Winner's Wisdom from Jeff Johnstone and John Mollicone

A two-fer of good advice today, first from Jeff Johnstone who took Race 1 in dramatic fashion. Second we have some nuggets from John Mollicone, who had a more conventional (start first and extend) win in Race 2. Thanks to both of them. Also, if you have any additional questions or comments, drop them in the comments section, all you need is a gmail account, which is free.

Jeff Johnstone (USA 5356)

We all know tide is a huge factor in Thursday night racing. Last night’s first race was especially tough as the tide was switching as we started, so it seemed hard to get a read. You had a good beat, but the winning move appeared to come halfway down the beat. With the top half of the fleet virtually even, you jibe to port, took a number of transoms and headed to the right side (looking upwind) of the course and won the race. Can you tell us what you were looking for?

The decision to jibe out and take all those transoms to get west downwind was due to a mistake we made on the beat. We started at the pin with plan to go left, because pre-start we noticed old flood current in the middle of the course while the new ebb was working its way across from the left. We got the pin and extended nicely, then tacked to port to stay with the fleet, which had mostly headed right. As boats crossed the current line we saw them lighten and drop to leeward. We were licking our chops. Then we made the error of crossing the line before tacking back left. When we tacked 30 seconds later we were fighting a line of flood current, and by the time we got back into the ebb, Crack of Noon, who we had earlier crossed by many lengths, had us by several. On the run, we figured that that same patch of old flood (or at least neutral current) was still along the same line (only further west). As the breeze lightened near the fort, and with Crack of Noon and Smokin’ to our right, we jibed and ducked Tasmanian Devil and two other transoms, then saw the current line and decided to do a hard duck on another 4 boats in order to cross the line. About 30 seconds after we crossed the current line we made an immediate huge gain. Pipe Dream saw this and was next to jibe out. We then picked a spot later to jibe back to consolidate and were able to cross the big pack. All I can say is it was good there weren’t 25 boats out there.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen you outfox the fleet. What is key to getting the best of the tide? Experience is important, but what other keys can you use to take advantage of a variable tide situation like we had last night?

I think we used all our luck and brain cells in the first race, because we neglected to keep track of the current lines pre-start into the second race and overlooked that the full ebb had worked its way across the bay. Races during the mid-tide cycle (2-4 hours after high or low tide) are pretty straight-forward and most of the fleet is dialed into where the best and worst current is. However, when you are within 1- 1.5 hours of a tide change plan on having to more carefully sail across the course pre-start and pay particular attention to any lines and the current on either side. It’s just a habit with us that if we see a current line near the starting line, we’ll sail across it constantly to reaffirm whether its favorable or not, and then set up our starting strategy accordingly (either to get into favorable quicker or to avoid the foul). Also don’t assume that because high tide is 5:30 p.m. that the whole bay is ebbing at 6 p.m. Last night at 6:25, there was still flood current in the middle of the channel.

We won a race last year in just the opposite sequence of tide. It was low tide at 5:45, lightly flooding at the start at 6:15, and so most of the fleet hit the Fort Adams coastline. We headed out towards bell 13 and picked up a narrow river of ebb current and managed to close reach into mark #4 in true Sugar Plum fashion. We had seen both Pete and Scott win this same kind of race over the years, but never had the guts to try it!

John Mollicone (USA 5256)

You had a great comeback in that first race, finishing second. Tell a little about your plan for that race and how you got back in the lead group?

Our gameplan was to stay on starboard off the line and head towards the Newport shore. We thought there was more breeze on the left and we also thought the current was fully ebbing on the shore, but not so sure about the right. We had a bad start, but we were still able to get left and at least round the weather not too far behind the leaders. There was a nice left shift on the beat, and, it seemed, more pressure. I think the current started to change in the channel (deeper water) during this race, and was ebbing hard towards the Newport shore.

The second race started in a bit of a shifty breeze. Tell us a little how you approached the start and was your plan was for the first part of the beat?

The starting was a bit skewed and a little difficult to cross on starboard tack. Port tack was the long tack by far, and with the current ebbing hard, our gameplan was to tack onto port right away near the boat end. Being towards the boat, we thought we would get to the shipping channel right away towards Jamestown and in the strongest ebb. The best pressure also seemed to be middle right as well, and port was so lifted.

Very light air, flat water. What's the best way to set up the J/24 for those conditions? And how do you trim to it upwind?

Since it was so light, we went a half turn off both the uppers and lowers from our base setting, which is 20/15. We usually do this in under 5 knots, when we have a body or two down below. We call this our "super setting."

Downwind was very tough in the second race as the wind was very up and down, occasionally going really light. How aggressively were you changing your course to keep the spinnaker drawing? Tell us a little about the dialogue that goes on between the spinnaker trimmer and the driver?

Luckily, we had a decent lead at the weather mark (in the second race). It went real light on the run, with the current starting to go out real hard and against us. Staying aggressively towards the Newport shore but not too close was key. There was a current line that you needed to clearly stay inside of, but if you hugged the shore too close it would get real light. Our trimmer, Peter Henderson, was very vocal about pressure on the sheets and I would always respond slowly with some tiller and with our crew weight in or outboard. Being so light it was important to have very gentle tiller movements, if any, to head up or down. Our tactician, Rob MacMillan, would also be vocal about lane management and if there was pressure coming.