This past weekend the LYC Silver Opti Team traveled to beautiful coastal North Carolina and competed in the Opti Southeast Championships. The regatta was mentally challenging for all - some sailors were dealing with the pressure they put on themselves to qualify for Team Trials, while others were experiencing their first RWB regatta. The conditions were steady and breezy on Saturday with a lot of chop, then flatter (still somewhat choppy) with big slow shifts on Sunday. Everyone deals with pressure in different ways - my approach has always been to put a ton of pressure on myself in practice, so that I am used to it! This leads to a more consistent approach at regattas where I don't get too high after a great race (stay focused on the details) and expect myself to bounce back after a bad race or even bad leg. As Olympian Michael Blackburn says: "The race is always from here, on out. Ignore past mistakes and focus on going fast and looking around."
Miles Wolf sailed well enough to make the Team Trials (21st out of 90 boats), but an umpire's late decision (not reported until after the "final" on-site results were posted - we left the regatta thinking he had qualified) unfortunately bumped him out of the top 23. I spoke at length with the umpire and am still not satisfied with his various explanations for the flag and subsequent DSQ. Rule 42 specifically bans "vertical or athwart-ships (in and out) body movement," but says nothing about natural for-and-aft movement designed to keep the boat in contact with the water, provided it does not constitute an "Ooch" - "sudden forward movement, stopped abruptly." Ill take this a step further - over-enforcement of fast techniques is holding American sailors back in international competitions against more enlightened countries (US = 0 Olympic Medals in 2012), and if you stand against America, then I stand against you! I love sailing judged events (fairness is a key concept in sport) and thank Judges for enormous time and effort they put in, but wish there was more open discussion at the US Sailing Level on how 42 is specifically being enforced and what the ramifications are! Despite the disappointment, I am confident that Miles has the skills to make Team Trials at his next USODA event (especially if he stops capsizing!).
I am always impressed at Opti regattas with the importance of Tacktics. To execute any tactical plan you obviously need to have good starts and boatspeed, but at this and other regattas, the decision making versus the fleet still seemed make a 40% difference in the sailors' results from race-to-race. Below I have illustrated a couple key concepts.
Cross When You Can after the start
By getting a good start at the favored end, you should be able to cross much of the fleet and position yourself between them and the next mark/next shift.
Mid Beat, Always Lead Back
The corollary to the first concept - if you are not able to cross, you should tack at a safe lee-bow position to stay in phase.
At the End of the Beat, Controol Your Side
The end of the beat is a key point in the race to make or consolidate gains. Take a look at the breeze to determine your short term strategy, then hard cover the boats behind you on that favored side. If your strategy was correct, you will gain on the boats on the opposite side as well!
Don't Follow Someone Good!
I'v learned a lot over my sailing career by studying good sailors at regattas, but its their Technique you should be copying, not their strategy! Here's why following someone in oscillating shifts will put you further and further behind them:
Other Factors:
Its been said that "preparation wins sailboat races," and while this is part of winning, its absolutely true that lack of preparation looses them! Sailors need to check and re-check all of their equipment for functionality before a regatta. Issues like "my watch doesn't start" or "my vang slips" or "my original 2004 mainsheet ratchet stopped working" shouldn't be coming up on the water and can absolutely torpedo a sailors race and possibly their regatta! Also take the time on shore to make your sail-ties perfect, and pull on your square knots firmly! Re-check your boat between each race, making sure all sail ties are legal (less than 1cm between sail and spar, sail band between mast bands), vang, sprit, outhaul and cunningham are right for the conditions, bailors are un-tangled, and your hull is dry and free of trash.
In choppy conditions, after-the-start bailing is really important. At the summer LYC Opti Clinic, Duncan Williford told the kids that he would always have his boat bailed completely dry by the windward mark so he could focus on passing people on the Reach and Run. He usually passed 10-15 boats!
Check out this great video by former Eckerd Coach Scott Norman on how to Sail-While-You-Bail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHXp3xyTGNw
Note the grip on the bailor, the tiller and mainsheet held in the same hand, and the fact that the sailors is still working the waves with his eyes on the sail, waves, and racecourse.
Cheers,
Arthur Blodgett
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