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150+ Days in ‘09: Onward to 2010
January 5th, 2010 in Monday Morning Tactician, General.
Getting 150 days sailing in 2009 is a bit difficult for even me to understand. With the Lasers sold and a new Olympic class in the mix, I’m not sure I could have forecasted a year like this one. Three world championships in the J24, Melges 24, and Star show the keelboat theme. Actually I think I can list the range of sailing 11 different classes of boats this year, in 7 countries. From Match Racing IODs at Bermuda Gold Cup to Team Racing V15s at the Hinman I’ve had everything in between. Racing with the Melges 32 team has put me in a new frame of mind for sailing within the team dynamic and has left me wanting for more.
Last year was a building year in many ways. The Star sailing has been a great transition only because of a successful ten years in the Laser; the Match Racing because of four years of college Team Racing; and the multi-person keelboats only because of four years of high school teams and four more of a forty person college team dynamic. All of these transitions have been broadly expanding my access to the sport, and I have to say I’m very much looking forward to this year.
First on the agenda: the 2010 Star Worlds at the ICRJ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The big hurdle this year will be funding the program. Buying a boat, sails, travel, insurance, housing abroad, rent at home, fitness, sponsorship, coaching, writing, working at Georgetown, not to mention sailing well… if you ever wanted to be up to your ears running a small business, try the Olympic Campaign. Luckily I’ve had some incredible sponsors this past year that I will carry forward into 2010: the new US Sailing Team Alphagraphics is stepping forward in ways we’ve never seen before, Sperry Top-Sider, Kaenon Polarized, McLube, Harken, Annapolis Sailing Fitness, the SDYC Sailing Foundation, and CISA.
The next update will be from Rio.Â
Happy New Year! Â
The Starting Line - Can you show me where it is? Is it even there?
November 12th, 2009 in Monday Morning Tactician, General.
After spending a weekend back on the college circuit, helping Coach Callahan and Georgetown Sailors Chris Barnard and Charlie Buckingham at the Singlehanded Nationals in Corpus Christi, one glaring question still sticks in our minds: Can somebody please define the term: starting line?
Sailors who appeared to be winning the pin end at starts were called OCS throughout the regatta leaving many, including the coaches frustrated and scratching their heads. With only 18 Lasers, the line could afford to be quite short, and the college procedures allow for the race committee to be aggressive about calling boats over the line (the committee boat was a 30-foot power boat and an 5-foot-wide orange tetrahedron for the pin-end). But, when the pin-most boat in each and every race was being called over the line, there was clearly a miscommunication about where the line was being sighted.
It took some sweet talking but one of the sailors finally got the interpretation from the committee boat: “If you’re bow is overlapped at all with the tetrahedron at the gun, you’re OCS.”
This prompted some serious groans from the coach boat where the general interpretation was that boats are usually allowed to overlap the pin (especially if the pin is five feet wide), so long as they don’t make the pin disappear at the gun. Basically, if the pin disappears, the boat is OCS. After about ten minutes of discussion and rule-book flipping we were shocked that our interpretation could not be justified by a rule or definition. Usually the description of the starting line is somewhere in the sailing instructions, but it simply said it would be “between an orange flag on a staff attached the committee boat and an orange tetrahedron.” There was no distinction between the front of the buoy or the back of the buoy. Can the starting line really be that fuzzy? Is it as thick as the pin mark? Is the starting line five feet wide?
There are a couple theories to be applied here.
- Argument: The tetrahedron is a mark of the course, therefore it is in the course. If you are overlapped with something in the course, then you must be on the course side of the starting line, ie OCS.
- Counter argument: However, if the starting line is between the committee’s flag and the mark (as defined in the SIs), then the line must terminate somewhere on the tetrahedron. If any overlap means that you are on the course side, then the line must run through an indeterminable point less than 1mm behind the tetrahedron and therefore does not meet its defined requirements.
