More On Heavy Air- Crewing Technique
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Check out this link for some great tips on heavy-air crewing technique from Jesse Falsone, courtesy of the excellent Fleet 13 (Chicago) Blog.
Read more...Heavy-Air Boatspeed Notes- 2010 Midwinters
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Below are a few of the notes from 8931, particularly relating to the heavy air we experienced on days 1 and 2 of the midwinters. Notes were compiled from daily de-briefs mainly with Mike Holt (2009 Worlds runner-up) and other top teams in attendance at the regatta.
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Conditions: 15-30kts. Seastate ranging from steep 4-6 foot swell (S/SW breeze Day 1) to flat 1-2 foot waves (N/NE breeze Day 2)
Upwind
Rig: Overall theme from the weekend was that everyone should be raking much more, much more quickly up the breeze range. MH is able to rake back to 24’7” on his boat, and felt that at our weight (340), we should reach this max rake setting in as little as 18kts. The transition from 25’8” to max rake thus takes place over a relatively narrow total wind range from 10-18kts for lighter teams. Many boats, including ours (2007 Jess Rondar), may need to move their mast base forward 1 hole from the standard max aft setting in order to achieve sufficient rake. This allows the mast to be rammed sufficiently at these extreme rake settings without hitting the back of the gate.
Basic Controls: MH noted that many teams were sailing with too little Cunningham, which he identified as being a major adjustment to flatten the front of the main and twist open the top leech in breezy conditions. In heavy breeze, he wails on this control (8:1 control line!) and leaves it there. It is critical to do the same for outhaul and flattening reef as soon as the boat is significantly overpowered.
As soon as max rake is reached, the skipper needs to begin to dump vang until he/she is again able to keep the main sheeted inside the transom corner. It is important to match twisted settings for the main by opening the slot- MH mentioned that he moves jib leads (outhauler) to within 4” of the gunwhale (!) and sheets the jib hard in this breeze. Having a nice open slot facilitates a wider groove and lets the skipper drive the boat down for speed (see below).
Foils: 8931 sailed the regatta with a new Waterat 480, and felt this was a significant improvement from the much larger Jess board (~520). Aggressive raising of the board/ vertical pin was recommended to match CoE from increased rake and keep helm neutral and prevent the boat from “tripping” as speed increases during upwind planning. MH felt that max up for the waterat board was ~ 3.5” of up and ~2.5” of vertical, though many felt that you could be even more aggressive if you were lighter. As with rake, I feel that many teams could be much more aggressive in using this control.
Technique/ Other: One of the great revelations from the 2009 worlds was that the top two boats sailed over a mile greater distance over the worlds course vs. the fleet average. MH felt this was an “80/20” statistic; i.e. 20% of this distance was upwind, vs. the remainder being downwind. The takeaway is that the boat needs to be sailed flat, on its feet, and slightly lower but at max speed/power for greatest VMG. MH explains his upwind technique in big breeze as constantly “fighting the main” to drive the boat down with the jib for power, going absolutely full-speed at all times, and only sheeting the main back in when this was achieved. Any time that the boat is not flat-out planning means that you are making worse VMG in these conditions.
Downwind
Technique: MH explained that the top west coast teams have brought their learnings from sailing other high performance boats such as 18footers and I-14s to downwind sailing in the 505. Following the greater distance/ greater speed approach to maximizing VMG, the preferred mode in full-power wire running (over 12kts) is focused on maximizing speed/power rather than sailing the boat as low as possible on the plane. Crews should be all the way back in the boat, with the skipper within 1 ft of the transom, fully hiked, and the crew just forward of that and all the way down on the wire. The boat needs to be sailed as high as possible for full speed, with vang progressively eased (power comes from the kite) and main sheeted inboard for minimum drag.
It is important to note that this technique brings another transition point into downwind sailing after the initial transition from sit- to wire-running. Trying to move to the “wild thing” when the trade-off between reaching full power vs. sailing more distance is still high (9-12+kts) does not result in optimum VMG. Teams need to have experience to know where this transition point is for their given weight/ setup. 8931 found this to be particularly true in the marginal wire-running conditions experienced on day 3 of the regatta, when many teams fresh off the debrief tried this technique unsuccessfully.
In general, this “wild thing” approach results in a significant change to technique for many of us, and one that we will ultimately need significant practice to master. Having the experience to know when to use this technique, and the confidence to make the dial-up to the max power/ speed mode before apparent wind moves forward (and boat can be sailed lower again) in a regatta situation requires practice. See also the excellent article by JJ Isler “Doing the Wild Thing” from Sailing World in 2001 for more info on this approach.
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Of course, the above is only a small snapshot of the types of things to be learned from sailing against the best teams at regattas like the Midwinters. Ultimately, the key takeaway from the weekend is that everyone needs to make the effort to attend as many events like this as they can in order to progress up the never-ending learning curve offered by the 505!
2010 Midwinters Report
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The 2010 505 Midwinters at Fort DeSoto, FL opened up the season with a bang...and a splash for most! Five Fleet 9 boats and a number more from Region 1 were in attendance, with 27 boats participating in the 505 fleet overall.
The Survivors
That night the fleet gathered at the Pass-a-Grille womens club for a hearty meal and excellent de-brief from 2010 Worlds Runner-up Mike Holt, who had jetted over from the West Coast to sail the regatta with Nelson the younger. Competitors swapped stories and discussed Mike's tips on sailing in the "moderate West Coast conditions" the day had brought. We'll put up a separate post to share some of the most relevant thoughts from the evening.
