mark roundings as well as overall boat balance.
- In light to medium air – with a symmetric spinnaker – jibing without the pole numerous times to get the spinnaker rotation perfected, with an A sail – jibing the mainsail before the A sail to keep the spinnaker filled longer.
- On the light air sessions a good one to really go at is reach to reach jibe practice – making sure there is sufficient pressure on the spinnaker to be able to get the spinnaker around the head stay for an A sail – with the crew rolling the boat – or properly rotated on a symmetric sail. A team can never get too good at this! It’s a challenge to keep the spinnaker flying on a light air reach to reach jibe so lots of practice needed. If not enough pressure on the spinnaker – head up and get the pressure before jibing. This is really important, if the team tries to jibe the spinnaker in light air with insufficient pressure on the sheet then it is sure to collapse. A good thing to practice is the dialogue before the jibe – the skipper asking the trimmer how the pressure is and getting a confirmation back on if it is sufficient or not.
- Heeling to weather downwind to rock the shoulder of the spinnaker away from the mainsail and to induce a little lee helm to encourage the boat to bear away in the puffs. Try moving crew members from side to side to balance the helm perfectly and try to encourage the crew to sit as low as possible and to the sides of the boat to dampen the rolling of the boat and to maximize the helms visibility.
- Man over board drill both going upwind and also down wind with the spinnaker up – excellent for seamanship, team awareness and practicing maneuvers.
- A great one to try later on in lighter air is a silent practice – a start, upwind & downwind leg and a leeward mark rounding – this is great for team anticipation skills. The only communication allowed is for safety related reasons. My wife Stephanie tells me this silent practice was an instrumental element of their team (America 3) training for the 1995 America’s Cup.
- Continue the starts and races until the team is tiring out and then head in and debrief by having each team member talk about their position and what they need to improve on for next time. While this debrief session is going on it is good to have a person jotting down notes on a Wet Notes book for future reference.
Ideas for after work during evening session with a skeleton crew (shorthanded):
For this session it’s good to focus on starts, & windward & leeward mark rounding’s with no spinnaker. You could have a shorthanded crew (bare minimum) and this proves to be a great opportunity to do numerous starts with a rolling clock and focusing on time and distance, acceleration speed building and slowing down and holding position. Get in as many in as you can.
For Leeward Mark Roundings:
Try to do as many leeward mark roundings as possible and critique each one practicing all approaches; on port, on starboard, having to jibe & round simultaneously and starboard approach with a jibe drop (Jib up, pole down, jibe, chute down), then the tactical mark rounding. Really work on the jib being perfectly trimmed to every point of sail and the crew moving to leeward in light air and pressing on the leeward rail to help the rounding. On the jibe rounding the tricky element is to perfectly trim the mainsail in a jibe and do a great rounding. Do this repeatedly with no spinnaker. There are big gains to be made by executing this well. This is also a really good opportunity to practice pinching up (or “check luffing”) to use the VMG gained by the leeward mark rounding to translate in to pointing and a resultant clearer lane from the boat who just rounded ahead. Any helm will tell you that it is critical to have everyone hiking super hard out of the rounding so that the team can maintain a high, clear air lane out of the mark. Really work on this and the orchestration of the timing of the spinnaker take down.
Time & Distance:
Now lets try some time & distance work; find a marker and see how long it takes from a slow position to sheet in, accelerate, and reach the marker. Try this over and over again and it will help a lot with time and distance. In my experience coaching, this proves to be invaluable to nailing their starts, particularly early in the season.
Spare weekends (if any!): find a tuning partner for races & regatta’s
Any combo of the above would be valuable practice (sequenced from prior practices) on non race days. For regattas it is very beneficial to get another team ( if available) to be a tuning partner. Go upwind with them for 5 to 10 minutes before the start and fine tune the set up.
If the other team is faster ask yourself why? Check the critical settings: Jib halyard tension, forestay sag, mainsheet tension, jib lead position, jib sheet tension and what “mode” of sailing they are in? (“Point mode”, ‘Fast forward mode”). Once you have made your adjustments go upwind with them again and see how you go with them with the new settings. Now how are you doing?