So goes the argument, and it has led to some interesting discussion. Where does the starting line exist? Is it simply up to the PRO, like the strike-zone is up the umpire? Ultimately the situation is easily solved by using a pin boat and an orange flag with a staff on both ends. However, are the sailors to use the line between the staffs, or the line between the downwind-most edge of the flags as they flap in the breeze? What if it’s light air and the flags are droopy?!? What if they’re moving!?! I think there is room for a better definition here. Anybody have any ideas? Feel free to comment at CampbellSailing.com.Â
Next event on the calendar is the Star South Americans next week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Stay tuned for updates.
Melges 24 Worlds: Team Kirby finishes 12th
November 2nd, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.
After a long week of patience in the self-proclaimed sailing capital of America, we finally got some double digit breeze on Saturday for the last races of the 2009 Melges 24 World Championships. It was a long week of sailing in Annapolis. The wind was fickle at times, light mostly, and the conditions were on the chilly and raw side of the spectrum even by October standards. Eastport Yacht Club did put on a very nice regatta, with good race management, and a cool setting at the city dock right downtown in under the capital spire.
With Rome Kirby at the helm in his second regatta in the Melges 24 and a young but talented crew (I think our average age was 23), we managed to earn marked improvement during each race of the regatta. For instance, in the first race of the regatta, we were in the teens going up the second beat when the main halyard knot slipped and down came our mainsail. After sending Nick our bow guy up the mast to fix the issue, we managed to re-hoist and pass a couple boats to get a 44th. So we had our throw-out firmly established from the get-go. Every race was a battle from start to finish. Rome finally started to get more comfortable with the furled jib pre-start style that the 24s use and our starting culminated with a race on Friday where we started bow out on the group, and went tack for tack with the best in the world to round the windward mark in 1st place. After a wacky windshift (50 degree righty) put us on the ropes again, we made a mini-comeback for a regatta-best 3rd place in the race. Going into the last day we had the potential to pass a couple of boats, and break out of the teens. We managed two good races and finished 12th overall just behind Alan Field, Bill Hardesty and Terry Hutchinson. There’s some pretty good company for young Rome Kirby to be on the scoresheet with.
The week was a lesson in patience for all of us. To start the week in the high twenties, there were some dark personalities on board. I pressed on Rome to stay focused and all of our guys to stay upbeat, confident that we could chip our way up the scoresheet and into the top 20. We managed to do more than that, fighting for some good races and improving in leaps and bounds against sailors that have been racing 24s for a long time. I’m excited to continue in the class in the future. To have the opportunity to race with some young guys who managed to have fun even in the light air and brain-thumping conditions was a reminder of the reason we’re all out there doing it. Lots of sailors were about fed up with the long grinding motor out to and in from the race course, the cold and dreary weather, and shifty light air, but while other teams were imploding into screaming brawls at leeward marks, we calmly continued on our mission up the scoresheet. Mission accomplished: 12th.
Monday Morning Tactician: Bermuda Gold Cup 2009
October 13th, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.
This past week has been quite a week of sailing. Lots of firsts. It was my first time to Bermuda. It was my first time racing the IODs. It was my first Grade 1 match race. It was my first time racing as a bowman. It was the first time I’d seen a judge boat sunk by a competitor. And it was the first time I’d commuted to a regatta by scooter. The regatta is a rare glimpse for amateur match racers into the World Match Race Tour as more than 20 teams compete with the best in the world for $100,000 prize purse. From my perch up on the bow, I was calling tactics and struggling with the spinnaker pole for Dave Perry, along with Doug Clark on the mainsheet, and IOD whiz Jonathan Farrar on the jib and spinnaker trim. Making it out of the opening round was the first major task of the week, and one not easily accomplished considering that names like Sebastian Col and Peter Gilmour were eliminated from the event after the first round. With major victories in big breeze on Wednesday and Thursday, we almost qualified for an automatic quarterfinal berth as one of the top two in our group, but readied ourselves for the repechage. In the repechage we struggled to get off the starting line and were only able to snag one win from Damien Iehl (pictured in the link).
