I Would Say I've Been Missing it, Bob

So, I’ve been slacking off a bit on the blog entries. I sort of knew this would happen. Even I get tired of hearing myself speak (type?) and so I can’t imagine what it’s like for everyone else.

Also, my first daughter came on June 18, three weeks early, so it’s been hard enough to remind myself to shave and shower on a regular basis, let alone contribute some pithy reports on Thursday night sailing. But I did sail, my wife giving me a much appreciated hall pass 36 hours after giving birth.

The bottom line, however, may be that there just wasn’t a lot to write about. In the last three weeks the Crack of Noon team has turned in a mixed bag of performances. A few good results, some average ones, and some poor ones. We haven’t been able to string together two good finishes. We’ve left more than a few points on the table, but we’ve also had our share of good fortune.

Last week could be a microcosm for the Spring Series from our perspective. In the first race, it was apparent with 15 seconds to go to the start that we would be lucky to find ourselves in the second row once the gun went off.

If there was a bright spot to this really disappointing realization—aside from the fact that the cooler was full of beer—it was that we came to it quickly. We tacked to port before the gun and started making tracks for the right side. Because we tacked so early, we were able to get through the traffic without anyone camping on our lane.

The current on the right side proved to be the deciding factor and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves in a four-boat group lead group. From there we played the percentages and took in a satisfying fourth, enjoying a front-row seat to a nice North v. Quantum sailmaker battle among the top 3 boats along the way.

Our second start was better, at first blush, but since we’d already burned our Get Out of Jail Free card, we found ourselves fighting through bad air for much of the first half of the beat.
We pushed hard into the left corner on the run and spent a lot of time trying to prop up our morale with statements like: “I think it feels like we might have more pressure on this side. Yes. I really think that.”

Two or more of the following words in any sentence assessing relative wind strength—like, feels, possibly, maybe, should, think—and you know you’re in trouble.

And that ended the Spring Series. Personally, I think that nothing would be better than sailing on July 3rd, watching a few fireworks on the way in and relishing in the fact that the following day was a holiday. Maybe we can revisit that decision next year. Summer’s too short anyway, no sense taking a night off.

But nothing we can do now. So enjoy the holiday weekend. We hope to have some Winner's Wisdom from Will Welles. And then on July 10th, we’re right back into it. We’ll see you all out there.

1st Party of the Season this Thursday

This Thursday 6/19 is the first party of the year at Ida Lewis YC after racing. The party is hosted by: Talking Heads, Smokin' and Obstreperous. In addition there will be video of the nights racing courtesy of J/Boats!

Higgins, I'm taking the Ferrari

Thomas Magnum, P.I., drove a red Ferrari. Charlie Enright drives a red J/24. Magnum solved mysteries on Hawaii. Enright solves the beats and runs off Newport on Thursday nights. And they both have stylish facial hair. Coincidence? I think not. Here's this week's widsom from Charlie Enright of Rooster (USA 4274).

J/24 Blog: You just wrapped up a very successful collegiate career at Brown University. Which of the many skills or lessons you learned in college sailing have proven particularly useful in sailing the J/24s in Fleet 50?

Charlie Enright: College sailing and Fleet 50 sailing are very similar. Both put a premium on starting and positioning. The average college fleet race is about 18 to 22 minutes long, this does not leave a lot of time for grinding back. In practice, especially at Brown, we did a lot of practice starts. The average college sailor does more starts in college than they will in the rest of their sailing careers. (Not science, but it must be true.) Once off the line, the positioning of our boat relative to other boats becomes our main focus. Perhaps one side of the course is heavily favored, a characteristic we see in Fleet 50 all the time, maybe we decide we want to go left, and as a rule, we decide to let all port tackers cross and lead all starboard tackers back left. Why would we spend time on port tack early in a beat if we want to go left? To check in with the fleet. That is how you play the percentages. Look for weather bows to come down (i.e. boats on your hip point more toward you) and always consolidate when you can. There are anomalies on one-sided racetracks and you always have to position your boat for the what ifs.

Like in college sailing, starting is vital in the short races on Thursday nights. Last Thursday was no exception. How did you approach the two starts? Also can you explain a bit how the flow of information works on your boat during the start? Feedback from the bowman, jib trimmer, and tactician can be very useful during the pre-start, but too many people talking at once can also negate any benefit in a hurry.

