260722 PEYC Summer 3 of 5

Creation: 260723 1407 Last Modified: 260723 1407

Crew

Position	Person
Helm	Lynn Ellwood
Main	Steve Ellwood
Middle 1	Anik Karimjee
Middle 2	Max Tootle
Mast	Emmett Goodwin
Bow	Howard Whittaker

Course

Using PEYC fixed marks we went Start / #1 / #3 THREE times around.

Weather

We expected to be over powered on the first windward leg with the number #1, it was close but we were ok. But then the forecast said the wind would drop to almost nothing. It turned out despite bounds of 5-7 knots we held around 10-12 knots of wind most of the race.

Of course it was shifty, of course it was gusty, of course there were streaks of wind - Picton Bay…

Race Result

We won.
Overall we are tied with Bear to lead the series. We get a drop on the fifth race, so that will clear out our 4th, and Bear’s third - still tied right now.

Race Review

Did I mention it was shifty?

We were on the committee boat, “RC” side, of the line. 1m30s before Bear tacked round to make a reaching course toward the RC. We tacked inside Bear and lead her from slightly below.

We held her up. We both slowed as we approached the RC. Finally, Bear made a move to dive below us.

We dove as well to fend off the attack. We didn’t want to allow Bear to be in a position to force us over the line.

She came up and we had the line clear to ourselves to run out the clock.

We hit the line nearish the pin and and … wind shift.

Bear and the late Rebel crossed well after we did but they were now handily above us in the right shifted breeze. In fact Rebel who crossed well behind Bear was pinning Bear and prevented her from tacking out.

We too couldn’t tack.

We sailed fast and waited. And waited. Rebel was getting the distributed air from Bear as Bear moved to pinching to weather on Rebel. Rebel peeled off, and shortly thereafter so did Bear.

We held hoping to keep a clear lane. When we did tack the other two boats continued to mess with each other and we had a lane.

Getting to the windward mark required sailing until you could touch the shore - another geographical shift.

We took the sterns of both Rebel and Bear but we were close, as we rounded.

Bear stayed high and sought the middle of the course. We liked the pressure on the eastern side and off we went with chasing Rebel.

We did some imperfect, but nonetheless ‘costless’, gybes. At the bottom we were outside both Rebel and Bear.

We held the spinnaker until quite close to the mark - which gained us ground on the other two.

Rebel has a disastrous spinnaker take down.

Bear got around inside them and we got around inside but behind Bear.

Our goal was to stay high enough above Bear so that we were out of their disturbed air and to find a lane to cross over in.

Meanwhile, Rebel started getting their act together and were recovering speed. Lynn did a fine job, as did the trimmers, climbing over Rebel and rolling them.

Granted they still had people on the bow un-messing their disaster…but a roll is a roll.

The rest of the race can be described in general terms. We were free to take our own path upwind to the weather mark.

We stayed away from the western shore because of the touch and go lulls and puffs and the shifts seemed to be worse over there.

Using the Picton Strategy we came in on port low of the layline but not too low. True North was approaching on stbd below the layline - they were not using the Picton Strategy. We were going to have to duck them - until we weren’t. As the crew was getting ready to tack back to stbd underneath Shannon Coull in True North, the wind shift that tricker her into thinking she was making the mark and punishing her by heading her, punshed her further, and lifted us. Our crash tack turned into an effortless 3 boats lengths away cross. Painful for them, lovely for us.

By this time, round 2 of 3, Bear held its lead and Rebel I think was in front by a little.

Downwind we had a near repeat - and again Rebel botched their take down and sailed well past the mark. We could hear “raised voices”…

Bear pulled their spinnaker down much too early and they were quite slow for a painfully long time.

The final full upwind we made gains, sailing fast. We got to the weather mark and played a stay in the middle game. We tracked to the inside (western side of the middle) to ensure an inside position at the leeward mark. But as it happens the wind gods smiled on us and we were several boat lengths ahead of both Bear and Rebel at the mark.

We went poleless and carried for quite a long-ish way to the mark. This gave us time to get sorted on deck, sail controls set for the now 4-8 knot breeze.

Another rounding well done.

We observed that Licketty - who was still well ahead on the final half windward leg to the finish (they sail white sail and so have a 5-minute head start), was sailing parallel to the finish line - almost away from it on the eastern side. A good indicator to stay away from that side.

We took our final stbd tack approach into the RC, sometimes well above it given the shifts and sometimes not making it at the pin. Picton Bay.

Close-hauled and not easing in those lifts.

In the end we crossed right at the RC line honours.

Lessons

Starts - Use Oh!‘s Superior Manoeuvrability - We are the smallest boat in our group of three competitors. And we are light.
That gives us an advantage in the starts, we turn faster, we stop faster, we start faster. Our ability to tack around, hold Bear up and defend against their dive was all due to our agility - and trimming for speed all the time. We might be able to add some help in flipping through a pre-start tack by back-winding the jib to help push us thru even faster. I think the person running the start, last night it was me, needs to call for a back wind when that would be helpful.
This will work when we don’t need speed so much as a quick turn - and when the driver isn’t expected to hit a close-hauled course after the tack.

Steering with the sails more - corollary - We are now constantly working the main (mostly traveller) to balance the rudder - Lynn monitors the level of weather helm she feels and reports it to the main trimmer to ‘fix’. This is good, exactly right I think, and fast. Note - there are times, like when pinching up high and sadly slow, pays the bills in a tactical situation. So that weather helm is exactly what we want. We wanted to stay above Rebel at the rounding, strapped in main and let the boat come up - get over them. Other times, for example when Bear and Rebel had us pinned after the start, pinching them off would be foolish - they are faster than us in a straight line given their water line length and all environmental elements - wind direction and speed - the same. So we needed to simply sail our fastest course and hope that they would mess with each other - which they did - several times. Maybe we can gain enough to cross or at least we maintain our current separation to give us room after everyone tacks over. So steering with the sails in that case means -balance the rudder. Fast fast.

So in starting, add the backwind of the jib in a fast tack, management of the main and jib for full speed all the time - until tactics calls for a slow down, then both sails go out fast and the boat slows down quickly. Even grabbing the jib and pulling up the clew to rapidly rag it - adding turbulence that slows the boat even more. Heck, grab the middle of the jib and pull it to weather, thus inducing a back-wind without the helms person changing course. Finally, and this is a tricky one - when you aren’t making the mark, you are low of the layline and you need, need, need not to tack to get there…Drop the jib. Dump it on the deck. Main only, centre of effort 100% aft of the keel, centre of effort. Pinch and shoot the mark - this works because a luffing jib is a brake - a jib on the deck is not. I’ve seen this in match racing.

Match Racing - Lessons for a Start - match racing is the spiritual home of all keen tacticians.
title: “Dave Perry Commentates A Match Race Prestart” description: “Step up your match race prestart game with some coaching from five-time match racing national champion and 2020 National Sailing Hall of Fame Inductee, Dave …” url: “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHi4S2YC-zI&t=147s”

The moves we are making in our three relevant boat spinnaker fleet (and our 2-3 boat fleet RS21 sailing) can be schooled by match racing. The rules are ALMOST the same - enough that the moves we regularly see in match racing can be effectively applied to our small fleet racing. More review, more study. I’m lucky my obsession fuels it all.

title: “Match-Race Moves for Fleet Racers | Sailing World” description: “Every point counts in a fleet race, right? a few easy moves that work well in match racing can help you seize critical points when you need them.” url: “https://www.sailingworld.com/how-to/match-race-moves-for-fleet-racers/”