There were some major lessons learned from the experience though:
- Wins are hard to come by at Grade 1 events. Take them when you can get them. We took three critical wins against Col, Hansen, and Marinho that made the difference in getting into the second round of the event. Minor mistakes against Ainslie, Minoprio, and Viltoft cost us a spot in the quarterfinals. The good teams really know how to pick up your misakes and make you pay for them. There are no bad teams…
- We watched more than a half-dozen people get black flag penalties (which means DSQ in match racing… don’t be confused with teamracing!!!). So do your turns as soon as you can, because the jury was out for blood if you waited too long.
- We watched some gnarly wipeouts on the windy days (check out the video to come later this week). I learned that nothing can prepare you for heavy air in funky boats like the IODs. We sailed more than one race in non-spinnaker conditions. There were other races with full spinnaker-up broaches as well as chinese gybes. Sometimes you just had to go for it, and other times a little conservatism went a long way. Knowing when to apply each plan was paramount.
- We watched some seriously close-to-the-wall-action that made for some very non-traditional racing situations. Great teams made grave mistakes and mediocre teams looked like heroes because of weird boathandling mistakes in close quarters with the seawall and heavy air. Having a go-to plan as well as a back up plan in case of a boathandling mistake was always a good idea, and control was not always a luxury you could count on.
- Remember the dress code for Bermuda (as confirmed by Jonathan): shorts, blazer, straw hat, sunscreen, and leathers so you don’t get scooter rash like a couple of other guys in the regatta.
Next regatta on the docket is the Melges 24 Worlds coming up next week in Annapolis. Video and photos from the Gold Cup are coming up later this week!
Hinman Report: Team SDYC 4th
September 28th, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.
New England gave us the full variety of late summer weather this weekend during the 2009 Hinman Trophy. In a lot of ways it reminded us of the week we just spent in “old” England with more than enough wind, chilly temperatures, and rain all day on Sunday.
Conditions yesterday were at the high-end of just about any race we do seeing 3-4 foot waves in Buzzard’s Bay and easily 30 knot puffs at times. Lots of boats being pushed to their limits. We sailed our way back into the quarter finals on Saturday afternoon and turned up Sunday morning to race against the “One man Wolfpack” team of Caleb Silsby, Michael Menninger and Charlie Buckingham. We won two races against them and were set against the regatta’s top seed, Silver Panda in the semi-final round. We quickly won two races against Silver Panda. We lost the third race in a tough race and a couple of tough calls that went against us:
Off the starting line we were ahead of our opponent sailing on close-hauled course. Our opponent sailed into an overlap with his bow “one foot” according to the umpire after the race from our leeward transom. Seeing how close we were I was reluctant to cause contact by putting my tiller down and trying to keep clear that way. Instead I continued straight for a few seconds hailing protest, citing rule 15. As we were protesting, our boats hit, thanks to the 25+ knots of breeze and hefty chop. We were given a penalty for not trying to take any avoiding action, even though my conscious inaction was the only reason we didn’t immediately collide. We were happy to know that the interpretation was that 1 foot was enough distance, even in that much wind. Unfortunately in the same race and same conditions, Adam and Nick had an incident with another opponent where they took almost a boatlength of extra room while gybing around a leeward mark, and were given a green flag because the interpretation was the the conditions allowed for more leeway than normal. At another weather mark, Adam and Nick hit a mark while rafted up with a team that ultimately received a penalty. Another protest was filed by the other team later down the leg as they sailed away from the mark and Adam and Nick were penalized for hitting the mark during the incident, even though rule 18.5 states otherwise. This penalty was ultimately apologized for by the invovled parties, but nonetheless cost us significantly. Rolling with the punches is something that you learn to do in teamracing, and we were still leading the best of 5 series 2-1.
In the fourth race we were leading the race in a 1, 2 around the windward marks. Adam sailed around the leeward mark first, and we were sailing down the leeward leg ahead of our opponent. We hailed “no room” and sailed to where I thought the edge of the two boat length circle was to ensure we had enough space to finish our gybe and sail down the reach. As we gybed our opponent saw the only opening we gave them in race and sailed straight into our path. They made no attempt to round the mark legally behind us or illegally inside of us. We had a heavy collision and hailed protest, but the time that the raft-up was over, they had let one of their teammates sail past. We were still rafted up when the first red flag came from the umpires some 10 boat lengths away. I knew in my mind we were right, but our opponents were convinced they were right as a team on the ropes of elimination has to. If they were receiving the flag, then rafting up with us instead of sailing clear to take penalty turns was a violation of rule 21.2. We protested again and jostled clear.
