Double Handed Race 11/18/2006
The weather cooperated giving the competitors a sunny but shifty breeze that varied as far left as west and as far right as north. The velocity was up and down as well, varying from 3 knots to 10 knots in the puffs. The race committee chose course 11 for the A,B, C and course 2 for D. These courses provided plenty of windward leeward work and kept everyone close, providing plenty of opportunities for some and misfortune for others.
In fleet A is was Ric and Deb Campeau (Hoodoo) leading the way for four the first four legs then falling into one of those holes. Someone forgot to connect the dots (Ric), luckily for Ric, Deb is a forgiving person and he didn’t have to sleep on the boat Saturday night. The Buckeye’s (Arrow) ended up prevailing in fleet“A” in the shifty conditions followed by Emocean and Pagan.
In C Fleet it was Quintette continuing their winning ways despite getting caught at the start with the chute up on the wrong jibe. They were eventually able to make the set work as the wind shifted back to the west. Quintette never looked back, and extended their lead throughout the race due so very energetic young crew work.
In B Fleet Footloose took the lead early but changes were to happen throughout the race. The last leg the breeze filled in from the east and the boats that jibed over towards the east were able to take the lead. The race was definitely not over until you crossed the finished line. Footloose was able to regain the lead just before the finish followed by Latte and Nautiest who finished a second or two apart.
The D Fleet was led by the Soveral 39 Avalon. Avalon showed a good lead but couldn’t finish far enough head after getting on the wrong side of a right hand shift. Raven with Tim Burke at the helm navigated the shifts and up an down breeze to finish second boat for boat and correct into first place. Raven was followed by the well sailed English Beat and Avalon corrected to third.
Help spread the word on our first Turkey Regatta being held this Sunday first start is scheduled off the Carolina Yacht Club dock at 1:00 pm. What better way to get outside and give those holiday guests a tour of the harbor.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Savannah Challenge Race Updates
Here you will find the latest information regarding this upcoming weekend's Savannah Challenge. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact Randy Draftz at rdraftz@charlestongyachting.com .
5/19/06 22:00
They are off and running literally, nine boats left the Charleston Harbor for their respective turning marks off the Georgia coast. Midnight Rider a Turbo Rigged Santa Cruz 70 lead the A fleet followed by the J120 Emocean, the J109 Hoodoo, the Sabre 362 Buena Vida and the Beneteau 35s5 Andiamo. Fleet B is the non spinnaker who were all tightly bunched with Tohidu, Lyric, Naut On Call and Drifter chasing each other out of the harbor. With a strong westerly and ebb tide it didn’t the fleet very long. Forecasts were for the westerly winds to gradually ease up and go more south making for upwind beat to turning mark. At 9:30 referencing the NOAA weather buoys there appeared more breeze offshore 14knots out of 200 degrees compare to the 8 knots inshore at approximately 230 degrees. Heading to the turning buoy 234 degrees it should be a long night.
5/20/2006 7:00 EDT
At 3:00 EDT this morning Midnight Rider was rounding the Savannah Light buoy marking the half way point for the race. From referencing the weather buoys it looks like the buoy is making a good weather mark. Current wind conditions still have the wind out of the southwest at about 14 knots with wave heights about three feet. We would expect the next boat to round to be Emocean. If Emocean is sailing to her rating she would be rounding roughly 2.5 hours behind Midnight Rider. Unfortunately if they were dead upwind to the mark the extra distance sailed will favor the larger Midnight Rider. With the current conditions and forecast I would expect Midnight Rider could be finishing before noon today.
5/20/2006 11:00 EDT
Midnight Rider finishes! Midnight Rider with the crew hiking hard crossed the finish line this morning 10:28:18. Emocean called in earlier this morning reporting their rounding of the Savannah Light buoy at 8:44 this morning, Wind was holding out of the southwest continuing to make the mark upwind for all the competitors. Emocean did see Hoodoo the J109 and said they appeared about another hour away from the turning mark. Emocean was making 8 knots running downwind back to the harbor entrance. If the wind holds out of the southwest at its present 14 knots Emocean should be finishing around 6:00 pm this evening well after Midnight Rider’s time allowance expires.
13:00 EDT
B Fleet rounds the Port Royal turning mark. Tohidu was first around at 12:18 followed by Naut On Call at 12:33 with Lyric close to rounding at the time of this posting. Drifter was several miles back after finding a wind hole near shore. Wind is starting to lighten up a bit but continuing to blow out of the southwest. With 58 miles to go for the leaders in B Fleet it is looking like a finishing times will be around 22:00 to 23:00 if the wind holds. The remaining A Fleet competitiors will be finishing early this evening.
5/19/06 22:00
They are off and running literally, nine boats left the Charleston Harbor for their respective turning marks off the Georgia coast. Midnight Rider a Turbo Rigged Santa Cruz 70 lead the A fleet followed by the J120 Emocean, the J109 Hoodoo, the Sabre 362 Buena Vida and the Beneteau 35s5 Andiamo. Fleet B is the non spinnaker who were all tightly bunched with Tohidu, Lyric, Naut On Call and Drifter chasing each other out of the harbor. With a strong westerly and ebb tide it didn’t the fleet very long. Forecasts were for the westerly winds to gradually ease up and go more south making for upwind beat to turning mark. At 9:30 referencing the NOAA weather buoys there appeared more breeze offshore 14knots out of 200 degrees compare to the 8 knots inshore at approximately 230 degrees. Heading to the turning buoy 234 degrees it should be a long night.
5/20/2006 7:00 EDT
At 3:00 EDT this morning Midnight Rider was rounding the Savannah Light buoy marking the half way point for the race. From referencing the weather buoys it looks like the buoy is making a good weather mark. Current wind conditions still have the wind out of the southwest at about 14 knots with wave heights about three feet. We would expect the next boat to round to be Emocean. If Emocean is sailing to her rating she would be rounding roughly 2.5 hours behind Midnight Rider. Unfortunately if they were dead upwind to the mark the extra distance sailed will favor the larger Midnight Rider. With the current conditions and forecast I would expect Midnight Rider could be finishing before noon today.
5/20/2006 11:00 EDT
Midnight Rider finishes! Midnight Rider with the crew hiking hard crossed the finish line this morning 10:28:18. Emocean called in earlier this morning reporting their rounding of the Savannah Light buoy at 8:44 this morning, Wind was holding out of the southwest continuing to make the mark upwind for all the competitors. Emocean did see Hoodoo the J109 and said they appeared about another hour away from the turning mark. Emocean was making 8 knots running downwind back to the harbor entrance. If the wind holds out of the southwest at its present 14 knots Emocean should be finishing around 6:00 pm this evening well after Midnight Rider’s time allowance expires.
13:00 EDT
B Fleet rounds the Port Royal turning mark. Tohidu was first around at 12:18 followed by Naut On Call at 12:33 with Lyric close to rounding at the time of this posting. Drifter was several miles back after finding a wind hole near shore. Wind is starting to lighten up a bit but continuing to blow out of the southwest. With 58 miles to go for the leaders in B Fleet it is looking like a finishing times will be around 22:00 to 23:00 if the wind holds. The remaining A Fleet competitiors will be finishing early this evening.
Monday, May 01, 2006
CORA Sheriffs Cup 2006
Sheriff’s Cup 2006
What a race! As most of you know the Sheriff’s Cup to Rockville is different from most races in that the starts are staggered based on the individual handicaps. In this years race we had the boat that started first and the boat that started last, finish first and second within thirty seconds of each other. Finishing first was Tim Burke with his Tartan 30 Dissipation and Steve Orchards Melges 32 Grins thirty seconds behind. Boats that started earlier might not have gotten the benefit of the ebb tide but did have their breeze from a more northerly direction allowing them to fetch out of the harbor. The boats starting later had to deal with a more easterly breeze making for several tacks before turning downwind towards IS and on into Rockville. As the breeze shifted it also came in a bit stronger, solidly in the mid twenties and puffs in the thirties. Almost the entire fleet could have sailed in the main and jib class today, only Grins the Melges 32, Emocean the J120 and Buena Vida hoisted spinnakers. Unfortunately for Emocean their spinnaker came down in pieces. With the big waves from the Northeast steering was difficult to say the least. Without the use of spinnakers keeping the distance sailed to a minimum was the key. Another factor was keeping enough sail area up to maintain your pace with the waves. It is amazing how much easier the boat will track when it’s surfing with the waves versus wallowing in the troughs. The post race comments were, tales of record boats speeds on many of the boats. The Melges 32 spent a good five minutes on their side after one spectacular wipe out but took only three hours and ten minutes to sail the 33 mile course. Emocean was sailing so fast with their small spinnaker before it exploded they had to reach back in under jib from the Bahamas. Buena Vida was coming into Edisto and was starting to get passed by the larger Tohido when they decided to set their spinnaker for the sprint to the finish. I was wishing I had a video camera as Buena Vida crashed and burned and then struggled to gain control. In the end it all worked out and Buena Vida extended to beat Tohidu across the line by thirty five seconds. When sailing with a jib underneath a spinnaker remember to ease its sheet and let the sail luff. Overtriming the jib will make it very difficult to control and trim your spinnaker effectively. Another important heavy air spinnaker trimming tip is, never overtrim you spinnaker sheet. If you are overtrimmed and the boat goes to wipe out you will have too much sheet to ease out and the sail will continue to stay full accelerating and increasing the harshness of the wipeout. Keep the sail on its edge just as if it was blowing ten knots.
It took roughly another hour for the rest the fleet to finish with the last boat finishing just around 3:15 P.M. Plenty of time to clean up the boats and have a few beverages, while getting ready for the great BBQ dinner and Texas Hold Em tourney.
With the forecast for Sunday predicting similar conditions there were already discussions of returning to Charleston via the ditch. As expected the bulk of the fleet looked at the 25 knots out of the Northeast and turned right to the ditch instead of left to the ocean. We did have six starters that included Emocean, Wings of Freedom, Hoodoo, Tohidu, Suwannee, and Buena Vida. Buena Vida quickly found that they hadn’t sufficient sea sickness medication and turned around and headed to the ditch. Hoodoo had almost gotten back to IS when their mainsail started disintegrating along the leech from all the flogging it was taking. Hoodoo returned downwind back to Bohicket. The seas were running six to eight at a nasty interval making for a very bumpy ride out of the Edisto. Eventually the breeze (as predicted) shifted more to the east lifting the remaining fleet to the jetties of Charleston. As the breeze shifted it also began to diminish allowing the two leaders Emocean and Wings of Freedom to enter the harbor with their spinnakers, then jibing at BP and reaching across the finish line. Emocean finished first at 5:02: 10 with Wings of Freedom finishing at 5:26:35. The breeze continued to diminish leaving the Stephens 50 Suwannee to finish at 6:23:24 and Tohidu at 7:28:10. A tough day, beating in 25 knots earlier in the day and finishing the day light air running and having to fight the flooding tide to cross the finish line. Sailing does reward patience.
For those who missed this great race make sure you put October 21st and 22nd on your calendar for this years dates for the Alice Cup.
Results are posted on the CORA website.
Rear Commodore.
