Well, that is a surprise. I'm usually not even in the top quartile. Two basic reasons: it was one of those days when a lightweight sailor has an obvious advantage; and several of the best of our fleet were absent. Conditions were similar to the previous Sunday, with the winds even a little lighter. I had learned the week before that the left side of the course (looking upwind), further from the shore, would usually have the best winds. I went there upwind almost all the time, as far as I dared without hitting mud. I made a port approach to the starting line every race, looking to duck to the lee of the pack coming in from the boat end only about 15 to 20 seconds before the start, and toward the middle of the line. Three out of five races this worked fine and I had clear air going left from the start. This was critical. On one of the two poorer starts I was able to take a clearing tack soon after the start and regain a clear lane going left. One of them - my 12th place finish - I never found a clear lane. I sailed by the lee downwind to the gate buoy each time, despite the three boat length extra distance, to stay with the better wind and come off clean for the second beat. I am setting up by the lee, in the light air, different from most. I do not let off the outhaul and I keep my boom inside of perpendicular to the boat, trimming the boom in as much as I can without risking a gybe, trying to set up maximum air flow from leech to luff. This worked spectacularly well for me on the 10th, when I often passed as many as five boats on the downwind legs. Advantage was not as clear this Sunday but this setup was not hurting me. My downwind speed the last two weeks may, of course, be due in large part to my light weight. But I read last week that Ted Morgan in Annapolis, who won that day there, is also setting up this way downwind in light air. I had vang snug to within about five inches of block to block and never changed it, upwind or downwind, for the entire day. I trimmed the main sheet to about that five inches block-to-block in the few periods of slightly better air and slacked off some, but not a lot, in the lighter stuff. Outhaul was set so the foot of the sail was the standard fist from the boom, and I never altered it either. I don't even try to do roll tacks, just concentrate on coming around smoothly and getting back on course. You guys will kill me when the wind comes up! |
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