Valentines Regatta Debrief & Recap

Laura "Lulu" Hamilton won the 2018 Valentines Regatta without having to sail the last race as LYC sailors excelled in St. Petersburg this past weekend. Sailing 6 races in varied conditions against 150 boats, this was a challenging regatta for the 15 sailors that raced with our team, so the sailors that did well really earned it! Here's the top of the leaderboard:

It was even better by Fleet. LYC in Red: 1, 4,5    Blue 1,7,8      White: 1st James Asturias, 5th Drew Lamm and 7th Skye Johnson. 

The regatta was the first big fleet race of the '18 Spring Season, and as a USODA sanctioned event, a qualifier for Team Trials. The US Opti Team Trials will be this April 26-29th at Key Biscayne Yacht Club where the ~250 best Opti sailors in the country will race to qualify for the National team, and invitation to international regattas. At Valentines and other USODA events, finishing in the top 25% of all registered boats (green and champ) gets you an invite to Team Trials. 

With many good sailors (including Stephan Baker) in Mar De Plata, Argentina, Valentines is considered a good opportunity for sailors who have been improving throughout the year to qualify. Confirmation pending, we think  4 new LYC sailors made this goal with Ty Lamm, James Asturias, Drew Lamm and Skye Johnson in the top 50 overall  (over 200 entries) to qualify for the first time! 

We arrived in St Petersburg late Friday morning and prepared for a practice. A number of Northern Teams were already rigging up - CERT from NJ, LIMA (Long Island Mid Atlantic), Buddy Melges of Wisconsin, Annapolis YC and others. But there was no wind and we were the first Florida team there! When we got on the water at 2:00pm there were remnants of a light, light easterly that had wafted for a couple hours. There was also a sailboat to the north heeling over in a stout Northerly! Bam, the wind shut off and we had the kids rock to a dark band of breeze that was sliding down the bay from the north. We sailed a long upwind, testing speed and practicing technique, and then 2 practice races in a 8-13kt Northwest Wind.  It was good for Robby Brown who was coaching with us to get to know each sailor, and I made some suggestions with where some sailors should sit upwind and downwind. Its important to balance the boat completely flat and be connected to the boat. 

Upwind in the Opti in Chop: 

 - Sit 4-6 Inches Behind/Aft of the Bulkhead. 

 -Knees and feet together and pointed to leeward. 

 -Front foot connected to hiking strap. Even if you are not hiking kick your foot under the strap and ankle into it! 

*Hydrodynamic explanation: the Opti Bow crates a lot of drag when it gets hit by waves. Try to keep the bow transom just above the waves, and keep the boat connected to the waves so there is minimal "pounding". 

Downwind in Light/Medium:

  -Point knees forward and slide forward until your shins hit the bulkhead. This hurts a little bit but keeps you connected to the boat, and sitting in the widest part (helps you heel it over to windward more). 

 - Dont worry about bow plowing! The bow dips low on a wave, you go back with your shoulders, pump the sail, and get surfing! 

*Hydrodynamic explanations: 

 - The stern is wider than the bow so when you heel (kite) to windward, the stern digs in more. So for equal dig, you need to move forwards vs upwind when you sail flat. 

 - The waves are coming from behind you now so the bow drag is not an issue. 

Ryan Kronrad showing good medium air technique at an LYC practice. 

While you can't learn technique overnight in the heat of a regatta, I think our sailors worked really hard to sail with good technique throughout and improved a lot. Kevin Gosselin had been working hard in the weeks of practice prior to clean up his technique, to work the waves in a sharper, but smoother and more precise fashion, and to limit rudder movement (causes drag!). He had a breakthrough regatta with only one race deeper than 10! Deana and Avery were two girls joining us form the Chicago Yacht Club who were sailing for the first time this year. Deana quickly regained her technique and had top 10 speed for most of the regatta, while Avery improved a lot in this area as well. Each sailor went into the regatta knowing something they had to be better about with technique - sail trim for Skye, Holding the end of the tiller extension when he hikes for Drew, consistent top speed and fast transitions for the top sailors like Jack, Lulu and Peter. 

In the practice races there was a bit of current and some general recalls, and some Black flag disqualification in the practice races - I was the race committee as we scrimmaged with Annapolis, KBYC and friends around a trapezoid course. Lulu won at least one of the practice races and we knew we had a good team. 13 of the 15 sailors that sailed with LYC made it out to practice on Friday! 

At the evening debrief there were 2 messages, Keep it Simple, and watch the current! We noted to the kids that we had just practiced close to shore - out 2-3 miles in Tampa Bay they should expect a lot more current. We went over the tide change predicted times and talked about how you can see current on anything that is anchored. Keeping it simple means focus on getting good starts, clear air and boatspeed through technique. Don't tack more than you need to and be patient with the side of the course you choose in the relatively stable breeze we were expecting. 