What a race! As most of you know the Sheriff’s Cup to Rockville is different from most races in that the starts are staggered based on the individual handicaps. In this years race we had the boat that started first and the boat that started last, finish first and second within thirty seconds of each other. Finishing first was Tim Burke with his Tartan 30 Dissipation and Steve Orchards Melges 32 Grins thirty seconds behind. Boats that started earlier might not have gotten the benefit of the ebb tide but did have their breeze from a more northerly direction allowing them to fetch out of the harbor. The boats starting later had to deal with a more easterly breeze making for several tacks before turning downwind towards IS and on into Rockville. As the breeze shifted it also came in a bit stronger, solidly in the mid twenties and puffs in the thirties. Almost the entire fleet could have sailed in the main and jib class today, only Grins the Melges 32, Emocean the J120 and Buena Vida hoisted spinnakers. Unfortunately for Emocean their spinnaker came down in pieces. With the big waves from the Northeast steering was difficult to say the least. Without the use of spinnakers keeping the distance sailed to a minimum was the key. Another factor was keeping enough sail area up to maintain your pace with the waves. It is amazing how much easier the boat will track when it’s surfing with the waves versus wallowing in the troughs. The post race comments were, tales of record boats speeds on many of the boats. The Melges 32 spent a good five minutes on their side after one spectacular wipe out but took only three hours and ten minutes to sail the 33 mile course. Emocean was sailing so fast with their small spinnaker before it exploded they had to reach back in under jib from the Bahamas. Buena Vida was coming into Edisto and was starting to get passed by the larger Tohido when they decided to set their spinnaker for the sprint to the finish. I was wishing I had a video camera as Buena Vida crashed and burned and then struggled to gain control. In the end it all worked out and Buena Vida extended to beat Tohidu across the line by thirty five seconds. When sailing with a jib underneath a spinnaker remember to ease its sheet and let the sail luff. Overtriming the jib will make it very difficult to control and trim your spinnaker effectively. Another important heavy air spinnaker trimming tip is, never overtrim you spinnaker sheet. If you are overtrimmed and the boat goes to wipe out you will have too much sheet to ease out and the sail will continue to stay full accelerating and increasing the harshness of the wipeout. Keep the sail on its edge just as if it was blowing ten knots.
It took roughly another hour for the rest the fleet to finish with the last boat finishing just around 3:15 P.M. Plenty of time to clean up the boats and have a few beverages, while getting ready for the great BBQ dinner and Texas Hold Em tourney.
With the forecast for Sunday predicting similar conditions there were already discussions of returning to Charleston via the ditch. As expected the bulk of the fleet looked at the 25 knots out of the Northeast and turned right to the ditch instead of left to the ocean. We did have six starters that included Emocean, Wings of Freedom, Hoodoo, Tohidu, Suwannee, and Buena Vida. Buena Vida quickly found that they hadn’t sufficient sea sickness medication and turned around and headed to the ditch. Hoodoo had almost gotten back to IS when their mainsail started disintegrating along the leech from all the flogging it was taking. Hoodoo returned downwind back to Bohicket. The seas were running six to eight at a nasty interval making for a very bumpy ride out of the Edisto. Eventually the breeze (as predicted) shifted more to the east lifting the remaining fleet to the jetties of Charleston. As the breeze shifted it also began to diminish allowing the two leaders Emocean and Wings of Freedom to enter the harbor with their spinnakers, then jibing at BP and reaching across the finish line. Emocean finished first at 5:02: 10 with Wings of Freedom finishing at 5:26:35. The breeze continued to diminish leaving the Stephens 50 Suwannee to finish at 6:23:24 and Tohidu at 7:28:10. A tough day, beating in 25 knots earlier in the day and finishing the day light air running and having to fight the flooding tide to cross the finish line. Sailing does reward patience.
For those who missed this great race make sure you put October 21st and 22nd on your calendar for this years dates for the Alice Cup.
Results are posted on the CORA website.
Rear Commodore.
Monday, January 30, 2006
CORA Frostbite Race 2
Frostbite 2
With the wind up in the high teens to low twenties and wind at 210 degrees with a prediction to go slightly more west. We sent classes A, B, and C on course 11 (BP-J two times ) and class D on course 4 (BP to G27 two times). The wind ended up staying put and gave course 11 a windward leeward course while course 4 had some fetching and running. We ended up using our new starting mark as a replacement for J and many thanks to David Mullen for showing up with his powerboat for placing J and our starting line marks. For those who raced you might have noticed a less than square line. We made the decision to place the pin more up current to keep the pin from being so favored. It appeared to work as we had several boats start more towards the dock. The conditions were tame compared to Frostbite 1 and we saw boats on the line at the start with Latte in class B OCS. Latte was down closer to the pin (more current) and just missed by 2 feet. Boats that found themselves early for the start were better off heading up towards the dock for three reasons. One, less current, two, heading up into the wind, three the angle of the starting line made the dock very favored giving you more distance to the line. Buena Vida did just that and had the start of the day, which would later prove to be a very important part of their victory (take a look at the results).
Hoodoo, just back from Key West showed the way to BP in Class A. After rounding, BP they showed the rest of class how important consistent crew work is and then proceeded to provide us spectators with several nice wipe outs. Meanwhile the Melges 24 Thunderbird reveled and the Dauntless the 47.7 really like being able power up in this big breeze. A note about reaching with spinnakers in a breeze, several boats had issues keeping their spinnakers full or their boats under control coming into the finish. One boat had their number three up and trimmed in, if you going to sail with a jib or staysail inside your spinnaker make sure you are able to let it luff as the spinnaker starts to collapse otherwise the spinnaker will never re-fill. The jib or staysail can provide plenty of blanketing if not allowed to luff always under trim these sails. When you become overpowered on a reach don’t try to maintain your heading. If you bear off just 5 degrees, you will maintain control, spinnaker will stay full and you will go much faster. Sail back up to your course after the puff subsides and you will still make the finish line.
In Class B Footloose appeared to have the edge, likely gained by their move on the first leg back from J. Footloose stayed on port tack, tacking just short of the finish line gaining nicely on Orange Crush from being in more current. The rest of B had nice close racing and working those spinnakers in from R4 paid especially for First Star who grabbed a nice third place behind Orange Crush and Footloose.
In Class C rumor is Andiamo attempted a new lower center of effort spinnaker by hoisting the clew of their spinnaker instead of its head. Meanwhile Dissipation was enjoyed the breeze and sailed on to a comfortable win.
It looked like Class D was sailing a little more comfortably this week with less sail area. We did have a protest in this class at the start but otherwise it appeared good clean sailing. Unfortunately with the wind holding steady the upwind leg from G27 to BP never developed. A good question for class D is would you rather sailed have sailed a windward leeward course where you have to sail downwind? Or was the course sailed what you enjoy doing?
Sailing Instructions are posted on the website. Please make sure as skippers you are familiar with the CORA Sailing Instructions. Realize once racing starts the race committee can not assist you with the rules. Sunday’s conditions were fantastic don’t miss Frostbite 3 on Saturday February 18th.
With the wind up in the high teens to low twenties and wind at 210 degrees with a prediction to go slightly more west. We sent classes A, B, and C on course 11 (BP-J two times ) and class D on course 4 (BP to G27 two times). The wind ended up staying put and gave course 11 a windward leeward course while course 4 had some fetching and running. We ended up using our new starting mark as a replacement for J and many thanks to David Mullen for showing up with his powerboat for placing J and our starting line marks. For those who raced you might have noticed a less than square line. We made the decision to place the pin more up current to keep the pin from being so favored. It appeared to work as we had several boats start more towards the dock. The conditions were tame compared to Frostbite 1 and we saw boats on the line at the start with Latte in class B OCS. Latte was down closer to the pin (more current) and just missed by 2 feet. Boats that found themselves early for the start were better off heading up towards the dock for three reasons. One, less current, two, heading up into the wind, three the angle of the starting line made the dock very favored giving you more distance to the line. Buena Vida did just that and had the start of the day, which would later prove to be a very important part of their victory (take a look at the results).
Hoodoo, just back from Key West showed the way to BP in Class A. After rounding, BP they showed the rest of class how important consistent crew work is and then proceeded to provide us spectators with several nice wipe outs. Meanwhile the Melges 24 Thunderbird reveled and the Dauntless the 47.7 really like being able power up in this big breeze. A note about reaching with spinnakers in a breeze, several boats had issues keeping their spinnakers full or their boats under control coming into the finish. One boat had their number three up and trimmed in, if you going to sail with a jib or staysail inside your spinnaker make sure you are able to let it luff as the spinnaker starts to collapse otherwise the spinnaker will never re-fill. The jib or staysail can provide plenty of blanketing if not allowed to luff always under trim these sails. When you become overpowered on a reach don’t try to maintain your heading. If you bear off just 5 degrees, you will maintain control, spinnaker will stay full and you will go much faster. Sail back up to your course after the puff subsides and you will still make the finish line.
In Class B Footloose appeared to have the edge, likely gained by their move on the first leg back from J. Footloose stayed on port tack, tacking just short of the finish line gaining nicely on Orange Crush from being in more current. The rest of B had nice close racing and working those spinnakers in from R4 paid especially for First Star who grabbed a nice third place behind Orange Crush and Footloose.
In Class C rumor is Andiamo attempted a new lower center of effort spinnaker by hoisting the clew of their spinnaker instead of its head. Meanwhile Dissipation was enjoyed the breeze and sailed on to a comfortable win.
It looked like Class D was sailing a little more comfortably this week with less sail area. We did have a protest in this class at the start but otherwise it appeared good clean sailing. Unfortunately with the wind holding steady the upwind leg from G27 to BP never developed. A good question for class D is would you rather sailed have sailed a windward leeward course where you have to sail downwind? Or was the course sailed what you enjoy doing?
Sailing Instructions are posted on the website. Please make sure as skippers you are familiar with the CORA Sailing Instructions. Realize once racing starts the race committee can not assist you with the rules. Sunday’s conditions were fantastic don’t miss Frostbite 3 on Saturday February 18th.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Charleston Harbor Frostbite Series Race 1
It wouldn't be a Frostbite series if it wasn't cold and windy. The big cold front came in Friday night and the CORA racers had plenty of breeze 25 knots with puffs in the 30s, mostly out of the west with small oscillating shifts to the north. In my new position of rear commodore my duties have changed from the participatory level to that of race management (on the dock). We sent the first three classes on a 8.5 nm race, in all this breeze it wasn't going to take very long. The final class to start was the D Fleet which is the main and jib class who sailed the same course but only once around for a 5.5 nm race. Reading this it sounds fairly manageable but let's add an outgoing tide at a pace of 3.5 knots and you now have a very fast downwind leg with the current and and a very nasty upwind, upcurrent leg! Think San Francisco Bay with an extra 5 to 10 knots of breeze. What could we have been thinking as race committee to send sailors out into this and then make them do, not just one lap, but two! Ok we were, well I was thinking it's only 8.5 miles and only three of it upwind. Everyone had made the effort to get out there so, lets not send them on a short 45 minute beer can style race. We also have this new offshore challenge series this year and skippers and crew need to experience some big breeze. It was obvious from the starts that boat handling in today's race was an issue with the out going tide and a beam reach first leg, no one in any of the classes came close to the line at the start. It was obvious from my chair on the dock that the boats that set up to sail a little lower to BP were fast using the puffs to accelerate, (by bearing off) while boats that were sailing slightly higher were rounding up and sometimes spinning out (never fast not even in the out going tide). Sail low and fast in the puffs and work up in the lulls setting youself up for the set of the Ashley current to BP. The next leg was a run from BP to R2 and you would of thought the whole fleet was sailing main and jib, not one spinnaker to be seen, there was a Melges 24 out there though and they looked liked they were flying just under main and jib (lets think about this a second blowing up to 35 air temp mid fifties, Melges 24) not me!. My chair just got a lot more comfortable. Well you can't have fun all the time, what goes down must come up, these phrases do not do justice to the upwind leg back to BP from R2 as usual you had the group that hugged the James Island side and the group that went right over middle ground behind Castle Pinckney. It was hard to see which side paid, but at least you had less a chance of running aground on the right. Kiaora found the beach on the James Island side trying to stay out out of current. This big westerly obviously was pushing more water out of the harbor than usual. Thank goodness Kiaora and the crew were fine other than the Tow Boat US invoice. For the boats that lasted the final leg from R4 to the finish turned into a one tack beat as the wind had continued to clock to WNW. It appeared that boats that had the appropiate sail combinations were able to still point and have a better leg into the finish. The Ranger 29 had a heavy weather jib and a reef in the main and showed good balance and control with very good speed. Boats that had roller reefed headsails just were not able to point and a terrible time going upwind with tacking angles that looked like 100 degrees instead the usual 90 degrees. In this kind of breeze use a smaller headsail and keep up as much mainsail as possible, this will greatly increase the ability to control the boats heel while maintaining its pointing. Most boats that appeared to have control problems had too much headsail or they were dumping the mainsails but not the jibs. In puffs this large both sails must be eased and better to sail with the jib a little eased . You could see from my chair (of course) when a boat would get rounded up from being overpowered how quickly they got set back in the current. It's so easy from this chair!! As always sailing in this much current maintaining boatspeed is crucial you are better off footing than feathering which is very hard to do in 30knots of breeze. Its critical to have your sailplan balanced to the conditions. So what did we learn, use smaller headsails, and get the sail area down to increase control and keep your speed on. This will make it easier to maintain the neccesary speed to counter the adverse current. Above all don't forget to thank that race committee and complain to the Rear Commodore.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Charleston Yachting Signs Up for Strictly Sail Chicago
Charleston Yachting signs up for the Strictly Sail Boat Show in Chicago. Charleston Yachting will be in booth 644 featuring our website and products from our many suppliers. Stop by and see us at the show February 2nd thru February 5th at Chicago's Navy Pier.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
CORA Developing Offshore Education Series
Charleston Ocean Racing Association is putting the ocean back into their racing program. Up for proposal are three offshore races for the 2006 season. In preparation to sail these Category 3 events there will be a number of educational meetings some being held in conjuction with the monthly CORA meeting and other seminars that will take place indepentently. This is a great oppourtunity for any boat owner (not just the racer) to educate themselves about offshore sailing as well a gain offshore experience. For more information don't hesitate contact myself at rdraftz@charlestonyachting.com.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Sale Items on Charleston Yachting.com
I just finished changing the home page featuring several Fujinon Binoculars at really great prices. We are also featuring the Garmin Geko 301 handheld GPS for $169.95. All these low prices are due to our special purchase of inventory and are only applicable to the current stock. These items will sell out and their prices will return to normal so take advantage now. We will continue to feature more new items as we are able to enter them into our online store.
