The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing WorldwideThis past week, the U.S. J/70 Youth Championship took place on Tampa Bay, with seven youth teams from across America experiencing an amazing 21 races in three days, thanks to the serendipitous combination of fabulous weather and the efficient St. Petersburg YC RC and PRO team. Then, out west, the San Diego YC hosted the second of three races in their infamous Hot Rum Series on San Diego Harbor.
Over in Europe, the Hamble River Sailing Club hosted their fifth weekend of their annual Hamble Winter Series on the Southampton Water and the Solent for a fleet of J/88s, J/109s, J/111s and J/92s.
Still further east in Asia, the Royal Hong Kong YC annual classic, the 26.0nm Round Island Race took place for over 100 boats, with a number of J/Crews collecting silverware in the roughly four-hour race.
Finally, in the J/Community section, there are two good articles; one is an account from the Chilean owner of the J/122E ANITA that sailed this year’s very challenging ROLEX Middle Sea Race and the other is an interview of Mike Ingham at North Sails One-Design by Erica Beck-Spencer, skipper of the SEABAGS Women’s J/24 Sailing Team.
J/24 Worlds Miami Announcement
(Miami, FL)- J/24 Sailors from around the world are looking forward to the 2019 J/24 World Championships in Miami, Florida, October 19–26.
This is the first time in the 41-year history of the J/24 Worlds that the event is being held in Florida, with its sunny skies, palm trees, warm breezes and excellent sailing conditions. The J/24 Worlds will be held on the same course used by ISAF every January for the World Cup Olympic Classes Regatta. The weeklong event will feature six days of exciting racing on the emerald-green waters of Biscayne Bay, one of the world’s great yachting venues.
The prestigious Coral Reef Yacht Club (CRYC) will be the race committee, and will host the opening night ceremonies on their sweeping lawn overlooking Biscayne Bay. The rest of the week will feature food, music and an open bar every night sponsored by Bacardi.
The week’s festivities and social events will be located just down the waterfront from CRYC in the historic Pan Am Flying Clipper hanger on the water’s edge at Shake-A-Leg Miami, the sailing center in the heart of Coconut Grove that hosts sailing programs for the disabled and disadvantaged. Measurement, boat storage, launch and retrieval will be a short walk away at beautiful new Regatta Park, a purpose-built facility designed to host regattas of large fleets, used by Olympic hopefuls during the World Cup.
Eighty boats and more than 400 sailors and their support teams are expected from all over the world, representing approximately twenty countries. Mark Pincus, regatta chairman and well-known Miami J/24 sailor and regatta organizer for many South Florida regattas said, “the pristine waters of Biscayne Bay have always beckoned sailors from around the world, and the J/24 Class has always produced world-class sailors. This will be the perfect marriage of sailors and setting. In addition to the excellent sailing facilities, Miami boasts a wealth of great restaurants and lodging opportunities. Keep an eye on our website for our special hotel bureau coming soon.” Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com. For more J/24 Worlds Miami sailing and registration information
2019 Marblehead to Halifax Race Registration Open!(Marblehead, MA) - Registration is now open for the 38th biennial Marblehead to Halifax Ocean race July 7, 2019.
“We are looking forward to an elite fleet of racers again this year,” says David Bows, Rear Commodore of the Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead and co-chairman of the race. “This is truly one of the great racing events of the summer.” Michael Simms of the RNSYS is the co-chair.
The organizing committee is considering the addition of an ORRez division. Co-Race Directors Anne Coulombe of BYC and Richard Hinterhoeller of the RNSYS have already received two requests for an ORRez division. “We get the sense that this could be quite popular”, said Richard. “Anyone interested in having this division, should contact race@marbleheadtohalifax.com and let us know”. Hinterhoeller says the sooner they can establish this interest, the better they can integrate it into the event.
The 363-nautical mile Marblehead to Halifax is one of the oldest races on the eastern seaboard. It began 1905 and has continued every other year except during war time. It is co-sponsored by the Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron in Halifax, NS. Major support comes from the Steele Auto Group of Nova Scotia.“Marblehead is the idyllic place for the start of this race,” Bows declares. “There will be a round of parties and social events throughout the weekend before starting the race.”