A great part of practice with your tuning partner will be going upwind on opposite tacks before the start (or in practice) for 5 minutes or more, then tack back and converge to see who crosses first. This will give you an idea of the initial shift and the initial favored side of the course. I have found the above very helpful when traveling to new venues and attempting to counter the advantage of local knowledge going into the event.
Make sure to write it all down and to review and share any onboard camera footage as well as pictures taken of the team sailing.
After each regatta, and race and practice session, record in your Wet Notes book what went well and what needs to be practiced for the next team session. These notes are best recorded right away when everything is fresh during the sail in, at the dock, or at the yacht club after the race. It is quite revealing to review these notes particularly; wind patterns, geographic effects, and the effect a frontal system may have had on the course. This also highlights intuitive tactical moves that worked at the venue!
The tactical mind and the chess game:
On the drive to the event I have found it really good to review these notes and also go over hypothetical tactical and strategic situations with other team members. An example of this would be: “Ok, starboard end of the line is favored by 7 degrees on a long starting line with 50 plus boats. The I flag is in effect and the race course looks even velocity wise. What do you think we should do?” This gets the discussion going, gets people visualizing situations, and gets the team together on almost “scripting” the plays.
Beer can race and have fun!
This is a great opportunity to try some things; starting approaches, jibe drops, etc., that you may employ in the regatta format or for bigger events on your schedule. This is also an excellent time to train a new crew member and integrate them in to your team’s system as well as introduce them to the local fleet. Take the time to teach and coach, and make it fun. Very often new crew members are also potential new owners and fleet members. Over the years I have seen teams take on a new person who really enjoys sailing in the class and then later proceed to buy a boat and participate in the fleet.
A big thing to be aware of is the tendency to want to practice moves the team has already mastered. I have experienced this in the past and it doesn’t help the team grow their skill. To counter this trap, make a note of weaknesses at a prior event, and put them front and center in the session. Focus on the “chinks”, for example: If there is a tendency to get up to the line early and be slow at the start, focus on time and distance and acceleration.
A nice aspect of a post practice session debrief is to have a nice social time as a crew. This makes the whole event more enjoyable for everyone. Making it fun keeps people coming back for more. A good sense of humor keeps it light and everyone looking forward to more sailing! Being part of a team that practices, tunes, and is consistently improving, whether at the local, regional, or national level, is a really enjoyable experience for all involved.
Best of luck in your next regatta!
Whitecap Composites: New Kids on the Block
Sail1Design would like to welcome our newest team member and sponsor, Whitecap Composites!
By Airwaves Writer Tyler Colvin
On a grey New England day I pulled around the corner of yet another non-descript warehouse building to discover a rack of hulls and plugs and an assortment of familiar bumper stickers. I had arrived at Whitecap Composites, in Peabody, Massachusetts, for a tour and to see what these guys were all about. Partners Ben Parker and Paul Zimmerman have created buzz about their little shop in recent years with their ability to turn out extremely high quality, durable boats for organizations and individuals.
Stepping through the door I was greeted by the familiar fiberglass and resin smell of a boat shop, reggaeton cutting through the hum of a pump and buzz of grinders. Ben came out to meet me with a smile and a handshake, very excited to show someone their operation. We walked through the assembly area, which consisted of boats in several stages of completion, and he explained the process that makes them unique from the slew of dinghy shops in the Northeast. “We take large boat construction and apply it to the dinghy. These are built like a real boat,” explained Ben, “everything about the construction process is repeatable and consistent.”
What Ben was referring to is the construction process they have been using since their shop opened back in 2011. In dinghy construction, there is usually a trade off between weight and durability. Fiberglass is laid up with resin by hand, cured, popped from the mold and put together. Not at Whitecap. Using structural fiberglass around a thin foam core combined with a vacuum bag infusion of resin, they are able to balance weight and stiffness, and are ensured a consistent product and create a bulletproof hull.