Regards,
Randy
Regards,
Randy
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Charleston Yachting Moves Into New Warehouse
Charleston Yachting moves into to new distribution center to manage newly acquired inventory. Our new warehouse is located at 4208 Pace Street North Charleston. Current plans are to set up the inventory for filling our online orders but also possible walk in customers as well. The new inventory is comprised of marine hardware, cordage, clothing, rigging fittings and wire, electronics, and pre- made canvas products. Call us or keep an eye on www.charlestonyachting.com for warehouse clearance specials
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Charleston Yachting adds Kearney and WireTeknik Swaging Capabilities
Charleston Yachting has just added hydraulic and Kearney swaging to our capabilities! Whether you need new lifelines, standing rigging, architectural or industrial rigging, Charleston Yachting can build if for you, with capabilities to swage from 3/32” to 5/8” diameter wire. Our swaging equipment, coupled with our splicing expertise, make us a one-stop shop for all your rigging and line needs. Call us today for a quote or to discuss your next rigging project at (800) 610 9065 or email us at info@charlestonyachting.com
Monday, September 26, 2005
CORA Race 4 Aboard J109 Hoodoo
CORA Inshore Race 4 Course #9
Hoodoo J109
Conditions: Winds East to Southeast six to ten knots. Tide flooding.
Pre-race the wind was up to ten knots out of 105 degrees, we sailed upwind noticing a slight right hand shift of maybe ten degrees but still not enough to keep us from fetching the first mark of the course BP. With current coming in and breeze fading right the pin end of the line was going to be the place to be. Somehow we lost sight of this and ended up down to leeward headed for the middle of line. With a minute to go we jibed instead of tacked for our approach placing us behind and to leeward of Emocean the J20. Emocean and us were both a good 30 to 40 seconds late to line while Temptress and the new Wireless were at the pin. We had no where to go but to foot off and try to reach through the boats to windward as the wind continued to shift even more right(130) . It looked good for awhile but as we got out into the Ashley the breeze shifted back left lifting Temptress and Wireless back up to BP and leaving us on the outside. We could no longer adhere to our pre-race strategy of going up the James Island side so we tacked left hoping to find a nice lefty to come back on (first out of Phase or OOP). Emocean and Temptress both came back left with us and we appeared to consolidate against both of them laterally. We continued left just to weather of the new tower and we were now almost even with Temptress who had tacked back to the right for a slight loss. The breeze was now down to about seven knots and was not only oscillating in direction but also in velocity making the shifts very difficult decipher. Now for the greedy part, as we continued left we noticed a significant drop in our speed over ground but our heading was lifted(wind going right Hoodoo hard left OOP) so we didn’t tack. Meanwhile Temptress the M24 and the J33 where off to the right which we thought was a desperation move to catch up. Unfortunately for us, it much more calculated that it seemed and all three came off the right with a right hand shift and less current to round R2 three to four minutes ahead. Emocean had seen the writing on the wall and gotten over the right (better late than never) and gained on the Hoodoo to put about a two minute gap between us. We were not exactly thinking about the current flooding in over the shallower water or we would not of stayed in it so long going upwind, so we jibe set around R2 to avoid the positive effects downwind as well (Out Of Position).Take a look a the harbor chart and you will see what I mean plot out your downwind angles using wind direction of 115 and see how starboard tack sets you up for staying in greater current.
We continued on port jibe heading over to Fort Johnson eventually jibing back to starboard to stay in the channel and get some added help from the current. We got a bit of a lift and jibed backed making a nice gain on the leaders coming into the second rounding of BP. Then the wind swings back left just before BP making us jibe two more times in the last 100 yards to BP while the leaders are already headed back up wind.
Having not understood all our mistakes the first leg to R2 we continued the search for the left hander or right hander that was going to get us back into the race. We got to the starboard tack layline just in time for the wind to start going left (OOP). It was just enough to slow Emocean almost to stop as she squeezed around mark, while Hoodoo closed in the wind continue swing left forcing us to through two short tacks in get around a mark, that just minutes earlier we were on the online for. STAY AWAY FROM LAYLINES. We jibe set once again because the current issue is hindsight on my part sailed a similar run as the last leg but are now headed to round R4 to starboard. We really weren’t sailing the boat very well and downwind we needed to use our polar data to keep us honest. In light downwind you really have to work the boat up and down getting the apparent up enough to drive you down than back up again as the boat slows. This sounds easy but the wind continued to go up and down in velocity and direction making this extremely difficult. We jibed too early for R4 (again we should have been watching our jibing angles) got past R4 and broad reached into the finish on a slightly dieing breeze that was now at 135 degrees. It was one of those races, you have once in awhile (hopefully) and good reminder how easy it is to get out of phase and out of position. As much as the wind seemed to oscillate what did it do? It went right all day long.
Wireless was first to finish and the winner (first to BP) Temptress second and the J33 Ice Pac third, Emocean fourth and Hoodoo fifth. The boats that stayed hard right all won easily. While Emocean and Hoodoo battled out for cellar on the left. Lesson to be learned with a east to southeast breeze in flood tide stay right RIGHT and review charts for positioning the current.
Henry McCray has a similar review of the race from the leaders its amazing how close the two reviews were except for ours being hindsight and them getting it right from get go.
Hoodoo J109
Conditions: Winds East to Southeast six to ten knots. Tide flooding.
Pre-race the wind was up to ten knots out of 105 degrees, we sailed upwind noticing a slight right hand shift of maybe ten degrees but still not enough to keep us from fetching the first mark of the course BP. With current coming in and breeze fading right the pin end of the line was going to be the place to be. Somehow we lost sight of this and ended up down to leeward headed for the middle of line. With a minute to go we jibed instead of tacked for our approach placing us behind and to leeward of Emocean the J20. Emocean and us were both a good 30 to 40 seconds late to line while Temptress and the new Wireless were at the pin. We had no where to go but to foot off and try to reach through the boats to windward as the wind continued to shift even more right(130) . It looked good for awhile but as we got out into the Ashley the breeze shifted back left lifting Temptress and Wireless back up to BP and leaving us on the outside. We could no longer adhere to our pre-race strategy of going up the James Island side so we tacked left hoping to find a nice lefty to come back on (first out of Phase or OOP). Emocean and Temptress both came back left with us and we appeared to consolidate against both of them laterally. We continued left just to weather of the new tower and we were now almost even with Temptress who had tacked back to the right for a slight loss. The breeze was now down to about seven knots and was not only oscillating in direction but also in velocity making the shifts very difficult decipher. Now for the greedy part, as we continued left we noticed a significant drop in our speed over ground but our heading was lifted(wind going right Hoodoo hard left OOP) so we didn’t tack. Meanwhile Temptress the M24 and the J33 where off to the right which we thought was a desperation move to catch up. Unfortunately for us, it much more calculated that it seemed and all three came off the right with a right hand shift and less current to round R2 three to four minutes ahead. Emocean had seen the writing on the wall and gotten over the right (better late than never) and gained on the Hoodoo to put about a two minute gap between us. We were not exactly thinking about the current flooding in over the shallower water or we would not of stayed in it so long going upwind, so we jibe set around R2 to avoid the positive effects downwind as well (Out Of Position).Take a look a the harbor chart and you will see what I mean plot out your downwind angles using wind direction of 115 and see how starboard tack sets you up for staying in greater current.
We continued on port jibe heading over to Fort Johnson eventually jibing back to starboard to stay in the channel and get some added help from the current. We got a bit of a lift and jibed backed making a nice gain on the leaders coming into the second rounding of BP. Then the wind swings back left just before BP making us jibe two more times in the last 100 yards to BP while the leaders are already headed back up wind.
Having not understood all our mistakes the first leg to R2 we continued the search for the left hander or right hander that was going to get us back into the race. We got to the starboard tack layline just in time for the wind to start going left (OOP). It was just enough to slow Emocean almost to stop as she squeezed around mark, while Hoodoo closed in the wind continue swing left forcing us to through two short tacks in get around a mark, that just minutes earlier we were on the online for. STAY AWAY FROM LAYLINES. We jibe set once again because the current issue is hindsight on my part sailed a similar run as the last leg but are now headed to round R4 to starboard. We really weren’t sailing the boat very well and downwind we needed to use our polar data to keep us honest. In light downwind you really have to work the boat up and down getting the apparent up enough to drive you down than back up again as the boat slows. This sounds easy but the wind continued to go up and down in velocity and direction making this extremely difficult. We jibed too early for R4 (again we should have been watching our jibing angles) got past R4 and broad reached into the finish on a slightly dieing breeze that was now at 135 degrees. It was one of those races, you have once in awhile (hopefully) and good reminder how easy it is to get out of phase and out of position. As much as the wind seemed to oscillate what did it do? It went right all day long.
Wireless was first to finish and the winner (first to BP) Temptress second and the J33 Ice Pac third, Emocean fourth and Hoodoo fifth. The boats that stayed hard right all won easily. While Emocean and Hoodoo battled out for cellar on the left. Lesson to be learned with a east to southeast breeze in flood tide stay right RIGHT and review charts for positioning the current.
Henry McCray has a similar review of the race from the leaders its amazing how close the two reviews were except for ours being hindsight and them getting it right from get go.
I have been contacted by a friend of mine that is looking for help to move his Swan 40 from Charleston to Miami about the first week of November. The plan is to go ICW for couple of days than go outside to Miami. I bet he might be talked into outside the whole way if the weather cooperates. If you know of anyone or are interested yourself contact me at rdraftz@charlestonyachting.com.
CORA Inshore Race 4
Randy,
Below is my recap from gameday.
Sunday’s Fall Race #4 began for Temptress with a malfunctioning compass. True wind functions, VMG’s, and corrected GPS functions were right out, so we had to go at it the old fashioned way. With the breeze forecast for east-north-east at 7-9 knots and an incoming current the strategy seemed pretty straightforward from the get-go. We planned our pre-start to be able to start near the pin with speed and not let Hoodoo or Emocean above us for the fetch to BP. Both are larger, heavier boats with longer waterlines and we felt being in the drivers seat at BP was at a premium in the flat water. But then there was that Melges. Brand new and fresh out of the shrink wrap Reggie Fairchilds latest “Wireless” looked sharp with her carbon mast, and even sharper nailing the start. We spent the whole first leg trying to chase her down, but Melges sail right through their hull speeds in flat water. Oh well. We also noted during the pre start that the wind was going right. What we planned as a fetch to BP turned into a beat, and a look out to Ft. Sumter saw the flags showing sea breeze.
