Regatta Debrief blogs are back! Sorry for the long hiatus. As always, these are part narrative, part technical debriefs for sailors, parents and coaches!
I remember Junior Olympics growing up - it was the biggest regatta of our short summer season in Maine and we would spend days packing our boats and going over our gear in anticipation. I remember the disappointment in 2004, in Portland, ME, when the Race Committee abandoned the only light air Club 420 race after 5 boats, myself and crew included had
finished. We filed for class-action redress asking to count the race but were denied by the protest committee, and with no wind the next day there was no regatta! After managing 7th in 2003 and winning 'the race that didn't count' we felt robbed of a JR Olympics!
finished. We filed for class-action redress asking to count the race but were denied by the protest committee, and with no wind the next day there was no regatta! After managing 7th in 2003 and winning 'the race that didn't count' we felt robbed of a JR Olympics!
Today the Opti kids on the Florida circuit have more consequential events, like Team Trials, Nationals and the International events they sail including Orange Bowl. But the Junior Olympics is still special because of its US Sailing designation and Multi-class flavor! The Opti fleet of 126 active boats was impressive in size and local talent!
Packing for this event began the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but many sailors packed their boats in a myriad of ways over the holiday break. The LYC Opti Trailer + Truck has 22 spots and given that 9 LYC Green Fleeters attended the event, that meant that much of champ fleet had to get their boats to the regatta by other means. 3 Families with sailing siblings have now acquired multi-opti trailers that together haul 8 more boats! The sailors and coaches appreciate these and other parents who carried Optis in their pickup trucks or on their roof-racks to help get the team to the regatta!
The sailors had a weekend off from sailing before the regatta, and put some thought into making sure all their equipment got there. At least 7 sailors did after school practice sessions the week leading up to get back into the feel of the Opti with coaching from Pilo, Mauricio or myself; others took advantage of the full break! On Friday, we drove up I95 and arrived at the US Sailing Center in Martin County just before 2pm, splashed coach boats and started rigging.
The sailors all checked their mast rake - sometimes this moves a little while in transit. This is measured with a tape measure led from the top of the mast to the top of the transom. It was great to see most of my silver fleeters had brought their own tape measure, and many had a zip-tie through the end-piece, which really helps the Tape stay hooked in the top of the mast!
Why does mast rake matter? The primary effect of the rake is to place the center of effort of the boat. Rake forward, center of effort is forward. This effects the balance of the boat and helm upwind (‘helm’ means the push or pull the sailor feels on the rudder). The secondary effect of rake is to change the boom height, which in turn changes the sheeting angle, feel of trimming the sail, and the amount of twist in the leech of the sail for a given sheeting angle. We encourage sailors to experiment with mast rakes within a given range (110”-111.5” for most sailors) and to move their rake on the water if they feel that the balance of the boat needs adjusting. That said, you need to have some consistency especially for less experienced sailors as again, the Sail looks different and trims different at different rakes. For example, we have had some larger, fast sailors in the past sailing fast at 112” (raked forwards, boom up), but they were adept at playing the mainsheet and took care not to stall the leech. Bella Cassaretto (Orange Bowl ‘16 champ) was the master of raking pretty far forward, heeling slightly to windward, yet still keeping her leech open with pressure in the sail, the fluttering leech telltale visible from my coachboat.
We stress the tuning process at LYC, and if you get your boom-ties and top-diagonal corner-tie right on the practice day you will not have to re-tie them for the rest of the regatta! We stress the overall importance of everything in the boatpark. Pilo likes to say “show the respect” to other competitors, which I think means both be respectful and demand their respect. Being polite but assertive when setting up your equipment keeps it from getting damaged and shows the rest of the fleet which sailors take their tuning and boatspeed seriously! We have a special routine for how we rig the sails (see rigging section in this past blog post), and sailors learn to find a dry, clean, temperature appropriate (rigging in the shade if its hot for example) spot to set the sail up. If there is really nowhere to rig or all the grass is wet you can set up the sail on top of the Opti, getting the corner-ties, preventer, vang and sprit all tight to stretch the sail and make it solid. When it comes time to launch, respect the rules and instructions of volunteers, but be creative with how you can get yourself and teammates to the beach. If an unattended Opti is blocking you, you may move it with extreme care.
The LYC sailors did a great job being ready and launching on-time. With my Silver fleet there was never one sailor holding up the towline and we got to the course both days right behind the Gold fleet tow line. Both LYC groups were among the first ones out practicing in the racing area and used the time to their advantage. A benefit of Ocean practice at LYC is that the sailors get really good at towing! Towing can at first be scary to Opti sailors, but like sailing, it is all about balancing the boat. You have to trim the sail in to keep pressure in it and on your foils. Then you can sit opposite the sail. If the towline is moving on a reach, let your sail out to a close reaching angle. If the coach is towing the Optis close hauled or above, then the sailor should pull the boom out to windward, still keeping the mainsheet tight to put downward tension on the sail as well. You can actually hike out with the boom balancing your weight!
