Spring Race #6

Wednesday 6/16/2010
 Puffy SE breeze between 12 and 18 knots. Current running out. All Divisions sailed to 22, G, and back to H.


Once again this week, the forecast called for a nice southerly with a chance of rain. The rain would hold off this evening, but the breeze stayed all night.

We motored out of the harbor and hoisted the main. The wind was puffing up around 20 knots with a steady 15 knots across the entire river. As we approached the start line we saw a problem. The line was short and the committee boat was on the port side with a very long scope on their anchor. I knew right away that this would make it a tough start.

It was interesting to have a time check, but then the sequence started at 18:14 instead of 18:15. Kind of defeats the purpose of a time check.

It has been common in my 5 years of racing in the HBRA for the RC’s to setup on the port side of the line. This seems to be a carry over from the starts at 26 where you had to anchor on the port side of the line to stay out of the channel. I think the last three races have had the committee boat on the port side of the line. This creates a more difficult start.

It may not seem like it should matter which side of the line the boat is on, but it can make a big impact. The side of the line matters because of the racing rules. Since starboard tack has the right of way over port tack, most boats will start the race on starboard. This causes them to leave the starboard end of the line to windward and the port end of the line to leeward. Since the boats are heading upwind, it can be tough to get above the leeward end of the line. Since the boats are on starboard, it is the port end of the line that will have most boats struggling to clear. If the port end is a buoy then it is easier for boats to clear it since there is no rode extending upwind from the mark. Using a mark at the port end makes it less of an obstacle.

The impact of being on the wrong side of the line is made more significant by a long scope. When a committee boat has a long scope, it makes a bigger obstacle for the racers since its anchor rode will need to be avoided and the rode is upwind of the committee boat. You now have a 100-foot obstacle to get above when starting.

The third factor in the starting line was its short length. With puffs up to 20 knots, the line should have been 2 to 3 times longer. It is rare that someone makes a line too long on Wednesday night and it is all too common for a line to be too short.

With a small current pushing boats over the line and the high winds, there was a large convergence of the A & B fleet right at the start. With 10-12 boats right on the line with little room to maneuver and the large obstacle at the port side, a near disaster unfolded. Boats were early to the starboard end and had to run the line. Once they got close to the port end, they no longer had enough room to cross the committee boat. Below them were other starboard tack boats, so they could not turn below the committee boat. Some tacked onto port and then fouled the starboard boats that were otherwise making the line. Some of those boats also had to tack onto port and they fouled other starboard tack boats.

In the end there was a lot of close calls and a lot of fouls. I only heard one boat acknowledge a penalty, but I saw more than one foul. A dangerous starting situation was created that could have been avoided. Here are my three tips to avoid a repeat of the situation:

1. Make the line at least as long as specified in the sailing instructions. This will give boats more room to maneuver.

2. Make the committee boat the starboard side of the line. This will make the larger obstacle upwind of most starters and allow the starboard tack boats to slide down the line towards the smaller obstacle.

3. Make the starboard side of the line slightly favored. This makes it easier to get past the port side and discourages port tack starts.

Having seen the debacle of the first start, I decided to play our start more conservative. We did a short 2 minute timing loop and ended up at the starboard side of the line about 3-5 seconds late for the start. Since C boats tend to be a little more spread out at the start, we did not encounter the same issues as the first start. I had one C2 boat tack above me and try to come down, but I told him to stay up until I was past. I did not like having to make them stay up, but I could not allow them to sail down onto us. After the start, we immediately tacked and headed to the west side of the river. We expected more wind and more favorable current there.

We were 1.5 minutes behind Bugaboo at the first mark. We were happy with this delta. We then headed low on the way to G. We did this to compensate for the lift the current was giving us and also thought the wind would get light towards G and did not want to head low in the light wind. We actually made up some time on Bugaboo as their main was in too tight and it stalled most of the leg. I see that often with the cruising boats on reaches. When reaching, you want at least two, if not all, of your telltales on your main to stream back. You do not want to luff it, but having the main in too tight can be just as slow as luffing.

We rounded G and sailed on down to H. We finished under 2 minutes behind Bugaboo, so we probably ended up correcting over them. We were comfortably ahead of the rest of the fleet.

In C2, Merlin had a nice race. They seem to sail more like a C1 boat than C2. Summer Wind also seems to be sailing very well lately and that is nice to see. There was a group of four C2 boats that finished the race close to each other.

We stayed out for a little while and I practiced tacks with Eric. He does not get to drive often and I wanted some exercise, so we switched positions and did a dozen tacks in the nice breeze. It is nice for me to experience what the crew is doing and for the crew to do the same. Here is how I do a tack:

1. I announce my intention to tack by saying “ready to come about?”

2. When the trimmer responds affirmative, I say “tacking.”

3. Right as I begin to turn the boat, the trimmer will ease the sail 2-3 inches. This allows the sail to move a little bit away from the shrouds and also helps the boat round up into the wind without as much resistance. At this point I am turning the boat pretty slowly.

4. Once the jib loses all wind, I accelerate the turn. The trimmer releases the sheet.

5. I have the helm over far as we pass head to wind.

6. Before the jib blows out on the new side, I slow down the turn. This reduces the drag of the rudder and allows the trimmer to pull the sail in while the wind is still blowing the sail back instead of away from the boat. This will allow the jib to come in quicker and use the winch just to finish off the trim.

7. Once the boat is almost on it new heading, I begin to steer normally on the new tack. I also make sure the traveler is up on the new side and the main is pulling.

If done right, I will not have to foot to regain speed. If something goes wrong, I will drop the traveler a bit and foot until I get back up to 90% of target speed.

It was a great night for racing and we sailed a perfect course for the conditions.