The last day of the regatta finally brought the conditions expected for Tampa Bay, with a shifty (and much welcomed!) 8-12 kts. The short oscillations and variations in pressure across the course rewarded smart, tactical sailing for the day's 3 races. Big gains were made by those who were able to stay in phase up the beats and recognize the fine line between wire-running and split-running downhill. Not surprisingly, Augie Diaz (fresh off a win in the Star medal race at Miami OCR) excelled in the day's racing, giving them the leg up over Drew and Ramsay for the overall win, now their second in a row. Congrats go out to Augie/Luke and everyone who was able to survive the the regatta in one piece!
What the heck is that? Ethan and his A-sail hunting down Drew and Ramsay.
A sincere thanks go out to Ethan Bixby, Lin Robson, and Ben Moon for putting on another great event. Fleet 9 is already dreading the return to the NY area snowstorms and looking forward to next year!
Final Results
Photos
Also make sure to check out the following
US Site Write-Up by Mike Renda
Fleet 13 Write-Up
Ethan's learnings on sailing the "650" (aka the 505 with 4 foot bowsprit/ assymetrical!) can be found here
Read more...
Fleet 9 Season Kick-Off Call
Monday, February 1, 2010
This past Thursday evening, a large group of Fleet 9ers joined a season kick-off call to discuss the upcoming years schedule, plans, and other to-dos. A brief summary of the minutes can be found after the jump
2010 and 2011 Regatta and Training Schedule
- The 2010 Calendar has been put together and is available for general consumption on the Fleet 9 Website. Click on the link above to check it out!
- 2010 promises to be a busy year for Fleet 9, with a solid and well developed regatta calendar. High profile events include the upcoming Midwinters in Ft. Desoto, FL this February, North Americans in Chicago in late June, the 505 World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark in late July/ early August, and the HPDO this October. In addition to these events, the fleet will continue to attend a strong schedule of regional and local events, featuring regattas from Virginia to Massachusetts.
- Another emphasis for this year's schedule will be to develop the local training and regatta schedule, centered around American YC in Rye. Particularly with this year's relatively front-loaded schedule, it will be important to get focused early in the season and have a strong regional group to prepare for high profile events. Fleet 9 is blessed with a strong concentration of boats that can easily make a 8-10 boat outing happen, and we would like to leverage this critical mass to attract other east coast teams to our events. We will be working hard to make it both practical and worthwhile, with both practice events and regattas populating the Fleet 9 local calendar.
- The 2011 NAs will be hosted at American YC the weekend after the HPDO. An organization/ leadership committee is the process of being formed and will be kicking off its meeting schedule shortly. Watch this space.
Reports from Individual Boat Owners
- Each fleet 9 member on the call shared a brief update on their plans and goals for 2010, as well as some gear selection and winter boatwork notes. The diversity of our regatta calendar and proximity to east coast events has allowed Fleet 9 to successfully cultivate membership with a huge array of interests, from international competition to just going out, having fun, and keeping the pointy end up! Based on the feedback on the call, we can expect the Fleet 9 contingent to be a force to be reckoned with at across the spectrum of events on our calendar.
- On the boatwork front, it seems that most teams have followed the "evolution" vs. "revolution" strategy, electing to just make some marginal upgrades and refinements over the winter. As the big follow-on from last years world championships in San Francisco, many teams appear to be planning the switch to the twin pole-launcher/ separate guys and sheets configuration. We're all looking forward to seeing the fleet's average jibe times get a couple seconds shaved off as a result! While the fleet continues to utilize a large diversity of sail/rig and boat configurations, most teams have calibrated their gear to the Glaser tuning matrix to be able to share notes and observations. If you havent done so yet, make sure you dont head out to the first practice day without having taken care of it!
Subjects for Future Calls
- Most teams agreed that the weekend-night conference call was a great success. As such, we will be trying to have a conference call about every 2-3 weeks, featuring east coast 505 luminaries that will give short talks on everything from crew-work to sail-trim to strategy. Stay tuned for more info!
Fleet Development and Support
- Fleet 9 continues to benefit from its position as the largest fleet of 505s on the eastern seaboard, and we've welcomed a few strong new members to our cause. We'll be putting particular focus on a few American YC recruits as well as Blaine's connection to talent at USMMA. The entire fleet is incredibly eager to share our great boats with newcomers, so if you have someone in mind, dont hesitate to get in touch so we can get them out!
Fleet 9 Sets Off for Midwinters 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Fleet 9’s annual midwinter break in Florida got under way today in bitterly cold conditions, 15°F with wind chill taking it down to single digits! Six fleet 9/region one boats were loaded into the truck at American YC, Rye, by Drew, Ted & Amie, Loic, Joerg, Tim, Olav, Justin Miller and John. MIAs were Blaine, coaching in the snow in southern MD and Dan, allegedly nice and warm in bed with his girl friend!
Some teams were pulled together at the last minute thanks to generous fleet 9 members not able to go. Blaine & Danny will be sailing Greg’s boat 8790 and Loic will be sailing Justin Shaffer’s boat 8753. Loic only did the deal on the boat Friday morning and by the afternoon had found a good crew, Stephen Long, from the mid-west. Other boats are 8931 - Joerg & Dan, 8438 – Ted & Amie, 8830 – Drew & Ramsey, 8190 – Tim & Graham. Olav & John were along to help and throw some gear in the truck. Justin M was there to pick Ted & Amie’s double. Ted Ferrarone dropped by for a chat and ran before the hard work started!We were all done in just over an hour and the truck left around 11.30am for Hampton, VA to pick up Olav, Henry and Christian’s boats, 8441, 8012, 8951. John & Gareth are heading south on Tuesday via Hampton to pick up 8939 and BER9005.
Everyone was looking forward to sun & fun on the beach at Fort De Soto, St. Petersburg, FL!
cheers
John
505 USA 8939
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