Both boats screamed down the reach overlapped and heard another whistle and red-flag from the umpires, but couldn’t hear the numbers. Neither boat could sort out who the penalty was for, and all four sailors were generally confused by the calls. One in shock at what was happening and the other disrupting a race that was all but over. When we finally rounded the second leeward mark and headed up with the judge boat came very close to Nick and I hailed our number and pointed both the black and red flags. At that point, I was in complete disbelief and my mind was in a bit of chaos. Black flags in teamracing mean that there will be a hearing after the race, but I confused that with a black flag in match racing which means that you are disqualified.
Ironically another black flag had occurred during the incident we were in with a situation with our teammates Tyler and Briana. They had apparently been given a red-flag penalty in the 5, 6 pair for a rule 42 kinetics violation right as they failed to avoid a luff from their opponent. During that luff the opponent hit their boat hard enough and caught their boom to the point that Tyler turned over. Apparently not that hard to do in 25 knots. As you can see, the fourth race turned into a melee of epic proportions and resulted in us effectively sailing off the course and Tyler and Briana upside down with a red-flag penalty pending. We sailed past the finish boat to ask where the black flag hearing would be, and were given a finishing position, which would come back to haunt us.
We sailed into a small cove to try and hear these protests, a rarity in fully-umpired teamracing. Meanwhile the other two teams on the water as well as our team sat sailing around in building breeze and 3-4 foot seas. Ultimately, Tyler lost what consisted of his series. And because I misunderstood the black flag situation, even though we didn’t interfere with the race after receiving it, Silver Panda was awarded a win for the race, and our team was penalized -0.5 wins from our total.
We had gone from being 2-1 before the race started to 1.5-2 after the race finished. Unfortunately we lost the fifth race in relatively quiet fashion after the hour long wait, but I’m still miffed by the decision. The team race rule book says under 3.1b that a team’s score in a given race for “any other rule (besides 28.1) broken while racing for which a penalty has not been taken” should be given 6 penalty points. The book then says that “after a hearing the protest committee [which in this case was made up by two umpires from the situation in addition to a third non-party, but in race umpire] may penalize as follows: … When a boat has broken rule 1 or 2, rule 14 when she has caused damage or injury, or a rule when not racing, it may penalize the boat’s team by half or more race wins or it may impose no penalty.”
As I am re-reading my rule book today, and as I was apologizing last night to the judges, I don’t think there was ever any discussion of us disregarding safety or not pursuing fair sailing. The entire incident is really an unfortunate one, and I feel terrible for having my team deducted a point for a win they got legitimately earlier in the series. Now that I understand the black flag complexity between teamracing and match racing, I’ve certainly learned my lesson, but am distraught by the reality that teams can only be deducted points because of breaches of safety or unsportsmanlike acts. Tim Wadlow and I both looked at each other in a bit of disbelief after getting off the protest boat. I don’t think that either of us thought that what had happened was so egregious, and the handshakes and hugs between the teams after racing show that all this is better left on the water.
We met the former Harvard sailors’ team of Tall Boyz in the Petit Final, and by that time it was gusting close to 30 knots. In the first race Kyle Kovacs lost his crew overboard and turned over, leaving us to win the 3 on 2 battle. In the next race we lost in a blow out 3 on 3, and in the final race Adam and Nick found the bottom of Buzzards Bay with a minute to go before the start and couldn’t make it back in time, so Tall Boyz won that 3 on 2 battle. We had some really fun racing against them though. Very wind. Very wavy.
We took fourth in the event, presenting a San Diego Yacht Club burgee on behalf of our supportive home club and its membership to the commodore of the Beverly Yacht Club at the evening trophy ceremony. In case you wonder whether we had any fun. Chris Love and the SailGroove.org video was great all weekend. Hopefully his camera dries out from Sunday so we can see some of the legendary racing. Congrats to the Yale team of Team Extreme for their win!
