At the risk of sounding braggadocios, I would like to point out the current run that the LYC RWB Opti sailors are on:
*1st and 2nd place at the last 3 Opti Fleet Race Regattas.
*A different LYC Sailor won each event!
While the big goal is strong finishes at Team Trails (April 19-22 in San Francisco) and we have events each of the next 2 weekends, the early results versus regional competition have been excellent.
Jonathan Siegal scored Bullets in the first 4 races of the Buccaneer Blast to take the regatta, while Garret Dixon rebounded from a rough Saturday to dominate the final three races and finish second! Overall, LYC finished 1,2,4,8,11,12,15th, with Giulio Zunino 2nd in Blue Fleet, Connor Bolland 5th in Blue and Bobby Rielly 5th in Red. It was also a terrific showing for LYC's Green Fleet with 13 sailors in attendance, and awesome to have to RWB setting such a great example for the (relative) youngsters!
Connor's future Christmas Card to his friends!: Connor (right) leads Giulio (center) and Jonathan (top right)
around the leeward mark during the final race on Sunday.
Conditions/Speed:
Light wind on Saturday - 4-7kts, and Breeze on Sunday of about 12-16kts. Given the shallow water of the Upper Keys, and semi-protected venue, the waves were small but choppy. This put a premium on upwind speed on the first day just so that you could punch through the chop, while big gains were made on Sunday off the wind by those who had the technique and effort to surf each little wave.
On Saturday the wind was light enough that maintaining flow on ones sail was sometimes difficult. It's important to remember that if your sail is stalled, no amount of "kinetic" movement will drive your boat through the waves. When you feel a loss of speed, look first to you upper set of luff telltales, and try easing until you have them streaming. THEN when you have speed go back to watching your lower telltales and the waves. Jonathan and Connor both had superior speed in these conditions due to:
1. Good flow on the telltales and appropriate sailtrim (.5 inch off the corner when really needing speed, 1 inch inside the corner once speed was established)
2. Weight in the boat, but slightly back from the thwart so as not to dig the bow in. Most sailors are used to moving forwards in light air, but in the Opti chop means you must stay back.
3. Good smooth fore-and-aft body movements (permitted under rule 42 so long as it is not an "ooch"), executed while keeping the tiller still (Bobby and Jack started the regatta with way too much rudder movement but both improved).
Most of our sailors correctly set up with loose vangs (1/4" of sag when trimmed in upwind) and sprits after the first race. Set your sprit in light air so that wrinkles begin to show from the top of the mast towards the middle of the sail when in a puff. This will give you more twist, pointing ability and SPEED.
One Side Favored!
Based on the vast experience of coaching one day of this regatta last year I expected and prepped my sailors for big random oscillating wind shifts. I was wrong! The wind did oscilate back and forth slightly all weekend, but the shifts were pretty small - only 5-10 degrees. Furthermore, there was a side of the racecourse that almost always seemed to pay off! - the left on Saturday and the right on Sunday.
Saturday Pattern: most of the pressure filling from the left side of the racecourse. When the breeze would die, it would fill in on the left first. I don't know exactly why this was the case, but suspect that the seabreeze was trying to fight trough from down the key. On the friday Green Fleet practice, when the wind died completely, it came in hard from the left.
Jonathan was rarely the farthest left boat, but still made sure he covered the left and got to the pressure. Connor came back from ~10th to 3rd on one beat where he banged the left corner. There were exceptions: Bobby, seeing that the left pressure had spread across the course at the beginning of a long upwind leg, chose to stay in phase and sail the lifted tack to the right of the fleet. The wind did shift back a little bit, and he was able to cross back to the left having gained 7 boats- some really smart sailing! Giulio had his typical excellent starts and good gameplan, but like pretty much every sailor over 90lbs that day, had trouble finding the speed to capitalize - light air and chop will always be the toughest conditions for heavier boats.
Sunday Pattern: Strong winds from the east meant a long, slightly angled shoreline to the right of the course that promised shoreline lifts. The puffs from the right weren't "fanning" or visible on the water (as you would expect from shoreline lifts), but the right paid pretty consistently. Garret was the first boat to really test this advantage, and won his 3 races by over 15 boat lengths by continuing to go back to this advantage. Libby and Connor had generally plus second beats by trending to the right side of the course as well. You still had to be aware of the shifts and what your angle was, but designing a start-->first beat strategy to get to the right was important, as was using any left shifts to get to the right. A lot of stupidity was evident in some sailors who rounded the leeward mark, tacked, and sailed under the fleet (still coming downwind) to the left!
While the waves will be very different in San Francisco, we expect a number of races where one side is consistently favored due to current. Check the tides, forcast, and topography of your racing venue and make a prediction on what the winning strategy will be. If something is working, keep doing it!
Skewed Line:
The start lines were not very square - mostly pin favored Saturday and Boat favored Sunday. After Garret and Libby both picked up a Black Flag in the 3rd race, coach Step Hudson stressed approaching the line "numbers covered" - unreadable from both ends, then getting up to speed before go. Overall, our team did an excellent job finding the favored end and a number of sailors (Nico!) improved their starts by the end of the event.
Downwind Matters!
The most impressive part of Jonathan's wins Saturday and Garret's wins on Sunday were they way they extended on the downwind legs. This was due to technique and effort. With a lot of really short surf able waves, you must have the effort to pump on each of them! As you pump, the shoulders (or for smaller sailors whole body) must be back in the boat to stop the bow from burying. As you surf and ease, you must slide forwards. This is because the crest of the wave is moving towards your bow, and you do not want the stern to dig in. These movements are LEGAL under rule 42 - provided the slide forward does not end so abruptly as to be considered an "ooch". You do not want the boat to rock side to side (at least in an Opti) because this will result in offsetting rudder movements (slow).
Sailors who weren't able to make big gains downwind were guilty of at least several of the following:
*Board down too much or sail trimmed in too much (you are too afraid of capsizing).
*Boat not balanced for-and-aft (you are too afraid of bow plowing)
*Not enough pumping (you are too tired from the upwind leg - get in shape!)
*Too much rudder movement (you need practice!)
* Sailing in a pack of boats (you need to find a clear lane at the beginning of the run.
Overally, our team is improving downwind and we now have at least 4 sailors (Garret, Jonathan, Bobby, Mitchell) who should be able to execute the Duncan Williford-School-to-winning-regattas: Round Top 10 at the windward mark, Round Top 3 at the leeward mark!
Laying Up to the Windward Mark
Speaking of which...sailing to the lay lines too early will invariably cost you places at the end of the first beat (was a problem we did't solve at Buc Blast). Instead, "Lay up" to the windward mark by consciously approaching below the laying. Last weekend when I was trimming on the winning J24 for Midwinters in Tampa, our skipper (and top Canadian pro sailor) Rossi Milev would use this approach every time! Ill give the sailors more of a chalk talk on this in the coming weeks, but here's a sketch of the general concept:
By approaching 5-10 boat lengths below the layline, A always gains on B because B sails in more traffic, and can't benefit from a windshift either way.
Congrats to our sailors and I'm looking forward to more tactical, short course racing at Jensen Beach this weekend.
Arthur Blodgett
All Photos courtesy of Francesco Zunino
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