The Skips Blog

Absent Minded

2006-11-14T09:56:00.000-06:00

I have been caught up in the business of making money to support my sailing habit. Welcome to the off-season...Where all I can do is look at other websites and think of those who are still on the water sailing and racing in climates much more tolerable than ours.

I will be posting during the off-season but much less frequent. I did attend the Basin Race committee meeting last night to discuss intra club stuff. Nothing of substance and importance.

As soon as I get caught up and can devote some time to resource scrounging I will post some more finds on the web. Most likely will review basics again and then get into some of the particular issues that we had this year.

Quite the Blowhard

2006-10-31T09:20:00.000-06:00

Worked radio crew for haul out this past weekend. Winds gusting to 90 kmh. Made for some very tense moments when the large power and sailboats were in the air. My main concern was making sure everyone on the crew was safe. Very easy to crush a fellow sailors arm under a pad when the winds are blowing that hard. It was very difficult to keep the boats steady while in the air.

All worked out well in the end. No injuries and made it on time. All the boats were out by late afternoon on Sunday.

I have OD duty this weekend so I will probably tidy Gray Jay a little while I am down there. It is always so strange to see all those boats up on cradles in the yard over winter. Just does not seem right.

Will it Sink or Swim?

2006-10-24T09:35:00.000-05:00

Our office is laden with movie posters. The decor my partner and I agreed upon because at the time we started the company it was the cheapest way of bringing some life to the walls. In my office I have a large movie poster of my all time favorite sailing movie "Wind", a Francis Ford Coppola production. This movie has some of the best cinematography for sailors ever seen on the screen. The racing sequences are fantastic and accurate.

I am always looking for sailing footage, movies that contain sailing and action. Like "Horatio Hornblower", or "Master and Commander" and who can forget "pirates of the Caribbean". So in my searches I came across this site, which may or may not make it to the Toronto Film Festival next in 2008. You decide whether it will be worth the wait.

The working title of the film is "The Morning Light Project" and a brief synopsis is as follows:

Morning Light, a real-life adventure feature film recorded as it happens, whatever happens, will be part of next year's 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii in a project led by race veteran Roy E. Disney. Based on the premise of "the youngest crew ever to sail Transpac," the film will chronicle the recruitment, training and performance of sailors as young as 18 through the next race in July of 2007. On their own, they will sail a Transpac 52 called Morning Light---the working title of the film. None will be actors. There will be no script and no preconceived outcome. Disney said, "If we do our job right, I don't care as much whether they win or lose as how they come together as a group and wind up a team in the end. However they do is how they do. But we're giving them the equipment to win."

Wonder if they will have a casting call?

Final Season Sail

2006-10-20T08:53:00.000-05:00

Heading out on Sunday for a final season sail with the crew, bit of practice and then take the mast down. Weather looks a little crappy but any change to get on the water is a good one. Even if it is cold, rainy and not a huge amount of wind!

I have been starting to review my notes and formulate things I want to review over the off-season. In addtion I will have a complete list of stuff that needs fixing, adjusting, moving, and replacing on the boat for next season.

In the mean time Sailing Anarchy is promising a new feature on tactics. Will be looking out for it!

Doing the Duty

2006-10-15T19:45:00.000-05:00

Past weekend was spent at the club fulfilling my club hours obligations as cradle crew member. I had a chance to talk to a number of excellent sailors that I only get a chance to see twice a year. Usually during haul out and launch times. I managed to have some excellent racing tactics and overall strategy discussions as well as offer some of my own opinions and observations. The most interesting fact I guess I came away with this weekend was discussions of building crew. Many other solid teams (that these sailors were on) encountered many of the same issues that we face.

Revolving crew, how to train a crew, how to build and maintain the crew and keep them happy. Some of the conversations centred around certain teams that have been together for 10 years or so. One gentleman sailor discussed how, for a few years now their crew has been sailing together without much of a word to each other during the races. Everyone knows and can anticipate the others actions and timing.

This is a fundamental building block of a good team. We can perform tacks and gybes now with a fewer words than before. Spinnaker hoists and douses still require a bit of me barking out timing so the crew gets the feel of the rounding. The words and barking exponentially increase as the traffic increases around the mark.