“Would you ever take a sledgehammer to one of your boats?” asked Ben, “well you can take one to ours.” He proceeded to tell me a recent story of some Kings Point guys who came up to see the shop and process, were asked the same question and then given a sledgehammer to test it out. Long story short, the sledgehammer lost.
The amount of pride that Ben and Paul put in their work is very apparent from their enthusiasm about the fleets they are building, new projects coming in to them and the thought of expanding. “We are unique in that we are responsive. We are available to our customers,” said Paul. “You see him and I? He is production, I am sales. If someone needs to ask a question on the phone, I cover the mouthpiece and ask him. Eliminates the need to go from department to department.”
Whitecap Composites has worked in conjunction with several college teams, one-design classes and individuals in the past four years. They have built 75 boats that are sitting on MIT’s docks, including the new Turbo FJ, which were purchased by both MIT and Northeastern University. Other schools are ordering from Whitecap as well, recently Christopher Newport University took delivery of 18 Turbo 420s. Eckerd is awaiting a shipment of FJs and 420s from Whitecap and Tufts has a new fleet of Larks in the works as well. Outside the college world they have also produced several other boats on a sub-contract basis, including the custom wakeless coach boats for Community Rowing in Boston and are working with the Comet class to revitalize.
Ben and Paul pride themselves on quality and the ability to accommodate their clients. “Our boats don’t come off the water during your season,” Ben commented, “we value quality over quantity.” Whether it is for a collegiate fleet or a custom build, they want you to feel involved in the process and help you get exactly what you want.
We would like again to give Whitecap Composites a warm welcome to the Sail1Design family as our newest team member. Feel free to stop over to their shop in Peabody to check them out, or just call Ben or Paul, they are sitting ten feet from each other, so if one doesn’t know the answer to your question, chances are the other does.
Meet the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider – Caleb Paine
By Airwaves writer Martha Pitt
Approaching his 24th birthday this week, Caleb Paine is one of the bright young members of the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider on the hunt to win a medal for the US Team at the Rio Games in 2016. Since 2010, he has been sailing the Finn in the ISAF Sailing World Cup circuit full time working towards his goal, and he has certainly been making strides towards that goal! Currently ranked 1st in the country and 5th in the world, Caleb’s notable finishes this year include 1st at Finn North Americans, 5th at Sailing World Cup Hyeres, and an impressive 7th place finish at the ISAF Sailing World Championship in Santander.
Caleb has been sailing his entire life, and starting racing in the Sabot at age 7 in San Diego. By the time he was 12 years old, he was 6 feet tall and weighed 145lbs – a bit too large for the Sabot! He then transitioned to the Laser Radial and later to the Laser Full Rig at 15, quickly becoming one of the top junior Laser sailors in the country. He also sailed on his high school team at Point Loma High School, and became captain his senior year. Around this same time, Caleb started sailing the Finn. After graduating high school with a dream of winning an Olympic gold medal, Caleb decided to put school on hold and pursue his goal. In the spring of 2009, he bought himself a Finn and began training and competing full time. He joined the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider in 2011 and has since been climbing the World rankings in preparation toward his Olympic goal.
Read some more about Caleb, his campaign, and his journey below, and be sure to follow him at http://www.medalinrio.com/, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/medalinrio.
And be sure to follow the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider at http://ussailingteam.uberflip.com/h/!
S1D: When did you start sailing, and what kind of boats did you learn on?
CP: Sailing has always been a part of my life. My parents have pictures of me at 2 weeks old falling asleep in the gangway on my dad’s boat. He would suspend me in the backpack and it would swing around with the sea until I fell asleep. The first time I ever sailed on my own was in a Sabot at Mission Bay Yacht Club.
S1D: What got you into sailboat racing?
CP: I have always been competitive and once I realized I could combine that with sailing I started to race.
S1D: How long have you been sailing the Finn?
CP: I have been Finn sailing for 5 years now. I started in 2009 with my first event and first time traveling overseas being Kiel, followed by the world championships shortly after, I placed 56th.
