I would like to buy a used Albacore that has all the gear and has a history of being a competitive winning boat for my grand daughter. Ken
Blog
Ken Legler: How Dinghy Crews Win Team Races
Presented by Mauri Pro Sailing
Skippers are generally considered to be the bigger factor in executing team racing moves and certainly skippers need to know the plays to win. However, as the competitive level of dinghy team racing has improved in college sailing in the last ten years, crews have taken a far more important role in determining the outcome of many team races. This has become especially true with the “N” course that emphasizes the run leg. Because the skippers of both teams know the plays at high levels, it is the crew’s ability to execute those plays faster than the opponents that often determine outcomes. Here’s how:
Skippers control the back of the boat including tiller, mainsheet and their share of the weight transfers and weight placement. Meanwhile crews control the front end with jib trim and weight. Whenever a dinghy is down speed, the crew has greater control over steering with jib trim and weight placement. The slower the boat is going the more the crew is steering, and in team racing the boat is often going slow in order to hook, or not get hooked by, the other boat. This is most important pre-start, on the run, and in mark roundings.
Just before the start combatants try to hook their opponent and start close aboard to leeward. This is most often done by coming from behind and passing to leeward with more speed than the other boat. The boat ahead tries to prevent this by speeding up just before getting hooked. To do this crews trim jib and shift weight to windward. The weight shift kicks the bow down (action-reaction as the crew is forward of the boat’s pivot point centerboard). If the crew waits to hear the skipper command “Trim and weight up,” it’s too late and the boat is hooked to leeward by the boat that came from behind. If, however, the crew is watching the boat behind and responds timely to the threat of being hooked, the boat ahead can successfully stay ahead and ultimately be the leeward boat close aboard when heading up to start. If the crew is really timely at this, the skipper can bait the boat behind into trying until it is too late for any alternative. This process is called “fishing,” a term coined by former World TR champions Tim Fallon/Karen Renzulli of WHishbone.
Downwind is where the champion dinghy team racing crews are really separated from the passengers. The game is the win the other boat’s left. Here’s the basic scenario: Two boats are running on starboard, one right behind the other. The boat behind jibes to port to get to the left of the other. The boat ahead jibes to defend but, the jibe is a tiny bit late, opening up a slight gap. The first boat jibes back to starboard shouting “Starboard.” The port boat is already in big trouble. Why was the defending jibe a bit late? Because the crew waited for the skipper to say “Ready to jibe” or for the short version “Jibing.” Same scenario except that the crew of the leading boat sees the boat behind jibe to port (to their left side) and initiates their own jibe to port via weight transfer to starboard. Now the boat behind cannot jibe back to starboard as there is clearly not enough room to do so. They are stuck on port as windward boat and just far enough behind still such that the leeward port boat has clear air.
Then there’s mark roundings. Crews initiate turns in conjunction with the skipper’s rudder to minimize rudder braking. Crews also stop the turns with weight. Crews trim the jib slightly behind the main trim at the leeward mark as the swinging bow sees a more lifted apparent wind than the sliding stern. Crews trim harder when there is the need to pinch and release the jib when there is need to shoot a mark. At windward marks, crew bear off with weight to windward and stop bearing of with weight to leeward. And, as mentioned earlier, crews initiate jibes, a most critical maneuver in team racing on the “N.”
The crew has the role of speed merchant and observation master in between maneuvers but those are the subjects of other articles.
By Ken Legler, Tufts Sailing Coach. Check out Ken’s web page: http://kenleglersailing.com/
© Copyright Sail1Design 2011. All rights reserved. Not to be re-printed without express written permission of Sail1Design & Airwaves®
BFD
“Is it possible you are advocating being OCS provided you’re not caught?” No.