Overall we are slowly getting to know the timing of each others actions. We still have quite a bit of practice ahead to equal some of the other crews tempo and timing but we can get there with enough practice.

I also talked to another J24 owner at the club and I think we are going to fair the keels on our boats over the winter. I'm sure I am in for a great deal of learning and work undertaking this venture. Also had a quick peek at the boat and noticed some more wear and tear that needs addressing over the off-season. I will have to bring a pen and paper to mark down all the things that need doing. Think the list is starting to get fairly large.

The Zen of the Gybe

2006-10-12T17:40:00.000-05:00

Practice on Tuesday went well. Winds were much stronger than I had anticipated. We managed to get a good deal of brisk wind tacks and gybes in. I noticed that on both the tack and the gybe the flow is very important. The mechanics of the tack or gybe are sequential but the timing and fluidness of the crew was crucial. In the gybes the fluidness or lack of was more noticeable then in the tacks. Probably due to the slightly slower pace that our gybes take on.

The mechanics are straight forward. Every action sets off another action and the culmination of these actions in sequence forms the gybe. I think the key to perfecting the gybe (and tack) is to practice, but quality practice I think is the key. Slow the process down to a snail pace to make sure we all are in the right place at the right time. Then gradually as we go up the leg pick up the pace.

This repetitive technique is widely used in many other sports and disciplines where consistency is key. While racing is a great way to sharpen the skills I still think it all boils down to the basics and repetition of the basics until it is all second nature.

I think this type of slowed down practice may help us break any bad habits and force us to think about each move. I think it will also reveal a number of faults in our technique. Things that go unchecked or noticed because of the rapid pace of the race course.

Outhaul Issues

2006-10-09T08:40:00.000-05:00

One thing that will be discussed and sorted out over the off-season is crew position responsibilities. Now that we have a fixed crew repetitive tasks can now be assigned. This should make the boat function smoother. I know it will help particularly rounding the leeward mark on the second upwind leg. I frequently get caught up in the dynamics of the mark rounding and do not pass along to the crew that I need outhaul, and vang on at the last minute before dousing the spinnaker. It is much easier to put outhaul on at this point then on the middle of the second leg with the wind blowing hard.

It is these repetitive tasks that will become second nature to each crew member once we sort out each positions responsibilities. I know there are resources out there and I have commented on them early in the blog. Will need to dig up those resources again and re-visit them. We should be able to go by the book now that we have make adjustments to the deck layout to bring it closer in line with other class boats.

Consistently Closing the Gap

2006-10-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

I recently commented that we did better in overall standings last year and that I was not going to get hung up on standings because it was a big year for change. I felt that we had improved all around. Our spinnaker sets, jibes and tacks were all better, smoother and faster. The overall stats did not make sense. I thought to myself that this is only our first full year of racing.

Last year we only started the in the Summer series. We spent the spring series doing drills and getting the crew up to speed enough to race. I finally saw that the club site had updated the race results so I could finally see where we stood in the frostbite series. We felt like they were all good races. Our finishes were excellent and well ahead of the usual pack.

So I went back to last season Summer series and looked at our corrected time gap from the leader in all the races, then grabbed the numbers from all the series this year. Much to my surprise I discovered a great trend. We have been consistently reducing the leader gap (corrected elapsed time) since our initial race in the summer series last year. We are at the point now where we have reduced the gap by 300%. PHRF stats are very hard to measure anything concrete but the overall trend is hard to ignore. I can honestly say we are improving quickly.

The Hardest Part Is Letting Go

2006-10-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it is that makes the boat a team and what it needs to do that. The first season my primary role on the boat was teacher. A 100% new crew had to be taught the absolute basics. We shadowed the fleet in the spring series of year one and practiced launching the spinnaker and tacking. We started out by colour coded ropes. "pull the blue and white one", and graduated to proper names until everyone was comfortable. Dockside drills and dry runs for gybing were pretty much a given on race night. Shifting and alternating roles to see who was best suited for which position, and then re-educating.

In season two things were much better. Focus was now on boat handling, rules and strategies. A large part of my time was still spent explaining my decisions to crew in the hopes they would understand the bigger picture of the overall race. This is a difficult task to do while racing.

