260516 KYC Sock Burner

Boat - RS21 319 Pink Crew

• Anik - helm
• Howard - Bow
• Steve - Middle
• Guest - Rene - Howard’s daughter - Main Weather
• Wind 6–8 start from about 190, light chop
• Very patchy Long race 11.6nm Pursuit format

SHIZARU Abbott 33 Paul & Marianne Davis won - in fact only boat that finished. Good start with light pressure. Immediately sailed into a hole and we sat there. Fast Forward (Olson 30) started very late at the pin end, perhaps 50’ south of us - and the sailed right past us heeled in breeze while we bobbed in our wind hole. Bye bye. We did our best to tack on shifts and that helped. On that first long beat to K5 the answer was to head out to the south shore way off course to K5 because that’s where the wind was - but we couldn’t get there . Some times we were not just heading 90 degrees to K5 but sometimes away from it to try to get to some pressure. After 2 hours we were less than half way between the first mark and the second. Asym collapsed. Wind came in 2-3 knots) from the east replacing the 0-3 knots from the west, then zero, then north west…. 1525 we called it and bailed out of the race. We still had another 6-7 nm to go! Shizaru reported they had pressure the whole race, sometimes over powered! They started the pursuit race only 3 minutes in front of us and the Olson and those 3 minutes made all the difference. I can’t say we figured wrong and the wind had a pattern that experience would have pointed us to. I saw and in retrospect see no pattern or better path through the water that we could have anticipated (that’s the keyword) The learning was the key take way from this event. We came early and we were the only RS21 going out. Glenn Warner, with staggering generosity, took the time to walk us through boat setup, rig tune, tips and tricks. We were able to ask questions and he gave thoughtful answers. We are allowed to set the rig tune to our preference, provided we set it back to baseline when we return the boat. He showed use how to use the Spinlock Rig-Sense gauge. This will add another dimension to our preparation. We can also change tension between races, which is another way of tweaking g the rig while on the water as conditions change. The jib halyard has an eye whipped onto it by design, just where the halyard exits the mast. There is a hook attached to a 3 or 4 to 1 purchase system used for tensioning the luff. We had the time to set the connection point on the jib’s head to have that eye placed properly. We were able to use that purchase system for the first time. On the water we continued learning the boat. We had time to practice windward (always port side) spin hoists and douses. The jib fairleads move in and out not forward and back like the old school boats we are accustomed to. In our old school set ups, to open the top of the jib you move the fairlead back. If the tales are breaking on the outside up top on the jib before those down low, you close the top by bringing the jib fairlead car forward. But on the RS21 in order to change the angle of the fairlead fire and aft you raise and lower the WHOLE sail. So we eased the black tack line out to lift the tack up and we tightened up the orange purchase control line to raise the head of the jib. The whole sail went UP the forestay. The effect was the same as moving the fairlead car forward on an old school boat. That was a bit of a mind bender for Howard and I. IF the wind came up and we wanted to open the leech of the jib, we would honk down the tack right to the deck and adjust the jib halyard to accommodate it. Howard was encouraging us to roll tack the boat. My mind was focused on ensuring my foot wasn’t tangled up in the continuous jib sheet during a tack. But the effect even when Howard and Rene were the only ones swinging the weigh around during a tack was obvious. We are going to have to make roll tacking and roll gybing our every time maneuver. Anik took (offered) to helm. Our plan is to have the core crew change positions to better learn the boat and generally apply our experience to the various roles to make all crew work better. So today, Anik helm. But what a day for it. Light, choppy, shifty. Times of aero breeze that you had to watch vigilantly for the next trivial breath of air to work the boat a few more feet along. Exhausting I’m sure. But he held that stick like a champion and keep his focus. He is sleeping well this evening. On a tack we came out a little fatter than our target angle to the wind with the sails eased to that fatter angle in order to build some speed. The goal is to stay in that mode for the shortest period of time but to have the time to get the boat back up to speed quickly. We are still working on the process. I think the helm needs to tell jib and main trim when they are back up to speed so the trimmers can tighten up. Maybe 5 seconds? Something for use to practice. The weather was a little warmer. I dared the elements with only two sets of head to toe long johns and only a single waterproof fleece lined smock. Summer here we come.