The weather forecast had commented that localized inversion could result in a sea breeze amalgamating with the gradient to produce onshore flow. Funny, that’s what we saw on the first beat. As the morning moisture burned off and the plumes grew we saw pressure and right shift all the way to ESE by the middle of the first beat. We chose to stay close to the JI shore, even though the incoming current is strong in the south channel. Wireless went with us even after we were able to cross and begin to extend on him shortly after BP. I noticed Hoodoo and Emocean choose the left- presumably to get out of the south channel. We chose to let them split knowing the current rushes around the flats in a myriad of directions and strengths. We have had some good luck when the whole fleet is forced on to the flats, but seldom have we had the flats pay on a flood tide. As we worked up the beat picking shifts and trying to force the Melges to the left of us (yeah, right- outmaneuver an anklebiter) we noticed Icepac going strong with us and holding her own. I thought back to the first Ocean Race when Icepac played inside the south channel brilliantly and made huge gains. Must be something going here. As we approached Ft. Johnson a quick look back across the harbor told the whole story. The breeze on the right was much more right and seemed to have very good pressure. Hoodoo and Emocean looked helplessly stuck in a convergence zone over the flats. While they would both occasionally catch an eddie and look oh-my-god great for short periods of time the right paid big.
We have learned that even when gybe setting seems like a great idea at R2 it pays to hold starboard gybe and run the boat back up on the flats. Unfortunately for us Reggie obviously knows this too, and held out on starboard longer before gibing. He was in obviously favorable current and as the righty died off and the lefty filled back in Wireless slipped by and put a hurting on us- and the fleet. The second beat was our big chance for redemption. Wireless rounded BP with almost a 4 minute lead, but a solid beat playing middle right slashed into their lead.
Emocean seemed to make a big gain at the beginning of the second beat. They went WAY inshore towards JI, and came out with a ridiculous angle and pressure. Here they come… But as the opp (own personal puff) died they came back to earth. They did make a gain, but not one big enough to get back into phase with the leaders. Icepac continued to roll, and was right with Emo at BP. The beat was much like the first. Play the right and stay out of the heaviest currents in the south channel.
We both chose long laylines in R2, but Wireless went further right and brought right pressure into the mark with speed and gained a little back. Off they went with their kite on starboard. We rounded and followed, but with the pressure were able to sail lower and faster for a few minutes. Then, our chance came. Wireless had wandered to the north side of the flats and was having to stay very high to keep pressure while the North channel began sucking them in. We gybed and realized an immediate gain. But as we sailed back through the convergence zone they were able to reach in flat water at a tighter angle and got through our shadow and back into the lead for good.
We did close near the finish, capitalizing on a late shift and pressure catching a well sailed melges is a tall order. As soon as the breeze reached them they were able to squirt out from under our shadow and take the race across the line. Good job guys!
At the end of the day Emo and Hoodoo had reinforced a tactics lesson that I have stressed over and over. You don’t have to hit every shift, but you can’t miss the first one. Albeit there was no way to “tell” that the wind would go to slop over the flats right as they were approaching, but having watched Icepac successfully play the inside of the south channel the last time we were headed that way we thought we had a strong basis for letting the fleet go. With the wind showing right trends pre-start (even without our demonist HAL-2000 supercomputer) we saw no reason to go any further left than we had to.
Other notes--
· It seems as though that CORA is mobilizing for an all out attack on Key West Race Week. Temptress will be there, and so will Emocean. I believe Hoodoo is planning on attending, and Teddy&co. will be racing the SantaCruz 70! There may even be more, but I don’t remember CORA ever sending such a strong group south to compete in the big pond!
· I have to wonder when measurers are looking at the “date” and the “deltas” if they take into account races like yesterday. We got most of our lead on the first beat on one shift. All of a sudden we correct to nearly a 12 minute margin over a bigger faster J/120. Great race for us, but does it mean we should be rated 9 instead of 69? In a race where 60 seconds a mile wouldn’t have changed the outcome I wonder what difference changing a rating by 3 or 6 seconds a mile would do. Having raced very successful J’s like Love that Chicken (J-109) and Eurotrash Girl (J-120) on the Chesapeake with a competitive SR-33 (Outrageous) I know just how hard it is to compete against them with the current rating delta’s. Every second counts. LTC won the regatta with Outrageous 2nd and Eurotrash 3rd. The SR rated 66 up there and the 109 69. They scored two firsts by correcting out over us after we beat them across the line by a half a boatlength or so after 12 miles racing- twice. Eurotrash was 51 up there, and if the delta had shrunk from 15 seconds per mile to 12 they would have beaten us. Conversely if the SR and 109 were even we would have won. After four days of being separated by less than 3 boatlengths we observed that the SR was a little faster downwind, and the 109 consistently quicker upwind. Same pace, but better point. How much of that is sails? Helm? Bottom? Rig? I don’t know. I don’t think most handicappers know either, no matter how much “data” they have. It’s a good thing we have David down here- his verbal policy for years has been to not fix what isn’t broke. As we all wait for the KWRW “PHRF lottery” I wonder what will be in store. SR’s have been rated from 81 to 66 at KW and continued to win and place. Is it really that hard to rate a boat? Funnier still is that Outrageous received a 75 rating for Block Island (they did not attend due to schedule conflicts with the crew.) But can anyone say lay-up? That’s a 9 second spread between two of the biggest handicap regattas in the country. I wonder if anyone’s watching. At 75 here we would have won virtually every race we sailed for the last two years. At 63 we may never win another one. I know IRC is on the way and we experiment with Americap, but won’t it be a wonderful day in paradise when at the very least ratings are consistent?
· There is a new J-100 in town. She is owned by the owner of the local SeaRay dealership who purchased the boat as a spicy day-sailer to enjoy with his children. I have spoken to him and encouraged him to join CORA (he has a long background in racing) and hopefully he will.
· Where’s Arrow? · Does anyone know who bought Crosswave?
Henry R. McCray
Below is my recap from gameday.
Sunday’s Fall Race #4 began for Temptress with a malfunctioning compass. True wind functions, VMG’s, and corrected GPS functions were right out, so we had to go at it the old fashioned way. With the breeze forecast for east-north-east at 7-9 knots and an incoming current the strategy seemed pretty straightforward from the get-go. We planned our pre-start to be able to start near the pin with speed and not let Hoodoo or Emocean above us for the fetch to BP. Both are larger, heavier boats with longer waterlines and we felt being in the drivers seat at BP was at a premium in the flat water. But then there was that Melges. Brand new and fresh out of the shrink wrap Reggie Fairchilds latest “Wireless” looked sharp with her carbon mast, and even sharper nailing the start. We spent the whole first leg trying to chase her down, but Melges sail right through their hull speeds in flat water. Oh well. We also noted during the pre start that the wind was going right. What we planned as a fetch to BP turned into a beat, and a look out to Ft. Sumter saw the flags showing sea breeze.
The weather forecast had commented that localized inversion could result in a sea breeze amalgamating with the gradient to produce onshore flow. Funny, that’s what we saw on the first beat. As the morning moisture burned off and the plumes grew we saw pressure and right shift all the way to ESE by the middle of the first beat. We chose to stay close to the JI shore, even though the incoming current is strong in the south channel. Wireless went with us even after we were able to cross and begin to extend on him shortly after BP. I noticed Hoodoo and Emocean choose the left- presumably to get out of the south channel. We chose to let them split knowing the current rushes around the flats in a myriad of directions and strengths. We have had some good luck when the whole fleet is forced on to the flats, but seldom have we had the flats pay on a flood tide. As we worked up the beat picking shifts and trying to force the Melges to the left of us (yeah, right- outmaneuver an anklebiter) we noticed Icepac going strong with us and holding her own. I thought back to the first Ocean Race when Icepac played inside the south channel brilliantly and made huge gains. Must be something going here. As we approached Ft. Johnson a quick look back across the harbor told the whole story. The breeze on the right was much more right and seemed to have very good pressure. Hoodoo and Emocean looked helplessly stuck in a convergence zone over the flats. While they would both occasionally catch an eddie and look oh-my-god great for short periods of time the right paid big.
We have learned that even when gybe setting seems like a great idea at R2 it pays to hold starboard gybe and run the boat back up on the flats. Unfortunately for us Reggie obviously knows this too, and held out on starboard longer before gibing. He was in obviously favorable current and as the righty died off and the lefty filled back in Wireless slipped by and put a hurting on us- and the fleet. The second beat was our big chance for redemption. Wireless rounded BP with almost a 4 minute lead, but a solid beat playing middle right slashed into their lead.
Emocean seemed to make a big gain at the beginning of the second beat. They went WAY inshore towards JI, and came out with a ridiculous angle and pressure. Here they come… But as the opp (own personal puff) died they came back to earth. They did make a gain, but not one big enough to get back into phase with the leaders. Icepac continued to roll, and was right with Emo at BP. The beat was much like the first. Play the right and stay out of the heaviest currents in the south channel.
We both chose long laylines in R2, but Wireless went further right and brought right pressure into the mark with speed and gained a little back. Off they went with their kite on starboard. We rounded and followed, but with the pressure were able to sail lower and faster for a few minutes. Then, our chance came. Wireless had wandered to the north side of the flats and was having to stay very high to keep pressure while the North channel began sucking them in. We gybed and realized an immediate gain. But as we sailed back through the convergence zone they were able to reach in flat water at a tighter angle and got through our shadow and back into the lead for good.
We did close near the finish, capitalizing on a late shift and pressure catching a well sailed melges is a tall order. As soon as the breeze reached them they were able to squirt out from under our shadow and take the race across the line. Good job guys!
At the end of the day Emo and Hoodoo had reinforced a tactics lesson that I have stressed over and over. You don’t have to hit every shift, but you can’t miss the first one. Albeit there was no way to “tell” that the wind would go to slop over the flats right as they were approaching, but having watched Icepac successfully play the inside of the south channel the last time we were headed that way we thought we had a strong basis for letting the fleet go. With the wind showing right trends pre-start (even without our demonist HAL-2000 supercomputer) we saw no reason to go any further left than we had to.
Other notes--
· It seems as though that CORA is mobilizing for an all out attack on Key West Race Week. Temptress will be there, and so will Emocean. I believe Hoodoo is planning on attending, and Teddy&co. will be racing the SantaCruz 70! There may even be more, but I don’t remember CORA ever sending such a strong group south to compete in the big pond!
· I have to wonder when measurers are looking at the “date” and the “deltas” if they take into account races like yesterday. We got most of our lead on the first beat on one shift. All of a sudden we correct to nearly a 12 minute margin over a bigger faster J/120. Great race for us, but does it mean we should be rated 9 instead of 69? In a race where 60 seconds a mile wouldn’t have changed the outcome I wonder what difference changing a rating by 3 or 6 seconds a mile would do. Having raced very successful J’s like Love that Chicken (J-109) and Eurotrash Girl (J-120) on the Chesapeake with a competitive SR-33 (Outrageous) I know just how hard it is to compete against them with the current rating delta’s. Every second counts. LTC won the regatta with Outrageous 2nd and Eurotrash 3rd. The SR rated 66 up there and the 109 69. They scored two firsts by correcting out over us after we beat them across the line by a half a boatlength or so after 12 miles racing- twice. Eurotrash was 51 up there, and if the delta had shrunk from 15 seconds per mile to 12 they would have beaten us. Conversely if the SR and 109 were even we would have won. After four days of being separated by less than 3 boatlengths we observed that the SR was a little faster downwind, and the 109 consistently quicker upwind. Same pace, but better point. How much of that is sails? Helm? Bottom? Rig? I don’t know. I don’t think most handicappers know either, no matter how much “data” they have. It’s a good thing we have David down here- his verbal policy for years has been to not fix what isn’t broke. As we all wait for the KWRW “PHRF lottery” I wonder what will be in store. SR’s have been rated from 81 to 66 at KW and continued to win and place. Is it really that hard to rate a boat? Funnier still is that Outrageous received a 75 rating for Block Island (they did not attend due to schedule conflicts with the crew.) But can anyone say lay-up? That’s a 9 second spread between two of the biggest handicap regattas in the country. I wonder if anyone’s watching. At 75 here we would have won virtually every race we sailed for the last two years. At 63 we may never win another one. I know IRC is on the way and we experiment with Americap, but won’t it be a wonderful day in paradise when at the very least ratings are consistent?
