First race of the year
- Thread starter Jackdaw
- Start date
what is the boat? looks small for a bene 36 first
we do a hospice race in FLL tomorrow. Should be nice conditions. high 80's and 15knts ESE. w/ scattered showers.
we do a hospice race in FLL tomorrow. Should be nice conditions. high 80's and 15knts ESE. w/ scattered showers.
Bill, It's a First 260; our smaller boat. The 36.7 is 5 hours away in Bayfield WI. The 260 lives in town on Lake Minnetonka. Good luck with your race tomorrow! 15 knots is a perfect breese!
Thanks! As a team we work very hard to do the little things right. Anything less than perfect is time lost that you never get back. This race we missed 2nd place by 12 seconds. We left 12 seconds all over the racetrack!
Was that boat in front of you catching some of your dirty air? Did you jibe over to blanket them?
Yes!
Good eye and a good story. That's a J27. Its a very fast boat, 2.5 feet longer, and owes us huge time. But we beat him anyway to the weather mark and rounded just in front of him. We both hoist the chutes at the offset mark, and he tried to drive over the top of us. Well I'm not going to let that happen, so I took him up. Took him way too long to get the memo that he can't just go over us, that probably cost us a place. Finally he jibes, he's longer and should just outrun us anyway. But now I'm kinda pissed and so I jibed back to blanket him. We cover him ALL the way down, he sails in our junk and we round with him. ;^)
Upwind we sail smarter again and finish within 10 seconds of him. Corrected we crush him. Ah racing!
I'm not sure I follow, but it sounds like you decided to take on the big fella and got your revenge on him, but in the meantime, by forcing him to the outside, you might have lost some of that 12 seconds that cost a place? That's why I favor this kind of racing opposed to AC match racing. Keep your eye on the prize, right? Still, it's all fun back in the clubhouse over a few beers! Did 1st & 2nd place get a chuckle at your expense?!?! :^)
goes like this... ;^)
At the hoist, normally we (both) would sail at about 150 TWA towards the mark. But as a fast boat, he tried to roll us, driving over the top and slowing us WAY down. He should have just jibed away. Now in racing nobody wants to be that guy that lets people just drive over the top of him, so you spend some extra time to defend your lane and take him up, sailing a hotter angle. Most good racers get the message right away. And yes everyone ELSE loves it when they see you having to do this!
On the way downwind, normally I would let a fast boat go and sail my own race, picking the puff and shifts. But I needed a pound of flesh for what happened, so I blanketed him all the way down. We're fast, he's slow. Only downside is you don't get to sail your race, you sail his.
But it's ALL FUN!
At the hoist, normally we (both) would sail at about 150 TWA towards the mark. But as a fast boat, he tried to roll us, driving over the top and slowing us WAY down. He should have just jibed away. Now in racing nobody wants to be that guy that lets people just drive over the top of him, so you spend some extra time to defend your lane and take him up, sailing a hotter angle. Most good racers get the message right away. And yes everyone ELSE loves it when they see you having to do this!
On the way downwind, normally I would let a fast boat go and sail my own race, picking the puff and shifts. But I needed a pound of flesh for what happened, so I blanketed him all the way down. We're fast, he's slow. Only downside is you don't get to sail your race, you sail his.
But it's ALL FUN!
I figured! Hopefully, your friends return the favor sometime! Also, there's usually at least one in the group that always has a target on them for one reason or another ... that's just racing personalities. I agree, it's the spice of life.
;^)
Maybe.
But there is a question of racing etiquette here. Nobody should try and drive over someone and not expect a battle. And I'll pit my spin trimmers against anyone, in particular in a leeward position.
If he had been smart and really wanted to go course left, he would have simply ASKED. We sail in a fleet of 100-150 boats. People are talking all the time. Asking acknowledges that you are asking for a favor; that the other boat has the ROW. I might grant it, telling him to go over. But then I know he owes me one. And he does as well. Maybe wave me over next time on a tight cross. But just trying to go over is arrogant or ignorant. Either way, I wouldn't do it!
Our first race had a 30 knot wind peak. Rounded up eight times on the downwind on the J109. Funky waves kept pushing us around (we fly an asymmetric only). Doing really well until the last two miles. Half of fleet hugs the coast, we go out. Wind goes to ZERO!!! Ah, racing can be fun and frustrating.
Jeff
Jeff
Sounds awesome! Thats why we call them Naviguessers!
Re the roundups, did you have someone with hands on the vang? Normally blowing that will save a roundup.
We would sometime get these stern waves just steep enough to lift the stern and push it around. It wasn't just wind issues.
Yes, we would blow the vang, but the roundups were pretty quick. Sometimes, we couldn't turn DDR fast enough. I think our course kept us at about 120 awd as I recall. Every boat had at least two roundups.
Jeff