260808 Waupoos Wabbit Wace

Creation: 260809 0708 Last Modified: 260809 0708

Crew

Position	Person
Helm	Lynn Ellwood
Main	Steve Ellwood
Middle 1	Max Tootle
Middle 2
Mast	Matt Tootle]
Bow	Howard Whittaker

Lynn got a really nice shot of Howard Whittaker and Matt Tootle ’ s legs.

For the record here are supplementary shots of the two of them.

Course

Start line near MacFarlane dock around Green Island and the Waupoos island to a finish line. 26nm.

Weather

Streaky but not nearly so as in the past. 8-15 knots.
There was two big storms, one went north of PEC and the other went south - making PEC a weather Shangri-La in the sweet spot. Direction, forecast 240-250, lived reality 220-300. A big shift when we were about 2nm from Green Island hurt us badly.

Race Result

A tough day at the office, a good day at the office.

We were 17 minutes ahead of Pony, but we owed them so much more. Behind them by 13:39 corrected minutes. PHRF.

And Gord, beating us by 1:20 is a bitter pill, but then, PHRF.

So the system works.

I expect that because we were so far ahead, so much so that we couldn’t make out which boat was which, they were sailing in different wind.

Race Review

On the line from start to Cressy Point, Howard Whittaker and Matt Tootle took turns flying the spinnaker relentlessly. I worked the main constantly. Everyone was focused, wind, sail trim, geography. No chit chat, only feedback and focus. And we pulled ahead and ahead.

We changed the headsail to the #1 gennie in preparation for the rounding at Cressy. Maybe that was the wrong all, but we couldn’t guess what to expect.

The whole windward part, Cressy to Waupoos, the main was engaged sometimes fully but mostly with a bubble in the luff and sometimes only with the leech pulling.

The #1 was the right sail sometimes and not other times.

We continued to make gains upwind, green arrows, until we didn’t.

I switched with Max Tootle on the main trim looking to give him some experience in the role. He did very well. Lynn and Max communicated all the time about the factors and Lynn’s helm. I think the made a great pair.

Lynn was experiencing driving in waves, the Waupoos race is really the only time we see waves like this or even at all. The wave adds a level of complexity to helming. Time on the stick is the only answer.

The diagram below indicates we have a persistent shift, like for 15 or more minutes from west to east - (yellow line #1) . We thought, ok, getting headed, but we will sail into it and take the lift over the Waupoos island.

When we did tack, it shifted slowly against us, back again - like a frog in a slowly warming pot of water, we got boiled.

Our net was tacking through 100 degrees. Damn.

So this misperception, my misperception, of the wind situation cost us the race.

So in the last hour our lead, our win, evaporated. Painful.

That was the story of the race. Great sailing, fast boat, focused crew - going the wrong way.

Lessons Learned

Go the right way.

A smart tactician can make a boat look fast. In fact sailing a shorter course, less distance, gets the boat around the course faster whether the boat is going fast or not.

The corollary is that a fast boat bestows the title of genius on an undeserving tactician/strategist.

Not even Oh! could save me this time.

Mia culpa.

Marking Lines Pre-Start

It was clear that marking the various lines would have sped up the tacking process - I stayed down on the leeward side longer than I would have done if I had a mark on the jib sheet to indicate when the jib was in at the upper spreaders.

This has to be done pre-start. In the heat of the moment after a tack and trim the pressure to get up to the high side is too great

Hauling in a Line

When sailing with Hawaiian Wasp sailor Gavin on the RS21, he was sheeting the asym. I was running the main, right behind him.

At each gybe I almost had my head bashed by his flying elbows.

Why? Because his hand reached out on a straight arm and grabbed the line, then that hand went out and back, over his head on the side of the arm, and back. A backward punch if you aren’t careful.

Then the other hand reach out and grabbed the line in front and did the same thing.

Huge, long pulls with each hand/arm one after the other. Often two or three pulls did the complete job.

We have to teach this, at the mast, at the sheet trim. Bigger pulls are faster - much faster.

Wave Sailing

This article says it all

https://www.sailingworld.com/how-to/ease-for-speed/

The helm and trimmers need to work together. Yes short waves make this especially hard - but it also yields greater gains, because it is hard for other boats to do.

A fine Saturday on the water. A pleasure sailing again with Max and getting to sail with his brother Matt. Welcome to the team boys!