Drew acknowledged for his towline readiness.
I don't tow sailors directly in to the wind - luffing the sails and the aging it causes is not worth the extra time. I will tow on a close hauled course and tack the tow line, trying to play the wind-shifts and current! At this point in the season this is all old news to the LYC sailors; they were all towing trimmed in hard, with weight forward and to windward balancing the sail - no airbag loungers!! With well prepared and maintained bowlines, and sunglasses for safety we were able to tow at a pretty fast speed over the long tow to the racing area north of the Bridge.
Saturday brought a light wind from the North that shifted to North east by the end of the day. The current was originally ebbing from the North, but went slack and then reversed around 1pm. The fleet could not get a clean start. The first 2 attempts under prep and U flag more than half the fleet was over the line! The line was relatively short for the 126 boats and square to the wind on average. It was apparent after the 2nd recall that the RC would go to Black Flag starting procedure, thus beginning the game of “is this a real start?”. The game is this: If a Black Flag start is going to be a General Recall, then there is nothing to be gained by being over - only the downside of a DSQ if the Race Committee sees you. So don't be over on a general recall!! I encouraged sailors to try to sniff out in the last 1:30 if the fleet was going to be over, and if soo to be very cautious! A port tack approach to a pin end start gives you a really good view of the fleet and line sag/line bulge before you commit to a spot on the line. Over the next hour and a half there were 3-4 more general recalls under Black Flag, and a lot of sailors kicked out.
RC shows the Boats recorded BFD who can’t sail in the upcoming race
Fortunately, and through prudence and reading the line only 1 LYC sailor was identified as over of all the general recalls! Luca Damiano read his number on the RC’s dry erase board board and we anchored his boat so he could watch the race with me from the Coachboat.
RC shows the Boats recorded BFD who can’t sail in the upcoming race
Fortunately, and through prudence and reading the line only 1 LYC sailor was identified as over of all the general recalls! Luca Damiano read his number on the RC’s dry erase board board and we anchored his boat so he could watch the race with me from the Coachboat.
A postponed start from the pin with coaches commentary.
Unfortunaly on the start that was finally allowed to go (the RC felt they had all of the sailors over identified) 3 more LYC sailors were caught BFD. However, I look at this as almost a “smart” BFD because they were trying to get a good start on a race that most sailors were on the line. I was able to watch down the line and saw Drew and James over near the committee boat by just a few inches! They were not happy to learn of the BFD back on land, but got to sail a good race and there was at least some upside to their gamble.
The race started in a left phase shift that made the Pin end favored by about 10 degrees. As such the boats that started at the committee boat - KJ,Ty, James, Matthew and Drew could not cross the fleet on starboard and tacked out towards the right. They still had clear air and leverage on the fleet and hoped for a right hand shift along the barrier-island shoreline to put them ahead. Lulu and Gil started well towards the Pin end and consolidated a little bit on the fleet before again leading out to the left. Sailing up the middle seldom works in light wind and I thought the leaders on both sides played their area well and were patient before coming back to the middle. The left side won out and though Lulu appeared to be in the lead Gil caught a puff on the port layline to round first with Lulu 3rd. Lulu eased her outhaul on port tack, reaching under the boom as she sailed into the mark, and used the extra full sail to motor on both downwind legs - getting launched into 2nd and making Gil nervous! Cody and KJ had nice comebacks and Mariano and Pierce sailed good races as well. Mateo crossed the line in 4th but was unfortunately Black Flagged!
Cody eases his outhaul as he rounds the Windward mark making a fuller sailshape for the downwind legs
Gill/Lulu lead race 1 at the leeward mark. Lulu has already re-tightened her sprit for the upwind leg.
It was a long day on the water, especially for one race, and the sun was low as we made the long tow in. The volunteers at the US Sailing Center were ready with a burger cookout for hungry sailors! Pilo let the Gold Fleet go as we would have a very early start tomorrow, while Mauricio and I did a short debrief with Silver and Bronze - we wanted to give some guidance on how to reflect on your day.
Gil starts the second upwind leg by scanning the race course for where he sees more wind.
Sunday I walked outside of the coach’s Airbnb to dark and a drizzle. The USSC’s grassy boat park had the potential to turn into a Woodstock ’69 level mud pit, but fortunately the rain stopped as the sun came up. We were happy to see manny of our sailors among the first ones there in advance of the 7:45am rigged and ready time. There was no “Harbor Start” which I liked- the sailors and coaches had to time getting out before the 9:30am Race Start north of the bridge, and could get out as early as they wanted - more regattas should do this!! We launched, towed out to the racing area on a screaming reach, and began tuning up in a brisk 12 kt Easterly.