Saturday we sailed the first race in over 12 Kts of Breeze from the North and it was basically a speed test. Out in the bay it was pretty consistent, with the tide running downwind and about to change, and the breeze lessening throughout the race. Connor won the first race of the regatta with Peter right behind him in 2nd. In the 2nd Start Lulu won with Jack 2nd narrowly beating CRYC's Freddie Parkin in 3rd. Around Mark 2 I witnessed this exchange between Lulu and Jack:

   Jack: "Hey Lulu, I don't see the Gate, where is the next mark?"

   Lulu: "Here Jack!" [Lulu Points here whole arm to the Gate to show Jack the way to go].

It was pretty hilarious to see this from the Coachboat and Lulu learned an important lesson about racecourse friendship when Jack covered her air later on the run, and pushed hard for inside overlap -passing her and slowing them both down! This put Freddie Parkin back in the race as all 3 sailors rounded the Mark just boatlengths apart, and then shuffled positions multiple times as each sailor ran forward to tighten their sprits! 

    I think we can get faster at this maneuver and you should wait to tighten your sprit if it means immediately giving up a place! You can go alright for 20 boat lengths with a sprit that is too loose, then tighten when you have a bigger lead because the boat behind you sat in your dirty air. In addition, taller sailors should pull on the sprit on the downwind 5-10 boat lengths before the leeward mark when it costs nothing! 

    Lulu battled back passing Jack on the top left of the course and Drew, Graceanna and Kevin had solid first races. Deana had a top 10 but was Black Flagged! 

The next race was the most sketchy of the regatta. We had passed low tide, and the current was starting to Flood back into the Bay from the South. The Northerly wind was lightening. So the current was pushing hard over the line - Classic Valentines Regatta conditions! Really! Here is a picture I drew about the 2016 Valentines Regatta that approximates the situation:

As the pin was Favored (further upwind than the Committee Boat end of the line), I recommended to my sailors the Port-Tack Approach. I think it is ideal for Plus current and pin favored Starts, I do it a lot in my own racing, and it was a favorite strategy of Ian Barrows when he placed 2nd at Opti Worlds. 

If you look at how the fleet stacks up at ~1 Minute and understand well how much current there is, you can see if it is going to be a genereal recall. Getting a BFD on a General Recall stinks! You risked everything to gain nothing. Better to approach from below the line and sneak through late only if the Start is actually going to happen. On Race 2A two thirds (TWO THIRDS!) of the Fleet got BFD - Kicked out of the race!!!! - over the course of 4-5 General Recalls. Deana, Avery, Annie (who normally sail on Lake Michigan) and Drew got BFD's on Recalls and watched the race from my coachboat. Tyler and others learned the port tack approach and survived. Racing in a much smaller fleet that was finally able to start Tyler finished 2nd! 

The last beat of this race was super light, but Lulu made a big mistake in how she attempted to cover and dropped from 1st to 4th! Here are some general rules for last leg covering:

*Try to stay between your closest opponents and the finish.

*Try to "herd" them together. When you cover a boats air, they tack; when you loose cover they often keep going. By understanding this the leader can actually control where the boats they are covering are going to sail. I think "Herding" is a good word. 

*Cover between opponents and the pressure (next puff you see on the water. )

*Cover bow out on the long tack, accounting for current. 

*Cover between opponents and the next shift and continue to sail the best strategy. In College sailing one of my self mantras was "never stop thinking strategically." You should not abandon what got you the lead in the first place! 

The finish boat was set to the right of the previous course axis, there was a smokestack on the Tampa shore showing an easterly breeze direction (right shift coming), and there was more pressure visible on the right. The current was now pushing from directly behind you on starboard tack and at your beam on Port. All these factors said "protect the right side!" yet Lulu got in a tacking duel with Jack and then separated left of him and all the other boats. Peter Barnard took what was given to him, sailed to the pressure, and almost won the race (Jack got back from the left just in time to take the gun). Lulu, now over the Port layline thanks to the current lost another boat to finish 4th. It was one of her few mistakes in a great regatta and a good learning opportunity. 

The Race Committee re-set the course to the Easterly wind that had now filled all across the bay, and we started the 3rd race of the day. The current was now running from Committee boat to pin (right to left) but it had lessened somewhat. Again, you have to go off what you observe, not just what the tide table told you! It was hard to tell, but the current was pushing boats down below the line very slightly as well. This and the fact that almost half the fleet had a BFD on their scorecard this early in the regatta meant that there was line sag the 3rd race:

Lulu, Jack and Connor observed the start of 3A, saw the pin was favored, and started atop the pin group (top left of the picture). They finished 1,3,5 and Nico also had a good race. We got to shore around 5pm - the kids had spent 7 hours on the water and were mentally exhausted. 

When the current is pushing you under the line, I favor the opposite approach as when it is running over. Its tough to make the pin, and tough to sail thorough the fleet to the first row on Port. Get a line sight, set up above the fleet, and maintain your position in the first row + for the last 1:30. 

