Simpson Regatta - Oct 16...Nat, Nathan, JF, Mark and Pete... and Elise with new bottom and new bearings for her rudder...
'I' in the story is Nat...Hadn't been out on the water for two weeks (boat in the yard) and aching to race!Start went well, close to favored end (committee boat), bang on the line when the gun went off - we had a better start than a lot of other boats - Boat speed wasn't great in the first half of the upwind until I figured out the correct backstay tension (there was actually too much backstay) - we kept the main twisted (traveler high and sheet down) - good call from Nathan. Good teamwork there too, boat speed was not good and folks on the rail looked at things to help diagnose the problem and instructed the driver (so as not to have weight off the rail, the driver trims the main). That was very nice. And that seemed to work best for the conditions. Second half of the upwind, we were starting to creep up on boats again. Tacks were good and typically Elise has good downwinds and with two more races to go, we were feeling pretty good. Conditions were really nice, really quite windy for October which was great. Beginning of an ebb so a little current, particularly around the mark, less so at the start as we were close to Alcatraz. The day looked like it was going to be just perfect. Last experience on the boat was at the Nationals with the Perfect Crew - things would just happen. After 5 minutes of realizing that things are just happening when they should and the way they should, I would just focus on driving and trimming the main...I would have 100% trust in the crew and would not check anything. Everything just worked. And I would feel so humbled by how good everyone was on the boat, and would work sooo hard to drive as best as I could, to be worthy of that crew. What a contrast today - Today, things would happen slowly, pole tip would be too low and would stay too low for too long. We tacked and then had to duck another boat within seconds of tacking (which makes me think that we didn't have a clear lane to tack...and may have wanted to either tack a little earlier or a little later) - a succession of small things that didn't allow the driver to have 100% confidence in crew work. Not sure what was happening as everyone but one person on the boat was very experienced and 3 out of 5 people were very familiar with the boat. Just not paying attention/not staying focused? Not sure. Then things went downhill...First a bad layline call allowing a boat to catch up w/ us close to the mark - team reacted well, we just lived with our decision and worked a really nice tack to get back to the mark. Bad decisions will happen all the time. The call was loud and clear and decisive. 1) the lines for the spinnaker were not set properly (not around the forestay...) - Note: do this set/douse before the start...
2) the halyard was not on the spinnaker (easy to put it on on the last upwind in anticipation if you are launching from the hatch)
3) so it took forever to set...it seemed to even take longer than it should have taken to fix things up
4) Kite goes up
5) Gybe, kite collapses. Not a crash-type problem but very very slow
6) Getting to the gate - we have a starboard tacker on port, very little room to maneuvre without having to gybe. I wasn't feeling very comfortable given the set and was thinking that I would prefer to take the boat's stern, douse early, gybe then tack around the mark...but it wasn't my call, we had a tactician on board. I tried to just mention that we had a starboard tacker closing in on the mark.
7) Windward douse - it took forever to unhook the pole, not quite sure why
8) spinnaker then let out too far to the left, spinnaker not taken down, guy gets caught on the boom bringing it in when it was not supposed to be brought in
9) broach + bent pole because for some reason the pole was not back in its sleeve by thenAnyway, we did finish this race, just for the heck of it - but downwind legs without a spinnaker are very boring, unless it's blowing 50, so we went home afterwards. Just one of these days I guess. It just really sucks when it happens on the first downwind leg of the first race of the first day. We have a spare pole which we will bring tomorrow. Elise is going through a hell of a lot of poles this season... Huge bummer - but that's part of sailing. Things happen and we deal with it.
'I' in the story is Nat...Hadn't been out on the water for two weeks (boat in the yard) and aching to race!Start went well, close to favored end (committee boat), bang on the line when the gun went off - we had a better start than a lot of other boats - Boat speed wasn't great in the first half of the upwind until I figured out the correct backstay tension (there was actually too much backstay) - we kept the main twisted (traveler high and sheet down) - good call from Nathan. Good teamwork there too, boat speed was not good and folks on the rail looked at things to help diagnose the problem and instructed the driver (so as not to have weight off the rail, the driver trims the main). That was very nice. And that seemed to work best for the conditions. Second half of the upwind, we were starting to creep up on boats again. Tacks were good and typically Elise has good downwinds and with two more races to go, we were feeling pretty good. Conditions were really nice, really quite windy for October which was great. Beginning of an ebb so a little current, particularly around the mark, less so at the start as we were close to Alcatraz. The day looked like it was going to be just perfect. Last experience on the boat was at the Nationals with the Perfect Crew - things would just happen. After 5 minutes of realizing that things are just happening when they should and the way they should, I would just focus on driving and trimming the main...I would have 100% trust in the crew and would not check anything. Everything just worked. And I would feel so humbled by how good everyone was on the boat, and would work sooo hard to drive as best as I could, to be worthy of that crew. What a contrast today - Today, things would happen slowly, pole tip would be too low and would stay too low for too long. We tacked and then had to duck another boat within seconds of tacking (which makes me think that we didn't have a clear lane to tack...and may have wanted to either tack a little earlier or a little later) - a succession of small things that didn't allow the driver to have 100% confidence in crew work. Not sure what was happening as everyone but one person on the boat was very experienced and 3 out of 5 people were very familiar with the boat. Just not paying attention/not staying focused? Not sure. Then things went downhill...First a bad layline call allowing a boat to catch up w/ us close to the mark - team reacted well, we just lived with our decision and worked a really nice tack to get back to the mark. Bad decisions will happen all the time. The call was loud and clear and decisive. 1) the lines for the spinnaker were not set properly (not around the forestay...) - Note: do this set/douse before the start...
2) the halyard was not on the spinnaker (easy to put it on on the last upwind in anticipation if you are launching from the hatch)
3) so it took forever to set...it seemed to even take longer than it should have taken to fix things up
4) Kite goes up
5) Gybe, kite collapses. Not a crash-type problem but very very slow
6) Getting to the gate - we have a starboard tacker on port, very little room to maneuvre without having to gybe. I wasn't feeling very comfortable given the set and was thinking that I would prefer to take the boat's stern, douse early, gybe then tack around the mark...but it wasn't my call, we had a tactician on board. I tried to just mention that we had a starboard tacker closing in on the mark.
7) Windward douse - it took forever to unhook the pole, not quite sure why
8) spinnaker then let out too far to the left, spinnaker not taken down, guy gets caught on the boom bringing it in when it was not supposed to be brought in
9) broach + bent pole because for some reason the pole was not back in its sleeve by thenAnyway, we did finish this race, just for the heck of it - but downwind legs without a spinnaker are very boring, unless it's blowing 50, so we went home afterwards. Just one of these days I guess. It just really sucks when it happens on the first downwind leg of the first race of the first day. We have a spare pole which we will bring tomorrow. Elise is going through a hell of a lot of poles this season... Huge bummer - but that's part of sailing. Things happen and we deal with it.
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