S1D: Who are your favorite teams to sailing against?
CP: The British.
S1D: What is your game plan for the next 2 years leading up to Rio?
CP: To really refine my equipment and spend time sailing down in Rio. The conditions vary greatly from sailing in the bay to the conditions in the ocean. The Finns will be sailing in both so I’ll need lots of training time in each.
S1D: Which events are you most looking forward to in the next year?
CP: The Rio Test event in August and the Finn Gold Cup in New Zealand.
S1D: What advice would you give other sailors who are interested in Olympic sailing?
CP: It is an amazing journey where you meet great people and make lifelong friends. In terms of competition you couldn’t ask for anything more difficult, which I love!
S1D: What does it mean to you to be on the US Sailing Team?
CP: Being on the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider means you are the best US sailor in your class. Being the best person at something amongst 319 million people is pretty sweet.
S1D: What are some of your favorite things about being on the team?
CP: Being a part of a team that succeeds together is a great feeling.
S1D: What has been the most challenging aspect about campaigning and/or your campaign?
CP: Money has always been an issue for me. It took me 5 years for me to get a new mast and boat made to my specifications.
S1D: How would you describe your relationship with other athletes on the team?
CP: I have known most of the athletes on the team for a while now and I would consider them all to be great sailors as well as people. I have a lot to learn from my fellow team members and look forward to working more with them the closer we get to Rio.
S1D: Who have been the most influential people in your sailing career?
CP: I would have to say my dad Doug Paine, who sailed singlehanded to Hawaii on a 25 foot boat.
S1D: What has been your favorite place to sail in international competition? Least favorite?
CP: San Francisco will always be my favorite, but a close second would be Santander where the past ISAF Worlds were held. Don’t have a least favorite, just a place I haven’t fully figured out.
S1D: Similarly, what has been your favorite place to travel to or visit?
CP: Tallinn, Estonia one must go to understand the beauty and culture of such a cool little place tucked away in the Northeast corner of Europe.
S1D: Do you have any rituals or superstitions relating to your sailing?
CP: Nope my fate is in my own hands.
S1D: Does your boat have a name?
CP: Yep, it’s a secret.
S1D: What do you like to do when you aren’t sailing the Finn, like for fun or to cross-train?
CP: I don’t know if you can consider it cross training but skeet and trap shooting.
S1D: If there was one thing that you would like the readers of this article to know about you, what would it be?
CP: I have always had the dream to sail in the Volvo Ocean Race.
S1D: If you were to reincarnate as an animal, what do you think it would be and why?
CP: An otter, they love the water, eat and play all day.
2015 Team Race Midwinters Preview
By Airwaves Writer Clinton Hayes
For almost 2 decades team racing enthusiasts made the annual pilgrimage to Florida over New Years for Vanguard 15 Midwinters. That event and its host, usually Jensen Beach, were special in so many ways, but for better or for worse, it is no more. The current climate of team racing seems to demand provided boat events, (see recent our article on Provided Boats) so in steps Eckerd College. Eckerd now has the 2nd event on the growing dinghy team racing circuit, the other being the Free State Team Race in Annapolis, MD.
If you were lucky enough to attend a V15 midwinters you undoubtedly had a great time. Tight competitive racing during the day gives way to often rowdy, nighttime fun. Whatever your expectations are for this event, Eckerd has you covered. As a Nationally ranked college team, their boats and venue are top notch. Sailing takes place just off Eckerd’s campus beach were you’ll sit between races. Being in a protected bay, the water is generally flat with a little chop if the wind picks up. Manatee sightings are common near the mangroves that surround parts of the bay and line the narrow waterway you sail out of between the boathouse and the racing area. Racing will be in Eckerd’s fleet of FJs as well as Zim 15s, the boat currently sailed at the US Team Racing Championships. Expect coaches Kevin and Zack to have everything in order for a nice efficient event. As long as the wind cooperates, which it usually does during the winter in Florida, there will be plenty of racing.