The fleet will be competing for trophies at every level including best-combined result with the Newport to Bermuda race. There will also be prizes for teams such as U.S. vs. Canada, double handed, all women crew, maritime academies, schooner ketch or yawl and over the hill gang. For more Marblehead to Halifax Race registration and sailing information
A Happy Holiday Special at the J/Store is taking place NOW through November 24th! Receive 20% off your entire order, just enter code “JB2018x” when you place the order. Please note- 1/2 models and J/Prints are exempt from this offer. Check out all the cool gear, hats, shirts, and so forth online here today!
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Oct 7- Dec 2- Hamble Winter Series- Hamble, EnglandNov 30- Wirth Munroe Memorial Race- Palm Beach, FL
Dec 1- Hot Rum Series III- San Diego, CA
Dec 8-16- Salon Nautique Boat Show- Paris, France
Dec 1-2- Bacardi J/70 Winter Series I- Miami, FL
Dec 8-9- Davis Island J/70 Winter Series I- Tampa, FL
Jan 5-6- Davis Island J/70 Winter Series II- Tampa, FL
Jan 19-20- Bacardi J/70 Winter Series II- Miami, FL
Jan 24-27- J/Fest St Petersburg- St Petersburg, FL
Jan 26-28- Festival of Sails- Geelong, Vic, Australia
Feb 9-10- Davis Island J/70 Series III- Tampa, FL
Feb 15-17- Helly Hansen St Petersburg NOOD- St Petersburg, FL
Feb 21-24- J/70 Midwinter Championship- Miami, FL
Mar 6-9- Bacardi Cup- J/70 Winter Series III- Miami, FL
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
King Harbor YC Crowned U.S. J/70 Youth Champs
(St Petersburg, FL)- The 2018 U.S. J/70 Youth Championship, hosted by St Petersburg YC in St Petersburg, FL, concluded with a total of twenty-one races over the three days for the seven youth teams from across America. The teams enjoyed the short-course “stadium-style” racing of 20 minutes per race, sailing the StPYC’s perfectly-matched fleet of J/70’s just off the beautiful St Petersburg city waterfront. Winning the event in a convincing fashion was the King Harbor YC Youth Team (Kyle Collins, Brock Paquin, River Paquin, and Justin Zmina).
The regatta was blessed with a remarkable weather pattern that lasted the entire weekend. As the northeastern region of the USA was blasted by its first winter storm, paralyzing major cities like New York, the southeast region of the continent-spanning frontal system provided nice N to NE breezes for four straight days with gorgeous sunny skies. Here is how it all went down over the weekend.
Day One
The St. Petersburg YC welcomed the teams at the 8:30am Captain’s meeting and, facing winds gusting to 25 kts at 7:00am, Regatta Chairman and PRO Todd Fedyszyn wisely postponed for one hour. With a forecast of NNE winds of 15-20 kts diminishing to 6-15 kts by day’s end, the teams were blessed with a perfectly sunny, cool day, with not a cloud in the sky. As a result, the teams sailed a fast-paced series of ten races of about 20 minutes each, finishing by 4:00pm.
Starting off with a 2-1-1-1, there was no question the team from King Harbor YC (Kyle Collins, Brock Paquin, River Paquin, and Justin Zmina) in Los Angeles, CA were determined to set a high bar for the rest of the top youth keelboat teams from across the country. A few lapses in concentration in races 5 and 7 were their only blemish on a record that closed with three bullets to lead the fleet with 16 pts total.
Their arch-nemesis all day long was the Chicago YC team headed by Ray Groble and crew of Bridgette Groble, Remington King, and Jack Hemmelgarn. While emphatically winning the first race, the Chicago team accumulated six more 2nds in the ten races to comfortably hold on to second place.
Sitting in third was Little Traverse YC skippered by the top woman skipper Merideth Moran and her team of Ellie Wagner, Molly Matthews, Luke Baker, and Jack Miller (pictured below).