Sunday morning brought light breeze out of the Southe-east. We had talked with the kids about pressure before the regatta - pressure is just your brains way of reminding you that you want to do your best! Lulu and Lucy had resisted the temptation to party too hard the night before (they are definitely the hardest partying Opti sailors) so everyone was alert and ready to go. While 4 of our sailors had a realistic chance to win the regatta and many others were chasing important goals like Team Trials, the kids seemed pretty relaxed and poised. However things shook out on the water would be based on their ability to read the current/conditions, and execute a game plan with good boatspeed, not on anything to do with pressure. 

The chop was steep at first because the current was going out against the wind. The wind picked up to about 12-13 kts - it would be a fun race! Again, we would be reading while it changed, but this time it was the first start of the day where sailors had to be careful. Unfortunately Graceanna and Avery were not and received fatal BFD's - I could see at 1 min. to the start that Graceanna was set up too high, and the RC could certainly see her red sail numbers! Most of the rest of our team set up with a port-tack approach, and had a good first race - Lulu had a beautiful start and won her race, while Kevin, Tyler and James had good races to show that their high standing entering the day was no fluke and Tyler and James would be making Team Trials. Jack and Connor were both a little too conservative - Jack surveying the line from past the pin too late in the sequence and both of them attempting to start on port. The "port-tack approach" does not mean "port tack start!" Connor overcame that and a kinetics penalty on the reach to climb back to 4th while Jack's superior upwind speed got him to 5th. 

The current then shifted, and was pushing sailors below the line, so you could confidently start in the first row. Lulu and Connor both notched bullets, and after some laborious calculation her coaches concluded that she had won the regatta. 

An interesting thing: Why does the left side of the course pay soo much in St. Pete, given that the wind shifts clockwise throughout the day? In this racing area and circumstances, it is due to the underwater geography. Tampa Bay actually gets shallower in the middle! Between the racecourse and the SP Yacht Club there is a dredged shipping channel where a lot of the moving water funnels to. So in this race with the current coming in there was actually a little bit more adverse current sailing upwind if you went too far right. We benefited from this knowledge at the Fall STQ as well as this regatta. The difference in current velocity is not pronounced but it does help to factor in your percentages with which side you choose. 

Connor summed up his strategy really well in this post race interview. He talks about starting ahead and covering his side.  Im impressed he was already thinking ahead to the next race and wanted to be more careful of a predicted right shift. This is why we sometimes pretend he is the assistant coach!

https://www.facebook.com/SailingCenter/videos/10155432968280852/

Here's the line sag for race 5:

You can see how the downwind current condenses boats at the pin. Nobody had the understanding of current, line sight, and gumption to start mid line-front row! I wonder what some of the 2nd and 3rd row boats are thinking - they must not be able to see the forest through the trees! 

The sky grew dark and the wind spiked dramatically before the final race. The committee said over the radio that there were storms in the gulf - we told the sailors to keep an eye out for rain that might cause a drastic wind shift - Rain pushes out air creating wind coming from the rain clouds. The rain clouds never came and the wind direction stabilized after shifting right between races 5 and 6, but there was one big difference between this race and all the others: the RC favored the pin by 10 degrees! You can see it in this picture taken just after the start: the Optis on starboard are sailing a ridiculously high angle:

Not enough LYC sailors noticed or took advantage of this skewed start line - that is CRYC's Freddie Parkin punched out as the leftmost sail on the screen - and many had their throw out race to close. The exception was Connor Boland who ground Freddie down on the last beat to take the bullet and move up to 2nd place overall, and Lucy Meagher who was gushing blood from her finger before the race, calmly wrapped it with electrical tape (she knew bandaids would not stick!) and hiked hard to a 6th.  The kids ripped in, packed their boats and got ready for the awards at the end of a tough regatta! 

The Principle Race Officer Todd Fedezyn got all 6 scheduled races off on tricky Tampa Bay and it was good for us to see some of his tendencies as he will be the PRO at Team Trials. I though he did a great job and had a really relaxed demeanor. Here's what we can expect going forward: 

Todd's Tendencies:

*Favor the pin by 10 degrees when the current is pushing over the line - this reduces general recalls/the number of boats OCS. 

*Go to black flag after the 1st general recall.

*Recall subsequent starts where there are too many boats over to identify them all, BFD (remove!) the ones they could identify, then re-start. Repeat until there are few enough BFD's that the RC is  able to identify all of them and let the race go. 

*Be patient with even a really light air race - he did not call of a race that was hovering around 3.5-4 kts . I really agree with this because it takes less time to finish than it does to re-start! 

*Start a race even if the course is not perfect - ex: the boat favored final race that could still be started because of the adverse current keeping boats under the line. 

*Understand and adjust for the current and wind velocity. He shortened the beat when the current was adverse and lengthened when the current was pushing upwind. 

As I said in the opener, the sailors that were on the podium really earned it - this was a challenging regatta! I am proud of the way they competed and the blood (Lucy, Drew) sweat, and tears (multiple parties)  they put into this event. While some clubs just sent the kids that needed to qualify, I think having Lulu, Jack, Connor and Peter to set the example for the up-and-coming team members was really beneficial. Culture feeds culture and we were a team in every sense of the word, from sailors to coaches and parents! 

White Fleet Champ James Asturias