For Competitors missing the Four Fish Inn in Jensen Beach(does that bring back some memories!) the regatta hotel for this event, Postcard Inn, seems like a worthy substitute. Its location right on the Gulf of Mexico on St.Pete Beach will provide no shortage of fun. They are hosting a full New Year’s Eve party with a live band and bon fire on the beach. How else would you want to ring in the New Year with all your best sailing friends? The next night they are hosting a dinner for all regatta competitors. I’m told if enough people register and stay at the hotel they are going to do a pig roast on the beach!
There are a number of teams already registered. A couple of college teams looking to get a jump-start on the team racing season and some veterans coming back for more. This 1st annual event is not to be missed. Make your plans now to drive or fly into the Tampa area. If you need help finding a team or are looking for someone to fill out a team post on the Facebook event page, 2015 Midwinter Team Race
https://www.facebook.com/events/1557696367794320/?ref=br_tf . I guarantee you’ll make many new friends and great memories, just as it’s always been.
Rounding the Windward and Offset Mark with a Symmetrical Spinnaker
By Andrew Kerr
This article takes a look at the important elements of rounding the windward mark and offset mark with some key elements in mind for teams using a symmetrical spinnakers, with a few exceptions the vast majority of the elements that we explore apply to Asymmetric boats well. In this article we will look at the boat handling skills a team needs to practice & develop, in a future article we will look at tactics we can use at these marks. Even if your team does not anticipate sailing with an offset mark a great deal, the vast majority of the information below will help your team be smoother at the windward mark rounding.
Approaching the windward mark
- Hike hard coming in to the mark so the boat is flat and fast!
- When the bow person sets the pole, hike especially hard and if possible pull the pole topping lift up from the hiking position
- If it is a long sail to the offset mark then delay setting the pole until you have rounded the windward mark to minimize disruption – particularly in heavy or very light conditions – the caveat to this is if you can set the spinnaker between the marks.
- Ease the vang a couple of inches (be sure to re-cleat it!) to the preset downwind mark to help preset the mainsail leech tension for downwind sailing and also to help the boat bear away by opening the mainsail leech.
- The headsail trimmer really wants to focus on perfect trim of the sail and not be distracted – particularly important if sailing in dirty air from another boat or getting lifted into the mark requiring the Jib to be eased for max speed.
- Top skippers keep the boat going fast at all times – keep the boat rolling and be sure not to pinch too much , have the crew keep calling out waves and puffs all the way into the mark so you can be anticipating the elements. This is a chance to extend on boats behind you and catch boats ahead, boat length by boat length.
- Don’t pinch – if on a tight lay line to the mark – take the mark out of the picture and go fast, the lift off the foils will very often give the team the added pointing it needs. It’s all too common for a team to pinch too much initially and not make the mark anyway.
Between the windward mark and the offset mark – sail fast!!
As a coach I observe and video tape a lot of races and one of the common threads is the gains and losses for teams when sailing between the marks – particularly in the extremes of conditions – very light or heavy air.
Key elements for sailing fast between the marks:
- Trimming the sails well – keep the headsail tell tales flowing – this does mean easing it and when it is time to set on smaller boats the trimmer can grab the clew of the sail and pull it inboard to facilitate the spinnaker going up smoothly and not getting trapped between the leech of the Genoa and the boom and helps the foot of the sail pre feed easier.
- On boats with skirt lines attached to the foot of the genoa (like a J24) the bow person skirts the foot of the sail inboard of the lifelines to help with the pre feed of the spinnaker foot.
- Particularly when it is breezy – sail the boat flat and not allowing excessive heel.
- When it is light – minimizing movement and being smooth will maintain momentum and speed.
- Determine how much pre feed on the spinnaker foot you want – if it is light then gently feed the foot out so that it doesn’t disrupt the headsail, if it is breezy then you may want to delay until the boat is around the offset mark and flat and pointed downwind so that the foot of the sail does not get out of control. In medium conditions you likely will be able to pre feed most of the way but be careful of the sail touching the offset mark or a leeward boat.