Day Two
Based on the weather forecast that indicated a brisk north/ northeaster of 8-12 kts in the morning would diminish to 3-5 kts by mid-afternoon, the StPYC PRO Todd Fedyszyn immediately sent the teams out to start promptly at 10:00am in the morning. The stated goal for the day was to get in at least seven races. In the end, the amazing RC and mark set boat teams managed to pump out eight races before the wind diminished to below the 4-5 kts threshold at 3:00pm.
Starting off where they left off the first day, King Harbor YC Youth Team’s won the first race of the day in what only could be described as a “horizon job”, despite the short course. Thereafter, they accumulated five more 1sts in the eight races to extend their lead in the championship by 21 pts.
Jumping into second place with an amazingly consistent day was the Little Traverse YC Youth Team with top woman skipper Merideth Moran. They posted five 2nds in those eight races and had a total of 58 pts by day’s end.
Not having one of their better days was Chicago YC Youth Team’s skipper Ray Groble. In the shifty, variable conditions, they started off with a promising 3-2-3 in the first three races. But, then the wheels fell of their shopping trolley, posting a tough 6-6-2-6-5 record for their last four races to drop back into third on the leaderboard, 8 pts off the pace from second place.
Day Three
Given that the enormous front that first hit on Thursday was losing a lot of steam, it was not surprising to see the forecast for Sunday’s racing was indicating even lighter winds. The morning dawned grey with overcast skies, with winds again ranging from 30 to 45 deg, light from the NNE at 4-7 kts. The StPYC PRO wisely scheduled a half-hour earlier start time of 9:30am with the goal of completing at least two races. In the end, three races were run for a total of 21 races in three days!
The sailing was tough on the tacticians, as the puffs were streaky and spotty across the race track. Mastering the day was Merideth Moran’s Little Traverse YC team, winning two of the races and adding a 2nd to win the day by a large margin. Also, showing vast improvement since their first day was South Carolina YC’s youth team (Matthew Monts, Bradlee Anderson, Colin Meidler, James Thurlow, and Bobby Soares), posting an equally impressive 3-2-2 in their final races to take 2nd for the day! Having their toughest day of the regatta was Ray Groble’s Chicago YC Youth Team, having to contend with a PMS, a mark rounding foul, and another PMS, resulting in a 7-7-7 tally.
In the end, King Harbor YC’s youth team sailed an amazing event, closing out their finale with a 1-4-3 to win by a 17-point margin; that record included fourteen bullets in the 21 races! Taking the silver was Little Traverse YC’s youth team, garnering the best record of the fleet in the last five races (2-2-2-1-1). And, despite their miserable last day, the Chicago YC team had sailed such a strong event in the previous two days that they managed to hold on to the bronze medal on the podium! Sailing photo credits- Chris Howell/ J/70 Class. For more U.S. J/70 Youth Championship sailing information
J/145 Wins Round Hong Kong Island Race(Hong Kong, China)- The annual Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Around the Island Race is one of the biggest inshore events in Hong Kong. It is a 26.0 nm race around Hong Kong Island involving Class Keelboats, Dinghies, Beach Cats and Cruisers.
Winning IRC 2 Class and taking 12th overall in what was decidedly a big-boat race was David Mitchell’s J/145C REDEYE, rounding the 26.0nm course in 3:58:16, for an average of nearly 6 kts. Fourth in IRC 2 was Rick Van Den Berg’s J/111 JUGGERKNOT. Taking 5th place in the IRC 3 Class was Nick Southward’s J/109 WHISKEY JACK.
