Not The Regular Newport Seabreeze

This Saturday did not bring the typically steady seabreeze, instead we were sailing in the lee of Goat Island with some major puffs coming down the course.  While we may all like the consistent breeze in Newport, these conditions are much more common in college sailing venues like Navy, The Charles River, St. Mary's, Hobart, Conn, and just about every where else.  While most of our races were in the 15 knot range with some bigger gusts, we also a light race around 10 knots. There are a few really simple tricks to keep your speed up which you have probably heard before.

1. Anticipate puffs - This will make or break you off the line (yes you Susie). If you see a big puff coming make sure skipper and crew communicate and keep the boat flat by hiking hard and easing the main when it hits, you will probably also want to sneak in and add some vang tension before the puff.  Boats that don't do this (Susie) will slip 1/2 - 1 boatlength to leeward and open up your hole.

2. Pointy end toward the mark - Make sure you are sailing in the lifts and towards pressure.  If you are in the front early on stay between the mark and your competition.

3. Transitions - It sounds like most people did a pretty good job of this, in the light air take the 5 seconds to ease up your Cunningham, outhaul, and rig tension.  It is always best to be setup for the lulls.

Pre-Start Homework

As we discussed yesterday, you should always do your homework before the start. At the bare minimum, the skipper and crew need to:

1. Check all ring-dings
2. Check your hiking straps
3. Check your tiller extension and universal
4. Check your rudder bolt
5. Get a line sight
6. Get a lay-line to boat (critical if you are starting boat or middle)
   
7. Get a lay-line to pin (critical if you are starting pin)
8. Get the time down the line
9. Get the time around the boat
10. Look up the course

Here is a link to the full article that Roy mentioned on SailGroove about what crews should do before the start. (http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/877-for-starters)

Dean's Downwind Notes

REMEMBER this is all very situational and the diagram and below words are for you to have in your head to use when the situation seems to fit.


As you approach the weather mark:

• If you were Lifted on stbd tack, upwind, and in a puff, then just bear away and ride it out downwind.
  


• If you were Knocked on stbd tack, upwind, in a puff, then consider jibing around the mark.

STEADY BREEZE

• Always keep your downwind lane clear. The best way to do this is to make sure that no one is on your breeze. If you have tell-tales, look at the direction that they are flowing and then trace that behind you to see if the other boat is on your breeze. A quick luff of your jib can also tell you this.


• Rule of thumb - I would keep the boat behind just off of my port corner if on stbd jibe, and the other corner if on port jibe.


• As you approach the leeward mark, make sure that you are on the inside. This means that you need to work towards the inside, and think about over-laps the entire way down the course. Don't be afraid to hit the brakes at the 2-boat-length circle so that you don't get caught outside of boats. It's better to slow early and get a good rounding, than to sail around the outside of several boats.
  
  NOTE: this strategy does not apply to busting mark traps.

PUFFS FROM THE LEFT

• If you are already in the puff, then jibe onto port to ride it out, and then jibe back to connect with the next puff.


• As you approach the leeward mark, stbd jibe is the faster jibe and gives you inside advantage. This is because the stbd jibe will be a reach with left puffs.

PUFFS FROM THE RIGHT

• If in the puff, stay on stbd and ride it out then jibe to connect with the next puff.


• As you approach the leeward mark, there are potential gains on port jibe because it is the faster jibe in the puff. This is because the others are sailing dead downwind on stbd into mark. However, this is a little more risky because as you move down the course you have to assess the line up (ladder rungs).

**The right puff is what you took advantage of on Monday practice near the leeward mark.

THE DIAGRAM
The black line shows the course in the different puffs. When the line bends, that is a jibe to connect back to the puff

Puffy Conditions

These questions were emailed to me earlier this morning. I thought you all may be interested. As always, feel free to comment.

When I'm calling puffs, should I be able to tell whether its a header or a lift, or does that just come with experience?

Start by just getting the timing down, You should be able to say that there is a puff in 5 seconds and then count it down. Once you get the timing, since you will have been paying attention, you will start to understand direction.

To keep it really simple, the axis of the header will be pointed such that it makes the boat want to bear away when the puff hits. The axis of a lift will allow the boat to head up to meet it,

In breezy conditions is it just as important to be playing the jib as in lighter conditions, or should I be more focused on keeping the boat flat?

It is just as important, just harder to do because of the load on the sheets. You still need to adjust with your skipper, regardless of the wind velocity. When it really nukes, that's when it pays to be able to ease with the skipper in the puffs.

When judging how to play the jib, is it based more on skipper communicating what they're doing with the main, or just anticipating the puffs?

Both. First off, your skipper should be talking to you about what they are doing with the main. Since you have your head out of the boat and are looking around, you should start to recognize what your skipper is doing when, and then start to anticipate

Tactical Tip #4

Yesterday, the breeze was up-and-down, and swung about 30-degrees to the right during practice. Roy shifted the entire course around. That said, here are 3 observations:

DO NOT LET BOATS GET TO THE RIGHT OF YOU ON THE LAST LEG!