The 3 races we completed on Sunday were each unique. The first race was sailed mainly in a light - 7-8kt “gradient” wind. The gradient wind comes from the ENE and is the result of the earth turning! Gradient wind is weak enough to prevail only in the absence of other wind - frontal or thermal breeze for example. The second and 3rd races on Sunday had wind that was influenced by rain clouds moving through the racing area. Rain displaces air so “rain clouds blow” is an easy way to think about their effect. Clouds without rain do the opposite, creating a cool vacuum underneath them that sucks air to it - so its important to look and see if its raining underneath the clowds upwind of the racing area!
After a Black Flag general recall the 2nd race of the regatta was underway. In light air and somewhat shifty wind it was all about getting a good start and playing the windshifts. A last lefty before the windward mark put SPYC’s Dorthy Mendelblatt in the lead with Ty Lamm in 2nd. Another shifty last beat and Ty got the horn! Gil Hackel had a good run, jibing to separate from the rest of the 5-10 pack and focusing on speed and kiting. He came back to 5th to maintain the regatta lead. Drew Lamm shook off yesterdays BFD and got a 4th.
In the next race around the time of the start a rain cloud became apparent above the top right side of the race course. The wind had already shifted to the right - due East now. There was a brief left oscillation after the start that allowed Gil to work towards the right of the course, but many boats that started towards the pin stayed left and would pay a heavy price! Luca Damiano had one of his best starts mid-boat but unfortunately didn't tack at the first opportunity and continued to sail through the middle towards the left. Skye Johnson and CRYC’s Freddie Parkin were among the only ones to focus on the rain cloud and played hard to the right. At this point it was still light wind and the sailors were mostly sitting in their boats. Then the wind began to build and shift right as the rain got nearer. Skye, Freddie and Gil, just on the outside edge of the shift but still getting it were wound up and up and up on starboard tack as a light drizzle just before the windward mark confirmed what was happening! Gil passed Freddie just before the windward mark, Jybed into the righty of the run and sailed defensively to win the race with Freddie 2nd. Skye rounded the windward mark 5th and finished 7th. For Cody, James and others on the left of the course its was a disaster! Its a tough situation - hoping and thinking the breeze will shift back your way because it has been oscillating all day/regatta, only for the persistent shift to hold! The lesson I would take going forwards is to look more at the clouds!
I should note that the breeze built with the onset of rain to 15kts on the last leg. At this point you are tuned for light air and you just have to hike it out! Some sailors left their sprit loose from the downwind leg to de-power which worked. It wasn't that long of a last beat so you just have to deal with the conditions and keep your eyes on the prize! Moving from 45 to 43 might not seem as glamorous as moving from 3rd to first but the points you save are the same given that there would not be a throwout!
Drew rocks the last leg with (maybe a little too) eased sprit. Note his minimalist grip on the extension- the helm is balanced by his hiking.
After race 2 there was a fairly long break - the rain passed to leeward which caused a lull. For a while the wind was unsailably light and from the South-West - an unsustainable direction. Fortunately another rain cloud gave us wind for the final race of the regatta! As the pressure built from the SE the LYC sailors that tunes up in the middle of the racing area got a feel for the wind shifts. As the rain-cloud appeared to be directly upwind of the windward mark, I told the sailors I spoke with not to expect a major shift and to play the oscillations. Gil had a target finish of top 8 to win the regatta and Freddie and Matias Martin to keep tabs on, while everyone else was just going for the best finish possible! Largely due to the tune up before the race and after the delay, LYC as a whole had our best race of the regatta. Coming from the middle left with good starts, speed, and in phase with the wind-shifts 6 LYC sailors rounded in the top 10. Gil stayed right just long enough to force Freddy further to that side but did give up some places with too many tacks and by Jybing around Mark 2 (wrong move this time!) Mateo Coates and Drew Lamm finished 1,2 - they had enough of a lead on 3rd for a short tacking duel just before the finish in which Mateo protected the right and just held Drew off.
It was great to see these sailors, who both had Saturday Black Flags holding their result back overall show what they can do! Ana Smith also notched her beast race to date and the RC was very nice to grant her “Scoring inquiry” after the protest deadline and reinstate her 17th. Final top overall results for LYC were Gil 1st, Ty 4th, Lulu 5th, Cody 10th, KJ 16th, Skye 23rd, Ana 29th, and Mateo and Drew 31 and 32 even with the Black Flags. From LYC’s Bronze fleet Alie Capasso (46th) Mariano Vega (59th even with a BFD!) and Natail Sorbo had good events! Overall the coaches were happy with the kids focus, work ethic and improvement and we are excited for 6 more days of training to see what strides we can make going into Orange Bowl!