The hardest part...but essential part...this year has been letting go of control. Passing decision making on to the crew. Letting the tactician decide on a game plan, letting the trimmer decide how much to let it out, Bow person getting us up to the line and in position at the start. I did not always agree with some of the decisions (as the crew may not have always agreed with mine when I insisted) but the key is that they need to make those decisions. In order for the crew to grow as a team it is imperative that they make those calls and decisions.

It is hard to let go of that control feeling. I am a perfectionist at heart and like to have things done my own way but I feel a good skipper needs to build a level of trust on the boat. I want a crew that gels, communicates and acts like one unit. They can't do that if I hold them back.

Next year I want to really push for the micro teams to start making all the decisions. Tactics team at start with bow leading the way, tactics team for strategy, trim team for boatspeed. Off-season meetings will be spent working on these systems trying to refine them.

Seek Professional Help

2006-10-02T20:19:00.000-05:00

The topic of getting a professional on-board next year was discussed a number of times and I think we are about ready to have someone aboard to help evaluate overall performance and formulate our overall weaknesses, and strengths which will give us a starting point to designing a solid practice regimen.

The crew is serious and committed to improve and be competitive in the next level. And I believe we can as a boat and crew achieve this. I think Priorities for the next little while (off-season strategy) will be the following:

develop a crew goal list: establish what each crew member wants to get out of their time on the boat. Be clear and make sure we all understand what priorities we each have, where we want to be and what we want to learn. How much we want to practice, how committed we are, how much time we can devote. We should develop a 3 year plan and briefly set some goals as to how many regattas and which we want to try and do. What system of measurement we want to choose to help track our goals over the years.

Clearly Define Crew Roles: Sit down and write down who does what when and stick to those roles. Now that we have a fixed crew it will be easier to assign positions and responsibilities. I am more confident and willing to parse out duties such as Crew Chief and Regatta Coordinator now as well as other tasks that were pretty time consuming on my part.

Off-Season Strategy: Define our strategy for off-season. Look at meeting times and places and establish agenda. Make a list of material we can review to keep up to speed and help develop practice sessions.

Define Short Term Objectives: This will include what physical things still need to be done to the deck layout. Discuss options for changing these items and co-ordinate timing for spring to have them accomplished. Plan our early spring training regimen.

This list is a starting point. Will build on it and further develop it as we go. Came across this interesting post regarding advice for new person trying to put together a boat. Some excellent info and comments here. Worth a read.

The Season Finale

2006-10-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

Going into today I was very optimistic that we would have a very good race considering our last two efforts were stellar. From the stand point of crew and working together, it was stellar. From a technical standpoint it was far from our best race. While sailing out to the line with the main up I felt I was fighting the boat. The winds were projected at 15 knots, I played conservative and had the crew tune for 6-9 knots. I just checked the actual numbers and the average wind speed over the course of the race was about 4.9 knots. This confirms my suspicion that we were overtuned. When I got to the dock this morning the winds were just picking up and a big cell was moving in. I thought the forecast was spot on for what I was seeing.

From a tactic point of view there were a few situations we should have played better today and cost us quite a bit of time. Unfortunately it was one of those situations that once we realized the problem it was too late and very hard to get out of it. We had a boat leebow us at one point on the upwind leg and our immediate response should have been tack away. I footed off to gain speed and avoid shadow but the boat stuck with us as the wind changed. By the time it was critical for us to tack away we could not, so we had to ride it out. At the mark rounding we clearly had overlap at the two boat circle but the boat to leeward did not agree and it took quite a bit of shouting for bouy room to convince the boat ahead to give us room. We finally squeezed in around the pin just shy of having to tack to avoid hitting the pin.

On the downwind we were caught in a bit of a hole until the weather decided to settle. Once it did we again were caught in shadow from other boats. I made the decision to gybe away for clean air and we broke free. We managed to get to the leeward mark roughly at the same point as the boat that failed to give us bouy room. They were slightly ahead of us and putting their jib up in preparation for the gybe around the mark. We raised our jib but did not drop the spinnaker yet. We gambled and it payed off. We managed to squeak around the mark quicker then they did and with clean air made a break for the finish line.

Overall we did not place high in the finishing order but it was a good race. The crew worked very good together. It is very apparent that they are really finding their groove!

My sincerest thanks this year to the crew of Gray Jay. It has been a pleasure sailing this season with you all and I am looking very forward to the next season. Next year is our year as a crew and boat.