In the 2-3-6 drill, the team had converted to a 2-3-4. However, the 2 boat sailed out to the left of the course while the entire fleet went right. At the top, 2 had gone to 6. The 2-3-4 needed to have been balanced to the right of the fleet in order to stay in control.

DO NOT SAIL DOWN THE COURSE

Off the line, a number of you sailed a parallel course, away from the mark, to the left. While this seemed to be the lifted tack, you were actually on the wrong side of the shift. As soon as the boats on the right tacked (yes, they were headed a bit off the line), they all had you. Crews, this is why you have to watch the boats on your weather hip. As soon as the pack to the right tacked, you had to try to get over as many as you could.

Also, crews let skippers sail well past lay-lines yesterday. You need to literally point at the mark with your up-wind hand and make sure that you are still sailing at it.

LIGHT AIR SAILING ISSUES

Top reasons why some of you were dog-slow:

1. Skippers were trying to sail too high. Foot off a bit for speed and then come back up when you have power in the sails.


2. Crews, do NOT strap the jibs. You should have never had the jibs cleated yesterday. When your skipper says that they need power, you should have been able to ease about 1/4". When they feel up to speed, bring it back in a hair.


3. Stop the rudder from moving. Skippers, press the tillers to the deck. If you need to head up, have the crew ease to you and then gradually bring the boat up. If you need to bear off, just slide your shoulders to weather a bit and ease the main about 1/2".


4. Timing! You are all rushing your boat-handling and trying to throw the boat around. It's counter-productive. If your timing is off (and it is for almost all of you), all the roll in the world won't do anything. Don't roll your tacks until the jib backs. Crews, you should NOT flatten the jibes out (except for maybe when sailing with Norfleet). Skippers, you're not going to be able to jam the rudder over and have the boat do anything but stop. Just relax!


5. The second that you get on the water in light air, you are racing. One bad tack could leave you dead in the water and cause you to miss a start. One bad jibe and you're out the back. Every motion counts. On a light air day, every move needs to be perfect - even if the start has not yet counted down to zero.

Tactical Tip #3

Saturday, it was really shifty. A few things to note.

1. DO YOUR PRE-START ROUTINE - Ellie and I kept count of every time someone took a line-sight, a lay-line, or a time around the boat. It was not all of you.


2. Do not let 2 boats get off to one side unprotected. There were at least 2 races where 2 Opponent boats got out to the right and were not covered. Yes, the shift did come from the left, but what if it hadn't.


3. Make your Opponent sail through you to get to the finish. In the super light race against MV, we were hipped up on the fleet, but not in front of them. What if a massive header had come through? What if the breeze had gone all the way around and from the right?

Last note, do NOT forget your boat-handling as soon as you start team racing. A lot of you were painful to watch. It is especially critical in light air. We lost boat-lengths on poor reach-to-wing transitions (remember, this is all crew). Our tacks were mediocre, and we almost stopped at times trying to gybe for position. As soon as you get on the water, the entire time that you are on the water, you should be working on this.

Notes from Yesterday (3/31)

Top 10 Observations from yesterday:

1. Skippers - get the main in tight before the tacks


2. Crews - keep your feet together at all times; the only time you straddle the centerboard trunk is when sailing wing-on-wing


3. Skippers - drive with your main and not your tiller. You have to make sure to have an over-hand grip on the mainsheet (Will, this is you) so that you can easily ease and trim


4. TIMING - especially on the tacks, skippers do not roll until the crews roll


5. Wing-to-Wing Jibes - Remember, especially with our boats at school, crews always have a jib sheet in each hand and do NOT let go




• Board down


• Feet back


• Reverse the Tiller


• Crews take the jib sheet from the skipper's hand, grab the vang, and SIT


• Skippers reach up and grab all 4 parts of the main sheet


• Pull the main over and do NOT let go


• Skippers flatten and pump


• Skippers exchange and reach for the jib


• Crews, as soon as the boat is flat, stand straight up in the middle of the boat, put your weight on your windward foot, and wing the jib by pulling straight up through the lead


• Board up


• Re-set the vang




6. With reach to reach jibes, crews keep their feet together


7. Skippers flatten the jibes and stay forward


8. To find the lay-line to the boat, try ducking the boat and then sailing on a close-hauled course. You know that you are on the lay-line when you just barely clear the stern corner of the boat when sailing up-wind


9. When sailing up-wind, make sure that you are always "pointing at the weather mark." Crews, it is your job to make sure that you are sailing the lifted tack.


10. To slow your boat down-wind, put the board down, slide your weight back, over-trim your main, and center the jib

Tactical Tip #2

Hannah sent these questions from yesterday, so here are the Tip(s) of the Day.

First, downwind, you do want a little bit of vang, right? so that the top batten is parallel with the boom, which would be more vang that in lighter conditions.

