J24 Blog

Following up on the race report from Tuesday night, I emailed Joy Okazaki of Hot Pursuit, the boat we collided with, to get a clearer picture of what happened. I got that and more.

First of all, here was the situation:

Our strategy was to avoid the crowd at the pin. Unfortunately, with Tundra Rose (TR) to leeward of us and the starboard tackers in front of us, we felt boxed in. As we approached the pin layline, TR “helpfully” suggested that we should “make our turn.” We went for it. We tacked under Hot Pursuit and then began the luffing game. As we drifted there the jib backwinded and we tacked.

I sent the email to Joy for 2 reason: I wanted to explain to Hot Pursuit why we were there in the first place, and I wasn’t sure why we tacked and was hoping for some insight.

Here is the response from Bates McKee who was skippering Hot Pursuit:

This was an unfortunate and clearly unintended incident, so not a problem.  The collisions were very low speed because we were at that point stalled on the starting line, nearly head to wind.  We were lined up and ready to sheet in and bear off for the pin-end start, but once Juju tacked to leeward we headed up with an obligation to keep clear up to head to wind.  I believe Juju intended to hang and wait (although from that position were not going to make the pin with enough momentum to round, so an eventual bear off and jibe or circles from hitting the pin seemed inevitable, and an earlier recognition of that inevitability would have avoided the incident).

Having said that, Juju could have remained at or near head to wind if the jib sheet had been entirely released.  The reason the boat tacked was because the jib remained sheeted, and began to back at perhaps 10 degrees off the wind (still on starboard).  A rapid complete jib release would have maintained forward momentum and steerage, avoiding the tack - this is  communication between helmsman and trimmer, and is similar to ’shooting’ to round a mark when just below layline at the last moment. Ideally at a start this is done with speed and forward momentum already established, (a very late shot when within one boatlength to leeward of a mark to be fetched, helmsman heads up gradually all the way up to near head to wind, simultaneous jib complete release, then once the midpoint of boat is beyond mark hard helm to weather or even skulling to bear off, and stern swings to weather clear).  Once the jib backs (still far from head to wind) the helmsman completely loses steerage and the eventual result is inevitable.  This ’shooting the mark’ is a good maneuver to practice for all of us.

Regarding the global situation, when approaching on Port and overlapped with Tundra to leeward Juju may have had the right for room to pass astern of the ‘obstruction’ (the starboard tack boats), although limitations apply at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water wherein the correct maneuver is to tack and bear away rather than getting room to pass astern).  See the rule below - this is the basic situation on open water when there is a need to pass astern starboard tack boats - the leeward boat must give room for the windward boat to
pass.  An early hail is prudent, but in any case the obligation is clear, and if Juju was not within two lengths of the starting mark then Tundra needed to give her room if they were overlapped - may have been close to this zone in this case.

It never occured to me to ask for room. Looking back I’m not sure if we were entitled to room under rule 18 since I can’t be sure we were “about to round” the staboard tackers (and how that factors in), nor whether we were within two boat lengths of the pin, but I should have been thinking about that possibility. And I also understand know what it looks like so see a boat setting up perfectly for the pin (HP), and what it’s like to foul that boat. Something I don’t want to repeat any time soon!

But the biggest lesson for me was that we should be looking for the jib to back well before going head to wind and to have it fully released if and when it does. 

I’m very thankful to Joy and Bates for taking the time to answer my questions. The willingness of the better teams to help out the novices is outstanding. Hopefully it will help us get off the back of the fleet and shorten the races so that Hot Pursuit can get more races in!

To the extent that a Section C rule conflicts with a rule in Section A
or B, the Section C rule takes precedence.

18 ROUNDING AND PASSING MARKS AND OBSTRUCTIONS
In rule 18, room is room for an inside boat to round or pass between an outside boat and a mark or obstruction, including room to tack or gybe when either is a normal part of the manoeuvre.

18.1 When This Rule Applies
Rule 18 applies when boats are about to round or pass a mark they are required to leave on the same side, or an obstruction on the same side, until they have passed it. However, it does not apply (a) at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water or at its anchor line from the time the boats are approaching them to start until they have passed them