J/24 worlds results

Airwaves’ Geoff Becker will be reporting in daily at the 2013 J/24 World Championship in Howth, Ireland. Enjoy!

Skipper: Tim Healy    Trimmer/Tactican: John Mollicone   Trimmer/Tacticain: Geoff Becker   Mast: Danny Rabin       Bow: Gordon Borges

#6 The Last Day

 

2013 J-24 World Championship Report – Day 5

2 races (Race 9, course 4 and Race 10, course 5) Wind 10-18 (gusts 22) knots @ 250° – 260°

Team Helly Hansen wins the 2013 J-24 World Championship!

It took consistency on the final day and a 4th and 5th was enough to take the title. Starting the day 6 points down to Travis Odenbach and only 1 point over 3rd place Mauricio Santa Cruz from Brazil, it was going to be a tight fought battle the entire day. Our strategy for the first race was simple in theory, but not as easy as it sounds. We wanted to sail our own race and get to the top mark in the lead group.

 

After that we would adjust our strategy to fit where we were in relation to the others atop the standings.

As before, we went through our normal routine and decided the right side looked to have stronger winds up the course, so we started just above the middle of the starting line and tacked about a minute into the race to get to the right of the course. Both Travis and Mauricio started near the left end of the starting line and stayed to that side most of the windward leg. Up the leg, the right pressure we saw before the start came in and we rounded the first mark in the lead pack in about 6th place, while the other two were hurt by the right shift and rounded in about 15th-20th place. With the wind building to 14-16 for most of the race, we were able to stay out front and finish 4th in the race where Travis and Mauricio were further back in the fleet.

After the finishes were tallied, we found ourselves with the lead in the regatta, 3 points up on Travis and 6 points ahead of Mauricio. In such a tough fleet, we still felt it would be hard to try to attack the others and instead decided to get off the line at our best and work the race from there. By the start of the last race, the wind had come up to 16-20 knots with some gusts a bit higher and most every boat switched to the smaller jibs from the genoas. Travis was one of the few that stayed with the genoa and it ended up hurting him in the end.

 

For the last race, we decided to start near the left end of the starting line and Mauricio started a few boats above us with Travis a couple boats up the line from him. Right away, Travis had problems pointing against the boats around him using the smaller jibs and had to eventually make a clearing tack to the right side. We stayed patient and used our speed to sail out in front of our group on the left and waited for a small left hand shift to tack across the fleet. 

By the windward mark, we were 4th and Mauricio was about 7th and Travis struggled with the genoa and rounded the first mark 12th.

The wind stayed up for the next lap and both Mauricio and Travis caught up a little to just behind the lead pack and only a few of places behind us. Travis had now switched to the smaller jib and used it the rest of the race. On the second downwind leg the wind died a little, but we could see that there was another big breeze line coming down from the top of the windward leg, so we stayed with the jib for the final upwind leg. Mauricio chose to go with his genoa and after the leeward gate tacked to port and went all the way to the right side on the upwind leg. Travis, who was only just behind Mauricio at the gate, chose to split sides with him and sailed toward the left side of the upwind leg.

Now here came our big choice for the day…who do you cover on the last upwind leg of a world championship when the course has shown to have very shifty conditions? Well, what we did was play the numbers game. 

Mauricio was going over to the right side with only two other boats, while Travis was going left with a pack of 4-5 boats. Since Travis was only 3 down to us, and Mauricio 6, we chose to cover Travis and figured if Mauricio were to get a big shift, he could at best put a couple of points on us and we would still beat him overall. So we stayed with Travis and shadowed him to the left and back toward the finish at the top of the leg. When Mauricio finally tacked from the right side, he found a 30° right windshift and looked like he might be winning the race. Fortunately, even if he did win the race we only let him go over there with fewer boats than he needed to beat us. At the finish, Mauricio crossed the line 3rd, we finished 5th and Travis fell to 8th.  WE DID IT!