In the eighteen-boat J/80 class, it was a horse race all the way around the island, with several teams running neck-and-neck the entire way. Ultimately, it was Henry Wong’s FOOTLOOSE that won the class by 11 seconds over Rita Yau’s JELIK 7! Then, just over a minute back was Ben Bulmer’s JASMINE in third place, just edging out by a half-boat length (4 seconds worth) Sarah Page’s SEABISCUIT. Fifth place went to Andrew Blank’s JAVELIN and Pascal Martin’s J/105 LEGENDE took 7th place. For more RHKYC Around Island Race sailing information
Hamble Winter Series- Week 5 Report(Hamble, England)- The fifth week of HYS Hamble Winter Series coincided with Remembrance Sunday and the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day for World War 1. The first warning was put back until after the 11.00 am two minutes silence, and Jonathan Blanchard, played the Last Post, live from the deck of his boat.
The Committee Boat set up station at 4S (Royal Southern) in 20 knots of breeze from 240 degrees and with "Yankee" flying once again. With the breeze forecast to increase, Race Officer Steve Parry decided on a two-course strategy for the day. The bigger boats in Class 1 and 2 would disappear off round the cans, whilst Class 3 and 4 would be kept close on a 1.6 mile Windward/ Leeward so that they could be shortened if the worst of the forecast came to pass.
As it turned out the smaller boats managed the three rounds of the course though with varying degrees of skill and technique, especially downwind. Windward/Leewards with their associated gybes downwind are not everybody's cup of tea in these conditions, though not many would manage tea anyway.
Up in Classes 1 & 2, there was plenty of action. The beat took the fleet to 3S (Royal Thames) where there was an interesting split. The asymmetric boats mostly gybe set, but others made ground by using the last of the East going tide with a bear away set and then gybing when meeting the West going tide on the North shore.The second downwind leg hoists at West Ryde Middle were dramatic as they coincided with a 30–33 knot squall! The J/88's appeared to come off worst with spectacular broaches and, indeed, Tim Tolcher’s RAGING BULL suffered a MOB. Some quick thinking aboard Malice, who stood by the incident, meant that the MOB was recovered.
Further down the leg the, Mike & Susie Yates’ J/109 JAGO and Simon Perry’s J/109 JIRAFFE, were battling for 1st place and could not afford to go down to white sails only. Meanwhile, JOLLY JACK TAR, RNSA, and HOT RATS all decided to consolidate their 3rd and 4th positions and white-sailed home past a number of Class 1 & 2 kiting casualties!
In Class 1, Chaz Ivill & Paul Heyes’ J/112E DAVANTI TYRES finally lost a race, taking 2nd on corrected time. In Class 2, loaded down with numerous J/109s, JIRAFFE held on (e.g. survived) to beat JAGO by 2 minutes and 19 seconds with JOLLY JACK TAR in 3rd.
For Class 3, David Greenhalgh’s J/92 J’RONIMO was sailed by his daughter- Libby (one of the British Sailing Team’s top women helm). This meant that, again, David was allowed to enjoy some golfing on the Algarve last week. Though, sportingly, he made it to the bar to celebrate her success whilst mumbling on about a torn spinnaker! Hard to please Dad, isn’t it, even though she finished 2nd!
There was much praise for the Race team for both suffering the conditions and putting on a great race for everyone. Back in the clubhouse, Athena Rossi, of Force 4, presented the day prizes. No doubt, there will be some brisk business at Force 4 this week replacing broken and strained parts. Thanks for contribution from Trevor Pountain. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information
Hot Rum Series II Report(San Diego, CA)- The second installment of San Diego YC’s famous Hot Rum Series took place last weekend, just one more to go! There were a lot of position changes for various teams going up and down the standings as they navigated the waters of San Diego Harbor and the Pacific Ocean off the majestic Point Loma. Again, the conditions were generally favorable to the bigger boats starting later in the PHRF “pursuit-style” race, as they started with more wind than the earlier slower boats.
In PHRF Class 2, Ernie Pennell’s J/120 MAD MEN sailed another good race to score a 2-7 so far and hang in for a 2nd place in the series lead. Just behind them is Rudy Hasl’s J/120 HASL FREE with a 6-6 for 12 pts. Then, third J/120 is Chuck Nichols’ CC RIDER with a 9-8 for 17 pts.