· There is a new J-100 in town. She is owned by the owner of the local SeaRay dealership who purchased the boat as a spicy day-sailer to enjoy with his children. I have spoken to him and encouraged him to join CORA (he has a long background in racing) and hopefully he will.
· Where’s Arrow? · Does anyone know who bought Crosswave?
Henry R. McCray
Sunday, September 18, 2005
CORA Ocean Race #3 (Hoodoo)
Fall Ocean Race #3 September 17th
Hoodoo J109
Crew:
Rando, Jay Bowen Dan Perrin, Katy Durant, Jim Kempert, Randy Draftz, Ric Campeau
Conditions:
Started in light conditions of 4-6 knots out of the east south east building to 11 knots and shifting south southeast. Tide was full ebb at the start.
Rig settings were left at base; we could have eased rig two turns for the light conditions. I also think that a softer rig for these longer ocean racing courses is beneficial making us faster in the fetching and reaching conditions you often encounter.
The start:
With the light air and strong down course current we opted to hang close to the line staying headed into the current on broad starboard tack reach, with about 45 seconds to go we spun and jibed leading Temptress (to leeward ) back to line. We both were about ten seconds early and had to kill our speed as the current flushed us toward the line. The pin was the place to be at the start and both of us ended up several boat lengths down from pin allowing Emocean to take pin. Temptress accelerated quickly off the line created a leebow effect on Hoodoo. We pinched slightly at the start and were now behind Temptress and Emocean, we had no choice but to foot off to leeward to clear and get the boat rolling. We were all going to fetch BP due to the current and Temptress reached BP first the Emocean and Hoodoo a boat length later. Everyone went hard on the wind on port after rounding BP and being third to round we were dead behind Emocean and had to tack away to clear our air. Temptress and Emocean continued in towards James Island. We seemed to have a little better pressure and gained slightly on Emocean while Temptress had tacked back left to cover. We had a small header and tacked back to port to get back right while Emocean had now tacked onto to starboard we had a couple of sections D boats to sail through and Emocean just crossed on starboard. Our strategy was to the favor the right hand side with expectation that the wind would shift more out of south as well as more favorable current. The breeze still was slightly lighter to right and we tacked back on port as did Temptress. Temptress was now in a comfortable lead to weather of us and we were now to weather of Emocean due to a nice right hander. It did not take long for things to change as we headed across the channel. We appeared to sail out of the current while Emocean ahead and to leeward reached the north channel and started sailing twenty degrees higher due to the current, sailed right up in front of us. Once we got Hoodoo into the new current we were again sailing equal to slightly higher than Emocean but now the breeze was building to eight knots and the breeze and gone far enough south that we were all fetching the turning mark just outside the jetties. Temptress rounded the buoy first 2 ½ minutes ahead of us with Emocean rounding second about minute in front of Hoodoo. With the new wind direction our strategy coming back into the harbor was to hug the south jetties as close as we dared hoping to have some relief from the current. We jibed around the buoy and set our large asymmetrical spinnaker and started reaching back sliding along the jetties. Temptress was doing the same while Emocean was sailing lower towards the north side of the channel. It didn’t appear we were getting much relief, as our boatspeed through the water was about 8 knots while our speed over ground was averaging about 5.5 knots. Dauntless, the Beneteau 47.7 had rounded behind us and was starting to catch us due to her waterline length but as we got closer to the jetties, Dauntless stayed about 50 yards further out into the channel and we quickly pulled away again so we did indeed have some relief staying along the jetties. We were gradually reeling in Temptress with our slightly longer waterline and our masthead A-sail and our rig pulled forward for reaching against their smaller fractional rigged spinnaker. Meanwhile Emocean was going faster than both Temptress and us but were still down on the north side of the channel and would have to cross the current. As we approached Fort Sumter Emocean came reaching up from the north channel like gangbusters, while Temptress and Hoodoo were having to sail down slightly to keep from running out of water. Emocean now had put about 5 minutes on both us and they were now tight reaching with their big A-Sail towards R4. We saw Emocean radically change her course once which we expected was due to shallow water and then reach back up to her original heading. Emocean then ran aground not far from where a Fearless a 1d35 had run hard aground a year ago. Emocean kept her spinnaker up and unfurled their genoa to get as much heal as possible and appeared to be getting free at one point but the sails were rotating the boat the wrong way. Emocean was never able to sail free and had to withdraw. Now the race was between Hoodoo and Temptress and we were now only a couple of boat lengths apart. The wind backed as we sailed back in from Fort Sumter to R4 and continued our gains on Temptress. It appeared Temptress had flatter reaching spinnaker up which slowed Temptress as they had to pull their pole off the headstay. It was now going to be a run from R4 to the finish and with the current still flowing out Temptress and Hoodoo continued on port jibe heading for the current relief off the Battery. There was a large high school regatta going on that we needed to avoid making both of us jibe simultaneously to starboard with Temptress ahead and to leeward. This is where it gets crazy, the pin end of finish line was not down yet, we were now less than a boat length behind but could not figure out the finish line. First it appeared there was boat and pin but that was the high school course. We then saw the pin end of our finish line and Temptress jibed and as did we but now we were to leeward. We stayed to leeward thinking we could break through to the pin but the other end of line was on the yacht club dock and was the favored end. We were now committed and had to follow Temptress across line 11 seconds behind. What a good close race after sailing 15.5 miles. Our missed opportunity to win was a couple of things the confusion of not knowing what the finish line was and in lighter air you are not going to blast through to leeward. On that final jibe we needed to take Temptress’s transom, and attack by reaching over the top, and leveraging the reaching ability of our A-sail. Temptress would have responded by taking us up, which might have kept us from the finish line but also might have given us the speed to pass. Once again the boat first to BP wins, Emocean would have certainly won if they hadn’t run aground.
Emocean’s tactics coming back in through the jetties were race winning but not having enough water to sail in was costly.
Randy Draftz
www.charlestonyachting.com
Hoodoo J109
Crew:
Rando, Jay Bowen Dan Perrin, Katy Durant, Jim Kempert, Randy Draftz, Ric Campeau
Conditions:
Started in light conditions of 4-6 knots out of the east south east building to 11 knots and shifting south southeast. Tide was full ebb at the start.
Rig settings were left at base; we could have eased rig two turns for the light conditions. I also think that a softer rig for these longer ocean racing courses is beneficial making us faster in the fetching and reaching conditions you often encounter.
The start:
With the light air and strong down course current we opted to hang close to the line staying headed into the current on broad starboard tack reach, with about 45 seconds to go we spun and jibed leading Temptress (to leeward ) back to line. We both were about ten seconds early and had to kill our speed as the current flushed us toward the line. The pin was the place to be at the start and both of us ended up several boat lengths down from pin allowing Emocean to take pin. Temptress accelerated quickly off the line created a leebow effect on Hoodoo. We pinched slightly at the start and were now behind Temptress and Emocean, we had no choice but to foot off to leeward to clear and get the boat rolling. We were all going to fetch BP due to the current and Temptress reached BP first the Emocean and Hoodoo a boat length later. Everyone went hard on the wind on port after rounding BP and being third to round we were dead behind Emocean and had to tack away to clear our air. Temptress and Emocean continued in towards James Island. We seemed to have a little better pressure and gained slightly on Emocean while Temptress had tacked back left to cover. We had a small header and tacked back to port to get back right while Emocean had now tacked onto to starboard we had a couple of sections D boats to sail through and Emocean just crossed on starboard. Our strategy was to the favor the right hand side with expectation that the wind would shift more out of south as well as more favorable current. The breeze still was slightly lighter to right and we tacked back on port as did Temptress. Temptress was now in a comfortable lead to weather of us and we were now to weather of Emocean due to a nice right hander. It did not take long for things to change as we headed across the channel. We appeared to sail out of the current while Emocean ahead and to leeward reached the north channel and started sailing twenty degrees higher due to the current, sailed right up in front of us. Once we got Hoodoo into the new current we were again sailing equal to slightly higher than Emocean but now the breeze was building to eight knots and the breeze and gone far enough south that we were all fetching the turning mark just outside the jetties. Temptress rounded the buoy first 2 ½ minutes ahead of us with Emocean rounding second about minute in front of Hoodoo. With the new wind direction our strategy coming back into the harbor was to hug the south jetties as close as we dared hoping to have some relief from the current. We jibed around the buoy and set our large asymmetrical spinnaker and started reaching back sliding along the jetties. Temptress was doing the same while Emocean was sailing lower towards the north side of the channel. It didn’t appear we were getting much relief, as our boatspeed through the water was about 8 knots while our speed over ground was averaging about 5.5 knots. Dauntless, the Beneteau 47.7 had rounded behind us and was starting to catch us due to her waterline length but as we got closer to the jetties, Dauntless stayed about 50 yards further out into the channel and we quickly pulled away again so we did indeed have some relief staying along the jetties. We were gradually reeling in Temptress with our slightly longer waterline and our masthead A-sail and our rig pulled forward for reaching against their smaller fractional rigged spinnaker. Meanwhile Emocean was going faster than both Temptress and us but were still down on the north side of the channel and would have to cross the current. As we approached Fort Sumter Emocean came reaching up from the north channel like gangbusters, while Temptress and Hoodoo were having to sail down slightly to keep from running out of water. Emocean now had put about 5 minutes on both us and they were now tight reaching with their big A-Sail towards R4. We saw Emocean radically change her course once which we expected was due to shallow water and then reach back up to her original heading. Emocean then ran aground not far from where a Fearless a 1d35 had run hard aground a year ago. Emocean kept her spinnaker up and unfurled their genoa to get as much heal as possible and appeared to be getting free at one point but the sails were rotating the boat the wrong way. Emocean was never able to sail free and had to withdraw. Now the race was between Hoodoo and Temptress and we were now only a couple of boat lengths apart. The wind backed as we sailed back in from Fort Sumter to R4 and continued our gains on Temptress. It appeared Temptress had flatter reaching spinnaker up which slowed Temptress as they had to pull their pole off the headstay. It was now going to be a run from R4 to the finish and with the current still flowing out Temptress and Hoodoo continued on port jibe heading for the current relief off the Battery. There was a large high school regatta going on that we needed to avoid making both of us jibe simultaneously to starboard with Temptress ahead and to leeward. This is where it gets crazy, the pin end of finish line was not down yet, we were now less than a boat length behind but could not figure out the finish line. First it appeared there was boat and pin but that was the high school course. We then saw the pin end of our finish line and Temptress jibed and as did we but now we were to leeward. We stayed to leeward thinking we could break through to the pin but the other end of line was on the yacht club dock and was the favored end. We were now committed and had to follow Temptress across line 11 seconds behind. What a good close race after sailing 15.5 miles. Our missed opportunity to win was a couple of things the confusion of not knowing what the finish line was and in lighter air you are not going to blast through to leeward. On that final jibe we needed to take Temptress’s transom, and attack by reaching over the top, and leveraging the reaching ability of our A-sail. Temptress would have responded by taking us up, which might have kept us from the finish line but also might have given us the speed to pass. Once again the boat first to BP wins, Emocean would have certainly won if they hadn’t run aground.
Emocean’s tactics coming back in through the jetties were race winning but not having enough water to sail in was costly.
Randy Draftz
www.charlestonyachting.com
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Temptress Perspective of Race 4 Series 2
I am writing because I saw your writeup of Race 4 series 2, and love Tactical discussion and banter. While I agree with a lot of what you were looking at I thought I would let you know how we pulled our Houdini.
Thanks to a non-yeilding windward boat (at the start, again…) we were forced into a bad position straight away. With Wrinkles hell bent to bury us (wonder why?) The best we could do was waterline out with them to BP and watch you and Emo take the early lead. You guys did a great job protecting the right and sure enough we had to tack away from what I thought to be the favored side of the course. The wind had been trending right all afternoon, but we had noticed before the start that the velocity positive shifts were back to the left, closer to the forecast direction and strength. We believed we were experiencing a thermal mixing, and that one breeze or the other would win out before a true dying trend ensued.
