When I puled up "WindAlert" on my cellphone Saturday morning, my first thought was "uh oh." The advance forcasts had been for light-medium but steady breeze from the north-west. But now the graph showed the wind switching to the East in the afternoon. When you have a morning land breeze and afternoon seabreeze forecast, the transition can sometimes take a while. Both fleets started a race in a 5kt Westerly, but only the first fleet finished as the second start had to be abandoned. Mitchell Callahan was winning and Sara Schuman and Lulu Hamilton top 5 when the reach became a beat into the current. Other sailors did not get off the start line and were happy to see the race abandoned! The breeze promptly excused itself from biscay bay for the next 4 hours. Sailors had ample time to hang out, eat, and swim before the first fleet was sent in for the day. My sailors did a good job hydrating and we killed a couple cases of water - it was still a long day to be cooking in the sun for and everyone needed to hydrate all evening as well!
waiting for wind with Jake, Rhys, Simone, Cody, KJ, Arrabella and coach Arthur
Finally, at around 3 o'clock a weak seabreeze came in and we finished the set in a light air race with a bit of powerboat chop. Justin Callahan won the start this time and managed the fleet to win. Mitchell beat out Sara in a close tacking duel before the finish.
Saturday night we got to hang out at the club for protests! Stephan and I had appealed a ruling from the last regatta, asking for clarification of how the rules were applied to the Protest Committee's facts found. For those unfamiliar with protest procedure, after taking evidence from parties, a three Judge committee writes out their "facts found" about the incident, then determines how to apply the rules. Again, in the appeal we had only challenged the application of the rules, so it was odd when the Appeals committee came to the decision that what it really needed was new facts found - that there would have to be another hearing. They held it, and found new facts that supported the DSQ.
This I think made Stephan's day on Sunday all the more remarkable. 5 races were sailed and he won 4 of them - several by huge margins. He and Justin's first race against each other was a close battle with Stephan being able to work a little lower on the run leg and hold the lead. The next race he really found a groove downwind passing the USVI's Mia Nicolosi to leeward on the reach and extending. Overall it was a really good day for our team, with 5 LYC sailors finishing in the top 10, and some nice results in White fleet from young sailors Will Macdiarmid, KJ Hill, Jake Homburger and others.
The Sunday conditions were breezier - full hiking in the morning to light hiking at the end, and from the east. We've sailed and coached a lot of regattas on Biscayne Bay and had success there, so we felt like we knew what was going on. The shifts got bigger as the day went on (the land's heating causes this) but they were pretty regular in timing. There is a slight wind bend to the left as you get further upwind and closer to Key Biscayne, but the "go left" pattern became less reliable as the oscillating shifts got bigger. Predicting and adjusting to the last shift before the start was critical - if you watched the start before and kept checking the angel of the wind vs the line, you could see what change was beginning, and get to that end of the line at around 1:30 before your start. That favored end would then be able to cross the fleet, and stay in phase with the next 2 shifts. There were about 3 shifts per beat, so if the pin was favored, that meant you were starting in a lefty, and could expect a left-right-left shift pattern. If you started with the boat favored, that meant the fleet was in a righty and could expect a right-left-right pattern.
At other venues the shifts won't be as regular, but the principle is still helpful. Race committees arn't stupid, they know how to set a fair line for what the breeze was before 5-10 min before the start. If one end suddenly becomes favored, it means you are in a shift that way. If you get a good start at the favored end, you will be able to get in phase with that shift, either by tacking and crossing from the pin, or continuing from the boat end.
Coach Pilo has been channeling Malcolm Gladwell's theory in preparing our kids for starts: if you do something 100,000 times you can become good at it! In addition to working on positioning on the line, timing and acceleration, we try to stress sailors thinking and testing for themselves, looking upwind for pressure, and paying close attention to the wind shifts during the pre-start.
Some sailors are halfway there - Cody Roe had a couple nice holes to start in in the 4th and 6th races, both at the favored third of the line! Unfortunately the first time he didn't have the mainsheet or sprit tension to hold a lane, and the second time jibed out of a good spot! Will and KJ were not quite accelerating with the front row, but their patience on the first beat was great - finding the clearest air they could with minimal tacking and staying on the long lifted tack to the mark.
The current was ebbing out of the "Bear Cut" bridge, going against the wind after the first race and increasing through most of the day. Wind against current = chop, and Biscayne bay delivered its signature wave formation! This chop disadvantaged one particular group of sailors, of who we had a few: those who don't point high enough.
I realize this seems somewhat contrarian - all we sailors have been told at some point to put the bow down for speed though a set of waves. But when the chop is constant, sailing a lower angle makes the sweeping effect of each wave more great. With each wave that you take at a more obtuse angle, you present more of your side surface to the wave and are pushed to leeward more.
There's an important distinction between Pointing and Pinching, just as there is between footing and stalling. Pinching is when the sail is luffing or the inner tell-tale is stalling and you are giving up power and loosing some speed. Pointing means you have kept perfect flow on your sail, and are only going as high as keeping your speed will allow. Footing is when you put the bow down and ease your sail to build extra speed, stalling is when you head down without easing and the leeward telltale goes flat! Those who could foot for a couple seconds, but then keep their speed in point mode: boom trimmed maybe an inch inside the stern corner (depending on weight and mast rake) for extended periods of time went fast!
Americas Cup legend Dennis Connor writes something to the effect of "if you can keep your telltales flowing perfectly in all conditions shifts and waves, you are amoung the top 1% of helmsmen in the world." Waves are really the biggest challenge, and those who sail fast in them are really great sailors. The Opti is a pretty unforgiving hull-form and thus a great trainer. A lot of keeping the telltales flowing has to be done with weight. First you have to have your legs locked in good hiking technique so you are connected to the boat, then move your upper body to smoothly help the boat through every wave. Keep a soft hand on the tiller and practice concentrating on the telltales and waves, and you will do fine!
Sitting slightly further back as you would normally is something always have to remind my sailors when we race in Miami, as the bow transom digging in is really slow. Sail-while-you bail is a skill you need to use a lot and be comfortable doing. Last week at practice Rhys Pullar learned to sail-while-he-ate-a-sandwich and applied it to bailing skills that made it his first regatta without a swamping! Water in the boat makes you float lower and ship exponentially more water. I will put out the unresearched fact that 1 inch of water across the bottom of an Opti weights 70lbs - that like sailing with another Rhys! Start bailing as soon as you have 1/2 and inch of water. Also start the race with your boat bone-dry (don't role tack too hard and bail if you need to in the pre-start) and don't come to my coach-boat with water in your boat after the race!
Its important to not over-depower or over-vang when its windy, but you also want to set up your sails to point - loose luff tension (more twists on the preventer) when its light and never too loose on the outhaul. For most Opti sails the shape of the bottom seam is the designed foot-curve and we try to set the outhaul to respect that as a base setting. Will had wrinkles above this seam, took them out and pointed higher.
For the new Silver fleeters it was cool to see the progress from a month ago in Jensen Beach when soo many didn't know the flags, thought there was a lunch break in Champ fleet, and couldn't finish the day of racing. For everyone below the highest level, there are always sailors to look up to and try to copy, so the friends and influences you gain from regattas are really special. To work on our boats, on the segments of our game as sailors, and to execute certain things better than the last time gave me a good sense of fulfillment out of this event.
From left, Justin, Stephan, Mitchell and Cody just hanging out.
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