The season begins, sort of!

[Jackdaw]

Due to late ice out, our 2nd G-series race ending up being our club's practice race. So we took the opportunity to train in a new bow-person, who has never done bow on BlueJ, and not at all in 3 years. He did OK. I had to spend way too much time looking around inside the boat, but we had a blast, and didn't break anything. Short vid of us approaching the windward mark and setting the kite. Good day on the water.

 

[Jackdaw]

Thats better. YouTube to the rescue.

 

[SFS]

And in t-shirts!! Good for you guys, it's been a LONG winter in the North.

 

[shemandr]

Geeze, I haven't even put on a pair of shorts yet.
So you are launching out of the hatch? I don't see any bag up on deck. Your halyard, sheet and guy were pre- attached? I didn't see your bowman do any of that.

 

[JRT]

I really love watching to pick up details from you and your team, thanks!

 

[Jackdaw]

Geeze, I haven't even put on a pair of shorts yet.
So you are launching out of the hatch? I don't see any bag up on deck. Your halyard, sheet and guy were pre- attached? I didn't see your bowman do any of that.

Yep. I’ll post some pics and details later.

 

[chuckwayne]

Nice! we're probably 3 weeks from launch, our moorings aren't even in yet. Late start here in Maine.

 

[Jackdaw]

Geeze, I haven't even put on a pair of shorts yet.
So you are launching out of the hatch? I don't see any bag up on deck. Your halyard, sheet and guy were pre- attached? I didn't see your bowman do any of that.

@shemandr ,
We repack the kite before every race, and bag launch it on a practice run before every race. We always do a WINDWARD douse, and pull down the kite into the hatch and into a retrieval bag that is hung from the vee berth ceiling. Keeps it neat. And goes straight back up on a bear-away set. The beauty of that is that everything is on the correct side. No re-running. If we cannot do those things, we need to repack or rerig.

We leave everything attached, and if it goes down OK it will go back up OK. The guy is placed back on the pole end, and the halyard and topping lift are put into ‘soak clips’ attached to the shrouds that keeps them back from the jib. The lines pull out when tensioned.

At the windward mark the only thing we have to do is put the pole into the mast track ring. We can have that all done before the offset, and have the kite up immediately with a crew of four.

You can see the lines held back by clips here.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Very nice!

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Jackdaw]

Soak clips.

More info

http://www.promomarine.com/SOAK_Halyard_Clip.html

 

[Jackdaw]

This is what the practice drop looked like. Lots of talking because of the new guy. But it came right back up in the race. Always does, and simplies crewwork.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Really impressive. I wouldn't worry about the amount of talk, I don't believe it slows a sailboat down. If anything, the right words equal improved performance.

Did I already comment on your cool logo? I like that too. Put it on your spinnaker. A big Blue Jay wing on the sail would look cool too. I couldn't find an example to show, but imagine the blue Jay logo looking something like this

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[shemandr]

Thanks Jackdaw for that explanation and the Soak Halyard clip - that is new to me. Locally we tend to launch from a bag usually clipped to the bow rail in front of the forestay. Or on some boat clipped to the life lines under the jib. Some boats launch from the hatch typically out of a laundry basket. Upon thinking about this and wondering why we don't use your SOP more and I think it's because we don't do windward/leeward courses - hardly ever. So a typical race will be upwind, a bear away spinnaker set, maybe a gybe or so, and a leeward takedown. That's it. It's our loss that we don't do W/L courses.
So I like your method. Everything is attached, you don't waste time attaching control lines approaching the mark, nobody on the foredeck as you approach the mark and your ready for a re-set. The keys are to use a windward takedown and always approach the mark on starboard (Or on the same tack)? I'm going to put some of the soak clips in my ditty bag for when I whore around the fleet.
We like to have the pole under the lazy jib sheet but if we gybe the pole often ends up over the jib sheet. How do you handle that?

 

[Doug4bass]

Was that on Superior? If it was I’m impressed with the tee shirts. Top water in Mqt is 48dgs.

 

[Jackdaw]

Really impressive. I wouldn't worry about the amount of talk, I don't believe it slows a sailboat down. If anything, the right words equal improved performance.

No we always talk. When its good talk its about tactical issues and boat speed. When not so good (but OK for training) its me constantly guiding new crew through the 'cookbook'; the steps they need to take to make the maneuvers work. That's what was happening this day. Good for training, not so good for racing.

 

[Jackdaw]

Thanks Jackdaw for that explanation and the Soak Halyard clip - that is new to me. Locally we tend to launch from a bag usually clipped to the bow rail in front of the forestay. Or on some boat clipped to the life lines under the jib. Some boats launch from the hatch typically out of a laundry basket. Upon thinking about this and wondering why we don't use your SOP more and I think it's because we don't do windward/leeward courses - hardly ever. So a typical race will be upwind, a bear away spinnaker set, maybe a gybe or so, and a leeward takedown. That's it. It's our loss that we don't do W/L courses.
So I like your method. Everything is attached, you don't waste time attaching control lines approaching the mark, nobody on the foredeck as you approach the mark and your ready for a re-set. The keys are to use a windward takedown and always approach the mark on starboard (Or on the same tack)? I'm going to put some of the soak clips in my ditty bag for when I whore around the fleet.
We like to have the pole under the lazy jib sheet but if we gybe the pole often ends up over the jib sheet. How do you handle that?

Yea, we leave it rigged like that for several races sometimes. As long as you windward drop it works all the time. A tiny bit of care when dropping it down the hatch helps. If it feels like it was funky or a cluster at the drop, we re-pack. Its great because at the windward mark we can start prepping at the MARK, and be ready to hoist at the offset. Lift the pole and GO. That fast. Thats a valuable tool keeping crew on the rail.

Re the pole YES we normally do the same, but if bow forgets we will either a) drop the pole first, or b) re-run a sheet.

 

[Jackdaw]

Was that on Superior? If it was I’m impressed with the tee shirts. Top water in Mqt is 48dgs.

No, that was Minnetonka. The local air temp is warm, so during the day it's warm on the water. As soon as the sun stops beating straight down on it however.....

 

[Jackdaw]

Did I already comment on your cool logo? I like that too. Put it on your spinnaker. A big Blue Jay wing on the sail would look cool too. I couldn't find an example to show, but imagine the blue Jay logo looking something like this

That IS cool. But expensive. And if you damage the sail, ouch! I do know a boat (j/120?) that used huge black sharpies to draw a silhouette of Bob Dylan on a white asym. THAT was cool.

 

[Jackdaw]

Downwind side by side with one of our ‘friends’.

 

[Will Gilmore]

I do know a boat (j/120?) that used huge black sharpies to draw a silhouette of Bob Dylan on a white asym. THAT was cool.

How did the Sharpies hold up? I'm thinking of doing something on my sail, out is completely blank. Maybe a set of Dragonfly wings running out of the frame of the sail. I haven't the time to research dies or paint for dacron sail cloth, but it would be fun to do something.

- Will (Dragonfly)