With the tide ebbing we were comfortable with an initial tack out left. The ebb flow off of Castle Pinkney is extremely strong during that stage of ebb, and the direction vs our course provided a lee bow effect showing big left. The problem for Emo was that what shows on the water does not necessarily tell the story. We were watching breeze right of median and holding on to a nice open lane assisted mainly by the current. At the first cross, despite the chunk we were able to take out of Emo and Hdoo’s lead it was Emo who took a close cover and forced back out left. We still were looking at a right trend and didn’t mind spending time on starboard! But right about then we saw puff showing on the left upper and part of the course, so out towards pressure we go.
I have seen boat after boat try to master the eddies and swirls East of NOAA and play the beach route. Willy does it like it is his job to do it, current going in or out. Sometimes I see the thermal puffs come rollin’ on, and when he shoots the moon with his layline it is sometimes brilliant. I however have favored the stronger rips between the anchorage bouy and our perennial mark. Tremendous water comes rushing off the mid harbor flat during late Ebb, causing SOG’s and COG’s to dance the night away. However, going back the KISS tactics model I choose to stay “close in the cone,” or limit the number of lanes outside of your projected laylines by tacking more often near the mark and not steaking one side or the other. Get the LAST shift will win at the WM as long as you are “in the time zone” of the corner bangers.
So we choose a stbd approach about ten lanes short of layline and put the blinders on David and made him steer to SOG/COG instead of watch the tell tales (drives helmsmen nuts, there is no feel and visual feedback is bad.) We crossed the near current line to the ebb rip near the top of the flats and saw SOG spike to 8.2. With boatspeed fighting to stay at 6.0 we felt pretty good. A nice big lefty to tack on helped heaps, coupled with the drop in velocity to the right- direction or not.
The first run is really where we got all our time. The beat was nice because we were able to play some games with Emo, acting pissed about being forced back to the left and watching current help increase for us as well as pressure. The lefty hit in earnest at T-now on the port tack line as we rounded the mark and with the right kite (we carry 3 VMG’s) and used the puff to get up on the flats. We had to do so crossing the most adverse of currents, but as we learned at CRW in the last race that area is one of extremes. 70 Seconds later we were across the next line and watched SOG jump from 4.2 to 5.7. There was another ridge of current less than ten boatlengths away, but every time we bumped it we would drop .5 or so OTB. The COG was also a big help. A couple of times we would see our course deviate by 20 degrees W, probably casued by the forementioned runoffs from the harbor flats. We would just reach right through them and in 60 seconds or so we would see the COG come back into line, and keep the SOG up as well. But by Hdoo and Emo staying (not necessarily in better or worse current- just different) in the channel and sailing more rhumbline they failed to hold onto the lefty as it tends to die towards the JI shore. As our AWA/AWS delta would shrink we would head up and power through the lulls. Emo and Hdoo had a good opportunity for a tight cover in the last downwind exchange after middle ground when we came back shy of the rhumbline. But looking back at the current now ripping off the lee shore of CP we gybed back out for the leebow current (upwind and down, as it turned out.) We were able to stay in the AWA range of the med. VMG and use the COG offset to make bearing on the mark. Hdoo and Emo played back to the JI shore side of rhumbline, we got velocity and current help (call it a shift to the crew, they feel better when I do that rather than explaining all the spaghetti soup) and added 60-80 seconds on the last exchange alone.
The second beat was a bit different than the first. We used simple corralling to keep Emo (and in effect you guys) herding right towards the lulls (and lifts) near the shore. Once we had you committed we loose covered EMo up the beat and repeated our DW technique. It was a little different, and a different angle (more right) so we changed to the light VMG. Good thing we did--- we did overstand the last DW layline and needed a very flat sail indeed to get there. But while doing so we held on to the proverbial “last puff” and were able to ride a strong puff to finish, rich get richer.
I find it fascinating looking at the thought processes of other boats, and in examining what we did right or wrong tactically. I have learned a couple of key tactical lessons in Charleston’s predominantly cat 2 (Walker) conditions. First is usually what you said- get a good start and be first to BP. That helps. But it is not the be all! Identifying while on that leg the first, second, and likely third shift will help anyone to link-em together. Simply choosing a side doesn’t work consistently enough here due to the changes in current speed and direction in the same places at the same stage in ebb or flood! I also learned through competing with the Melges boat to boat that downwind you have to, have to, have to VMG your way around the course. There are too many gains for being “over here or over there” to sail the VMG rhumblines. We fight the trends daily to not pinch near the WM and not foot into the LM.
Thanks to a non-yeilding windward boat (at the start, again…) we were forced into a bad position straight away. With Wrinkles hell bent to bury us (wonder why?) The best we could do was waterline out with them to BP and watch you and Emo take the early lead. You guys did a great job protecting the right and sure enough we had to tack away from what I thought to be the favored side of the course. The wind had been trending right all afternoon, but we had noticed before the start that the velocity positive shifts were back to the left, closer to the forecast direction and strength. We believed we were experiencing a thermal mixing, and that one breeze or the other would win out before a true dying trend ensued.
With the tide ebbing we were comfortable with an initial tack out left. The ebb flow off of Castle Pinkney is extremely strong during that stage of ebb, and the direction vs our course provided a lee bow effect showing big left. The problem for Emo was that what shows on the water does not necessarily tell the story. We were watching breeze right of median and holding on to a nice open lane assisted mainly by the current. At the first cross, despite the chunk we were able to take out of Emo and Hdoo’s lead it was Emo who took a close cover and forced back out left. We still were looking at a right trend and didn’t mind spending time on starboard! But right about then we saw puff showing on the left upper and part of the course, so out towards pressure we go.
I have seen boat after boat try to master the eddies and swirls East of NOAA and play the beach route. Willy does it like it is his job to do it, current going in or out. Sometimes I see the thermal puffs come rollin’ on, and when he shoots the moon with his layline it is sometimes brilliant. I however have favored the stronger rips between the anchorage bouy and our perennial mark. Tremendous water comes rushing off the mid harbor flat during late Ebb, causing SOG’s and COG’s to dance the night away. However, going back the KISS tactics model I choose to stay “close in the cone,” or limit the number of lanes outside of your projected laylines by tacking more often near the mark and not steaking one side or the other. Get the LAST shift will win at the WM as long as you are “in the time zone” of the corner bangers.
So we choose a stbd approach about ten lanes short of layline and put the blinders on David and made him steer to SOG/COG instead of watch the tell tales (drives helmsmen nuts, there is no feel and visual feedback is bad.) We crossed the near current line to the ebb rip near the top of the flats and saw SOG spike to 8.2. With boatspeed fighting to stay at 6.0 we felt pretty good. A nice big lefty to tack on helped heaps, coupled with the drop in velocity to the right- direction or not.
The first run is really where we got all our time. The beat was nice because we were able to play some games with Emo, acting pissed about being forced back to the left and watching current help increase for us as well as pressure. The lefty hit in earnest at T-now on the port tack line as we rounded the mark and with the right kite (we carry 3 VMG’s) and used the puff to get up on the flats. We had to do so crossing the most adverse of currents, but as we learned at CRW in the last race that area is one of extremes. 70 Seconds later we were across the next line and watched SOG jump from 4.2 to 5.7. There was another ridge of current less than ten boatlengths away, but every time we bumped it we would drop .5 or so OTB. The COG was also a big help. A couple of times we would see our course deviate by 20 degrees W, probably casued by the forementioned runoffs from the harbor flats. We would just reach right through them and in 60 seconds or so we would see the COG come back into line, and keep the SOG up as well. But by Hdoo and Emo staying (not necessarily in better or worse current- just different) in the channel and sailing more rhumbline they failed to hold onto the lefty as it tends to die towards the JI shore. As our AWA/AWS delta would shrink we would head up and power through the lulls. Emo and Hdoo had a good opportunity for a tight cover in the last downwind exchange after middle ground when we came back shy of the rhumbline. But looking back at the current now ripping off the lee shore of CP we gybed back out for the leebow current (upwind and down, as it turned out.) We were able to stay in the AWA range of the med. VMG and use the COG offset to make bearing on the mark. Hdoo and Emo played back to the JI shore side of rhumbline, we got velocity and current help (call it a shift to the crew, they feel better when I do that rather than explaining all the spaghetti soup) and added 60-80 seconds on the last exchange alone.
The second beat was a bit different than the first. We used simple corralling to keep Emo (and in effect you guys) herding right towards the lulls (and lifts) near the shore. Once we had you committed we loose covered EMo up the beat and repeated our DW technique. It was a little different, and a different angle (more right) so we changed to the light VMG. Good thing we did--- we did overstand the last DW layline and needed a very flat sail indeed to get there. But while doing so we held on to the proverbial “last puff” and were able to ride a strong puff to finish, rich get richer.
I find it fascinating looking at the thought processes of other boats, and in examining what we did right or wrong tactically. I have learned a couple of key tactical lessons in Charleston’s predominantly cat 2 (Walker) conditions. First is usually what you said- get a good start and be first to BP. That helps. But it is not the be all! Identifying while on that leg the first, second, and likely third shift will help anyone to link-em together. Simply choosing a side doesn’t work consistently enough here due to the changes in current speed and direction in the same places at the same stage in ebb or flood! I also learned through competing with the Melges boat to boat that downwind you have to, have to, have to VMG your way around the course. There are too many gains for being “over here or over there” to sail the VMG rhumblines. We fight the trends daily to not pinch near the WM and not foot into the LM.
September 13th Newsletter and Specials Text
Rigging, rigging, rigging, is the latest news at Charleston Yachting! We are now your quality source for professional swaging and have the know-how to evaluate your current lifelines and standing rigging for replacement. So, if it is time to get that lifeline gate replaced or a even a complete set of standing rigging replaced, count on us to do the job right. Our equipment can Kearney and hydraulically swage fittings onto cable all the way up to 5/8” diameter cable. Charleston Yachting is now a Navman dealer! If you are looking for a basic instrument package, an autopilot, GPS Chartplotter or fish finder we can get it for you. Looking for the ultimate GPS Chartplotter? Northstar has always been the leader in the field and with new integrated software you get the performance of a computer with the durability of ruggedly housed chartplotter. Also, we are also now handling Extrasport lifejackets forthose of you getting reading for the fall dingy season. More added to the website everyday—check it out!