Thank you.

The Skip.

Ten Things I Have Learned This Sailing Season.

2006-09-29T13:45:00.000-05:00

It finally hit me that there is only one more race left in the season. So naturally I began to look back at the season and evaluate how successful a season it was. From a standings point of view it sucked... We were killed again and again and again. True...Last year we had better overall standings, but I am looking at this year as an overall building year.

A regular crew is now established and working well together, we made huge changes to the deck layout and revolving crew, and we tried to sort out what our speed issues were. It was a year for large changes and experimentations. For this reason I am not going to get hung up on the standings. I know it takes time to build a fast and quality boat and crew and I definitely thing we are moving in all the right directions to be at the top of the fleet at some point in the near future.

Surfing around there were some other sites with threads of top things people have learned this year. The one that really stood out in my mind was Learn something new each time you get on the water, and teach it to everyone else. This person went on to say that on their boat it is not uncommon to have an impromptu seminar on the way out or at dock. I think this is an excellent way to have everyone on-board on the same page. So in that spirit here are 10 things I have learned this season!

10. In class regattas, coming in DFL is a great way to motivate the crew into not coming in DFL next regatta!

9. One Design racing is where it is at!

8. The J24 has a very narrow performance curve.

7. If you are slow on the water....Look inside the boat not at the boat.

6. Approaching each mark make sure you project where you and your competition will be at the 2 boat length circle before you get there, so you can work out your rounding strategy and have the rules work to your advantage instead of against you.

5. Know the rules before going into the room, and work out details of events with your crew as soon as you get back to dock.

4. No matter what the forecast is calling for it to blow... Assume it will be less and undertune slightly.

3. No matter how much you ask the crew to watch below you, it is ultimately the skips fault if you get in a collision.

2. To win consistently you will need to lose consistently then start making changes one at a time till you win.

1. Never trim ropes down on a boat (most importantly the halyards) when you have a hang over.

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

2006-09-28T10:29:00.002-05:00

Here lies "Jack Be Nimble" USA3888. Had a bad spill at the J24 North Americans held at Rochester New York on September 24th, 2006. Great video of the salvage here. It is more of a combination of stills set to appropriate music, a few small video clips interlaced as well. USA3888 was not the only unfortunate incident that day. Look closely at some of the photos of the race in this album and you will see another boat suffered the same fate.

I have never had the pleasure of broaching on a spinnaker run. I would actually like to... and think I should plan with the crew to practice a broach and recovery from the broach just to make sure we are all on the same page and know how to recognize it when it happens and the steps each person should take to depower the boat and avoid the broach (while maintaining speed of course). I came across a great point that may be overlooked when broaching. If the spinnaker happens to fill up with water, if the sheets and guy are not blown in time and the boat gets smacked down with a full spinnaker, it will be almost impossible to right the boat. Here are a few articles for reference on broaching.

Broaching Causes and Cures
Prevention is the best cure to broaching, but there are corrective actions should it occur
by Roger Marshall
Marshall's Marine Review

Some good tips here at the end of this article in 48° North

Here are some images of broaches.

I also found this great series of images of a broach and recovery from an article on sailing anarchy

At least it is comforting to know that even if things go really awry, the boat can be salvaged. Another important tip! If it comes time for the boat to slip under the water and you are in a deep lake...tie one of the halyards or sheets to a pdf (inflated of course) so you can find the boat the next day after the hangover wears off and the salvage crew has been hired!

Shape Your Groove Thang

2006-09-26T21:12:00.000-05:00

Looking back at the last few races, I feel like the groove has been there. The boat seems to slice through the waves effortlessly, angle of heel is consistent and within the limit of 10 degrees, there is slight leehelm but I am not fighting the helm. I am trying to define or pinpoint what it is, exactly, that makes up this groove. I guess what is more important or what I really need to know is "when I am not in the groove, how do I get there?"

I think my off season attention will be focused on the three things that have made the most impact the last few races. Primarily tuning, traveler and trim (TX3) pretty much in that order. My first observation overall is the basin regatta versus the frostbite series.

In comparison the winds were similar, brisk and steady with some nice puffs. So pretty much a level field there. The overall results of the race were pretty dramatic. We were confirmed with DFL in throughout the regatta. But (still to be confirmed), last few races we seemed to be at the front with the fleet leaders and the pack that we usually finished with were well back.

