Here are some thoughts and observations on the racing this past weekend: · It was a fair day out wind-wise: velocity pretty consistent around 10 mph, shifting back and forth a bit. Since we were racing pretty much at high-tide, Mike set us up on the eastern side of the cove, where we had a more-consistent breeze (particularly around the windward mark, where it tends to get awfully shifty when we’re on the other side of the cover near the trees / buildings). There were some significant shifts that came down just to make Mike’s life difficult between races, but for the most part, neither side of the course seemed all that consistently favored. · With a smaller set of boats out, there were fewer people fighting for the favored ends of the line at the start. I was able to get some good, clean air starts at the favored end for most of the races, and then took advantage of the slight shifts that came down the middle of the course on the beats without having to worry too much about being tacked on or running into traffic. When I had a bad start in the fifth race, I paid for it the whole first beat, as I couldn’t find much in the way of clean air until I had over-stood the port-tack layline. · Upwind, I realized that boatspeed fundamentals were hugely important—keeping your hull flat, your weight positioned forward, your sail shape trimmed for the conditions and your eye on the shifts made a big difference. A great case example was Dave Teale rolling me to windward on the first beat of the day. His trim and body positioning were certainly better than mine here; there are few things worse than hearing someone who was to windward and behind you just motor over you to windward—it was so awful, I didn’t even want to turn my head to see it. Really made me second guess all the French fries I’d eaten earlier in the week, but that wasn’t it—I wasn’t keeping my boat as flat as I could have (and he was), my outhaul was too tight, and I was pinching. Truly demoralizing, so I focused more on the fundamentals throughout the day. Another note: I didn’t use any vang upwind all day. · Leeward mark roundings also were big—there were a lot of opportunities to gain ground and/or boats at the downwind turn. Making the rounding nice and tight as you came out of the turn and then quickly adjusting for the favored tack allowed people to pick up some space on the guys in front of them. This is where I paid Dave back in that first race—whereas his rounding was pretty good, he ended up heading off to the right side on a headed port tack. Unfortunately for him, he got to the mark about 5 - 10 seconds too early and ahead of a nice lefty that came through. By the time I rounded, I was in a nice lifter that I rode most of the way up the next beat, and I crossed him as he tried to come back. · Another thing I noticed at the leeward mark was the positioning going on to prevent pinwheeling and keep greedy people like me from stealing what’s not rightfully theirs. I saw both Frank and Steve slowing themselves down at about five boat-lengths to make sure that they didn’t end up with their bows tucked to the outside of the person in front of them, so they both had clearer air coming out of the rounding, and were able to keep me from sneaking inside of them. Certainly this is a bigger deal with 20 boats out there, but even on the days with fewer folks out there, it makes a difference. · Lastly, when heading downwind, sail shape, trim and body positioning seemed to make a big difference. I still have a ton to learn here. For the most part, I let off my outhaul in a BIG way on the runs—measured more in feet than in inches—which seemed to give me much more speed. When I neglected to let off my outhaul and downhaul in the fifth race heading downwind, I helplessly watched as Dan, Scott and Keith chewed right through what was a five boat-length lead at the windward mark and rolled me coming into the finish line. As much as I would like to say it was the French fries again or the possibility of hooking a phantom shopping cart on my center board, the three of them just out-sailed me. They positioned themselves for the puffs better, their sail trim and shape were better, and I’m sure that their body positioning and movement was better. In the races where I was moving well, I found I had my weight more centrally-located, with my back foot wrapped over the strap for stability to make sure I didn’t fall out to windward (thanks Mike and Erich for that tip) and my board way up. It wasn’t elegant, but it worked. However, I still don’t know how Steve carves that beautiful windward heel down such long stretches of the runs—it’s awesome and really fast—so ask him what he’s doing. I’m still coming to grips with the fact that I weigh literally twice what I weighed the last time I raced a laser prior to this season (15 years ago), so I’m not yet able to hold that kind of heel without disaster ensuing. · This Sunday looks to be another nice one—temperatures in the mid-70s and breeze in the mid-teens. Hope to see a lot more folks out there. |
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