Our takeaways from Day 5 are…

1. Sail to win the first beat when there are several boats in contention.

2. Keep track of the points in a close regatta and know what you need to win.

3. Play the numbers when deciding whom to cover in a split situation.

 

1.Tim Healy (USA)38 points

2.Mauricio Santa Cruz (Brazil)42 points

3.Travis Odenbach (USA)44 points

4.Ian Southworth (GB)53 points

5.Tobias Feurherd (Ger)73 points

6.Keith Whittemore (USA)77 points

7.Bob Turner (GB)83 points

8.Ignatio Bonanno (Italy)88 points

9.Tony Parker (USA)114 points

10.Sullberg (Ger)115 points

 

 

#5

 

2013 J-24 World Championship Report – Day 4

 

3 races (Race 6 and 7, course 4 and Race 8, course 5) Wind 8-15 knots @ 240° – 270°

 

Team Helly Hansen finished Day 4 with a 1st, 24th and 1st maintaining our 2nd place overall, and now 6 points out of the lead. Today had good wind from the west-southwest, which meant it was coming straight off of the nearby shoreline. Because of the offshore wind direction, we knew to expect shifty conditions, but wow was it shifty! Windshifts of 15° were very common today and some of the bigger shifts were 30°-40°. Many of the shifts and puff today were in localized areas of the course and didn’t always move across the course. Add to that the

 

1.3 to 1.5 mile legs, and scenarios occurred that strained our patience and made the sailing more than challenging.

 

In all of the races today we used the same pre-race routine to help us decide where to go initially on the first upwind leg. With such large windshifts on the course, being sure of what was going to happen was not always possible and keeping our options open upwind was a big goal for our tactics early in each race. It was also important to keep in mind that being more conservative meant it was likely for boats on the sides of the course to get big shifts and would be difficult for us to control boats in the cor
ners. Keeping all of that in mind, we tried to remain patient during the race when things would go against us and continue to look for opportunities to gain.

 

For our normal pre-race routine, we try to do the same checks every time so we are as prepared as possible for the first leg of the race. 

 

These are things on our pre-race checklist…

 

– Sail upwind for at least 30-60 seconds on each tack, allowing us to check the tacking angles, rig tension, halyard tension and jib leads.

 

– Go to each end of the starting line and check for line-sights in both directions and get a head to wind angle at each end.

 

– Get a starting line heading (sailing straight down the line) to compare to our wind checks and the course axis set by the RC to help us determine the favored end of the starting line.

 

– Check the head to wind angle in the middle and upwind of the starting line.

 

–  Have the crew look upwind and decide where the most wind pressure looks to be on the course. The more eyes upwind the more we can see. 

 

We do this a few times before the starting sequence and again about 4 minutes before the start.

 

– Use the known factors from previous races and the information we gather before the starting sequence to decide where to start on the line with the goal of getting to the first expected shift and/or to the side of the course we think will be best.

 

Some other things we do if we have more time…

 

– Split tacks with another boat for several minutes, one boat sails on starboard and the other on port, and after some time (3-5 min) both tack and see which boat came out ahead. This can give a general idea about the wind direction at the bottom of the upwind leg.

 

– Sail up to the windward mark. This can give a better idea what to expect during the whole leg and specifically at the top of the leg.

 

– Check nearby buoys for differences in current in different locations on the course.

 

For Race 6 and 8 this plan worked well, as we got off the starting line well and stayed in phase for the first two or three shifts. That meant we were in the front group early and were able to work up to the front from there. Then there was Race 7. It would be easy to say, “we got screwed”, or “they got lucky”, but the nature of sailboat racing has an element of unpredictability. Basically, we had a good start, were in pretty good shape up the left side and the wind went to the right more than 30° and increased from 8-10 knots to 10-14 knots. 

 

Unfortunately, the boats on the right side not only had the puff and shift, but they were in it for several minutes before we got the same wind. At that point we were pretty far behind and I will just say that we had to catch up to earn our 24th place.

 

Our takeaways from Day 4 are…

 

1. Have a pre-race routine to get prepared and focused before the start.

 

2. Decide on a stating line location based on as much information we can gather before the start.

 

3. Be patient and continue to look for ways to gain, even when unfortunate situations happen.

 

 

#4

2013 J-24 World Championship Report – Day 3

3 races (Race 3 and 4, course 4 and Race 5, course 5) Wind 8-10 knots @ 140° going to 10-15 knots @ 170° by the end of race 5.

