What a beautiful day for racing for those who missed this Sunday, myself and others sailed in shorts in mid-November! I guess this is exciting for a person from up north. So how did I do it, well let me break it out to the different parts of the race: Start -Tried to start near the port end due to the favorable current and I thought the pressure was good on the left. -I wanted to be able to tack after the start. The port layline was close to the pin after the start and I did not want to get pinned to the left especially with the favorable current so I tried to keep people off my hip at the start or tack multiple boat lengths from the layline and duck a few boats. Upwind -The conditions in the first two races I ALWAYS sail the boat flat. The really light conditions in the last race would be the only time were I would heel to leeward upwind but I still didn't. -My weight was always close to the centerboard. -In this light stuff I kept the boom out about a foot or a little more off the deck to keep the sail breathing (tightening the mainsheet until it starts to pull the boom down and then it let out a little bit), adjusting periodically. -I ALWAYS went for speed, footing and not pointing in the light stuff, speed kills. -I always just keep the traveler as tight as possible. Downwind -I tried to sail as far downwind as possible (by-the-lee) most of the time just to keep the boom out and so I could heel the boat to windward. -In the light stuff you want to have a minimum of maneuvers in the boat (i.e. jibes they are slow). There was no real reason to jib more than once unless you were being covered. Tacking -Through the tacks it is beneficial in the light stuff to pull the mainsheet in (I try to almost two-block the mainsheet) as you start the tack. This helps the boat turn up into the wind and prevents the sail to start to luff until later into the tack. But by doing this you have to remember to let the mainsheet back out (alot) as you fall on to the next tack. I hope this was helpful to some and if anyone has any particular questions please feel free to drop me a line. It was good to see 19 boats on the line and look forward to racing more on the river. -Erich |
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