Sail Auckland 2011 (Olympic Classes Regatta) Final Results
This page reprinted from www.yachting.org.nz
Final Results – top three
See www.sailauckland.org for full results
Laser top three
1st Andrew Murdoch NZL
2nd Mike Bullot NZL
3rd Tom Burton AUS
Laser Radial top three
1st Sara Winther NZL
2nd Michael Cate NZL
3rd Nicholas Croft NZL
470 top three
1st Nick Rogers & Chris Grube GBR
2nd Jo Aleh & Olivia Powrie NZL
3rd Paul Snow-Hansen & Jason Saunders NZL
Finn top three
1st Dan Slater NZL
2nd Rafael Trujillo Villar ESP
3rd Matt Coutts NZL
RS:X Men top three
1st Tom Ashley NZL
2nd Dorian van Rijsselberge NED
3rd Jon-Paul Tobin NZL
RS:X Women top three
1st Kate Ellingham NZL
2nd Justina Sellers NZL
3rd Jazmine Lynch NZL
49er top three
1st Marcus Hansen & Aaron Hume-Merry NZL
2nd Chris Burgess & Rowan Swanson NZL
3rd Kagan Weeks & Jake Weeks NZL
2.4 metre top three
1st Michael Leydon AUS
2nd Megan Pascoe GBR
3rd Paul Francis NZL
SKUD18
1st Wei Qiang Tan Jovin & Desiree Lim SIN
2nd Annabelle Tye & Andrew May NZL
3rd Tim Dempsey & Jan Apel NZL
RS:X 8.5 top three
1st Sven Pedersen NZL
2nd Enzo Pla FRA
3rd Kal Rutter NZL
420 top three
1st Alex Munro & Brad Moss NZL
2nd Sam Mackay & Oscar Rovick NZL
3rd Verity Judge & Gemma Jones NZL
29er top three
1st Jack Simpson & Logan Beck NZL
2nd Matthew Spray &Tyler Russell NZL
3rd Stewart Dodson & Harry Hull NZL
Date: 6th February 2011
From: Jodie Bakewell-White
Exciting finale rounds out Sail Auckland 2011
Sail Auckland 2011 is over with gold medals going to Tom Ashley and Kate Ellingham in the RS:X, Andrew Murdoch and Sara Winther in the Laser and Radial, Nick Rogers and Chris Grube(GBR) in the 470, Dan Slater in the Finn and Marcus Hansen and Aaron Hume-Merry in the 49er.
“The regatta has been a huge success,” commented Jez Fanstone, Olympic Programme Manager for Yachting New Zealand. “Takapuna Boating Club has hosted a great event, with plenty of close racing in all fleets. It’s great to have all the Olympic classes sailing from the same venue and there have been so many people down to watch the racing and join in on the action at the Club.”
Laser
Mike Bullot and Andrew Murdoch went head to head again today with Murdoch getting the upper hand in the final race of the series, clawing back a point on Bullot in the standings. Going into the medal race just one point separated the two NZL Sailing Team sailors meaning that for each, getting home before the other would almost certainly secure the title.
Josh Junior took the win in the medal race, but it was Murdoch – New Zealand’s 2008 Olympic representative, and the recently crowned 2011 National Champion that snuck home in 7th in front of Bullot in 9th to take the win at Sail Auckland and the domestic double crown.
Australia was well represented in the Laser medal race with four sailors. One medal went their way with Tom Burton securing the bronze.
RS:X
Tom Ashley tops the podium once again with a win in the Men’s RS:X. Ashley was second home in today’s medal race behind Dorian van Rijsselberge who in winning the final double-points race secured the silver medal.
Jon-Paul Tobin was presented the bronze medal finishing on equal points with Antonio Cozzolino, but coming off better on count-back.
Kate Ellingham from the NZL Sailing Team was the winner in the Women’s fleet, her closest rival Natalia Kosinska retiring after day three with an injury. Ellingham won the medal race and took out the event with a 12 point winning margin from Justina Sellers who won silver.
Jazmine Lynch was third.
Radial
In the largest fleet of the regatta Olympic campaigner Sara Winther took victory over New Zealand’s best and other international competition in the Radial rig Laser including top youth, masters and women sailors.
Michael Cate was second and Nicholas Croft was third.
“Happy enough – to beat all the boys,” said Winther with a wry smile ashore after the medal race in which she placed 2nd.
“I just planned to sail my own race,” describes Wither on her plan going into the final race. “To have a clean race and see where things were at, at the top mark.”
“It went well, I was fourth or fifth by the bottom mark and then caught right back up and ended up second by a boat length overall, so it was good.”
Winther will now enjoy a short break before resuming training towards the first of the European Regattas which for her will be Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. She leaves New Zealand in mid March.
470
Double Olympic medallist for Great Britain Nick Rogers, sailing with Chris Grube was simply too good for the kiwis on the 470 course taking out today’s medal race and the regatta by a massive 17 point margin. The Britons won seven out of eleven races and were top two in all but one race.
Competition was tight among the chasing pack which featured NZL Sailing Team women’s crew Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, and men’s crew Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders.
Aleh and Powrie found form over the second half of the regatta, putting up a tough challenge for Rogers and Grube in the medal race, crossing the finish just behind them to secure the silver medal. Snow-Hansen and Saunders held onto third for the bronze medal.
Finn
Dan Slater took out the Finn class, applying local knowledge to beat Rafael Trujillo of Spain who took the silver. Slater was solid throughout the four days of racing at Sail Auckland 2011 winning seven out of ten races in the class where seven boats were competing.
Up and comer in the Finn, Matt Coutts came home in third place.