Vang gets tricky. You want enough on so that the top batten is parallel, but not so much that it actually makes you capsize. To bear off huge, you want to be able to ease the vang. This means that at the windward mark, you want the vang off. You can then re-set it for down wind. You will see a happy sailing around with absolutely no vang when it is nuking and they will stay up for a while. This is because with no vang on, the sail is totally de-powered. However, with no vang on, it also means that you don't accelerate in the puffs. That said, have the vang on to keep you in control. This means that if you are wing-on-wing, have enough vang so that the boat isn't rocking like mad. On the reaches, when you pump, the whole sail (top & bottom) should come in together. Basically, you are going to have to adjust as you sail. You can't just set it and forget it.

Also, is it better to sail hotter angles and gybe a few times downwind than to sail low or wing on wing?

If you are good, you will be able to hold the wing. Cookie passed 5 boats in the last 50 yards to the leeward mark yesterday because he had the guts to blow the vang and sail low. You can plane a 420 while on a wing. It's scary, but it's fast. An FJ, however, in major breeze is a different beast. You sail angles more in light air than when it blows.

And, when sailing angles how do you know you are sailing too high an angle and losing?

Think about it this way: you always want to feel like you can bear off to the mark. Which gybe will give you the best angle on the breeze and to the mark? If you were sailing up-wind, you'd know that you can't point directly at the mark until you are on the lay-line. It's the same thing down-wind. Yesterday, a group of you all reached on starboard way to the right (down-wind right) of the mark, and then gybed back at a hot angle. If you cannot bear off and point at the mark, then you need to gybe.

Tactical Tip #1

Today, we knew that a front was going to come in from the NW. However, at first, the sea breeze was trying to fill from the SE. For the first few minutes on the water, the breeze was oscillating back and forth between those two directions from a westerly direction. As the breeze died down, you may have noticed that it pulled left. The stronger puffs came from the right - the direction of the front.

When you know that a new system is coming in, look for the stronger pressure to come from that direction. Similarly, when the sea breeze is trying to fill, and you are in the Northern Hemisphere, look for the breeze to go right as it builds and then back left as it fades.

There is a decent article by Ed Adams about sailing in a sea breeze in Newport on the Sailing World website. Henry HIll also did some decent illustrations.

Questions from PJ

Over break, Pete emailed me some questions. Below, I've pasted in most of the discussion. Anyone else have thoughts?

Pete's questions

First question: to reduce weather helm, should you move your weight forward or back?

Second Question: At the start, if you have to come back around the boat from right on its stern (i.e. the same position
as if you were timing it), is it better to foot off, accelerate, and then begin to come up and go around it, or should you take the shorter route and just get the main in and go (or is it more situation dependant than anything)?

Third Question: can we talk about downwind shifts and playing the angles next week?

Fourth Question: When you are sailing in the summer, how do you do you time shifts? I can't seem to figure out the best way to do it... and I don't have a compass... solution?

Beth's Answers

1. Weight and weather-helm: I would ask first, what are the conditions? To be honest, I think that weather helm is more a function of rig tune that weight placement. In light air, weather helm is ok. Moving your weight forward - which is also good - will reduce some of it (think about how the crew hikes forward to bear the boat off). However, if it's choppy, moving your weight forward too far will just fill you with water. I also wonder, if you have too much weather helm, and you think your rig is tuned correctly, are you flat? That could be another factor.

2. Coming around the boat: again, what is the situation? Is it light? Do you want to go right? Where's the fleet? Where is your pair? What are the conditions? This is why it is critical to know the time around the boat! I sailed a J24 race one time where we were over early and came around the boat. The skipper footed off a bit for speed - it was light and lumpy - but then sailed us directly under the fleet. We ended up footing out to the wrong side and got stuck on the wrong side of the shift. However, had he rounded the boat tight, like a mark rounding, and then tacked right away - what I had wanted to do - then we would have been footing out to the correct side of the shift and would have been golden at the top of the course. See, lots of things
to consider.

3. Down-wind shifts - yes! Most important thing is that some one has to be looking backwards the entire time downwind. I've gotten to a point where I ask three questions the whole way to the leeward mark: where's the pressure, where's the fleet, where's the mark. As long as I am sailing DOWN to the mark, in pressure, and in position, we usually do fine. It's not as hard as some people seem to think.

4. First off, if you are sailing long courses in open water - not on a lake - then invest in a compass. We get numbers before every start when we are sailing in places like Long Island Sound, Niantic Bay, etc. Basically, we sail for about 3 minutes on each tack and just watch the compass. We come up with a high, a low, and a median number. Then during the course of the day, we start to watch how long it takes for each shift to move in. However, if we are sailing on a lake - which we do a lot - it just has to do with looking up the course. This could actually mean watching the clouds move in over the land. In one regatta, we realized that when they started to shift, we could anticipate the next shift to come from under the clouds.

To be honest, the only time when I can really say something like "It pulls back to the left after 5 minutes and 43 seconds" is when I'm coaching. You have to be able to watch for a long time to really be able to time it. Usually, it's when you have a gradient and a sea breeze - or a gradient and an incoming front - when this really happens. Usually, you have a persistent shift (like when it pulls right as the sea breeze fills) on top of small oscillations. This means that you can work to stay in phase while also working to the right side of the course. We see this a ton.