What a great day for sailing. Although the wind was predicted to top out at 3mph it actually picked up to around 7-8mph at 12pm and stayed there till about 2:30pm or so when it died down to 4-5mph. There was a lot of water in the cove, I believe the tide was going out slowly, I did not consider tide a factor in racing this Sunday (unlike last Sunday). I tried to get good starts with good boat speed and clear air, the times I managed to pull it off I was able to hold on and move up by tacking on the shifts going upwind. I had one bad start and that race I was not able to finish much ahead of where I started. For some reason the last three Sunday's I've been going really fast down wind, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing to go so fast. One thing I've been doing differently since the clinic with Erich is I put alittle vang on going downwind. Before I would just let it off all the way. I think my boom was being lifted up too high when I did that. I blew my outhaul off all the way, but I noticed some people had it more off then I did. I tried to not sail directly downwind, but was not playing the angles hard. I tired to very slightly sail off the wind. Another thing I seem to be improving on is my tacks. Erich and Barney both have told me that I jam my tiller over too hard and consequently put the brakes on when tacking (or jibing). Now I try to very gently push the tiller, letting out just alittle on the main sheet, then when head to wind pushing the tiller just alittle faster to complete the tack, and then pulling in the main sheet. I also seem to be rolling the boat better. As with tacking this just takes practice (and more practice). Going up wind in fairly light air I was not sailing block to block. I would keep between 4-8 inches between the traveler and end of the boom. I would snug up my vang an use the cunningham to take the wrinkles out of the sail. One part of the course I seemed to always gain a lot of boat lengths on people was the last 1/3 of the course upwind. I would sail on port to the layline and quite a few times would get a big lift before tacking to starboard to round the mark. I attribute this to being in the right spot at the right time, but it seemed to happen in the same spot race after race. Thanks to Nabeel, Mike and Bill for doing excellent RC work. The leeward gate was a great idea that we rarely use in our frostbite series. Great day for sailing, I'm glad I came back from the holiday in time to hit the water. Hopefully I can sail fast for the rest of the season. Scott |
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