Aug01
Photo Bill Blevins used under a Creative Commons license
I posed the following question to the fleet listserve after the downwind start in the third race last Tuesday:
What is the strategy for a downwind start. For instance, when do you set your spinnaker, when do you raise the pole?
It sparked quite a discussion…
Jul25
One of the nice things about getting holed and being out for a month (if there is anything nice about it) , is that it gives you that great opportunity to go back to your roots and crew. This return to the roots was really refreshing for me. It gave me the chance to be out racing and actually take time to reflect, which is not something you get to do during a race when you’re the driver.
As a result, I’ve deployed a new weapon in our arsenal, one that I’ve wondered about trying for some years, but somehow never got around to. The Dinghy Start isn’t something I’ve had a lot of experience with. While I learned to sail on Lasers and FJs out on San Francisco bay, I never took it to the next level and race them. By the time I raced, it was as crew on bigger boats, and, you don’t do a Dinghy start in a J-105 or a Cal (at least, not where I’m from).
But, we always call the J/24 a ‘big dinghy’ and she certainly is sensitive to weight, and yes, a dinghy start is powerful in certain conditions. This was how our basic pattern went, wait for a start with moderate wind, 6 to 10 knots, let’s say, get your boat up on the line (or maybe just 1/2 boat length or 1 boat length off the line, with ONE MINUTE to go, on a close hauled course. Then, ease everything, and I mean, ease it all the way. Let the main all the way out, let the genoa, all the way out. Then, wait. At about 30 seconds, trim everything in, and go!
We had two really good starts thanks to the dinghy start out on the lake two weeks ago, but there’s a lot to learn . The critical things are 1) there’s no major current on the lake, if there was current, it certainly would add an element of timing and distance that’s completely different. 2) You have to stop your boat and hold her, on a closed hauled course. Use a point on land or use your compass, but don’t get into irons, you need to be able to trim-and-go. 3) Luff those sails. If you don’t have the main all the way out, you’ll still move forward, which is not the idea. 4) Learn how long it takes to accelerate. I’ve found about 30 seconds in 8 to 10 knots is about right. But, once we got rolled by boats that came powering up under us. We should have trimmed way earlier. I think we waited until 10 seconds to go one time, which was wayyyyy tooo late.. argggghh . 
The reason I like this start a lot is that it forces you to get to the line, in the front, with one minute to go, and so, you’re there. Next, you’re on starboard, so that’s cool. Any boat approaching to windward, well, they don’t have rights anyway, so who cares. As to the leward boats, they HAVE TO give you opportunity to keep clear. They can’t just come and barrel into you. They have to give you time to trim in and head up. Also, any boats that were to leward of you before you luffed, are now gone, because they didn’t luff.
The negatives with this start are that you may feel that there is a lack of control. But as long as you stop the boat, close hauled, trimming in and going is pretty easy. Also, you have to watch you equipment, boom and genoa, and make sure you don’t foul anyone.
Find a spot on the line and give this powerful method a try the next time you’re on the lake!
Jun26
“Of all the different boats we race, one thing holds true: racing them downwind in light air can really suck.”
Last Tuesday we got schooled downwind. We actually beat a group of pretty fast boats to the windward mark, and were hanging tough after the set. But inevitably we got rolled and left for dead.
Just in time, there is a good article by Tony Rey on the Sailing World website focusing on downwind strategy and boatspeed in light air. Here are Tony’s 7 Light-air Tips:
Full article here.
Jun10
Stuart Streuli interviews Charlie Enright at the Fleet 50 Blog. An excerpt:
 The key to starting is getting one that can help you execute your game plan. The best way to end up where you want to be on the line is to back it all up a couple of steps. If you know you want to be at the middle of the line at go, you know you want to be on your final approach to starboard of the boat at a 1:30, and if you know that you also know that you want to be on port in the middle of the line at 2:30. I like to tell my crew how many maneuvers we have left as it becomes apparent. We have a bow guy calling lengths to the line. We have the trimmer listening to the helmsman who only says, trim, slow, or racing…we have one person dedicated to the time and another looking back for scoopers. Our time guy is our radio guy after the start.
Jun02
More from the Fleet 50 blog. This time Anthony Kotoun, 2005 World Champ:
Stuart Streuli: With a strong incoming tide and a moderate southerly, last night featured some very flat water on the bay. How do you adjust the set up of your boat for conditions where the water is flatter than expected for the wind speed?Anthony Kotoun: We were at 24-21 but were overpowered and had 100-percent back stay on. Kind of got caught when the breeze increased there the last few minutes and should have tightened the back stay adjusters. As for flat water, we all know the answer: pinch! You have to use the mantra of, “If it feels like crap, you are going well.†Every once in a while the crew should have to pull up their feet to keep then out of the water. Mainsheet was really, really tight. Biggest thing for me though is someone good calling puffs. When the puff hits, in a perfect world the boat should never feel it because you have pulled on the backstay, and pinched a bit and the genoa guy has eased 7 inches.
 Full post here.
