J24 Blog

According to the JWorld Starting Tactics video, there are 4 boat handling skills critical to starting: slowing down, stopping, holding position, and accelerating:

[kml_flashembed movie="/swf/starting_skills.swf" height="305" width="400" base="/swf" play="false" loop="false"  /]

You can purchase the full video at the JWorld website or at Sailvision.

As forecasted, the first night out on the lake was bitter cold, but with 22 boats on the line and a moderate breeze, it was time to go racing. Back on the water for the first time since last fall we tried to shake out the cobwebs. Hoist the spinnaker, a couple of gybes, douse, a couple of tacks up wind and drop the jib, ready for the horn. The race committee took some time setting the marks as the wind swirlred around a bit. Finally it was the 5 minute warning.

So far, so good. We debated our start strategy a bit and decided to start at the pin, which wasn’t much of a strategy, since it had nothing to do with the favored side. We’ve just grown accustomed to a port start at the pin and tack into a hole, so this being the first start of the year, we went with what we knew best.

Of course the pin end was favored, so here comes the fleet. Just before the gun we tacked into a “hole,” but we tacked a bit late and too close to a starbord tacker, probably a foul, but no big deal. But we were now going to be hard pressed to fetch the pin. We drifted a bit too close to the wind, and then across as the jib backwinded. Before we could ease the jib and fall off we began to drift through the unintentional tack, and then pick up speed until we spun into the starboard tacker and bumped them pretty hard. But it didn’t stop there. Now we were really picking up pace as we continued to spin to starboard this time hitting our next victim a bit more square on!  Not only have we now hit two boats, but they happened to be the ones owned by the Vice Commodore and Jr. Staff Commodore of the club! Madness.

We managed to escape and start on port, doing our turns, and coming in last. The damage to the other boats is superficial, but not nothing, so that will cost us. In our third season now it’s the first time we’ve caused an accident, and hopefully it will be a long time before the next. In the next race we found wide open clear air, in the second or third row and got off a clean start.  Much better.

Somehow neither the bitter cold nor the early drama did anything to diminsh the enjoyment and camaraderie of a great evening out on the water. Can’t wait for the next one.

Our Lake Washington series begins today! We have reason to be optimistic:

• We didn’t sell the boat and by a family cruiser as some wanted to do.
• The bottom was totally re-done, two thru-hulls were patched, and we burnished the foam rollered paint to a very smooth finish.
• We have a new, longer, class maximum head stay, although we haven’t shortened the shrouds and back stays yet. Could be an issue if it gets breezy.
• We have new electronics, and as they say, nothing goes to weather faster than money.
• And one more year under the belts.

The weather forecast:

TODAY…SHOWERS LIKELY. HIGHS IN THE MID 40S TO LOWER 50S. SOUTHWEST WIND AROUND 10 MPH.

TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. LOWS IN THE MID 30S TO LOWER 40S. SOUTH WIND TO 10 MPH.

Good enough!