CE: Last Thursday's line was pretty square. We started at the pin in both races because we wanted to take advantage of the fair tide and, what we thought, was better pressure on the left. I also just really like starting at the pin. Before every start, we as a boat, come up with a game plan. We take into consideration a lot of things: where we want to go on the beat, how square is the line, where we think all the other boats will be and how to avoid them, what position on the line will allow us to play the first beat the way we want to play it, whether we need to get onto port tack right away, are we going to be on starboard all the way to the fort, anything we can think of. The key to starting is getting one that can help you execute your game plan. The best way to end up where you want to be on the line is to back it all up a couple of steps. If you know you want to be at the middle of the line at go, you know you want to be on your final approach to starboard of the boat at a 1:30, and if you know that you also know that you want to be on port in the middle of the line at 2:30. I like to tell my crew how many maneuvers we have left as it becomes apparent. We have a bow guy calling lengths to the line. We have the trimmer listening to the helmsman who only says, trim, slow, or racing...we have one person dedicated to the time and another looking back for scoopers. Our time guy is our radio guy after the start. As the helmsman, I am constantly thinking about three different spatial scenarios. The distance between our bow and the line, whether we are bow out or bow behind relative to immediate neighbors, as well as our lateral distance to windward and leeward. The first two are pretty self-explanatory, the third is a bit more tricky and in my opinion a bit more important.

As with any northerly breeze, the wind last night was shifty and puffy. I noticed that upwind you don't even hold on to the mainsheet most of the time. Explain how you switch gears on your boat, how you depower when a puffs hits?

CE: The genoa drives the J 24. The puffs last Thursday night were not knock-down puffs. Mike, our genoa trimmer, dealt with most of them. In those conditions I keep one hand on the tiller and the other works the jib winch handle and the backstay. We are very active with our genoa. I only play the main when it gets really windy or really wavy. Flat water allows us to keep the leech profile of the main the same. Easing the genoa helps flatten the boat and allows it to climb to weather, unlike easing the main. The only time I ease and trim the main in conditions like last Thursday night is through tacks. As the puff comes the genoa goes out, the backstay comes on, the genoa comes back in and the backstay comes off.

Samson had his hair. And we all know what happened when he cut that. Is there any truth to the rumor that you're afraid that shaving off that Magnum P.I. moustache will compromise your sailing skills?

CE: Here is the story with the mustache. It started as a bet, gained some serious volume, now I can’t get rid of it.

One Ahead, One Behind

If you like symmetry, then there was a certain poetic beauty to the Crack Of Noon’s scoreline last night. In the first race, we were beaten by just one boat. In the second, we beat just one boat.

And in both races, the most important moment was the start. In the first race, we had a beautiful start a third of the way down from the boat. After four weeks of struggling off the line, and usually having to tack away or live in a marginal lane, it was amazing to have the freedom to sail the boat as we wanted. Clear air can make you feel like a superstar. (Once again, thanks to www.SailFlow.com for the wind readings from Rose Island. Check out their site for forecasts and up-to-the-minute wind readings. Well worth the subscription. My sense is the reading is a little low from the north, but I could be wrong.)

We played the middle left side of the course, trying to stay in the puffs and the most advantageous current. Halfway up the beat it looked like we were going to have a dogfight getting through all the boats to our right—a wide-open track and flat water means everyone goes the same speed.

But we exercised some patience, staying to the left and biding out time, and got a very fortunate left shift on our final port tack and rounded third. On the run we had just enough separation to avoid the chaos right behind us, though there were plenty of tense moments. On the second beat we picked up one boat by staying to the left and in more pressure and current. Downwind we held off the wolves and followed only Salsa across the finish line.

The second race, we had an equally beautiful start. Or at least we thought we did until 30 seconds after the gun when we heard our number over the radio. By the time we rounded the boat and started back upwind the fleet was a quarter mile ahead of us. So we rolled the dice and, not surprisingly, they came up snake eyes. We caught one boat down the run.

So, an up-and-down performance that averaged out right smack in the middle of the fleet. But after four weeks of middling results, it felt a heck of a lot better than a pair of 10s. It was nice to have one race where we put it all together, where we got to line up with some of the top guys in the fleet and discover that we weren’t far off the pace, if at all.

It was also great to see the fleet break 20 boats for the first time this summer. That’s the sort of sailing that makes Fleet 50 so great, two-dozen boats, in close quarters. A few choice words here or there. No position is safe until you cross the line.

Salsa blitzed the fleet, winning both races. I think they might’ve finished the second race before we rounded the leeward mark. But since we heard from them last week, and we’re sure to have other opportunities to get their thoughts, we sent off a few questions to Charlie Enright, who drove Rooster to a pair of thirds last night.

