In case anybody is wondering about the official results from last weekend,
they are on the YRA site here:
http://www.yra.org/ODCA/odca_race_results.html
Michael and Jan dominated coming out in 1st and 2nd respectively in both
races. Beyond that, the fleet was mixed up a bit more with boats trading
places quite a bit between the two races.
We had 9 boats out, the best showing of any of the fleets. We saw a pretty
good range of wind conditions and some great racing.
Javier and Jim, it was great to see to the two of you out there in your
first ODCA race! We're looking forward to see more of you guys.
Speaking of, the next race is the Sailstice on June 23rd. I believe that it
will be in the Olympic Circle.
Michael was kind enough to do an extensive writeup of the race. I apologize
for taking so long to forward it on, but at first I didn't realize that it
hadn't been sent out to everybody. It is definitely worth reading.
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So, there was enough south in the breeze that the pin end was pretty clearly
upwind and so, the favored end for both races. In a fleet of 10 boats, I
don't have the courage to try a port tack pin end start though, I have seen
Pat pull that off on the Knox course once.
I aimed to be two thirds of the way or better down the line from the
committee boat towards the pin at the gun. Trying to be right at the pin is
a little dangerous as, if you're early, its hard to slow down enough to stay
upwind of the pin with forward motion, you can't tack onto port as there is
sure to be someone right behind you on starboard and, in the end, there can
be only one boat that gets the best start. I prefer to be a little
conservative and am happy with a top two or three start though, sometimes
you get lucky.
Shirley Bates seems to have figured the start out both races very well too
in my opinion. She was just upwind of us in both cases but not enough so to
foot off for speed and roll us. It was very important that we remained
sufficiently bow out and ahead of her to prevent being covered and, it seems
we were able to in both races as we managed to sail out from under her and
up to her line in both cases.
If I can offer a little advice on that point, though I'm sure she, like me,
wanted to be the far left boat of all those on port once we tacked, I think
it is important to tack away as soon as you know a boat ahead and to leeward
of you is hurting you, if you can without having a problem with a starboard
tack boat, because, hanging in there to weather in an and increasingly
unholdable line invariably results in your getting spit out the back and
loosing boat lengths.
As I mentioned just above, I wanted to be the far left boat on port once we
tacked. Again, the pin was upwind but, we all wanted to go right. By
starting near the pin and going left for a little while only, being the
inside boat once tacked onto port, I would benefit most from any lifts on
port and, perhaps get the first sent of any header by being upwind of most
boats having started on the favored end. As we sailed up wind on port each
time Saturday, we observed a 10 to 20 degree header as we neared Sausalito
that defined the starboard lay line for us pretty well. Downwind we went
right of the start / finish line each time but for the last in order not to
get pushed too far left near the leeward mark. It always seems to me that
there is a right to left push across the face of Angel Island when sailing
downwind towards it. I surmise that the ebb moves water across the face of
Angel Island and then up towards Sausalito out of the South Bay and that,
though to a lesser degree, the flood moves water across the face of Angel
Island and then down Raccoon Straights. Only on the final downwind leg did
we go left of the start finish line because the right to left push had
diminished with the ebb petering out, the wind appeared solid across the
course at that time and it was clearly a more direct / shorter line to the
leeward mark.
All day we were very careful not to go too far right upwind or left downwind
because the wind was both lighter and less consistent in direction on the
far right (upwind) / left (downwind) side. Upwind I think we stayed nearer
the center of the course than pretty well anyone else and downwind, only Jan
went further right than us though he seemed to try both sides during the day
and the time he went further right (downwind) than us, we felt he had gone
further than necessary to stay in good wind.
As for sail trim, the usual. Upwind we sail with the jib fairly flat in the
foot and with its leach about two inches off the shroud at their nearest
point of intersection. The main I keep on as hard as I can without the top
telltale on its leach stalling and then play the traveler actively during
the puffs and lulls bringing the boom as high as center line and dropping
the traveler as far as all the way down at some points during the day,
though, I never leave it down for long as once the boat has accelerated in a
puff, I begin to work the traveler back up and feather both the main and jib
so as to sail as high as possible. Downwind I keep enough vang on so that
the top batten in the main doesn't invert against the shroud but as little
as possible so as not to close the leach. The deeper we sail the farther
off I let the backstay. If the wind is forward a bit / the more we reach
the more backstay I find I need to leave on to stabilize the luff / forestay
of the jib. I try to play the waves by steering actively but I believe I
only steer back and forth through perhaps 10 degrees so as to not sail extra
distance or turn the rudder into too much of a break.
Generally, upwind: active traveler, helm, mainsheet and then (distant
fourth) jib trim; downwind: active steering (though not through big
angles), mainsheet, jib trim and then boom vang. We always ease cunningham
and outhaul after rounding the top mark, cunningham off and outhaul eased
but not too much (we want it deeper but don't want to turn it into a bag
giving up projected area and having the wind stall in it rather than flow
across it).
I grew up sailing out of Belvedere Cove, Raccoon Straights and off
Knox. That in combination with our having about 620 pounds on the rail
upwind and an obviously fast boat were big advantages Saturday. We really
enjoyed sailing with you all and look forward to doing so again soon.
Regards,
Michael Andrews
811 Bonito
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