The J/105s seem to rule the roost in PHRF Class 4. Leading the fleet is Dennis Case’s J/105 J-OK with a 4-2 for 6 pts. Third is Erostino Dagfish’s VIGGEN with a 6-5 for 11 pts. Fourth is Steve Wyman’s J/70 NUNUHUNU with a 2-10 for 12 pts. And, sitting is 5th place is Donica & Scott Ryder’s J/105 SANITY with a 14-1 for 15 pts.
Finally, in PHRF Class 5, David Cattle’s classic J/27 BLACKADDER is hanging tight, in a three-way tie for 4th place with a 4-6 for 10 pts. And, they are just 5 pts off the lead. So, anything can literally happen in the next race for this class! Sailing photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ JOY Sailing.com. For more Hot Rum Series sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni, and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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* After a really tough 50th edition of the ROLEX Middle Sea Race, the J/122e ANITA finished 3rd in IRC Class and 24th among 115 boats sailing.The Spanish-Chilean team led by owner/ skipper Nicoléas Ibañez Scott, put up a strong effort in wildly variable weather conditions on the Mediterranean Sea, from “glass-outs” with burning sun, to 40+ kts, grey, cold, and 15 ft seas rolling over the deck.
Here is their “insider’s report” on what went down in this incredibly challenging “bucket list” race on the Mediterranean Sea. Thanks to ANITA’s owner- Nicoléas Ibañez Scott.
“This was the second year that Anita, a J/122E, participated in the Middle Sea race, 600-mile race around Sicily and the islands that surround it.
It was an especially hard race, with only one-third of the fleet completing the race.
This year we sailed with more sails, more crew (8), and made various improvements in our maneuvers and how we used our navigation/ electronics equipment.
The race started off for us with a collision! The other boat came from behind and hit us in the stern and they ended up getting a badly broken bowsprit. We just got a little scratch astern.
The first long leg is getting to the Straits of Messina between Sicily and the mainland. It was a long windward leg, with 12-16 knots. Our closest references were the J/133 JIVARO that was easily advancing on us in these conditions. And, the other was the J/122 JOY; they helped us find the correct sail trim.
At nightfall, the wind got lighter and near land, it also became unstable in intensity and direction. Good tactical decisions and the use of our Code 0 in some transitions allowed us to place ourselves at the head of the fleet in our group and very well positioned in the overall fleet.
In the morning, a zone of total calm trapped the fleet. We floated for hours trying to move. Our new windseeker became crucial!
In the afternoon, the wind finally returned astern and propelled us towards the Strait of Messina. We sailed in sight of the JPK 1180 for hours; in the end they would end up winning the regatta in our class and overall.
In the Straits of Messina, the wind and the currents became capricious, and forced us to continuous changes of sails and maneuvers.
The duel with the JPK 1180 "Courier Recommandée" in this section of the race was exciting for us, we go forward several times, sometimes the boats sail backwards due to the current. In fact, we sailed just 20-30m from the shore to reduce the current effects.
Finally, we managed to escape from the "claws" of Messina and with a strong wind we got to the Strómboli volcano.
Then, there was one of the biggest highlights of our race, a port-starboard under spinnaker with the JPK 1180 in the middle of the night. From there, they would escape from us, culminating in a masterful race for them! But, frustrating for us!!
Soon after, an enormous lightning storm hits us. The wind came from every direction and intensity. Fortunately, a heavy thundershower caught us with the spinnaker on deck!
After rounding Strómboli, we began a long windward course to the Egades. The wind raged (up to 40 kts) and the waves were difficult to steer through. In this section, the larger and heavier boats could pound through the seas better and took off from us.
We rounded Favignana rocks on the third night. We believe this is where the JPK 1180 got away from us, as until this time we were still very close to them after beating upwind for so many hours. At this stage, the wind was aft and the big waves behind us. This leg was over 150 miles with 20-30 kts of wind.
We tried the A4 spinnaker for 15 minutes. But, we quickly realized the boat was difficult to control in the big waves. So, we lowered the A4 before losing control and breaking something. We sailed this leg with the main and 105% jib only, sailing much slower than many of our rivals.
