Seeking a Fall challenge, with cooler temperatures and a good fleet we traveled to the North Country Fair, Newport Rhode Island for the Optimist New England Championship. In the home of the 12 meter yachts - the class of the America's Cup from 1958-1988 and on the peninsula where 'Dylan went electric' in 1965, our sailors raced among a fleet of 208 boats. Tommy Sizmann was a close over-early away from winning the event, but took 6th, with Jack Redmond 7th, Audrey Folley 10th, Gill Hackell 12th, Lucy Meagher 19th, Lulu Hamilton 24th and Nico Garcia Castrillon 26th the top LYC finishers. Ben Lindo who was sailing with us qualified for team Trails at his first opportunity placing 49th - a tough fleet to do that in! Tommy and Jack were 4th,5th Red Fleet, Audrey and Gill 4th, 5th in Blue Fleet and Audrey, Lucy Lulu 2,5,6 in Girls division.
We arrived at the venue at 9am for a 10am rigged and ready, and it was actually impressive that everyone's optis were pretty much good to go by 11am. When you are 'breaking in' a charter there is a lot to do and we recognized this as part of the learning experience for this regatta. I wrote extensively about what to check/change on a charter Opti last spring for the USODA Garda debrief here. One additional thing I would like to note is that if you measure the mast rake first with a bare pole before rigging you save your sail some wear and tear, and get a more accurate, easy reading. The sailors did a good job of checking their mast rake and considering adjustments, as well as adjusting on the water in some cases at this regatta.
We stress the equipment at Lauderdale because it does make a big difference to have your Opti tuned up as well as possible. Advances in line technology have changed the way kids can sail the boat, and in how full of a sail a smaller kid can handle (I am looking at you Lulu with your Jblue!). Having low stretch - Dynema, Vectran or Spectra cored vang lines allows sailors to bend the mast and flatten the sail to a greater degree and with more precision. Less play between the sail and the boat means greater kinetic transfer into the hull, and ability to initiate surfing. Innovations like the tapered outhaul (available now from sometime LYC Opti sailor Lucas Tenrierro for $20) that allows it to side better (so sailors are always easing downwind) are pushing the class forward! The best sailors bring all their own lines to the charter boat, rig meticulously, and are always looking for new advantages - I liked that Kevin was trying a rule-beating mainsheet setup and Gill testing a inner-core tapered mainsheet (previously seen on Stephan Baker's boat). Ty and Drew found their Far East's were slippery and started sailing in Adidas Boat Shoes, Simone and Graceanna already sail in boots and were prepared! We found the Carter brand Optis at the Marco Rizzotti were slippery too. As Pilo likes to say "you have to make your boat work for you!"
With a really long tow to the racecourse, sailors had to do a great job with their sailties. We talked about techniques for stretching them in the practice debrief, and the top corner ties were really done well by almost all our sailors through the regatta. With a grassy hill to rig on and reasonable temperatures (cold, but if your dressed in your sailing gear and a jacket, no problem) the sailors had a great environment for perfecting their sail shape.
We warmed up a little bit in the morning field, then headed North under the bridge - a 35 minute slog of a tow into waves. Just North of the bridge Ike capsized so I let them off the towline and we sailed upwind on a couple long speed tests. At this point, though the sails were not perfect, you have to focus on technique and sailing the waves in a new venue. Gill worked on his sailing-and-bailing technique. Here's a good video by CRYC coach Omari Scott of a sailor sailing and bailing upwind - note how they add kinetics - flicking the leech and working the waves by bailing. We then sailed 6 practice starts and 2 races with CERT, CRYC, and Happy's team on the same line. Then I took my team on a long downwind the whole way home, working on downwind speed, technique and surfing. Keeping your lower body forward in the boat helps you to spring up and keep the boat on the wave to extend surfing. We raced around government marks with the Canadian team in informal competition and Gill pretty much sailed away from everybody. Good practice for a later date, but this regatta would be much lighter...