A conclusion can be drawn here... Our boatspeed has found its groove. So what was it? I will try to analyze that and form some concrete theory. There has been some discussion aboard since CORK about the shape of our jib(s) when racing. The view from aft of the fleet presented us with a somewhat unflattering viewpoint of other boats in the fleet but gave us a chance to study their jib shape. The consensus from aboard was that the fleet seemed to have a more fuller shaped jib, in particular our crew seemed to observe that the angle where clew and jib lead enter the cars was very much flatter on our boat and not enough shape.

We adjusted the cars forward (all the way) to see if we could replicate the shape. When that did not work we barber-hauled the jib to try and force the shape. We seemed to pick up speed but I disagree that this was the primary reason for the increase in speed over the last few races. We used the barber haul method during the regatta and still had the same poor boat speed issues.

What was different in both instances was tuning and traveler primarily and trim both of the main and jib. The other issue that has been bellowed out so many times by the crew is "we can't point as high as the other boats". While I agree in some instances that we are being out-pointed, usually from my point of view it is a smaller lighter boat that can point higher then us, in general our pointing has improved. I compensate sometimes, particularly in the past when we have had poor boat speed, by footing off trying to gain more speed and not loose as much ground. Lately with the new trim (mainsail and traveler adjustments) it seems that our pointing is very good. Some of the crew agrees with me and some do not but that is an altogether different issue we will only be resolved next season when we come up against the J24 fleet.

So I have definitely narrowed it down to the three basic elements that I think are the reason for improved boatspeed. Over the next little while I will try to break them down and analyze each one in more detail to see what theories I can extract.

Frostbite Race 2

2006-09-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

During the race on Sunday the boat slipped into the groove easily. Waves were about 2 metres, and wind was steady 12-15 knots and gusting to 20-25 knots. I followed my plan and untertuned the rig as I have done in the past few races. I followed the same formula for trim as the last two races as well, working the traveler as the puffs came up and keeping the boom centred.

On one of the long legs the boat helm was so light it reminded me of a dinghy. I hiked out as if I was on a sunfish and tried to really feel the boat. On the upwind leg we did very well, right behind the first and second boats at the mark. (The last 3 races we have been with the usual leaders which means we are progressing forward). The downwind was a good leg. The fifth position called out the waves from behind so we could surf the surge and take advantage of the additional momentum that the waves could provide. A good technique that gained us some ground on the leader.

Overall we finished well in the pack. Most likely a 3rd (will see what the PHRF corrections yield) and how much time we need to give the second place boat.

It was very evident yesterday that the crew was operating as a crew. Communication was good, tactics were well thought out, trim was smooth and teamwork is at a maximum. The crew is very eager to take it to the next level. I think we are ready to kick it up a notch.

Frostbite Race 1

2006-09-18T09:06:00.000-05:00

Sunday was the start of the Frostbite series. My tact for this series is to focus on trim, tuning and traveler, and try and nail down the optimum combination of the three.

Sunday called for 8 knots of wind. First thing I did was tune for 1-5 knots, not 6-10 knots as suggested in the guide. Turns out the winds were 4 knots pretty consistent with gusts up to 10 knots. So in theory the tuning was dead on.

The traveler, cranked to windward and mainsheet sheeted in tight and loosened to centerline when the gusts came up a little. The top batten for the most part was a slight bit to windward as well as the boom was slightly above centerline for the majority of the time.

Once or twice I adjusted the traveler a half inch or max inch off the windward side to see if the adjustment gave any more power.

Outhaul was on about 1.5" from the black band giving us a nice flat sail and the cunningham was on just enough to take out most of the wrinkles.

the results:

So far this seems to be a good combination. We made some good tactical moves on Sunday which may give us at minimum a 3rd place. We were second in fleet on-the-water and far enough behind some of the usuals to beat them on corrected time.

The results will not be in till next week but I know we did well. The boat was fast and felt very much in the groove. The last leg I may have made the wrong call on the spinnaker run. We were reaching with the spinnaker (almost a beam reach). The wind started creeping forward to a close. I could see the leader just ahead of us was having difficulty with his spinnaker as well on this tack so I pulled the spinnaker in and put up the jib. We lost some time against the others behind us and the leader in front. Once I found the trim and the wind settled we managed to pick up speed.