 Interview with Chris Love at SailGroove.org:
Some fun footage from Sailgroove:
Here you’ll see a couple of close encounters between Pete Levesque and us during our first round-robin race against Panda. We were ducking a teammate and trying duck Pete when he tacked very close in front of us, a penalty that ultimately gets a green flag. The trouble is that before we could resolve anything in the first incident, we had already gotten ourselves into a bad spot with Tim Wadlow forcing us both to tack. We did a quick circle to exonerate ourselves from an obvious foul on our part, and ended up with an L for that race. You can see from the footage how complicated the flag-system can be, and the reason for the heated debate about how to solve the problems inherent in the system. Did we pull the flag too soon? Maybe. Did they have time to exonerate themselves? Maybe. Did the flags get in the way of the next incident? Maybe. Was there a foul? Yes. Were there two fouls? Maybe. These are the subtleties of the game we play.
Monday Morning Tactician: 21 Sept 2009
September 21st, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.
What a regatta Sail for Gold ended up being! Yikes. It didn’t seem like we were able to get any breaks throughout the event. The strong northeasterlies forced us to sit ashore for a day and a half of what could have been very good racing. When racing was possible, our course was one of the toughest and squirreliest of the lot. Mistakes seemed rampant in the fleet, but the proximity to shore really made for tricky breeze. In particular Brad and I were having a tough time getting the boat into the right spots, and even when we were in the right spots we could rarely capitalize. On the final day we made a nice comeback to round the last windward mark in the first race and were going down the run in fourth with a significant side-swell and got a rule 42 penalty from the on-the-water jury for rocking. I’ll admit that we were working as hard as anybody to stay with the pack, but having to do a 720 didn’t help our series at all at that point, we finished 12th in the race.
In the final race of the event we got off the line in great shape beside Freddie Loof and Iain Percy and held for seven minutes on their windward hip giving us great confidence that we were doing alright for pace. They eventually tacked and ducked us, we continued 10 or 12 more boatlengths further into what we thought was a left-hand shift. When we eventually came back together the fleet forced the three of us further left. The starboard tack advantage they had gained on us allowed them to squeak around the front of the major part of the pack, and we had to take a big duck behind the group going into the windward mark. The differences between a race in the top 5 and a race in the bottom 5 was often less than a boatlength on the first beat. Getting your nose out in front at all in the final approach to the first windward mark was by far the most important factor to having a good event. Anybody rounding in the body of the fleet could finish from 5th to 15th without any trouble. The fleet was absolutely top-notch and very much humbled me as much as the wind conditions.
So what are the major lessons from our first trip to Weymouth:
1. Settings from one tack to another often needed to be very different, due to confused seastate and proximity to the shore-line. Sometimes port would be straight into 1 meter swell, while starboard was extremely smooth with waves loading and unloading the boat to the point that the crews were in the water very often if the boat wasn’t properly powered at all times.
2. Geography has a major impact on the game. The valleys and cliffs surrounding the sailing area make enormous impact on the shifts and Portland Bill makes a huge impact on the current (it causes a 6 knot run of current at the end of the point during max ebb and max flood, thankfully we don’t have to race out there).
3. Racing inside the breakwater can be scary for the starboats in heavy air! Not having waves makes it incredible difficult to unload the main for gybes. Conclusion: I’ll probably need arms like Arnold for next year!
4. Everybody has bad races. Recovery wins regattas. This is a college sailing lesson. Chipping away when you’re up front as well as when you’re behind is the only way to win long series. When things aren’t going your way, just keep showing up until they do.
5. Bring more fleece next year and a thicker wetsuit to dive on the bottom. Sailing in England in September makes you realize why the English started sailing everywhere else in the world to find their empire (Barbados, BVI, India etc.)
So, we finished 16th this week, 7th in the World Cup standings, but are steadily climbing up the World Rankings (27th before the new rankings come out) so this season has turned out to be an incredible learning experience in the new boat.
