But, because you are racing, you pay a higher level of attention to detail, which results in a higher level of maintenance. If you take winning seriously, you are going to take the condition of your boat more seriously.
Fast or Furious?
- Thread starter Phil Herring
- Start date
I race on a buddy's Ranger 26-2 in the local club's Beer Can series, and I love it. I wish it was more than just one day a week. Like DayDreamer said, it's the excitement of a good start, or a crowded start, rounding the marks, trying to out-strategize your opponents... yep, love it. The best part about it though is just hanging out with the guys.
That's true for sure. One of our hallmarks is great maneuvers, and great maneuvers require gear in tip-top shape. Anything wrong and it cost you time. We look over every pin, shroud, and line on the boat before we push. And some things are not left to chance. The trip line on our spin pole is made of hi-tech SpiderLine, thin and super strong but not super resistant to wear. So I replace that line every year, no matter what it looks like.
From Sailing Anarchy, a losers guide to racing. Hilarious!!!
Race preparation
Race preparation
- Survey your competitors. Sail those events with the lowest turnout, lest competition, and those regattas where they give the most awards.
- If sailing as part of a series, maximize participation by turning up those days everyone else stays home when it’s cold, rainy etc.
- You don’t have the time or inclination to figure out how to make your boat go fast by spending time on the water. Replicate all settings from the sailmaker(s) in your fleet or that guy who was All-American at Kings Point or something.
- Keep your new sails in shape by not using them, including at big events where you have even less chance of doing well.
- Pray you get a good start. Follow the leaders around the course doing exactly as they do.
- Go left, always go left, unless the good boats are going right, in which case you probably should have gone right.
- You know you can’t start or hold a lane off the line, so why try. Start near the boat so you when you inevitably have to tack away for clear air you can do so without taking everyone’s transom.
- Try setting up next to a “sheep” until you realize that you’re always the “sheep” in the wolf/sheep scenario.
- If you find yourself on the wrong side of a shift going upwind, dig in, keep going to that side and pray taking a flyer by yourself will pay. It’s gotta pay this time.
- Now that you’re at the back of the fleet, go left again on the second upwind. You’re never going to catch up to the fleet if you just follow them to the favored tack/side.
- Fixate on your tactical position with boats immediately around you, aggressively taking them up if necessary, to give the boats ahead a chance to further extend their lead and the one straggler behind a chance to catch up.
- Compensate for your lack of understanding of the basic racing rules of sailing by being aggressive and overly confident, protesting and never following through, and challenging others to do the same.
- Only talk to sailors of equal or better sailing ability. Acknowledging the presence or existence of inferior sailors on or off the water will reflect poorly on your own abilities.
I have only ever owned Columbias, my first was a 1977 8.3 named Cajun (New Orleans, LA NO867655 NET6) and a C-41 CC named Sperantza (West Palm Beach, FL NO666365) and the hulls on both of those vessels are built like the Southern Colonial Brick Fortresses that I have seen! Cajun (the 8.3) spent the night on the beach pounding the (admittedly moderately light surf, 1~2 feet waves splashing the beach pounding the heeling side (STBD) ), and the only damage was a gelcoat crack where the ballast keel met the hull keel! Columbias are overbuilt!
I have raced Rhodes bantams, Stars, Windrider 17, sunfish, sailfish (remember those? Havent seen one in years) thistles, scows - Raced some bigger boats in long distance racing, like week long kinda stuff.. I used to like racing but the reality is it just gets way too expensive keeping all the sails competitive etc.
I think racing is one of the best ways to hone your sailing skills. I think anyone wishing to get better at sailing should consider racing. At least for a bit. There's nothing quite like watching the exact same boat with the exact same sails walk past you just because they know how to better handle the sails/rudder...
I don't have much interest in bouy racing anymore but could get talked onto onto long distance racing, if I had the time. That's the biggest problem for me. I'm way too busy.... I'm lucky to get out on the water 20 times in a year - just counting available weekends. (Now that was depressing having to do that calculation.) I'm up on Champlain, that lake freezes so the season is May 15 through October 15. Yikes! I need to expand my sailing options!
dj
I think racing is one of the best ways to hone your sailing skills. I think anyone wishing to get better at sailing should consider racing. At least for a bit. There's nothing quite like watching the exact same boat with the exact same sails walk past you just because they know how to better handle the sails/rudder...
I don't have much interest in bouy racing anymore but could get talked onto onto long distance racing, if I had the time. That's the biggest problem for me. I'm way too busy.... I'm lucky to get out on the water 20 times in a year - just counting available weekends. (Now that was depressing having to do that calculation.) I'm up on Champlain, that lake freezes so the season is May 15 through October 15. Yikes! I need to expand my sailing options!
dj
One thing that has always fascinated me is the phenomenon where reasonably good sailors join a race for the first time and then are surprised when they finish DFL. I explain it with this analogy. Image you and your buddies are pretty good ice skaters, and go the the rink or pond often to skate. Then on a lark, you decide to enter an ice hockey tournament. You're young and you can skate; how hard can the rest be?? While you possess the basic skills of getting around, you have only a vague understanding of the rules, don't have any notion of tactics or strategy, and totally lack some skills that seem alien to you. Your first game you get walloped by team of old men who seemingly skate slower then you, but pass the puck well and are always in the right place. They you play some guys who really know what they are doing. Lights out!
The other fascination for me, is that racing sharpens skills for cruising. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Why does "cruising" mean lazy sail trim, outdated poorly maintained and or dangerously neglected equipment? Who when cruising would say they got to port too fast?
