Trim to the Course and Sail to the Trim

[red_dolphin]

On our recent race from Long Beach to Catalina, we sailed a very fast boat [Beneteau First 10R] to a win.
Well, Whoopee!
But what might be interesting to this forum is that the boat had no working instruments.

We had no
-- compass
-- wind direction
-- fathometer
-- no indication of boat speed

We did have:
-- paper charts
-- three handheld VHF radios
-- two handheld GPSs.
-- sails with lots of tell-tales attached

The first half of the race was a beat in light airs.
It was a long port tack.
Essentially, pointing was an exercise in keeping the jib tell-tales flowing properly.
We had the backstay loose and the traveler up.
But the key to our speed turned out to be keeping the mainsail tell-tales flying.

The second half of the race, the wind clocked 40 degrees and freshened.
We had sailed toward the shift, and thus reaped the benefit of it.
We flopped to starboard and found that the course to Two Harbors varied from a beat to a close reach.
Trimming on the second half required that we adjust to a wind that was clocking.
The handheld GPSs told us where we needed to go.
The backstay came in some, and the traveler came down some.
But the wind told us how to sail fast -- that is, how to trim.

So, we trimmed to the course and sailed to the trim.
If the course made good was above or below the proper heading to the waypoint, we would adjust the trim, and let the driver have at it.
Lack of instruments was not a problem -- and it may have been a benefit.

In prior classes, ASA Instructor Marc Yaney insisted that we would sail faster if we did not look at the instruments.
"Looks at the sails and the wind," he said.
"That's what you need to know."
He was right.

Bottom line:
-- Optimum trim performance needs a full set of tell-tales on the sails.
-- Oh ... And also needed are drivers that understand the tell-tales at various points of sail.

... all this with a nod to Don, who has a guide to get all of us started on trimming.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

In your first list you said you had no indication of boat speed. If you had two hand held GPS's, then you did have boat speed. When racing you want to do two things. Sail as fast as you can and in the right direction. Now there are variations on that theme. In very light airs, you have to hunt for wind and that might take you off the beaten track, but if you can stay with the wind while your competition sits and wallows in no winds, that will be to your advantage. In more wind you have to play the wind shifts and tack when on an unfavored course to the next mark. The favored course is always the course which more closely heads you towards the mark. Then, sometimes, if you are in the lead, you have to cover your competition behind you. Keeping them behind you might not be the quickest route to the next mark, but it keeps you in the lead. That's my 2 cents.

 

[OldCat]

Compass: GPS
Wind Direction: No windex or shroud telltales?
Fathometer: CA waters generally are pretty deep.
Boat Speed: GPS.

The "lack of instruments" stuff might be overblown, but your competition was blown over :dance:. You guys earned, and deserve, a lot of credit.

Congrats on a really great sail.

OC

 

[kgw]

RD, how far to the west did the port tack take you before the wind shifted? As far as Smuggler's Cove or further?

 

[red_dolphin]

May I rephrase that?

Obviously, my original post was not clear.
Here is what I was trying to say:

• The BOAT had no working electronics save for the on-board VHF.
  That was what I was trying to say with list #1.
  It also had no magnetic compass installed.
  We did not know about these problems prior to boarding the boat at 0900 of race day.
• My navigator and I had brought our own GPSs and VHFs.
  I brought paper charts.
  We had worked this out before the race.
  That was what I was trying to say with list #2, which covered our other resources.

What prompted me to post was my long-held [hunch/belief] that helmsmen in general, including me, do better by watching the sails rather than watching the electronic readouts.
I wasn't saying we did anything so unusual in this race [well, OK, we won ... that doesn't happen every time, still....]
Rather, I was trying to say that spending more time watching the tell-tales on the sails and less time watching electronic read-outs worked for us, and might work for others.

And that brings up a second point:
I have raced on some boats where the Skipper felt compelled to make all the tactical decisions, direct the trimming, and drive the boat at the same time.
That works on a Laser, but that's because there is only one person on board.
On this race, I had four highly competent crew-members.
It was easy to delegate, and thus easier for me to do my job.
=====
Two other responses:

BB wrote,

The favored course is always the course which more closely heads you towards the mark.