It won’t stop here though. We will ship a boat out of Miami in two weeks to be ready for the South American Championships in November and lead-up to the 2010 Star Worlds in Rio in January. But first… the Hinman Trophy and US Teamracing Championships are this weekend at Beverly YC in Marion Mass with Team SDYC, Tyler Sinks & Briana Provancha, Adam Roberts & Nick Martin. I’m racing with former Georgetown All-American crew Nick Deane. Bermuda Gold Cup Match Race Grade 1 in three weeks. Melges 24 Worlds in Annapolis at the end of next month. Can’t wait. Stay tuned.
2nd at Knickerbocker Cup
August 31st, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.
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photo courtesy of Paula DavisÂ
Sailing with Dave Perry at the helm, Doug Clark trimming and Susan Daly on the bow, we had a great four days of racing in front of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club for the 2009 Knickerbocker Cup Grade 2 Match Race. Very light and tricky conditions were the theme of the weekend. Sailing  the underpowered Colgate 26s well turned out to be the most important task for all twelve teams involved. In a strong field, similar to Chicago’s fleet last week during the first of three US Match Race Tour events, we were able to take a 9-2 record through the initial round-robin. We were 3-2 in the quarterfinal round robin of the top 6 teams, and then won our semi-final against kiwi Phil Robertson and his team in two races. In an extremely shifty westerly we took another kiwi team Rueben Corbett to the maximum five races in the finals. We controlled the right side of the start off the last race, and both boats were auto-tacked in a sheering lefty that allowed Corbett’s team to lift and roll over our position in slightly lighter air only a few boatlengths to leeward. The chase was made difficult by the length of the course, but we couldn’t take back what we had lost on the first beat and were second in the event.
Knickerbocker Cup Results & Press
Here’s a race we had against Phil Robertson in the Semi-finals with multiple lead changes, some off-the-cuff upwind tactics and a few green-flag protests. You make the call… was the leeward boat above her proper course on the first run (about 6 minutes into the video)? Thanks to Doug Shannon for all the video. We’re “yellow” from the boat end of the starting approach.
For Dave and Doug who had raced in Chicago and been knocked out before the semi-final round, this regatta was a step in the right direction as they look ahead for their final event in the mini-tour at the Detroit Cup next week. Susan and I stepped in for this event and certainly should not complain about the result. I’m a bit disappointed by a few missed opportunities off the starting line in the races we lost in the finals, but otherwise, this event has been the high point in the three events I’ve raced with Dave this season. We raced, the Butler Cup in May in California, a Swedish Match Invitational at Oak Cliff Yacht Club in Oyster Bay and now the Knickerbocker Cup and this past weekend was by far the best sailed of our events so far. We received our first penalty against us in the final series, after nearly 20 races in the clear. We sailed the boat better and smoother than even at the beginning of the event and the communication has started to solidify in a way that has led to effective decision-making and good all-around sailing.
I’m looking forward to getting involved more heavily in this end of the sailing game. If only I can fit it in around this new Starboat calendar I’ve got! Next up, Brad Nichol and I will get back on board Star 8241 for Weymouth’s Sail for Gold Event and the final event of the 2009 World Cup Circuit. Stay Tuned.
More Lessons from Log Canoe Racing
August 25th, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.
In a big transition from the Star Worlds… this past weekend we raced with the formidable Silver Heel log canoe in the Oxford Heritage Regatta hosted by the Tred Avon Yacht Club on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Seven boats showed up for the event all filled to the brim with 10 to 15 people slipping and sliding down the boards keeping this giants of skiff sailing upright. I don’t think anybody turned over this weekend, a rarity by log canoe weekend sailing, but that didn’t mean there was a lack of action.
No more can I claim “First Time Log Canoe Racer” like a few of the new sailors on the boat this weekend, but I dare to say that we’re getting a hang of it. Our skipper’s grandfather and family has owned the boat for longer than the entire crew from this weekend has been alive. Berry Kurland has been at the helm learning as much as he’s teaching greenhorn boardmen and women each of the three weekends that I have been on board the boat. We have been learning from each other, learning to trust each other’s understanding of what the boat is capable of, and stretching the boundaries of the traditional college-housemate relationship into a helmsman/tactician-mode. There have been situations that have left scratching our heads wondering how the boat’s weird reactions managed to put us in such ugly positions. There have been more and more situations however, where I can see the tension in Berry’s stance switch to elated energy when he realizes we pulled something off he never thought the boat was capable of. This weekend we sailed across the line 2nd, 1st and 2nd, after time corrections 4th, 2nd and 1st, without a doubt the best weekend the boat has had under Berry’s watch.