Salsa, Al Fresco

Good things come to those that wait, or so my parents used to tell me when I was younger. But in this case, they were right. Monday morning we received some excellent wisdom from one of the best J/24 teams in the world (they won the 2004 World Championship after all), Team Salsa, led by Jens Hookanson and PJ Schaffer. Oh, they also tend to do fairly well on Thursday nights. Salsa crushed the fleet in Race 1, flying the big genoa. We had to know how they did it. Thanks PJ and Jens.

Last night was one of the windiest Thursday nights we’ve had in while. Many teams chose the blade jib for the first race, you guys went with the genoa. How did you come to that decision?

Jens Hookanson: We decided to go out without a headsail hooked up so we could make the call when we got out on the course based on the conditions. I knew if we went out with one of the sails already hooked up this might influence our decision. I prefer not to pay any attention to what other boats are doing and just make the decision based on our own situation. There were a few things to consider last night that went into our decision making process.

We did not have either Jock Hayes or Larry Colantuano (our normal cockpit guys) to pull the genoa. I steered and PJ decided to do the cockpit. The fact that we did not have our normal guys to pull the genoa was in the back of my mind, but I knew PJ could still do a good job at it and we had almost max weight on board and very competent crew.

It was indeed windy, but PJ brought up a good point that normally the breeze lightens as the evening progresses, and in fact it did just that.

We hate to change jibs between races on a Thursday night. I had a feeling that if we started with a blade then race 2 would likely require a change, and we wanted to avoid that scenario like the plague.

Since the tide was ebbing, this opened up the full race course tactically, meaning we could choose to minimize our number of tacks. No short tacking up Fort Adams required.

One thing about the J24 is that you can de power the boat quite easily. We tightened the shrouds to accommodate the windier conditions (about 29/29 on the Loos guage) and we moved the genoa lead back about 6” from our normal powered up setting. Once we decided to go with the genoa, we went upwind for a bit and I felt we were fine with the boat a bit de powered.

The genoa allows you to point much higher than with the blade and one of the things that I hate is not being able to hold a lane. Holding your lane often enables you to sail the race you want to sail rather than have your tactics decided for you by another boat.

How did you keep the boat on its feet with the genoa? Could you tell us a little bit about how you depowered the boat when a puff hit?

JH: One thing that really helps is having your crew call the puffs and lulls. This enables you to power up or depower as necessary. Last night was a critical night for this as it was windy and there were a lot of puffs. I find it really important to sail the J/24 as flat as possible and sometimes this requires pointing higher than normal to keep the boat on its feet. If the boat heels too much, the keel does not work and the boat slips sideways and that’s very slow. It’s the typical saying on a J24 that when it feels like you’re going slow and the boat feels like crap; you’re really going quite well. Sometimes I have a good bit of the genoa backing in the puffs, but this is actually fine and often quite fast at the upper end of the genoa. When sailing in the upper range of the genoa, one thing that we often do is ease the genoa 4-6” in the big puffs. This becomes necessary especially if the main begins to luff and the boat heels too much. I generally pull the mainsheet on quite hard and use the traveler and backstay to de power in the puffs and when the puff subsides, power back up so you don’t lose your pointing ability. Move the jib leads between tacks if you think the wind is trending up or down.

A big concern in heavy air with the genoa is tacking. What are the keys to a good tack in these situations?

PJ Schaffer: The biggest thing to remember is that “tacking” is a team sport. There is a common misconception that you have to be a big/strong person to tack the genoa in heavy air but the keys really are timing and coordination. The most important part of the tack is making sure the helmsman does not overturn the boat. The goal is to keep the boat moving through the tack while allowing the genoa to cross sides and lie within the opposite side lifelines. The cockpit trimmer must release just after the tack has started (slight backwind) so the sail “pops” thru the foretraingle. At this point the helmsman must slow the turn enough to allow the tailing of the sheet to catch up with the clew now on the new leeward side between the shrouds and lifelines. If the sail is heavily loaded on the new tack there is a good possibility the boat was turned too much thru the wind.

To help the trimming, the #3 (middle) must overhaul the released sheet to make sure it doesn’t wrap around the winch or snag any obstructions. Once the sail is trimmed as much as you can pull in, it’s three (for heavy air, two for medium/light) quick wraps around the winch and get out and hike. The helmsman will remove the weather side winch handle from the holster and wind the sheet in to desired trim. The bow man may need to skirt the jib but should wait until the cockpit trimmer is hiking and the helmsman calls for the skirt. Other keys are picking a good spot to tack (flat water, no puffs, etc.) and making sure the genoa sheets are as short as possible.