Practice with Moxie Man

Sunday was practice day on Elise -

Mark, Heather and Nat (coach) did a Double-Handed practice, primarily around the mechanics (transforming things that happen in parallel during full crewed events into a sequence of events when short-handed), I will let Heather and Mark comment on that one.

In the afternoon, the Beethovens Mark, Andy, Heather, Nathan and Nat went on a racing practice with the skipper of Moxie (top of the E27 class) - and learned a TON of stuff.

1. we practiced starts (where to be with respect to the line when, how to work with the bowperson to count down the distance to the line, when to jybe Vs tack during the sequence, how to hit the line w/ speed, etc...) - out of 6 or 7 starts, we hit 4 or so really well, one was 5 seconds late and one was on time but not with full speed. Our strategy going forward will be to actually take a quiet portion of the line, say 1/3 down, or through the middle of the line - not because it is the best location on the line but because given our level of skills on the start line in such a competitive fleets, we want to favor a) clean air and b) complete control of when we hit the line. So we don't want to have to worry about other boats around us. It'll just be us and the line and our goal every time will be to cross the line right on the mark fully powered up.
2. we practice upwind boatspeed (and discussed a better way to run the backstay so it can be adjusted entirely from the traveler post) - in 15 knots of wind or so. We managed to keep the boat nicely flat, slightly pinching, keeping her in a very narrow groove, not moving the tiller very much, using loads of outhaul/cunningham and playing the backstay a lot - focusing on the head sail and releasing the main in big puffs. Having a full crew hiking out hard and the driver's butt on the toe rail made a huge difference. Overall, in these moderate wind, the boat felt like it was just nicely trotting around. Very relaxing.
3. we practice jibes - and we will make a couple of changes to the way we handle things. 1) always launch from the forward hatch when on the Bay and use the shackle to keep the spin halyard out of the way of the jib (the part is actually planned for that purpose, but we have rarely used it). Saves repacking, minimize weight on the foredeck during setup. Just needs to prepare this ahead of time. Nice tip during a jibe for the driver: follow the spinnaker, eg point the bow at the middle of the sail at all times to keep it full. Finally, making sure to gather the foot of the spinnaker (eg blow the guy and release the sheet), before releasing the halyard which can then be done at a leisurely pace.

We talked about reducing the purchase on the main sheet in light air so I can bring in the sail faster.

Couple more tips: when rounding the mark, just point the boat upwind, then worry about taking in the sails as quickly as possible.

Try cross-sheeting (but practice first as otherwise, you can end up in a real line mess)

The bag that we are now using in the companionway for the halyards is really helping keep the cockpit clear of line and is making our tacks nicer. We practice one-person tacks w/ the #3, much nicer weight-wise...and a slight depowering of the main during the tack to allow for a smoother maneuvre.

We talked about avoiding to come down on the wrong side of the wave (to keep the boat flat) and give the tiller a slight push as the boat gets on the crest. We will also make sure that the instruments just display boat speed during buoy racing, in big big numbers. We don't actually need to see the compass reading at all times...We can check wind speed occasionally if we have to make sail change choices, although typically.

Elise has hanks (a safe choice for the Ocean, if you are short-handed and you just want to drop your sail, you just drop the sail, it won't be going anywhere and will fall on deck, worst case, it'll get a little wet) which can make foredeck maneuvres faster at mark roundings. However, it forces us to make the right sail choice for an entire upwind (as we can't put up a sail through the second track)

Not very ordered I admit - but this was SO helpful. And we now have our plate full of things to practice and focus on this season. And we have a strong regular crew. It will take time, but commitment makes a huge difference :-)

Thanks Jason!