We led the entire way around the course one race after being inches from a starting penalty and port-tacking the fleet. We started one race doing zero knots over ground in adverse current and the glassiest hole on the river only to rally back over the course of the three hour race to win the corrected time. We also managed to sail around the wrong side of a local channel marker and have to join three other surprised locals in retiring from a race. We managed to finish ahead of a massive thundering arm of Hurricane Bill, but not get to the dock before the first of six inches of rain started to dump on the fleet. We attempted to tune a new jib, use a freshly epoxied board and fit 14 people into the space of the normal 12 on board the boat. All in a weekend’s fun.
We had a record turn out for our weekend’s invitations. Nearly 20 people clambered down to the Shore to fill the regular 12 positions on board the boat. Creating the positions of “jib-assist,” “staysail douser,” and “14th man” has never been more fun. I think the boat went better overloaded anyway. A little extra waterline never hurt anybody! We had to get a little imaginative with our crew matrix to make sure that everybody had the most fun possible as well as get the most people sailing as possible. Not to mention getting all 20 people into a bunk, air mattress or couch at our jib trimmer’s (and my new fiancee’s) parent’s house (that’s right, Jacqueline and I are getting married!). Somehow we managed to get everybody rested enough to race both days and have some fun in the meantime.
 Many thanks to everybody for getting involved for the regatta, the Schmitz and Snow households for taking us in and feeding us well, the TAYC for having a nice event, and Berry’s extended family for offering us some grand entertainment and showing the experienced and completely green alike what sailboat racing is supposed to be about!
Back to DC for a few days and then I’m off to Manhasset Bay YC for the Knickerbocker Cup Match Race Regatta this weekend in New York. Stay tuned!
Lessons in Log Canoe Racing
June 29th, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.
After more than my fair share of overseas Starboat competition, traveling around the country to match-race, or race on the Melges 32 circuit, I lucked into being in the US during the first Log Canoe race of the season hosted by the Miles River Yacht Club on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. For those who haven’t seen Log Canoes in action this will give you some indication: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPFjZlWnGBs
The boats are essentially 100-year-old, 35-foot canoes that have two 50 foot masts and ridiculous amounts of sail area spread among three upwind sails a spinnaker and a “kite,” demanding up to twelve crew that scramble out removable planks in lieu of trapeze wires. They are international canoes x 10! They are constantly unstable, requiring the crew to run in and out of the boards all the time responding to the call “Weight!” every time a puff or lull hits the boat. Maneuvers are a mission. Every tack and gybe means nine people have to slip down their respective boards into the center as the boat heads into the turn. They have to pull the boards out from under the old leeward rail, throw them across to the new side, stuff them under the new leeward rail and start running out to the end without slipping off, dragging a board in the water, or any delay in order for the boat not to teeter over an capsize.
Capsizing is a race-ending situation. The sails have to come off and the masts have to come out while the boat is turned over. Then the boat has to be righted, bailed out and then the masts have to be put up again. It’s a wild scene to say the least!
