...'Hunter Racing' is a dirty word. Not many people posting their racing questions and comments. Maybe it should be renamed 'Hunter Better Sailing' instead. There's an old adage that says..... two sailboats in the water constitute a race. I find it impossible to go sailing and ignore the sail trim. It bothers me no end to see the genoa leech luffing or the mainsail telltales hiding behind the leech. Optimizing sail trim is how to sail. Leaving sail trim untouched is like driving your car on a sunny day with the windshield wipers running. Sailing your boat against others on a course and doing a better job of trimming or picking the favored side to be on gives me great satisfaction. In last Wed night’s race, we got a poor start and sailing against an Olson 30 and J-120 I thought we were toast. We persisted, in very lite air, where the Olson typically has a big advantage. Slowly we moved in and finally passed both of the leaders. Good crew work, sail trim, and picking the favored side all worked to give us the win. The whole crew was elated to finish in first after our terrible start, and against a J-120 with a PHRF of 51,..WOW!!! Well, dirty word or not, it was a very satisfying evening.