Jun02
There is some good stuff going on at the Fleet 50 J/24 blog. Over the last several days, John Streuli has interviewed Bob Lambert, Jens Hookanson and PJ Schaffer about racing in their weekly regatta last Thursday out in Newport, RI. Here is Schaffer on tacking:
A big concern in heavy air with the genoa is tacking. What are the keys to a good tack in these situations?
PJ Schaffer: The biggest thing to remember is that “tacking†is a team sport. There is a common misconception that you have to be a big/strong person to tack the genoa in heavy air but the keys really are timing and coordination. The most important part of the tack is making sure the helmsman does not overturn the boat. The goal is to keep the boat moving through the tack while allowing the genoa to cross sides and lie within the opposite side lifelines. The cockpit trimmer must release just after the tack has started (slight backwind) so the sail “pops†thru the foretraingle. At this point the helmsman must slow the turn enough to allow the tailing of the sheet to catch up with the clew now on the new leeward side between the shrouds and lifelines. If the sail is heavily loaded on the new tack there is a good possibility the boat was turned too much thru the wind.
Here is the full post.
Apr13
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.
Oct16
*1) Jib* – Inducing twist to the jib on Sunday was definitely correct. However the jury is split on the trim of the jib. Some of the top boats actually had the jib sheeted out to just outside the spreaders . I do not think we (djinn) ever had it outside the spreaders, but we did have it in tight and neither worked very well. Perhaps out to the spreaders is the way to go and/or something to try for next time.
*2) Vang* – As much a I wanted to stress the vang on Sunday, I think I still underestimated it. The amount of vang required to keep the main flat is intense, which is why some boats blew out their vangs altogether.
Equipment issue: Not enough purchase to put it on tight. Not properly rigged to blow it easily if needed. UPGRADE YOUR VANGS TO MAXIMUM PURCHASE ALLOWED BY CLASS RULES.
*3) Downwind spinnaker* – Definitely my weakest point. One of my constant fears is accidentally gybing caused by the action of the waves. After just a minute of talking through my fears, I realized that accidentally gybing the main in heavy air is not going to easily happen under spinnaker. It’s hard enough to gybe the main even when we _WANT_ to gybe, because the main is pinned against the shrouds.
Being by-the-lee a bit or being dead downwind for the entire run and getting pushed by waves isn’t going to do anything to move the main. So, then the question becomes how to control the rolls, and the answer is moving weight back in the boat. We should have had everyone much further back, and we should have been twinging in hard on both sites to better control the kite.
Equipment issue: Twingers rigged aft instead of having their own cleats near the beam. The rear cleats are too crowded..twingers get in way of spinnaker trim.
… More in Part 2…
Oct11
Hi all, it’s a pleasure to be a new blogger on this j24 blog. I’m the skipper/owner of Djinn and while I keep my own blog on Djinn’s racing activities, it’s private and mostly geared around scheduling and repairs. I’m excited to add my ramblings on here and hopefully it will help not only Djinn to get better but other boats that are starting out in this highly competitive Seattle fleet.
Peter asked me to start by contributing some observations about the Sound OD Championship on Oct 6/7, 2007 and since then I’ve traded some emails with other skippers about how we could have done better in this extremely heavy air regatta.
So, without further interruption, I’m going to include my initial race report below and then in subsequent posts for the next several days, I’m going to add some hits and tips I’ve gathered. The source of these tips asked me not share them with too many boats, but at the risk of never getting advice again, I’m going to throw discretion into the wind and post all of it in the coming days. After all, I don’t think there’s anything you read on a blog, read in a book, watch on YouTube or discuss over drinks at the CYC which is going to make you better at boat handling (with the exception of really learning and understanding the rules).
Here is my review of the regatta:
It was a great weekend, I was impressed with the performance of the top boats and how flat they were able to keep their boats. We certainly learned a ton.
Moving the mast butt forward, being properly adjusted on the shroud tension and bringing the Jib in as tight as possible, as well as moving the jib car back to induce some twist in jib seemed to help a lot, but we didn’t make these adjustments until Sunday. We also put the vang on much tighter on Sunday by sitting on the boom, sheeting in hard and cranking on the vang, but it’s clear to me I need more purchase on my vang, because it really wasn’t on enough. Same thing with our outhaul which we couldn’t get on hard enough either.
It blew like stink both days except for right before the last race on Sunday when it calmed down to about 14/15 knots and about a 1/3 of the fleet put up genoas. Then, it got up into the mid 20s during the race, with some stronger gusts, which was really something to witness.
On Saturday the race committee had a number of issues with the whalers and they were unable to start the racing for more than an hour and a half. We used some of the time running the course and trying to practice, but a whole lot of time was spent doing the gravy train around the start line and getting exhausted.
Congrats to Suspense and everyone who made it out!
————
Next I will post about some of the jib trim settings I was corrected on, as well more on all things heavy air, including the vang, the crew position, avoiding the accidental gybe, trimming the spinnaker downwind , the outhaul, shroud tension and tacking in big wind.
Scuttlebutt