Eight boats raced this weekend in St. Michaels on the Miles River. Berry Kurland was at the helm of the Silver Heel this weekend with a crew of former Georgetown sailors, and other DC-ites, but otherwise rookies to the Log Canoe circuit. Berry’s grandfather owns the boat and the regular crew handed over the boards to us for the weekend with a snicker, I’m sure, enjoying every moment of our pain and joy learning the ins and outs of the boat. Needless to say we had three wonderful races. The first race on Saturday afternoon was actually going quite well until our fourth gybe got a little squirrely and the boat went on its ear in a hurry! I think only 4 boats finished of the 9 who started. Wipeouts were abundant, keeping the spectators happy. We had an ugly go in the first race Sunday, thanks to very fickle breeze and a couple of unlucky shifts, and were 6th across the line in the 9 boat fleet. But we pulled off four gybes and more than our fair share of tacks on the 6+ mile course, so we’ll call it a moral victory. On the second race Sunday we decided to mix it up a bit and save ourselves a maneuver by starting on port. The long tack up the first beat was port and I was actually surprised more boats didn’t employ the same strategy, but I could not have been happier with my call when the rest of the fleet had to put two tacks in for our one. We rounded third and were fourth across the line. The boats slow down so much during a tack, it is very much like keel boat sailing in the sense that you need to plan your turns out literally minutes ahead to make sure that a) you’re doing the right thing and b) that your entire crew is on the same page. They a ton of fun to sail. What a weekend! We can’t wait to do it again.
2nd Place Finish at Ficker Cup
June 15th, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.
I just arrived back in DC after a weekend in Long Beach racing the Catalina 37s for the 2009 Ficker Cup. Six other teams took part in the Grade 3 Match Race regatta held as a qualifier to the Congressional Cup also held at LBYC every year. The format for the three days of racing was three round robins, that’s it. I was calling tactics for Dave Perry in sort of a match race debut, especially in the heavy keelboats. Needless to say, I learned a ton about momentum during the weekend. We came out of the box well winning the first two races in very light air, but finished the first round robin with three bad starts and a couple of careless errors that would come back to haunt us. The rest of the series went quite well. As the sun came out and the breeze filled in, our more experienced crew-work showed to be an advantage going 5-1 on Saturday and winning all three races on Sunday, including a nailbiter with Sally Barkow’s team in the last race. Even with that win, Sally and the girls’ boat sailed a wonderfully consistent series and were able to stay ahead of us in the win column even as we were going on our tear Saturday and Sunday.
Here’s a link to some great photos and a description of the weekend:
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Barkow-makes-history-at-2009-Ficker-Cup/57887
The game of momentum was the biggest concept that I took away from the weekend. So many of the races were over and done with about 2 minutes to go before the start. Often the first boat up to speed was the boat that won the race, especially in the lighter conditions. In the final race of the regatta, Sally had a better start than us, taking the left and forcing us into traffic, splitting right. By the time we came back to them halfway up the beat, they were 5 lengths ahead thanks to a lefty and more solid pressure. We rounded the windward mark behind and immediately gybed. Instead of conservatively matching us or beating us to the gybe, Sally’s team extended on port toward the starboard layline. The turning point of the race was halfway down the first run when Sally’s boat didn’t pick the layline correctly into the leeward mark. Even with a 5 boatlength lead, the race was immediately in our favor. Here’s why:
When Sally gybed inside of the starboard layline, she was forced to make a crucial decision: 1. Sail normal VMG and risk two quick gybes at the bottom of the leg, or 2. Sail lower than normal and lay the mark at slightly slower speed. She chose to soak low and that bleeding of momentum ultimately cost them the lead one leg later. We crossed her breeze once as she was low and slow already, giving her a touch of bad air, and then gybing on a layline for full speed into the mark. She rounded 4 lengths ahead but did not get up to full speed by the time we got the mark and rolled into a tack. She tacked to cover and we went right back forcing her to make a decision to cover or split. We went tack for tack 5 or 6 times up the beat, each time not letting her get up to full speed before we tacked back out of phase. We were able to put a close duck with Sally’s team about three lengths shy of the starboard tack layline and then got a piece of them on starboard going into the top mark. The race was by no means over, we battled it out, gybing three times and then luffing her before gybing back to the finish line under jib alone to snag a last race victory.
The biggest lesson that I took away from this weekend’s racing, beyond more bow work than I ever knew a tactician had to do… was the effect of consequences of events that happen long before they make an impact. Being downspeed at a leeward mark, if properly antagonized can make a significant impact on the race 6 minutes later at the next mark. One downspeed circle in the pre-start can lose an entire race before it even starts. I’m excited to learn more about the match race game as I get more into it. This regatta turned out to be a great experience in the 37s. Congratulations again to Sally and her team!