Day 1 featured an extended postponement on land, and I did a little spectating at a College NESA Conference regatta that was going on in the Harbor, hosted by Salve Regina University. The fact that there were 4 start lines in Newport in October (the others being Sonar Team Racing and Green Fleet) testifies to Newport's claim of being the Yachting Capitol. At 1:15pm PRO Todd Fedezyn sent us out for what would be one light air race. The wind had been light out of the south-east all morning and now it was light out of the South. The current had just been slack low and was starting to come in. Here is a picture of this tricky venue:
With the Southerly coming partly over the land and partly up the sound, there was the potential for a lot to happen. Tommy Sitzman had a good start and played it conservatively on the beat, but was passed by a couple boats that went hard left and found better pressure and apparently not-that-adverse current. Unfortunately his teammates did not really learn from this and failed to start at the pin the next two starts when, during the sequence, it became soo favored that the boats there port-tacked the fleet. Jack had a good comeback from a boat end start to 20th, while Lulu was so deep we almost called the Coast Guard! (JK) I think its important to analyze how we make decisions. I sympathize with Tommy playing the beat conservatively, although maybe he could have looked harder for where the pressure was. To not start at the favored end in unstable conditions is a big mistake and we paid the price!
The next day - no races!! We spent a day on the water with a couple starts and first beets by the blue fleet that had to be abandoned. The Wind shifted 100 degrees and back, and the race committee made a great effort, but at 3:30pm had to send us in. It's still a day on the water and we tested speed and the course numerous times, worked on sails, roll tacks, and socialized. On the tow in we tried to play the current by banging all the way in under Goat Island and passed Pili-we are always thinking tactics, current, going fast, and saving the sails on the towline.
Day 3 would be the pivotal day of the regatta. With a solid overcast and a North-Easterly of 12-15kts we had high hopes for a day of racing. Although the wind dropped as low as 5kts PRO Fedezyn was able to get in 4 more races in each division. More tricky conditions from Newport - wind coming from a medium/distant shore and cross current flowing out. Overall, our sailors got dialed in with the current flowing from left to right and the pin being favored necessitating a play-the-left strategy. Going for what you see - playing the shifts and puffs is important, but realize that sailing into the current early keeps your options open and gets you closer to the mark. Freddie Parkin won the regatta by dominating the pin in his fleet. It wasn't that hard! The current was ripping away from the pin boat creating more space for 3 of the 4 races. Our sailors were more aware of the favored end of the line than on Saturday: Gill won the pin and flopped onto port tack in the biggest lefty of the day to win race 4. Lucy had a good boat start in the 1 boat start of the day and her patience & speed on the favored starboard tack netted a top 3. If not for the UFD Tommy would have won 3 of his last 4 races starting a couple boats from the pin and having great speed and height and playing the shifts on the left side of the course.
We've sailed 2 regattas this year and the tactics of the last beat with the USODA course are really starting to sink in. The finish lines are being set to the "course right" of mark 2, which is intend to be set directly upwind of the leeward gate. Thus more port tack if there were no current.
A quick note on directions - we say "left" and right" when looking upwind and cutting the course and half and discussing the first leg. On latter legs "course" means we are similarly orienting ourselves upwind. So the "course right "gate is also the "left turn gate" if if looking at it downwind. Think of it like Enders Game, just orient yourself to the goal, which is where the wind is coming from on the first and last legs.
Here's how I see the beat skewing with left-to-right cross current. Essentially, you can make a better play by rounding the course left gate and not crossing the middle too soon. Just like what worked on the first beat, patience with the left!
On one last beat Jack forced himself to the right of the competition and fell from 2nd to 3rd. Always know what you want and cover between the comp and the advantage! Or, if you are trying to pass, try to switch up the boats covering you and split to the advantaged puff/side. Any time I am coving the boats behind and splitting from the boats ahead toward what I think is more wind or the long tack, I am happy!
But if the current is opposite, then play the "Golden Gate" and you don't have to cross under the downwind fleet at all:
As always, planning ahead and sailing relaxed are all keys to the last beat, as well as getting your settings (sprit tension, outhaul) back on from the downwind in a way that is smooth. We have a ways to go there and the best sailors will practice putting on and off their settings on even the smallest course!
The results towards the end of the regatta were really nice as Tommy, Jack and Gill all won races, Lulu and Nico had a 2 and Lucy a 3, and Ben ended on a 7 to qualify for Team Trials. We hope that we can learn from our mistakes and sail well out of the box going forward, and feel better prepared for New Orleans for having sailed this regatta. We now have 2-3 weeks of Team Racing to look forward to and are excited to keep working on situational sailing. Thanks to all the parents who made this trip possible, to Brad Reed at Sail Newport and all the volunteers for hosting, to Emily and Grant who hosted the LYC Coaches in Newport, to my esteemed colleague and mentor Pilo Rocha, and to the sailors who, through their hard work give meaning to this amazing sport.
