WYC hosted the J/22 North Americans this last weekend, with 39 boats attending. As you would expect, we had a large percentage of the boats traveling in for the event, coming from all over the USA and one from Great Britain. Due to the caliber of the event our RC was all-hand-on-deck, and all four of our national-level PROs were working (in 4 boats). Jodi and I were asked to work as race officials on the pin boat, and as we were not racing those days, we happily agreed.
The start of the first race on Day2. The line is 1.5x#BOATSxLOA, so about 1300 feet. We are about 1 minute from the gun and the ‘stir’ is still running, with boats starting to look for spots. Dean (PRO) is calling OCS, Jodi is recording, and I’m spotting weirdness.
A few seconds before the start, and the line is fully formed. No one will be OCS this race. Notice the mid-line sag, a natural occurrence of big fleet starts in a class that does not allow devices like the ProStart or RaceGeek.
All clear. Boats in the 2nd and 3rd row are having a hard timing getting going as the air is very confused and choppy. Start back here and your race is already condemned to a mid-pack finish as best.
Questions:
What caused the mid-line sag?
What can you do to help avoid it?
Based on the distribution of the boats, what can you tell about the line?
Why a pin-boat and not a inflatable marker?
The start of the first race on Day2. The line is 1.5x#BOATSxLOA, so about 1300 feet. We are about 1 minute from the gun and the ‘stir’ is still running, with boats starting to look for spots. Dean (PRO) is calling OCS, Jodi is recording, and I’m spotting weirdness.
A few seconds before the start, and the line is fully formed. No one will be OCS this race. Notice the mid-line sag, a natural occurrence of big fleet starts in a class that does not allow devices like the ProStart or RaceGeek.
All clear. Boats in the 2nd and 3rd row are having a hard timing getting going as the air is very confused and choppy. Start back here and your race is already condemned to a mid-pack finish as best.
Questions:
What caused the mid-line sag?
What can you do to help avoid it?
Based on the distribution of the boats, what can you tell about the line?
Why a pin-boat and not a inflatable marker?