Team Helly Hansen finished Day 3 with a 1st, 5th and 2nd moving us up into 2nd place overall, only 2 points out of the lead. It was a relief to finally get some sailing in great conditions! We did have to wait onshore for a couple of hours for the breeze to come in, but when it did we had a building sea breeze for all of the day’s three races. The much steadier breeze made another factor, current, the primary focus for the races today. For the first two races and most of the third race the tide was flooding in and significantly affected the racecourse.

On our course location the tide was moving almost straight downwind, with a slight offset from left to right looking upwind. While that may seem easy enough to factor into our strategy, there was a wrinkle. An island called “Ireland’s Eye” was only about ½ to ¾ of a mile upwind and 10-15 degrees to the right of the windward mark. The island wasn’t close enough to give the course any wind shadow, but it did give the course a current relief cone on the upper right side of the upwind leg. Behind the island there was a current shadow as the water moved around either side and if a boat could get into this area that boat could expect much less current for the top part of the windward leg.

Taking all the factors into consideration before the start of the first race, it seemed clear that getting to the right side of the course would be the best way upwind as there would be a significant current relief at the top leg. With that, we decided to start up near the starboard end of the line and tack as soon as possible after the start, which we were able to do. We were the first boat to the right, got the current relief and lead at the first mark and all the way to the finish. Go team!

In the second race, all the same conditions were present, and our strategy was basically the same. During the last part of the starting sequence, we were sailing on port tack toward the starboard end of the line and found that more boats had the same idea to start at that end of the line. As a result, there were very few holes and we decided to tack in before getting all the way to the starboard end to avoid the already significant traffic. At the start, we had a good position on the line, but there were 10 or so boats closer to the starboard end than we were forcing us to wait until the boats above us tacked before we had a clear lane to the right side of the course.

With the same current relief to the right side of the upwind leg, and us being left of the lead group, we ended up behind the lead group coming into the windward mark. The rest of the race became a challenge to find good lanes going toward the favored side since all the other boats wanted to go the same way. Our approach became a balance of trying to get the most of the right side current relief and keeping our lane clear or other boats.

Most of the boats wanted to go as far to the right side of the course and make one tack into the mark. This is a scenario that happens in countless venues all over the world. Go to the favored side, tack on layline and boats behind can’t catch you. When course conditions create a one sided advantage, boats that are not in the lead can make gains by taking advantage of boats using this hit the favored side mentality.

Boats off the lead group that sail all the way to a corner make two mistakes automatically. First, they ignore any smaller windshifts or course benefits on their way to the ‘favored’ side of the course. We found that once inside the current relief cone, under the island, we had some room to tack on windshifts and make smaller gains on the boats closest to us. Second, boats behind the leaders sailing toward layline will almost always over stand the windward mark. When boats are likely to over stand, staying inside the laylines can save distance sailed on the leg and while there might be a loss from sailing in more current, there will l
ikely be a gain from having sailed less distance. After rounding the first windward mark in 8th place, we used these strategies to move up as much as possible and after all was said and done, we ended up working our way into 5th by shaving distance and boats one at a time to the finish.

The final race of the day started off with the final stages of the incoming tide so again we planned on getting to the right side as soon as possible after the start. After a general recall start, the RC again used a black flag to start Race 5 and changed to course 5, which had an additional upwind leg to the finish line. I discussed some of our black flag prestart techniques in the Day 2 report. We used those techniques in Race 5 and took advantage of the fleet being less aggressive on the starting line due to the black flag. We were able to get off the line clean and get to the right side on the first leg rounding the windward mark 1st.

We continued to lead at the leeward gate and at the second windward mark, but only just ahead of the second place boat. On the final downwind, the boat in second got to our left side and was able to round the left gate and sail to the right side as we decided to round the right gate and initially go left. By this time the current had almost stopped so the upwind was mostly about the shifts and unfortunately the final shift of the leg was from the right allowing the other boat to win the race. A bummer for sure, but we will certainly take the 2nd.

Our takeaways from Day 3 are…

1. Do your homework and know about any possible current affects on the course including when the tide will change during the day because sometimes it can happen during a race.

