A light air regatta sailed on Tampa Bay (official slogan: "Where the Breeze goes to Die") that was nevertheless a very successful one for the LYC Team. One race was sailed on Saturday morning in an 8 knot Northerly and adverse current. Joey Meaghar led LYC sailors with a 5th place finish - putting him on pace to qualify for Team Trials - his goal for the regatta. When the current switched and the wind dropped to ~5 kts, the first flight underwent 5 general recalls, with the RC going from Prep Flag to U flag to Black. On the 4th start Kiril and Bobby were both Black flagged. Despite holding the fleet on the water until 3:30, the RC was unable to get a second race off. A unique provision in the Sailing Instructions stated that Black flags from abandoned races would not carry over to the following day - Bobby and Kiril were reinstated!
The Sunday race that counted was started at 8:30an in 8-10 kts of wind from the East with short choppy waves. The direction held surprisingly consistent throughout the race, even as the breeze began to die. Lucy Meaghar sailed to her best finish yet in championship fleet with a 12th! Joey sailed the solid, consistent race he needed - finishing in the top 15 and cementing his place in qualifying. Garret decided to let the rest of the boats start before him, but managed to come back into the top 20. A second race was sailed- mostly. With the Breeze dying the RC shortened the second start of the flight to be finished at the leeward gate, but only 18 boats finished under the time limit, while only 3 boats made it all the way around the course from the first start as the wind dropped to 0. Many LYC sailors improved in this final race - Brian finishing about 15th in the Second start, with Denver in the top 5 and Eddy in the top 20 of the first, before legal forward motion became impossible! When boats do not finish under the time limit, they are scored TLE which is the same points as a DNF/OCS/DSQ, ect. After phoning the USODA the RC decided that this did not represent a fair contest and abandoned the races after the fact. The final results had Joey in 15th overall and 9th in Blue Fleet out of 182 Boats; Garret 10th in Blue, and Lucy 9th in white. It was great to see Joey qualify emphatically for the team trials regatta - as I said to him after race 1, he has demonstrated in practice throughout the year that he belongs in that Fleet, so it was great to see him finally translate it to an event. Lucy qualified for the trials as well- a great experience for her, justification for the coaches' making the LYC silver fleet sail Gold at the regatta and push them to be the best individual sailors they can be! Lucy's attitude and effort in practice these past few weeks has been excellent and we're thrilled by the progress of the entire silver fleet. Congratulations!
Notes:
*This could be known as the "line sight education regatta." In the Friday clinic, coach Mitch Hall made it a huge area of focus. The Bay provided memorable landmarks for every breeze angle. The current made using a line sight essential - to beat the line sag in Race 1 (current with wind), and to avoid Black flags when the current was pushing the fleet over the line in later starts.
To get a line sight - sail up next to the Committee boat to the left side (looking upwind). Park the boat with your back to, or half a boatlenght below the Orange Flag on the Committee boat (they call the line from the flag). Look directly past the pin, and pick out a memorable feature on the shoreline. When the pin and that feature are lined up, you are on the start line!
You can't use a line sight on every start - sometimes there are boats pushing the line on both sides that make seeing it impossible; but you can always be better prepared to start by getting a line sight as soon as the marks are set! If there is a line sag, you can start a boat-length ahead in the middle of the line in a great position to control the race!
* Sailors need to work on keeping track of the windshifts downwind. You always want to sail the headed Jybe - better flow, speed, and more direct route to the mark. Keep track of the timing of shifts on the first beat as well as the last shift at the windward mark. You want to continue on starboard in a left shit; Jybe early to port in a right shift. In race 1 of the regatta, we had slow oscillations - 1 shift per beat, and a lefty on the first leg. Most of our sailors continued on starboard at first, but then missed the opportunity to Jybe when the wind swung back right. Its interesting to note that shifts will come a little slower downwind because you are sailing with the wind.
Reading your mast head fly is also really important. If its pointed at you, great! If at the boom, Jybe! Sometimes gravity skews the fly; also try to feel the wind angle on your neck, feel the stability of the boat, and check the upwind flow telltales on the sail as well (if they point at the mast you are by-the-lee).
Other elements of great down-winds where our sailors need to establish more consistency: Kitting consistently as hard as possible in light winds, board up all the way, pushed forwards in the slot (we marked the boards at the CRYC practice, if you missed it, see a coach!), sailing less distance and getting clear air.
* Angle of heel in light air and chop: the boats seemed to need about 5% leeward heel on Sunday. Digging the windward side of the hull into waves was deathly slow.
* Hydration. A certain team member had to be taken in for dehydration on Sunday. Chaperones need to encourage hydration the night before, and sailors should drink at least 2 bottles before the first race, and 1 between each race. Get comfortable peeing in the water or in a bailor! Stupidity is the first symptom of dehydration, making high level sailing impossible.
* Tactics. Dig out to a side when you think there is an advantaged to be gained. Work back towards the middle when an advantage has been gained. To highlight a couple sailors tactics on Sunday: Eddy had an illogical first beat in race 2, starting boat before crossing under a bunch of boats getting to the left side, then sailing all the way back to starboard layline. In race 3, Brian had better patience with the left, starting 6 boats from the pin, and patiently working the favored left side. He didn't bang the corner, but told me after the race "I did the first beat in 6 tacks!" Sailing the trapezoid, the last leg can often have an obviously favored tack, but on the long, square first beats, its sometimes hard to have confidence you are going the right way. Be patient with your strategy, focus on finding a lane and going fast, and adhere to the 2 tactical rules from the start of this paragraph.
Thank you to our coachboat towers, Bob and Dimitry, and to our team for a good effort.
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