Racing in January in Texas

Bill19233

Bill19233

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Jan 22, 2008
766
Hunter 340 Baytown TX
No great sailing or racing techniques to see, in fact we tried to stay well clear of other boats with our shoal draft and baggy sails, but we're on the bay in January:
Quoting Jackdaw: "Life's too short to sail with crappy sails"
New sails on order from Quantum, really needed them to help point in the +20 knots, but kind of glad I didn't have them on the boat yet for this race.
 
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cb32863

cb32863

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Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN
Very cool. Water is hard here in MN... nice vid.
 
Jackdaw

Jackdaw

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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
That's awesome. Next time I'm coming with.

Can you move your jib cars? It looks like in that breeze you would have been flatter with much more twist in your jib.

Did you overstand coming into that first mark? It looked like you were reaching in while the other boats were beating to it.

Great video. I capture HOURS but never have time (or the talent?) to produce like that.
 
Bill19233

Bill19233

.
Jan 22, 2008
766
Hunter 340 Baytown TX
Come on down, three races left in the series, every Saturday this month, you can stay on the boat.

I wanted to move the jib cars, got busy hanging on or tacking every time I thought of it. We did get the vang loose after the downwind leg to get some twist in the main.

We stayed way outside the course, out of the way, at the marks. We got pushed out of crossing the start gate by starboard tackers hanging around the gate waiting for their start and could not safely go back around and restart. So we went around the course anyway for the fun and to see how we'd do. I won't try and cross the gate on port tack any more. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The video only took about an hour or so to put together with Microsoft moviemaker, you can download it for free.

Race 1 video from two weeks ago:
 
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Bill19233

Bill19233

.
Jan 22, 2008
766
Hunter 340 Baytown TX
I was able to make the 3rd race last Saturday.
New sails still not ready, maybe next race
 
Jackdaw

Jackdaw

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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Nice! I'm Texas bound this weekend to do some coaching at Lake Canyon. Good times!

Note - You've got a TON of sag in your forestay for that amount of breeze.... To much. Some tuning would do a work of help.
 
Bill19233

Bill19233

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Jan 22, 2008
766
Hunter 340 Baytown TX
We're in the Austin area too, this weekend, Dripping Springs. 79 degrees here today. You should have great weather for sailing.

I've already talked to two riggers about the head stay sag. One says the B&R rig will have that much sag and I'm stuck with it. Maybe the other one can help. New sails are on, points like a different boat. Jib is perfect, main has some wrinkle issues to work on.
Will be on the bay next Saturday trying to "iron" it out. May have to adjust batten tension.
 
Jackdaw

Jackdaw

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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Bill19233 said:
We're in the Austin area too, this weekend, Dripping Springs. 79 degrees here today. You should have great weather for sailing.

I've already talked to two riggers about the head stay sag. One says the B&R rig will have that much sag and I'm stuck with it. Maybe the other one can help. New sails are on, points like a different boat. Jib is perfect, main has some wrinkle issues to work on.
Will be on the bay next Saturday trying to "iron" it out. May have to adjust batten tension.
Click to expand
Well you for sure cannot adjust sag dynamicly (with backstay) but you sure can set it statically for the days conditions with shroud tension. This is true for any fractional boat. We set ours every day based on expected breeze. It's work, but totally worth it.
 
Bill19233

Bill19233

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Jan 22, 2008
766
Hunter 340 Baytown TX
Jackdaw said:
Well you for sure cannot adjust sag dynamicly (with backstay) but you sure can set it statically for the days conditions with shroud tension. This is true for any fractional boat. We set ours every day based on expected breeze. It's work, but totally worth it.
Click to expand
I think the shrouds are tight enough, so I have to take the furler apart to get to the headstay turnbuckle and tighten it? I hope it's worth the effort.
Jackdaw, what do think about removing the radar dome from the mast? I never use it, would the gain in smoother airflow and less weight aloft be worth an hour or so up on the mast, for just club racing?

Video of us in the last "Icicle Race" for 2016 on Galveston Bay:
 
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Jackdaw

Jackdaw

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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Bill19233 said:
I think the shrouds are tight enough, so I have to take the furler apart to get to the headstay turnbuckle and tighten it? I hope it's worth the effort.
Jackdaw, what do think about removing the radar dome from the mast? I never use it, would the gain in smoother airflow and less weight aloft be worth an hour or so up on the mast, for just club racing?
Click to expand
Looking at the vid at 1:19, that is way way too slack for that breeze. Tightening up your shrouds will for sure help that. Because you have a furler, I doubt you can tighten your forestay by adjusting it there.

The dome probably does not effect your aerodynamics to a measurable degree, but it probably gets in the way during tacks.
 
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