2. Look for smaller gains from windshifts if unable to sail free toward the favored side of the course.

3. If you have to sail in more current, save distance other places…i.e. Avoid sailing beyond the laylines.

1.Mauricio Santa Cruz (Brazil)11 points

2.Tim Healy (USA)13 points

3.Ian Southworth (GB)15 points

4.Travis Odenbach (USA)17 points

5.Keith Whittemore (USA)18 points

6.I. Bonanno (Italy)27 points

7.Bob Turner (GB)32 points

8.Blankeneser SC (Ger)32 points

9.Tony Parker (USA)38 points

10.Joersfelder SC (Ger)39 points

 

 

#3

2013 J-24 World Championship Report – Day 2 No races completed…Race 3 abandoned after 1st mark.

Wind 4-6 knots @ 310° going to zero knots.

Team Helly Hansen finished Day 2 with the same score we started the day since the only race attempted had to be abandoned when the wind died after the fleet rounded the 1st windward mark. There was, however, some excitement before the wind died as we had a two general recalls, the second of which was under a black flag. Once the fleet returned after the black flag general recall, the RC posted bow numbers of 6 boats they identified as OCS during the recalled start.

Under the rules, those boats are not allowed to participate in Race 3, even though the race was abandoned and will be sailed tomorrow. Bummer for them!

During the black flag general recall, we could see some of the OCS boats surging toward the starting line early as they were in the middle of the line in a larger group of boats. The whole group of boats looked to go over the line together and the situation reminded us of some things we try to avoid during starts, especially penalty starts. Boats forming groups and getting close to each other on the starting line can limit maneuverability and force the whole group toward the starting line as a unit. As those boats get closer to the line, there is little or nothing any one of them can do except go over the line with the group.

 

To prevent this situation, we use a few simple prestart techniques in all of our starts. First, we try to stay away from larger groups of boats during the entire starting sequence. Groups of boats are very difficult to manage and often can prevent you from controlling your speed and angle before the start.  Next, leeward boats overlapped are bad. We try to avoid getting next to boats to leeward of us in the prestart, because a leeward boat can head up anytime they choose and force you closer to the starting line before you are ready.

A third prestart technique we use is waiting until late in the sequence to begin our final approach toward the starting line while maximizing our gap to leeward during the approach. This allows us to be able to head down, away from the line, if we are too close to the line on final approach. Finally, while approaching the line to start, we have our tactician watch behind for snipers trying to sail to leeward of us late in the sequence. Since the skipper and trimmer are working together to get the boat into a good position up on the line, having this extra set of eyes looking back can alert the skipper to approaching boats and allow time to defend against a late hook to leeward.

All of these prestart techniques, combined with good line sights and communication, help us prepare for every start and allow us to avoid letting another boat force us over the line. During any start, and especially a ‘Z’ flag or black flag start, having the ability to control your starting line position is the highest priority. Avoiding the larger groups and close leeward boats during the entire starting sequence, can make any prestart plan much easier to execute.

Our takeaways from Day 2 are…

Have the ability to control your own destiny during the prestart by…

1. Staying away from the larger packs of boats.

2. Avoiding boats overlapped close to leeward during the prestart.

3. Watching for snipers hooking to leeward late in a starting sequence.

 

 

_________________________________________

#2

2013 J-24 World Championship Report – Day 1

2 races (both races course 4, 4 legs and downwind finish) Wind 4-8 knots @ 80° going to about 110° during second race

Team Helly Hansen finished Day 1 with a 14th in race one and a 5th in race 2. As those scores illustrate, our day was up and down and was at times frustrating. Even after a few days with our charter boat, we are not yet 100% comfortable with the tuning and sometimes feel that we are fighting the boat for speed. That combined with some frustrating race situations and course conditions, our results are not what we hoped and we surely have room for improvement.

The course in the first race seemed to be very one sided on the upwind legs. There were two major factors contributing to that; first, the current was moving from left to right looking upwind and somewhat stronger at the windward mark than near the starting line and leeward marks. The second factor was the wind was filling across the course from the left side to the right side, which meant the boats farther left would get the new puffs sooner and longer than those in the middle or on the right of the course. This made the race a battle of who could get to the left side first. The trick then became, once you were g
oing left, when to make your tack for the windward mark. If you tacked too early, you could let boats go farther left and get more of the new puffs and if you tacked too late, you would over stand the windward mark as the current pushed you over the layline.

