Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Dinghy fun on the med

Berkeley Midwinters - Dec 2011 - Writeup

Nathan - Helm

Nat - Pit/Tactics

Scott - Foredeck

Bob - Trim 1

Chris - Trim 2

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Overall a beautiful sunny, clear and warm december day. We were so lucky to be on the water.

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Short notes:

Light air, light current. We played current mainly as the breeze was light but sustained. We went out for the long tack and stayed there as long as possible, minimizing tacks on the upwind and sailing our polars straight to the leeward mark on the way down.

We had a very bad start, fouling two boats and causing us to do our penalty turns. When we were done with our penalty, there was only one boat behind us.

There were some major confusion at the windward mark...(eg identifying the mark! confused a bunch of boats...so we lost some time there sorthing things out)

We then had very good boat speed both upwind and downwind and we picked up half of the fleet.We may have been able to catch up one more boat right on the line. In fact probably more. Looking at the results, some 7 boats were within a minute of each other (and us!) at the finish. So solving our errors could place us in the top 3...

All in all, a good race and a pretty decent performance. I have to admit that I don't race to win just for the sake of winning. If I win because everyone else is awful and I am bad, I would derive no pleasure whatever in it. I race to sail well and better all the time. In this case, I think that we sailed well, and the fact that we caught up with half the fleet despite a really poor start makes me really happy

- and I think that we have in ourselves to sail much better. This slow tacking issue is nagging me...

What we did well:

  • PERFECT douses - we held our kite longer than anybody else. Our second leeward mark rounding was text book perfection. A thing of beauty. Scott is the main architect of this although of course it takes the whole team to make it happen. Things were clean and fast and helped gain precious seconds. Ultimately the difference between two boats on the line is down to seconds...so every one of them counts.
  • We discussed tactics before the start of the race based on the expected conditions + crew situation (to play to our strength° - when a new situation develop we checked it against our 'plan' and made adjustment as necessary. This is a lot easier than having to rethink the entire plan. So it is going in with a strategy and making tactical adjustments only. Much easier mentally thus freeing up a lot of mental cycles to look around and observe the developments
  • Clear and decisive tactical calls (the last one near the finish may have been wrong, hard to tell, the line was not square and we tacked to try to cut it before the next boat up but there was a clear call, a clear driver response and a clear followup action)
  • Boat speed - once we got tuned up we were going really really well.

 

What we can do better:

  • Super slow tacks. This was not the regular crew so it is harder. The solution to this is practice practice practice and try with moves that work for the team. Things should just be on autopilot for any kind of wind conditions and head sail combination. We should be able to tack much faster. The skillset of the people on board can make this totally possible. We just need to work better together and individually to make it happen. and practice makes perfect.
  • Nat should do her one job and her one job only
  • Slow getting up to speed and getting to optimal point after start, after tacks or after sail changes 
    • we should have adjusted the car positions before the start (not enough time? oversight?) 

Areas to improve:
  • crew work for faster tacks
  • trim/driving for faster tuneup post maneuvres to get the boat up to speed
  • equipment (easier to adjust outhaul for instance)
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 Relaxing after the race with beer that does not taste like beer

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A happy Bob

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Scott
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Lunch...

Berkeley Midwinters - cumulative results

Pos SKIPPPER BOAT NAME Class SAIL NO PTS R1 R2
1 Zachery Anderson Motorcycle Irene Ex 27 28137 7 6 1
2 John Rivlin Peaches Ex 27 18364 7 3 4
3 Dan Pruzan Wile E Coyote Ex 27 11 10 7 3
4 Ron Kell Abigail Morgan Ex 27 18394 12 5 7
5 Rachel Fogel Great White Ex 27 48 14 1 13
6 Steve Lake Elan Ex 27 28009 14 2 12
7 Ray Lotto El Raton Ex 27 28050 17 12 5
8 Phil Krasner Wetsu Ex 27 70 20 14 6
9 Nathalie Criou Elise Ex 27 101 20 10 10
10 M. DeVries/ S. Parker Freaks on a Leash Ex 27 51 21 19 2
11 Marcia Schnapp Libra Ex 27 113 22 4 18
12 Donald Carroll Take Five Ex 27 28031 22 8 14
13 Steven Katzman Dianne Ex 27 0 23 15 8
14 Larry Levit Strega Ex 27 77 24 9 15
15 Ross Groelz Eagle Ex 27 29 24 13 11
16 Ray Wilson Luffing Outloud Ex 27 14 26 17 9
17 Peggy Lidster Opa! Ex 27 18070 31 11 20
18 Jim Gibbs Moonlight Ex 27 28059 32 16 16
19 Marc Belloli Magic Bus EX 27 41 36 19 17

Monday, December 5, 2011

This Weekend's Race Results

My first time on a dinghy in many many many many years...was on a Byte, same designer as the guy who designed lasers apparently, were too recent for my time as a dinghy sailor...(the photo below is for the 29ers though...another type of dinghy, the Bytes are single-handed boats)

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Light air so super challenging on a dinghy. A couple of massively big windshifts too. I was a little too busy 

Results below

Michele Logan  1  
Laurie Davis     2  
Marissa Paulling  3  
Gail Yando  4  
Mary Cefali  5  
Karin Knowles  6  
Lisa Twardowski  7  
nathalie criou  8

 Susan Paulling 9  

Elmar Grom 10  

 

 

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Limitless

Limitless
You rated this mo
2011PG-13104 minutes

With his writing career dragging and his girlfriend casting him off, Eddie Morra's life turns around when he takes a drug that provides astonishing mental focus -- but its deadly side effects threaten his future.

Cast:
Bradley CooperRobert De NiroAbbie CornishAndrew HowardAnna FrielJohnny WhitworthTomas AranaRobert John BurkeDarren Goldstein
Director:
Neil Burger
Genres:
Thrillers

American Violet

American Violet
2008PG-13102 minutes

Inspired by true events, this penetrating drama centers on Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie), a 24-year-old mother of four who's forced to take on a corrupt district attorney (Michael O'Keefe) when she's unjustly prosecuted in a large-scale drug case. Directed by Tim Disney, the inspiring tale also stars Alfre Woodard as Dee's mother, Alma, Tim Blake Nelson as ACLU attorney David Cohen and Will Patton as retired narcotics officer Sam Conroy.

Cast:
Nicole BeharieMichael O'KeefeWill PattonAlfre Woodard,Tim Blake NelsonScott A. MartinMalcolm BarrettCharles S. DuttonJackson BealsMichael BeasleySamantha Beaulieu
Director:
Tim Disney
Genres:
Biographical Dramas