49er
Clear winners in the 49er skiff were Marcus Hansen and Aaron Hume-Merry who, bar one DNF, made a clean sweep of winning 15 races from 16 starts. Chris Burgess and Rowan Swanson were 2nd.
Paralympics
The final day produced some shuffling among the placings in both Paralympics classes where racing has been staged off Westhaven Marina. Visiting internationals took the top spot in both the SKUD18 and the 2.4 metre.
In the SKUD18 two-person boat Wei Qiang Tan Jovin and Desiree Lim of Singapore were the winners with kiwis Annabelle Tye and Andrew May beating out fellow kiwis Tim Dempsey and Jan Aepl on count back for the silver.
In the 2.4 metre Michael Leydon of Australia came through for victory over Megan Pascoe of Great Britain. Overnight leader, Paul Francis of New Zealand was third.
Other classes
There was a tough battle for the 29er top spot with Jack Simpson and Logan Beck picking up their game as the regatta went on and sneaking home on the final day to finish the regatta just one point ahead of Matthew Spray and Tyler Russell.
Alex Munro and Brad Moss took out the 420 division ahead of Sam Mackay and Oscar Rorvick.
For more infor
mation about Sail Auckland Regatta see www.sailauckland.org.nz or contact…
Media Enquiries…
Jodie Bakewell-White
Yachting New Zealand Communications
Email: [email protected]
Tel. 021 709 065
BFD, etc.
T.H. Any reading into, implication or accusation in this thread is not coming from me. I asked Pete, in the first part, to clarify what point he is attempting to make. You may feel confident you know, but I prefer to ask Pete to better state his point. I secondly asked you to weigh your point, clearly made, against the rules of racing. It is you who are expressing sensitivity to your initial comment. Pete on the other hand has not responded. The RRS may be open to interpretation but one’s interpretation speaks volumes about their point of view. I choose to believe the following: there is a distinction between knowingly breaking a rule – intentionally or not – and having done so without realizing it. I accuse neither you nor Pete of having done either. I further believe that it doesn’t matter the circumstance, and the rules rightly don’t distinguish between a)professional & non-professional events, B)between red & white hulls, between green or black shirts, c)whether an official (PRO, IJ or line judge) sees, there is no such thing as partial integrity or even temporary suspension of integrity. To err is human, to penalize one’s self is divine. Play by the rules or don’t play at all.
re: bfd
Hi again; Sorry for the confusion. John, your stance on integrity is very well taken in the abstract, but I think the “alls fair” comment was mis-taken a little bit however, as it was more of a casual, dare I say philosophical observation in response to the article. It was absolutely NOT direct advice to people to cheat. To immediately take it that way seems a bit sensitive, naive, or rushing to judgment on your part. However I do of course respect the idea that we should respect the sport.
Let me clarify, if even now you still somehow question my personal integrity or my ability to read a rule book: I do not advocate cheating. However, if we have to be completely on the high road, doesn’t this very article imply, in several places, that being part of the herd (disguising your identity) is good, regardless of whether or not you are actually over? Should we not allow competitors to wear the same clothing and all use white boats?
Have I heard of people turning themselves in? Sure John, I have. Many times. I have done it myself. Have you (turned yourself in), every single time? How do you know you have? Maybe you were really over once or twice in an individual recall? By your logic, even if you thought you might be, then you really needed to go restart to fulfill your integrity. At the US Open, if the ball was outside the line, does the person winning the point always stop the game, argue against themselves, and give up the point?? Should they? Sure. Do they? Almost never. They rely on the official to make the call, and have to, right or wrong. You must dislike Derek Jeter now for sure, for faking being hit by a pitch so he could get on base for his team. Maybe Instant reply in the NFL is totally unnecessary; just tell the wide receivers not to fake, or imply, catching passes if the ball really, honestly, did hit the ground first. Instant replay, realistically, and practically, is an attempt to safeguard as much fair play as possible. There are endless of examples of this not only in sport but other walks of life. Yeah, it’d be great if everyone turned themselves in for even thinking they may have possibly done something wrong…. or maybe it wouldn’t be great, come to think of it. But in reality, it doesn’t happen.
Perhaps you have heard of 80+ boat world championship regattas, or even sailed in some of them, as I have, where surely there were boats that were missed being called that were over early, that sailed the race anyway, kept that score, and maybe even won the event. Are they breaking whatever rule you copied and pasted? I think what Pete is simply advocating here, a point you first seemed also to criticize, and now back away from after Ben’s comment, is that more information is better than less, and knowing what it going on, on the committee boat, from a competitors point of view, helps you make better decisions. That’s more the real world. And yes, sometimes at the professional level, “all’s fair in love, war, and winning a regatta.”