Funny you should mention this. I can't count the number of times I arrived at an unlit pass through a coral reef or into a harbor somewhere in the third world before dawn and had to heave-to for some hours, awaiting daylight.
Even when I had the capability for speeds over 10 knots, I would rarely allow the vessel to do that, unless I was willing to hand steer.
No way I'm letting a mindless machine steer a sailboat at over 10 knots.
I was a racer before I was a cruiser and it took me a couple of tries to end up on a suitable "cruising" boat. First try was a 49' Phill Rhodes TransPac ocean racer, a pretty ludicrous cruising boat, with 23 bags of sails, including 3 chutes.
Just because one can race a boat around the marks doesn't mean they are a better sailor than a cruiser. It just may mean that the cruiser might prefer to get a bit of sleep, cook a nice meal, or just lounge around, boat drink in hand, rather than spend every waking second trimming and adjusting his gear.
Some have alluded to the notion that being a good racer does not necessarily make you a good sailor. I totally agree with that statement. Unless you are talking about high-level off-shore racing, racing is mostly knowing how to make a boat go fast, and minimize your time on the course.
I know some very good racers that have never done any of these things:
Sprung off a side tie into a strong beam breeze
Planned an anchorage based on conditions and set an anchor
Slept on a boat on the hook they set
Made an overnight passage
Plotted a course for a destination they could not see
Dealt with complex buoyage or Traffic Separation Schemes
Dealt with storm force conditions
Those are the things good sailors do second nature.
I know some very good racers that have never done any of these things:
Sprung off a side tie into a strong beam breeze
Planned an anchorage based on conditions and set an anchor
Slept on a boat on the hook they set
Made an overnight passage
Plotted a course for a destination they could not see
Dealt with complex buoyage or Traffic Separation Schemes
Dealt with storm force conditions
Those are the things good sailors do second nature.
Certainly not comparing ability of sailors, that wasn't the point I was trying to make, but the often heard phrase, I am "just a cruiser" to things like omitting or not adding sail controls, or replacing worn equipment, or even using some sail controls. If you make a boat faster it should not be deemed only for racing, but passage-making as well. In addition as pointed out in previous replies, racing gives you an immediate comparison. Good racers will debrief and learn from each outing to become more proficient at getting the most out of the boat.
@capta you likely have sought out to tweak the rig for improved efficiency and reduced wear underway. How much of the skill for making the sails more efficient was refined during your racing days?
@capta you likely have sought out to tweak the rig for improved efficiency and reduced wear underway. How much of the skill for making the sails more efficient was refined during your racing days?
Honestly, not so much. It would probably show most on those light air days when we don't want to crank up the mill.
I have tools today never dreamed of when I raced (like roller reefing), that make sailing more efficiently almost second nature. But for us, 99% of the time its about comfort, not speed. My wife has been aboard for over 7 years and has never even seen the 150; the Yankee gets us there without putting us over on our ear, and probably not at that much less speed. She has seen the chute and mizzen staysail, but only by looking in the bags when rearranging them under the forepeak bunk. I just am not willing to invest the time or broken gear into squeezing a quarter knot or so out of the boat. Especially ocean sailing.
However, as I said, I'd certainly be willing to race someone else's boat and that's where the racing experience is going to stand me in good stead.
I raced one design for while (beach cats). I know how to sail fast, I know how to point high, and I like it...
But I never really like the structure of racing. I didn't like worrying about new sails and the protest room. I didn't like the schedule. I sail with friends, family, and singlehand a lot, because I like to go when I want to. I don't really like loosing, but I also don't really like winning, because it means someone lost. So I don't race.
BTW, I love watching racing. Very cool.
But I never really like the structure of racing. I didn't like worrying about new sails and the protest room. I didn't like the schedule. I sail with friends, family, and singlehand a lot, because I like to go when I want to. I don't really like loosing, but I also don't really like winning, because it means someone lost. So I don't race.
BTW, I love watching racing. Very cool.
I've done all of the above, adding sailing a 9' sailing dinghy in reverse by pushing the boom forward with the bow to the wind. That was fun.
I sailed Cajun (a 1977 Columbia 8.3 Hull #101) for years, and my go-to heads'l was the 150% Genoa. I also had a 110% but I think I used it twice. The 150 was a deck sweeper and I really liked it. It kept the boat at nearly hull speed in winds over 12 kt.
Newer sails, yes.
Better attention to reliability? No, I think that is a stretch. A diligent cruiser, particularly an adventure cruiser, doesn't miss a thing. I've also seen race boats that focused on a clean bottom but not a reliable motor, good steering maintance, or tight hatches.
You are comparing diligent-to-slapdash, not racing-to-cruising.
Better attention to reliability? No, I think that is a stretch. A diligent cruiser, particularly an adventure cruiser, doesn't miss a thing. I've also seen race boats that focused on a clean bottom but not a reliable motor, good steering maintance, or tight hatches.
You are comparing diligent-to-slapdash, not racing-to-cruising.
Our last official race the season was canceled because of lack of wind. But the good news was we rafted up
with one of my favorite friends, Billy, who happens to have an Olympic gold-medal in Sailing. I’ve learned more from him in an hour that would’ve learned lifetime Sailing separately.
The sail loft I take my sails to is a family run business, sons of the owner both raced for Team Canada in the Olympics, I love talking to these guys, they continue to sail competitively all over the US being recruited as tacticians/crew. I was there today in fact one of them just returned from a Regatta in Annapolis MD he was crew on a C&C 30 one design I know it keeps him busy, mean while the loft is just packed with business.