I beg to differ.
But that subject is probably worth its own thread.
The operative word is "always," and the discussion would be about exceptions.
Not sure if that thread is appropriate for a 'sail trim' forum.
Don???

kgw asked,

RD, how far to the west did the port tack take you before the wind shifted? As far as Smuggler's Cove or further?

We exited Angel Gate on a heading of ~215-220*M and saw the wind clock 10-15* before we tacked.
At that time we had the west headland of Smuggler's Cove on our beam, and Pt Fermin just to starboard of dead astern.
We actually tacked first on my call.
We tacked back in about 3 minutes, then tacked later on the navigator's call.
[See my statement above about delegation. Ooops. But we got it right soon enough.]
The bearings above were for the final tack.

Feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk about race strategies in the San Pedro Channel.

 

[Don Guillette]

Re: May I rephrase that?

red_dolphin: I think the way the boat is run depends on the composition of the crew.

For example, I crewed for many years on the Catalina 30 National Regatta Team. I was the mainsheet/traveler trimmer - the jib trimmer job was too much work!!. There were 6 of us from all over the US that went to C30 National Regattas and we raced against their fleet. The skipper was Max Munger, who is one of the best I've ever sailed with. We were all pretty good at our job and we just went about it and did it. Our jobs were to watch the telltales and trim accordingly. Max would give us feed back on what he was feeling through his feet on the deck and his hands on the tiller and sometimes call for a slight adjustment but we all knew what he needed before he asked for it.

So the way Max ran the boat was he made tactical decisions, which he shared with us so we knew what was coming up, and he drove the boat. That in itself is a handful. He left the trim up to us and we never came in worst than 2nd so I could say the system worked. On other point, there was very little talking and idle conversation. All of us had our brain into what we were doing. My neck used to kill me after the race from all the looking up at the telltales.

On the other hand, I've been on pickup crew boats and someone has to call the shots and it has to be the skipper so he has the 3 jobs you mentioned - tactical decisions, directing trim and driving the boat. Obviously, a crew that has sailed together and can work together is an easier deal on the skipper.

Max was something else when it came to reading the start line. I'm going to do a post on how he did it. There were many times that I doubted what he was doing and said to myself that this time he's not going to pull it off. Fortunately, I kept my month shut because hed pulled it off every time!!

 

[Alan]

Pre-start and starting are a science all to themselves. Winning the start in a competitive field is absolutely necessary if you expect to do well. Living in the exhaust of boats ahead of you is no way to win. When we match race the SM 40's the boat the wins the pre-start almost always wins the race.
My favorite part of racing is the dial-up in the 5 minutes before the start. Hunting the competition really gets my juices going. It's a real chess game to see who will make the first mistake. Races are won and lost by the boat that makes the fewest mistakes.

 

[red_dolphin]

Sailing with Max sounds great.
That's the sort of 'delegation' I had in mind.
Each crew member is focused and contributing.
But there is never a doubt who the Skipper is.

Alan's description of the 'dial-up' before the start is exciting.
When you can sail a 40-footer like a dinghy before the start, you really have something going.
I'm not there yet, and may never be.
Still, it's fun to think about it.

 

[LuzSD]

Pre-start and starting are a science all to themselves. Winning the start in a competitive field is absolutely necessary if you expect to do well. Living in the exhaust of boats ahead of you is no way to win. When we match race the SM 40's the boat the wins the pre-start almost always wins the race.
My favorite part of racing is the dial-up in the 5 minutes before the start. Hunting the competition really gets my juices going. It's a real chess game to see who will make the first mistake. Races are won and lost by the boat that makes the fewest mistakes.

So agree! We had two extraordinary races on Saturday that mattered in our overall for a 9 race series. It was a blast from beginning to end and I agree with Alan, we are now at the point that the last 5 minutes before the start is most fun. We are now so focused that even when things get dicey we do not panic, we just do what we need to, each of us doing our job is important.
The wind came up and though we are battered from elbows down, it was all worth it and can't wait for the next race to begin.