- Take an opportunity in light/ moderate conditions to ease the Cunningham (if on at all) all the way off and the outhaul to the eased setting for downwind sailing.
- The bow person can point to the offset mark to help the skipper gauge where it is as well as the middle looking to leeward helping keep track of it.
Setting the spinnaker between the marks
With the wind veering to the right and your team getting lifted on starboard tack going into the mark there may be an opportunity to set between the marks, here is a check list for this:
- Make sure you get a good visual on where the offset mark is – it is easy to lose sight of it when pre feeding the spinnaker, the bow person ( as mentioned earlier) or trimmer or tactician can help point out where it is and if possible the skipper needs to get themselves in a good place for them to see it. One helpful trick is if you are approaching the windward mark on port tack is to have the skipper take a quick glance at the angle and distance of the offset mark in relationship to the windward mark so that if they have to tack at the windward mark they have a good idea where the heading of the bow has to go immediately once the tack is completed.
- If there is a boat to leeward of you and slightly ahead of you (preventing you from bearing away)- head high and then bear away and go behind them – this will give you the ability to set and get inside and be able to jibe at the offset – you don’t want to be pinned outside them. In this situation the likelihood is that the team will need to jibe to port quickly with a right shift to get in phase with the wind – current and wind shadows and other strategic needs notwithstanding.
- Be sure that the leeward twing is all the way off and the windward twing all the way on.
- Caution – if the twing line is too long it can scoop the offset mark – has them long enough but not too long!
- Pull the guy back so that the pole is at least 9 inches to almost a foot off the forestay – the guy will stretch this much at least on a reach when the spinnaker fills.
- Luff the spinnaker if necessary to get the spinnaker halyard all the way to the top and then sheet in.
- If breezy – delay pulling the Jib down to keep the weight on the high side until the boat has flattened out. In this instance if you have the spinnaker and Genoa up at the same time be sure to keep the Jib sheet well eased to allow the spinnaker to fly – if it is slightly over trimmed the sails forms a vacuum of stall and collapses the spinnaker.
- When bearing off at the offset mark ease the spinnaker sheet first and that will make squaring the pole much faster and easier, sounds simple but a lot of teams have difficulty squaring the boat back smoothly – particularly on bigger boats or when it is windier.
Rounding the offset Mark
Look to round the mark tactically if at all possible – aim half to three quarters of a length to windward of the mark and then smoothly turn down while giving the main a good and fluid ease, the goal is to minimize the loss of the turn, very often teams button hook turn around the mark and end up losing a lot of speed and also end up way wide with other teams getting inside them.
- Backstay off as soon as you can and when possible organize the Main traveler so it is centered, assuming the mainsheet is long enough.
- As soon as you possibly can make sure you have a crew member looking back for velocity and the angles of other boats – gets this dialogue going as fast as possible – this is critical.
Hoisting the spinnaker in light air at the offset mark
Be sure to keep the pole forward as the apparent wind is well forward – slightly over trim the spinnaker sheet and when the boat speed and apparent wind angles start to get closer together then slowly start to bring the pole aft. Pulling the pole aft prematurely in light air is a common mistake and will collapse the spinnaker every time, watch for this, particularly with a new trimmer or fill in crew member.
It’s all in the details
- Put a series of marks ( or with tape on the solid part if you have a solid vang) on the vang so you know how much to ease it to set the mainsail
- Leech tension with the top baton parallel, or more open if in planning mode to the boom once you are downwind
- Mark the topping lift so that the pole is set to the correct height
- Mark the spinnaker halyard so you know when it is fully hoisted
- Do a practice bear away set and mark the spinnaker sheet & cleat it when the pole is squared and the sail full. This pre set mark will allow you to focus on pulling back the guy on the set and free a hand up with the spinnaker filling nicely.
Conclusion
All the above is well worth practicing – there are good gains to be had here for your team and over the course of a series the points gained will add up.
In a future article we will examine some tactics your team can use at the windward and offset mark.
Good sailing!