We finally rounded Lampedusa the fourth night and we had a very wet leg from there to Malta, with 20 knots of wind.
We passed between Gozo and Malta before sailing under kite the last 15 miles and crossing the finish line after four exciting days of racing.
Good times, exciting duels, new lessons, a 3rd place in our class and we want to repeat next year!”
* The SEABAGS WOMEN’S SAILING TEAM continued to have fun racing their J/24 during the 2018 sailing season. Their all-women crew had more than a dozen women crew cross the decks over the course of the season. Their skipper, Erica Beck Spencer, is also the team leader, keeps the women organized, and often leads them on training weekends to keep their skills sharp. She also works closely with World-class coaches, such as Mike Ingham from the North Sails One-Design Team. Here is Erica’s recent interview with Mike at a recent regatta:
“I love dock talks at regattas. I sit in the front row, my trusty notebook open, scratching down everything I can (because that is how I remember things best), and am never short on questions to ask the pros. I’m a regatta nerd. Everything I learn at each dock talk and more goes in that notebook and on more than one occasion someone has approached me to say, “I want your notebook!”
So, we’re changing the title of this blog to The Dock Talk and the Sea Bags Women’s Sailing Team hopes to share with you lessons from dock talks, insights we glean from the experts, or learnings from our own experience at regattas.
While dock talks offer a wealth of information to any sailor, they do pose a challenge for even the most seasoned. The answers to questions presented at dock talks are usually just sound bites—a short answer given to maintain the attention of the audience. Responses are not usually detailed enough to change someone’s strategy or sailing practice. To that end, I am thrilled to share something new we’re going to try. Mike Ingham, US Sailing Coach of the year in 2017 and 2018 J24 North American Champion has agreed to do a question-and-answer column with us. We plan to feature Mike regularly, so we hope you’ll check back often. For today, let’s kick off our first Q&A.Erica: The pros all seem to be able to point higher than me and most of my fellow J24 Corinthians. I've been told it is all about flow over the keel and you can't start pointing higher until you have enough flow. I know a zillion factors affect this pointing ability, but let's talk about the big ones. And for simplification let's say that the breeze is about 8-11 knots (everyone's on the rail but we’re not overpowered.)
Mike: Let’s focus on pointing higher than VMG (Velocity Made Good: practically put VMG= optimum height/ speed angle for making progress upwind) for tactical reasons. The range between VMG and pointing artificially high is maybe 4 degrees. Higher than that and the speed drops off way too drastically. So hopefully that frames the discussion.
Erica: OK great, so how do you go about pointing high?
Mike: First off, don’t overdo it or it will backfire. Ease into pointing by gaining speed first. If someone is right below you (like at a start), you still can’t stick it high too quickly because until flow gets going on your foils (keel and rudder) you will just slide sideways and although your bow will be pointing high, you will go really slow and slide sideways –the worst of both! I see many people try to point by trimming in their jib hard and although tempting, over-trimming the jib is not the way to point. When pointing considerably higher, especially in lighter winds, the pressure on jib will decrease (think the extreme of luffing) and the jib may get tighter in the leach and we may actually need to ease it. If trying to point higher by heading up, and your jib leech telltale stalls, you need to ease.
Erica: Sounds slow. I can picture my team getting frustrated with me…
Mike: You mostly get point by simply heading up a little and paying attention to the leech of the main –you get height from over-trimming the main and thus hooking leech. I look at the top leech tale and see what % it is flowing. If in VMG mode, I might have it stalling 50% of the time. Then in point mode I would trim it in so it is now stalling 70-80% of the time. Over trimming the main will give you more hook. If it comes easy with main trim, then great! But if the hook is hard to come by, ease backstay and possibly vang. Each will straighten the mast and that makes the leech tighter. Easing cunningham, and outhaul also add some return (hook) and thus leech tension.
Erica: What percentage of your time are you looking at the leech of the main versus the luff of the genoa?