You can sign up to have a complete version of this newletter on the right rail of our website at www.charlestonyachting.com
Thanks
Randy Draftz
rdraftz@charlestonyachting.com
You can sign up to have a complete version of this newletter on the right rail of our website at www.charlestonyachting.com
Thanks
Randy Draftz
rdraftz@charlestonyachting.com
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Charleston Yachting
Charleston Yachting
Wednesday Night Race 4 Series 2:
Hoodoo Crew: Ric, Deb, Rando, Dan, Katy, Ben, Jim, Randy
Wind 7-11 knots ESE; Current Flooding
Course #9 8.5 NM BP, R2, BP, R2, R4 Finish
The first leg to BP was a fetch with our TWA at about 60 degrees. The dock end of the line was slightly favored so goal was to start down to leeward in clear air and make sure we were on the line with speed. The rest of the class tended to favor the windward pin end of the line allowing us and Emocean (J120, to leeward) to get off the line with good speed. Emocean quickly worked out and away while we consolidated and sailed up in front the class. Emocean rounded BP first while we followed in second about four boat lengths behind. We rounded BP and went very hard on the wind (almost pinching) to make sure we were to windward of the boats rounding BP behind us. We felt the right side was going to have better current relief and the wind direction was expected to shift right as well. If we could maintain our height the boats rounding after us would have to tack off to the left to clear their air. We succeeded and Emocean and Hoodoo continued up the right as long as we had enough water. Meanwhile Temptress (SR33OB) continued off to the left. Emocean was first to tack back left (I don’t think they have working depth sounder) while we had some more room we continued right towards the James Island shore. We tacked well inside of Emocean and started sailing back out on starboard tack, unfortunately the wind was now swinging left giving Temptress some significant leverage and we forced to continue on starboard while looking for more space to tack back to right. We were holding our own against Emocean but Temptress was now leading on the left. We dug back to right and tacked backed left short of the starboard tack layline. With the incoming current it was too difficult to call the layline at a distance so we worked back and got the left of Temptress and Emocean setting up about 50 yards to leeward of the layline. We had to duck the starboard tack Emocean and rounded R2 in third with Temptress clear ahead in first. Emocean jibe set at R2 while we bored away and set. We gained on Emocean and they proceeded to jibe back to leeward of us onto starboard. We continued down the run to close to Middle Ground and jibe over to port to back into the more favorable current. We jibed two more times staying the middle of course while Temptress worked the right and Emocean went to starboard tack layline. Temptress extended her lead to about 2 minutes while Emocean kept her one boat length lead over us. In our second rounding of BP the jib halyard was accidentally released causing Hoodoo to sail low while we sorted things out giving several boat lengths back to Emocean. We continued to work the right sided of the course and the wind was now lighting up to about 8 knots. We used our backstay tension to adjust the entry of genoa easing in the light stuff and tensioning in the puffs, it was obvious the velocity of the wind was trending down. Hoodoo excels upwind in winds under 10 and we closed in on Emocean. Three quarters up the second beat Emocean crossed Hoodoo and tacked to cover but tacked too late allowing Hoodoo to sail through. We felt we wanted the left and we tucked up under Emocean sending them back to right. Unfortunately there was more breeze back to the right and Emocean was able to cross us easily as we came back towards the starboard tack layline. We tacked onto starboard a little too quickly and the combination of bad air from Emocean and incoming current we had to shoot the mark to avoid tacking again. We rounded and had a nice bare away set with Emocean a good five to seven boat lengths ahead. We seemed to sail a little deeper and closed on Emocean I did not feel we would be able sail around her to weather so we just stayed close knowing that they give us a couple minutes on corrected time. I think as the wind lightened both Hoodoo and Emocean where both guilty of sailing too deep. We eventually jibed onto port in search of more favorable current and Emocean followed a minute later. We gained initially than Emocean appeared to have slightly been breeze to the right. Meanwhile Temptress sailed all the way to the port tack layline maybe even over standing a bit but still managing to put another minute on us. We approached R4 from the starboard tack layline several boat lengths behind Emocean. The leg from R4 to the finish was a beam reach that had enough velocity to allow Emocean to leg out slightly and beat us across the finish line by 25 seconds. With the wind velocity on a downward trend the leads boat only got richer as the night progressed and we easily saved our time over the third place boat Wrinkles (Olsen 30).
The keys to the race as with most, was the start and first leg to BP. If you can get to BP in clear air ahead of the traffic you have much better control strategically and tactically. Keep you eye on the wind pressure sailing out of pressure against an adverse current is a killer. A pretty famous sailor once said racing sailboats is easy “get out in front and extend your lead”. Nice job Temptress.
Randy Draftz
www.charlestonyacting.com
Wednesday Night Race 4 Series 2:
Hoodoo Crew: Ric, Deb, Rando, Dan, Katy, Ben, Jim, Randy
Wind 7-11 knots ESE; Current Flooding
Course #9 8.5 NM BP, R2, BP, R2, R4 Finish
The first leg to BP was a fetch with our TWA at about 60 degrees. The dock end of the line was slightly favored so goal was to start down to leeward in clear air and make sure we were on the line with speed. The rest of the class tended to favor the windward pin end of the line allowing us and Emocean (J120, to leeward) to get off the line with good speed. Emocean quickly worked out and away while we consolidated and sailed up in front the class. Emocean rounded BP first while we followed in second about four boat lengths behind. We rounded BP and went very hard on the wind (almost pinching) to make sure we were to windward of the boats rounding BP behind us. We felt the right side was going to have better current relief and the wind direction was expected to shift right as well. If we could maintain our height the boats rounding after us would have to tack off to the left to clear their air. We succeeded and Emocean and Hoodoo continued up the right as long as we had enough water. Meanwhile Temptress (SR33OB) continued off to the left. Emocean was first to tack back left (I don’t think they have working depth sounder) while we had some more room we continued right towards the James Island shore. We tacked well inside of Emocean and started sailing back out on starboard tack, unfortunately the wind was now swinging left giving Temptress some significant leverage and we forced to continue on starboard while looking for more space to tack back to right. We were holding our own against Emocean but Temptress was now leading on the left. We dug back to right and tacked backed left short of the starboard tack layline. With the incoming current it was too difficult to call the layline at a distance so we worked back and got the left of Temptress and Emocean setting up about 50 yards to leeward of the layline. We had to duck the starboard tack Emocean and rounded R2 in third with Temptress clear ahead in first. Emocean jibe set at R2 while we bored away and set. We gained on Emocean and they proceeded to jibe back to leeward of us onto starboard. We continued down the run to close to Middle Ground and jibe over to port to back into the more favorable current. We jibed two more times staying the middle of course while Temptress worked the right and Emocean went to starboard tack layline. Temptress extended her lead to about 2 minutes while Emocean kept her one boat length lead over us. In our second rounding of BP the jib halyard was accidentally released causing Hoodoo to sail low while we sorted things out giving several boat lengths back to Emocean. We continued to work the right sided of the course and the wind was now lighting up to about 8 knots. We used our backstay tension to adjust the entry of genoa easing in the light stuff and tensioning in the puffs, it was obvious the velocity of the wind was trending down. Hoodoo excels upwind in winds under 10 and we closed in on Emocean. Three quarters up the second beat Emocean crossed Hoodoo and tacked to cover but tacked too late allowing Hoodoo to sail through. We felt we wanted the left and we tucked up under Emocean sending them back to right. Unfortunately there was more breeze back to the right and Emocean was able to cross us easily as we came back towards the starboard tack layline. We tacked onto starboard a little too quickly and the combination of bad air from Emocean and incoming current we had to shoot the mark to avoid tacking again. We rounded and had a nice bare away set with Emocean a good five to seven boat lengths ahead. We seemed to sail a little deeper and closed on Emocean I did not feel we would be able sail around her to weather so we just stayed close knowing that they give us a couple minutes on corrected time. I think as the wind lightened both Hoodoo and Emocean where both guilty of sailing too deep. We eventually jibed onto port in search of more favorable current and Emocean followed a minute later. We gained initially than Emocean appeared to have slightly been breeze to the right. Meanwhile Temptress sailed all the way to the port tack layline maybe even over standing a bit but still managing to put another minute on us. We approached R4 from the starboard tack layline several boat lengths behind Emocean. The leg from R4 to the finish was a beam reach that had enough velocity to allow Emocean to leg out slightly and beat us across the finish line by 25 seconds. With the wind velocity on a downward trend the leads boat only got richer as the night progressed and we easily saved our time over the third place boat Wrinkles (Olsen 30).
The keys to the race as with most, was the start and first leg to BP. If you can get to BP in clear air ahead of the traffic you have much better control strategically and tactically. Keep you eye on the wind pressure sailing out of pressure against an adverse current is a killer. A pretty famous sailor once said racing sailboats is easy “get out in front and extend your lead”. Nice job Temptress.
Randy Draftz
www.charlestonyacting.com
Charleston Yachting
Charleston Yachting
TOUGH COMPETITION ON FRONT ROW OF ROLEX FASTNET GRID
August 4, 2005
There is more than one way to win the Rolex Fastnet Race. One is to be fastest around the 608-mile course, to be first past the post in Plymouth. This Sunday the battle for line honours is likely to come down to a high-speed duel between two Antipodean Maxis, Skandia Wild Thing and ICAP Maximus. Another way to win the Rolex Fastnet is under the IRC handicap system, and this is a possibility open to almost all of the 286 boats competing in the fleet this year - which, by the way, is the largest fleet to compete since 1979.
While the theoretical possibility exists for any boat to win, many of those 286 crews have not come to Cowes with thoughts of victory, but simply to take part in one of the great ocean racing classics. One team with its eye very much on handicap success, however, is the newly launched Irish TP52 Patches, owned by Eamon Conneely. With a crack crew headed up by two double Olympic medallists, skipper Ian Walker and helmswoman Shirley Robertson, this lightweight 52-footer has been tearing up the Solent over the past week at Skandia Cowes Week.
The measure of her dominance these past few days has taken the racing world by storm. After all, the TP52 is not designed specifically to the IRC rule and yet its handicap performance is proving staggeringly competitive. Robertson, enjoying a break from Olympic campaigning in small keelboats, is loving her job at the wheel of Patches. "She is probably the most responsive yacht I've ever sailed," she says. "As soon as you crack her off the breeze, she lights up and takes off. If we get reaching conditions in the race, then I think we can do well."
That too, is the assessment of Patches by Jeremy Robinson, helmsman of one of the TP52's chief rivals for IRC honours, Nick Lykiardopulo's 55-footer Aera. "In downwind conditions, Patches will be off, we won't even see her," admits Robinson. "But if we get a lot of upwind work then we could do well." Aera certainly proved her ability to tough it through the rough stuff in a wild and windy Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race at the end of last year, when Lykiardopulo's team beat a fleet of 116 boats on IRC handicap.
The Rolex Fastnet Race brings back the winning team from downunder, with 11 of the 15 Hobart crew reunited under former Volvo Ocean Race skipper Jez Fanstone for an assault on the Fastnet. "We've got a very strong team, four very good drivers which is vital in a race like this," says Robinson. "But you also need the luck of the weather in a race like this. All you can do is put the bits in place and see if it works for you."
While the two big swing-keeled Maxis are primarily gunning for line honours, Robinson has not ruled them out of the handicap race. "Looking at the weather, it could suit the big boats. If they get around the [Fastnet] Rock and there is a shutdown in the wind, then you could quite easily see one of the Maxis win line honours and handicap."
Then again, there are a number of interesting machines that could upset the predicted dominance of the 100-foot Maxis, not least the Volvo Open 70 Telefonica Movistar. Skipper Bouwe Bekking and his crew set the 24-hour monohull record of 535 miles earlier this year, so what she yields in length to the Maxis, she may well make up for in her awesome power-to-weight ratio. A fleet of 14 Open 60s will also enjoy a high-speed ride to the Fastnet Rock and back, with a number of round-the-world specialists such as Mike Golding, Nick Moloney, Marc Thiercelin and Bernard Stamm among the line-up.
Aside from the desire to win, the reasons for competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race are many and varied. Some sailors think of it in terms of their 'personal Everest'. For Simon Le Bon, lead singer with pop group Duran Duran, it is a matter of unfinished business. Twenty years ago he and his crew were rescued by the RNLI after his Maxi yacht Drum capsized in stormy weather off the coast of Falmouth. Now reunited with the same boat, renamed Arnold Clark Drum after her current owner, and with much of his old crew, Le Bon is back to complete the course. One of his reasons for competing is to bring more awareness to the volunteer body that saves hundreds of lives around Britain's coastline every year.
The first signal for the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race sounds at 1050 on Sunday 7th August. In addition to the two main prizes - the Fastnet Challenge Cup and the Fastnet Rock Trophy, there are more than 30 trophies to be awarded at the conclusion of this year's Rolex Fastnet Race. The prizegiving will take place at the Royal Citadel, home of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, in Plymouth on Friday 12th August.
Further information about the RORC and the Rolex Fastnet Race can be found at: www.rorc.org
Copyright free high resolution photography, for editorial usage only, may be found at: www.regattanews.com
TOUGH COMPETITION ON FRONT ROW OF ROLEX FASTNET GRID
August 4, 2005
There is more than one way to win the Rolex Fastnet Race. One is to be fastest around the 608-mile course, to be first past the post in Plymouth. This Sunday the battle for line honours is likely to come down to a high-speed duel between two Antipodean Maxis, Skandia Wild Thing and ICAP Maximus. Another way to win the Rolex Fastnet is under the IRC handicap system, and this is a possibility open to almost all of the 286 boats competing in the fleet this year - which, by the way, is the largest fleet to compete since 1979.