We figured this out in part because we were behind the leaders watching it all happen in front of us. See, we had a bad start and spent the first several minutes of the race trying to find a clear lane and by the time we were able to get in phase, the lead group was already out to the left side and there were no real lanes that way left over for us. So for the rest of the race we spent our effort getting as much as we could out of what lanes we could manage. Since the leaders all wanted the good side of the course, we could never get as much of that good side as the leaders, and because of that, we found making any significant gains during the race challenging.

In the second race, the current had gone down, we had a better start and the course had more tactical options available. We hooked into a couple of good puffs and found ourselves around the windward mark in third, which we held downwind to the leeward gate. During the downwind leg the wind started to shift right on the course and on the second upwind the puffs began to be more streaky and localized. We got some puffs, missed others and rounded the second upwind mark in 5th place, which we were able to keep to the finish.

Our takeaways from Day 1 are…

1. Work hard to get off the start line and into a position we can make out own tactical decisions.

2. Unless the course requires a specific tactical position, be more patient with our decisions and wait for good opportunities to gain.

3. Stay positive! It is along regatta, and there will be plenty of chances to work our way up.

Results (when they are posted) will be here:

http://www.hyc.ie/J24WorldChampionship2013/results/results.asp?pname=results

 

#1

Sunday, August 25  CHARTER BOAT DRAMA

Anytime you sail in a regatta where a charter or borrowed a boat will be used, it is important to be prepared to spend time preparing the boat for the event. Those preparations, which can sometimes take significant time and effort, are both to make sure that the boat will operate properly and be set up to be fast when the boat is tuned for racing. Sometimes charter boats can be new boats supplied by a builder, but often they are used boats where an owner lends their boat to the regatta or individual. Normally with new boats not much needs to be replaced, since the parts are all new and have not yet had any chance to be used and abused. On the other hand, used boat charters can be quite the opposite. In fact, it is critical that as much of the boat as possible is inspected in detail to ensure all the systems will be in good working order before the boat is raced.

The 2013 J-24 World Championship started with our team arriving at the Howth Yacht Club in Ireland and getting our first look at what would be our boat for the regatta. Right away our team’s collective thoughts were the same…This boat is not ready to compete in a world championship! We are used to sailing a well maintained, well setup and smooth operating boat and this J-24 meets none of those criteria. We had our work cut out for us!

Starting from the bottom, the keel had obviously been neglected over the years and was in need of significant work to be ready to race. 

Fortunately our bowman, Gordon Borges, has experience in fairing and preparing keels for racing. Gordon spent two and a half days under our charter J-24 filling, sanding and painting the keel until it was ready to compete for a world championship. He surely is our front-runner for MVP at this point.

Next up was the deck. Almost nothing seemed to work and many of the control lines were lead to places that made no real sense to us. Holes were drilled, others were filled and blocks and cleats were replaced and moved until the deck layout was one that would function for our team. The winches gave us good news and bad news…The good news was that one of them worked, the bad news was that the other one didn’t! 

It took some time, a spare winch was located and the parts were replaced on ours so we now have two working winches and our genoa trimmer John Mollicone doesn’t have to use only a ratchet block for his sheets.

On to the mast…Fortunately our skipper, Tim Healy, brought shrouds and halyards with him so we were prepared to set up the mast with parts known to be in good working order. However, one part of the rigging, the forestay, was not included in the parts we brought with us and during measurement it was discovered that our forestay was significantly off in length. After working with a local rigger, we were able to find a forestay that would work for us and completed the mast rigging and measurement.

All in all it took us about three and a half days to get our boat ready and measured for the regatta. Most of that time was spent making sure the boat was going to operate properly and consistently for the event and some of that time was spent fine-tuning the rigging parts and pieces to our team’s high standards. We have always approached rigging our J-24 the same way, prepare and over prepare the boat before you leave the dock and once on the water focus on the racing. 

Often that preparation requires extra time and effort, but with so many variables in every sailboat race, it is nice to eliminate boat problems from the equation whenever possible.  First race day is Monday August 26th.