Mike: Even though main trim is super important, I spend most of my time looking at those jib tales and just glance up and read the % stall on the main. The important tale is the one on the biggest/ most hooked part of the roach. -if you have more than one, it’s the one that stalls first. That leech tale will alternate between flowing and stalling over a few seconds. For example, it may flow for a second, then stall for 2 seconds and translates to around 60-70% stall. I will be watching the jib tales for maybe 15 seconds then I will glance up for those 3 seconds to understand my main trim then go back to looking at the jib tales for 15 seconds and so on. In addition to that, I adjust the main trim whenever there is wind change. For example, if my target is 70% stall, and last I checked I was spot on, but then I get a lull, I will ease main and then look up and fine tune to get it back to 70%. To circle back and relate this to pointing high, I will do this regardless of pointing, VMG, or footing, but the target stall time is what changes.
Erica: We talked steering angle, jib, and main trim, what about the other controls?
Mike: Less important for sure, but worth a discussion:
- Traveler: Pull the traveler up so the boom is just above centerline.
- Heel: Over-flatten the boat. You need the blades more vertical than usual to get the most lift off your blades. It’s just a few degrees more than normal. If you are sailing a round bottom dinghy and sailing with just 2 degrees of heel, then sail absolutely flat A keelboat you might be sailing with 6 degrees, notch that down to 4 degrees.
- More on heel: Flattening the boat also has the added bonus of getting your sail area a bit to windward to help if the reason you are pointing is to get away from the boat to leeward
- Controls: I don’t change a lot of the controls. If I think I will be in point mode for a while, I might fluff up the jib halyard a little and ease the ham.
Mike: Ha, yeah “fluff up” is not a technical term, it means ease the halyard. Easing the main cunningham “ham” loosens the luff and easing the jib halyard loosens the jib luff.
Erica: All that discussion was for “ideal” 10kt conditions. How does all that change when we are overpowered?
Mike: Once overpowered, it’s more about sailing really flat and pinching. When overpowered the main is already eased so the top tale is always flowing. You will still need to trim in your main when pointing, but instead of trimming to the main leech tale, you trim to keep the boat at the correct heel. I rarely look up, instead I focus on the heel, puffs, lulls and waves.
In all conditions, you need a human speedo. Even if you have some instruments, you still need someone on board to gauge your height/speed ratio. They should know if you are too high and losing too much speed to make it worth it. There is such a fine line and for sure you do have to feel it, but your human speedo will give you a visual comparing other boats to give you a sanity check.
Erica: Sometimes I feel I can point for a while but then the wheels fall off. What’s going on?
Mike: I find pointing a little high (1-4 deg) is ok, but pointing really high (5+deg) is unsustainable. If I really need height for some tactical reason, I look at pointing high as cyclical. In all conditions, I will overtrim and pinch until I feel the boat start to slow then put the bow down and get speed again and so on. It’s walking a knife’s edge and if you get it wrong by staying high too long it is a disaster!
Erica: In all conditions? Even at the start where every second counts?
Mike: Well, in short, yes, especially in a situation like the start. But don’t confuse weather conditions with a segment of the race. When I say “all conditions” I mean all wind conditions. There is always a VMG heading for all wind conditions and I can really get some extra height relative to that but if I go really high I can only hold it for so long before I start to slow. Racing with waves is a different story, so I guess I did not really mean “all conditions”.
Erica: So, tell me more about height in waves.
Mike: Getting height in waves is super tricky. If you go high at the wrong time, a wave will kill all your speed. I focus much of my attention at the upcoming waves, but I find it super helpful to have a teammate call flat spots so I know when I can point. I often can see waves just fine and can deal with them, what I can’t see is a nice flat spot, so I often prefer my teammate calling flat spots and really bad waves, but not all the little waves.
Erica: This is brilliant Mike, thank you so much. I know I learned a lot and hope others will too. I learn best when I have easy slogans to remind myself of key points. Some of my Mike Ingham takeaways are:
- To point gain speed first
- Point off the leech of the main
- A flat boat moves sails to windward
- Call flat spots
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