While the theoretical possibility exists for any boat to win, many of those 286 crews have not come to Cowes with thoughts of victory, but simply to take part in one of the great ocean racing classics. One team with its eye very much on handicap success, however, is the newly launched Irish TP52 Patches, owned by Eamon Conneely. With a crack crew headed up by two double Olympic medallists, skipper Ian Walker and helmswoman Shirley Robertson, this lightweight 52-footer has been tearing up the Solent over the past week at Skandia Cowes Week.
The measure of her dominance these past few days has taken the racing world by storm. After all, the TP52 is not designed specifically to the IRC rule and yet its handicap performance is proving staggeringly competitive. Robertson, enjoying a break from Olympic campaigning in small keelboats, is loving her job at the wheel of Patches. "She is probably the most responsive yacht I've ever sailed," she says. "As soon as you crack her off the breeze, she lights up and takes off. If we get reaching conditions in the race, then I think we can do well."
That too, is the assessment of Patches by Jeremy Robinson, helmsman of one of the TP52's chief rivals for IRC honours, Nick Lykiardopulo's 55-footer Aera. "In downwind conditions, Patches will be off, we won't even see her," admits Robinson. "But if we get a lot of upwind work then we could do well." Aera certainly proved her ability to tough it through the rough stuff in a wild and windy Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race at the end of last year, when Lykiardopulo's team beat a fleet of 116 boats on IRC handicap.
The Rolex Fastnet Race brings back the winning team from downunder, with 11 of the 15 Hobart crew reunited under former Volvo Ocean Race skipper Jez Fanstone for an assault on the Fastnet. "We've got a very strong team, four very good drivers which is vital in a race like this," says Robinson. "But you also need the luck of the weather in a race like this. All you can do is put the bits in place and see if it works for you."
While the two big swing-keeled Maxis are primarily gunning for line honours, Robinson has not ruled them out of the handicap race. "Looking at the weather, it could suit the big boats. If they get around the [Fastnet] Rock and there is a shutdown in the wind, then you could quite easily see one of the Maxis win line honours and handicap."
Then again, there are a number of interesting machines that could upset the predicted dominance of the 100-foot Maxis, not least the Volvo Open 70 Telefonica Movistar. Skipper Bouwe Bekking and his crew set the 24-hour monohull record of 535 miles earlier this year, so what she yields in length to the Maxis, she may well make up for in her awesome power-to-weight ratio. A fleet of 14 Open 60s will also enjoy a high-speed ride to the Fastnet Rock and back, with a number of round-the-world specialists such as Mike Golding, Nick Moloney, Marc Thiercelin and Bernard Stamm among the line-up.
Aside from the desire to win, the reasons for competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race are many and varied. Some sailors think of it in terms of their 'personal Everest'. For Simon Le Bon, lead singer with pop group Duran Duran, it is a matter of unfinished business. Twenty years ago he and his crew were rescued by the RNLI after his Maxi yacht Drum capsized in stormy weather off the coast of Falmouth. Now reunited with the same boat, renamed Arnold Clark Drum after her current owner, and with much of his old crew, Le Bon is back to complete the course. One of his reasons for competing is to bring more awareness to the volunteer body that saves hundreds of lives around Britain's coastline every year.
The first signal for the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race sounds at 1050 on Sunday 7th August. In addition to the two main prizes - the Fastnet Challenge Cup and the Fastnet Rock Trophy, there are more than 30 trophies to be awarded at the conclusion of this year's Rolex Fastnet Race. The prizegiving will take place at the Royal Citadel, home of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, in Plymouth on Friday 12th August.
Further information about the RORC and the Rolex Fastnet Race can be found at: www.rorc.org
Copyright free high resolution photography, for editorial usage only, may be found at: www.regattanews.com
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Charleston Yachting
SailJazz the new website offered by Cheryl Bolye has Charleston Yachting listed under retailers. Please post your review for Charleston Yachting at http://www.sailjazz.com/docktalk/browse/retailer
Thanks
Randy
Thanks
Randy
Monday, July 25, 2005
J109 H1000 Installation
J109 H1000 Installation
As any boat installation of any kind it takes twice as long the first time. Picking the route for the network cables took longer than anticipated, we wanted to stay out of the bilge and also did not want remove the molded on connectors, creating unnecessary splices.
Boatspeed/ Depth Interface:
In the J109 forepeak there is a light weight dividing bulkhead separating the sail locker. We mounted the boatspeed/depth interface on the forward side of this bulkhead. (The photo is looking aft) The two transducer cables cable clamped to the underside of the center support through holes drilled through the bulkhead again keeping the cables protected. We always leave a little extra cable to make any repairs or changes easier. Unlike the old depth transducers this cable can be cut to length.
We ran the network cable forward and up the starboard side behind the vertical teak trim up into starboard side cabin liner and aft through the bulkhead again up inside the cabin liner in the main salon and back into the electrical panel. The two cables you see in this picture are masthead interface cable and the boatspeed. We ran the masthead interface forward to the boatspeed interface to avoid the use of another junction box.
Masthead Interface:
We wanted to mount the masthead interface up forward to avoid using a junction box and adding additional connections. We mounted the interface on the forward side of the starboard bulkhead running the mast cable along side the existing radio antennae cable making for an easy disconnect for rig removal. We could of have either run the network cable aft along side the boatspeed network cable but chose to go forward backtracking the boatspeed network cable and attaching to the network cable on the second connector of the boatspeed depth interface. Another solution would have been to use a junction box at the bulkhead and plug the boatspeed network cable the masthead network cable and run the third network cable back to the navstation. We also had the network cable for the two mast mounted displays. To keep the hole in the mast to the minimum we cut the cable and instead of soldering we used a B&G mastcable junction box that you see mounted on to left of the interface on the trim.
Companionway Hood Displays:
It was very easy removing the hood and cutting the holes for the two H1000 displays and the H1000 Autopilot control head. The hood is pre-wired but only with a generic 7 core wire, not a B&G network cable. So I had no choice but to cut a network cable and splice it to the generic cable by soldering and covering with heat shrink tubing. When splicing the two most important things are a good solid connection and a waterproof connection. The pre-run cable is nicely coiled up behind the electrical panel where we soldered and covered with heat shrink tubing the splice to the other network cable pigtail.
Mastmounted Displays:
We elected to mount two displays onto the mast with the B&G dual display mastmount and decided we were better off cutting the network cable to allow for a smaller hole in the mast. We drilled a small hole in the sailtrack and fished the network cable back out of the mast along side the masthead cable, antennae cable, and mastlight cable. We used a B&G mastcable junction box to attach the other connector to allow for quick disconnect for mast removal.
Be careful on the mast bracket mount, make sure the bracket is mounted far enough aft to allow room for the reef line and cunningham to run through the bracket. We missed by about a ½” because we using hole from a previous instrument bracket.
Compass Sensor:
The best place for a compass is always down low and middle of the boat to minimize the effect of heel and pitching, but try finding a place that is safe and out of the way of interfering items. The aft stateroom’s hanging locker appears to be good clear space but since we had the autopilot processor getting mounted in starboard cockpit locker we opted for mounting the sensor in the cabinet in the head. This a easy cable run to electrical panel and another easy run to autopilot CPU. We will see how sensor calibrates and if there an issue we will move it to the other side of the boat. Here you can see cable heading up into the back trim of the cabinet and forward to the navstation. The empty connector will be used for the autopilot.
Universal Interface:
We mounted the Universal Interface behind the electrical panel along with a four way junction box. We always used Velcro pads to mount the interfaces and junction boxes, this makes it very easy access to and avoids drilling holes. We have used all six connections our compass sensor, companionway hood displays, power cable, Universal Interface, and our network cable coming from the bow.
The cable you see coming from the bottom of Universal Interface was split to take the two NMEA leads into the to the interface box and the two power leads that power the GPS sensor over to the circuit breaker.
With everything connected flip the instrument breaker and away you will go. Don’t forget to calibrate boatspeed, swing your compass, and then your masthead unit for the greatest accuracy.
Randy Draftz
J109 Hoodoo
Rdraftz@comcast.net
As any boat installation of any kind it takes twice as long the first time. Picking the route for the network cables took longer than anticipated, we wanted to stay out of the bilge and also did not want remove the molded on connectors, creating unnecessary splices.
Boatspeed/ Depth Interface:
In the J109 forepeak there is a light weight dividing bulkhead separating the sail locker. We mounted the boatspeed/depth interface on the forward side of this bulkhead. (The photo is looking aft) The two transducer cables cable clamped to the underside of the center support through holes drilled through the bulkhead again keeping the cables protected. We always leave a little extra cable to make any repairs or changes easier. Unlike the old depth transducers this cable can be cut to length.
We ran the network cable forward and up the starboard side behind the vertical teak trim up into starboard side cabin liner and aft through the bulkhead again up inside the cabin liner in the main salon and back into the electrical panel. The two cables you see in this picture are masthead interface cable and the boatspeed. We ran the masthead interface forward to the boatspeed interface to avoid the use of another junction box.
Masthead Interface:
We wanted to mount the masthead interface up forward to avoid using a junction box and adding additional connections. We mounted the interface on the forward side of the starboard bulkhead running the mast cable along side the existing radio antennae cable making for an easy disconnect for rig removal. We could of have either run the network cable aft along side the boatspeed network cable but chose to go forward backtracking the boatspeed network cable and attaching to the network cable on the second connector of the boatspeed depth interface. Another solution would have been to use a junction box at the bulkhead and plug the boatspeed network cable the masthead network cable and run the third network cable back to the navstation. We also had the network cable for the two mast mounted displays. To keep the hole in the mast to the minimum we cut the cable and instead of soldering we used a B&G mastcable junction box that you see mounted on to left of the interface on the trim.
Companionway Hood Displays:
It was very easy removing the hood and cutting the holes for the two H1000 displays and the H1000 Autopilot control head. The hood is pre-wired but only with a generic 7 core wire, not a B&G network cable. So I had no choice but to cut a network cable and splice it to the generic cable by soldering and covering with heat shrink tubing. When splicing the two most important things are a good solid connection and a waterproof connection. The pre-run cable is nicely coiled up behind the electrical panel where we soldered and covered with heat shrink tubing the splice to the other network cable pigtail.
Mastmounted Displays:
We elected to mount two displays onto the mast with the B&G dual display mastmount and decided we were better off cutting the network cable to allow for a smaller hole in the mast. We drilled a small hole in the sailtrack and fished the network cable back out of the mast along side the masthead cable, antennae cable, and mastlight cable. We used a B&G mastcable junction box to attach the other connector to allow for quick disconnect for mast removal.
Be careful on the mast bracket mount, make sure the bracket is mounted far enough aft to allow room for the reef line and cunningham to run through the bracket. We missed by about a ½” because we using hole from a previous instrument bracket.
Compass Sensor:
The best place for a compass is always down low and middle of the boat to minimize the effect of heel and pitching, but try finding a place that is safe and out of the way of interfering items. The aft stateroom’s hanging locker appears to be good clear space but since we had the autopilot processor getting mounted in starboard cockpit locker we opted for mounting the sensor in the cabinet in the head. This a easy cable run to electrical panel and another easy run to autopilot CPU. We will see how sensor calibrates and if there an issue we will move it to the other side of the boat. Here you can see cable heading up into the back trim of the cabinet and forward to the navstation. The empty connector will be used for the autopilot.
Universal Interface:
We mounted the Universal Interface behind the electrical panel along with a four way junction box. We always used Velcro pads to mount the interfaces and junction boxes, this makes it very easy access to and avoids drilling holes. We have used all six connections our compass sensor, companionway hood displays, power cable, Universal Interface, and our network cable coming from the bow.
The cable you see coming from the bottom of Universal Interface was split to take the two NMEA leads into the to the interface box and the two power leads that power the GPS sensor over to the circuit breaker.
With everything connected flip the instrument breaker and away you will go. Don’t forget to calibrate boatspeed, swing your compass, and then your masthead unit for the greatest accuracy.
Randy Draftz
J109 Hoodoo
Rdraftz@comcast.net
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