Next time I may wait till we are sure the spinnaker is at it's limits before dousing. It may give us the little extra we need to come in second.

Apology Accepted

2006-09-14T18:09:00.000-05:00

My last post was rather pointed and targeted at an advertising campaign that was targeting comments on sailing blogs. I really disapprove of this tactic and decided to root out the culprit. I received this email in my email today apologizing for the intrusion. The writer sounds sincere and I accept his apology on my readers behalf.

I did not want to have to use monitored comments on by blog. To me that would be an insult to my readers. Here is the message I received.

It was brought to my attention this afternoon that my name is currently mud in the online sail boating community, and as much as I hate to say it, it is probably with good cause.

After learning of the upset from you and one other gentleman, I discovered that my assistant had taken the term ÂsailingÂ and Â er Â ran with it, resulting in the ÂouchÂ that has occurred. Please let me say that there was no intention to offend anyone, and absolutely no intention whatsoever to have my article on this subject labeled as ÂspamÂ, though I can certainly see how it could have been perceived this way.

This was an error on my part and I am currently rechecking the distribution that this article was to go to. This is my first writing venture into the boating arena and my first in posting to blogs. Again, I apologize for the error.

I am taking this very seriously and be assured it will not happen again.

Best regards,
Kris Nickerson

Thank you for your apology Kris. You might want to educate your assistant on using new media channels in a more proactive way. Consider creating a blog instead of invading them. It would open the product up to consumer feedback, both positive and negative, but could have an overall positive effect for brand loyalty and customer satisfaction and resolution. Some of the large producers have done this quite successfully.

Something Smells Fishy

2006-09-13T14:02:00.000-05:00

OK so a little off topic but have to blast this company for poor advertising targeting and overall bad judgment when it comes to their marketing practices. Some people may say that any publicity is good publicity. But any company that leaves a bad taste in your mouth with their advertising would make most people re-consider brand loyalty when purchasing.

The company that manufactures Bayliner Discovery boats...Hold on let me emphasize it again "Bayliner Discovery" so that the search engines pick up this negative comment and propagate it throughout the web, has undertaken the "unique approach" of trying to disguise their advertising campaign as a web video log of adventure. Really. They also used this key phrase in the Comment/Advertisement that was left on my blog. "Bayliner Discovery doesn't shove boats and specs at you...".

Seems to me that their advertising agency or marketing department took a wrong turn somewhere. Being in the industry, I try to dissuade my customers from disguising their real intent. Clever advertising creates a sense of intrigue not of mistrust. What comes to mind immediately when I read this copy was, they do not have enough faith in their product to sell it on it's own merits, they need to rely on cheesy tricks and deception to create interest in their product. Makes me really think about who made the decisions to run this campaign and how competent they really are. And really makes me wonder whether I would trust anything this company has to say about it's product.

Oh and by the way...Their marketers missed the boat literally, on this one. They assumed that all sailors are powerboaters. If they did a little more targeted research before blasting away aimlessly they may have realized that this blog is about sailing! Thanks for listening to my rant!

Feeling Groovy

2006-09-11T19:32:00.000-05:00

The Basin Regatta, although we did not do great form a point standing, was a good overall weekend of racing. On Saturday I experimented a little with trim, traveller, vang and outhaul looking for that groove. The winds were forecasted up to 10 knots so I tuned the rig to the base 10 knot numbers as specified in the tuning guide. On the upwind legs I centred the traveller, as suggested in another tuning guide and put no backstay and vang on and no cunningham and minimal outhaul. We did good in the downwind legs but I still did not feel the love on the upwind legs, and our results in the fleet suggested we had done better in other races. The boat was just not in the groove. I did not have a good balanced helm. It felt too much like I was fighting the boat.

On the Sunday I went back to another approach tried previously. I slightly undertuned the rig and went a tighter outhaul, and a bit more cunnignham and just a bit of vang. I also took the advice of yet another different tuning guide and moved the traveller all the way to windward until the crew was on the rail then dropped it 2" once the crew was on the rail. I used the backstay a little in the puffs (steady 10-12 knot winds with gusts of maybe 15 knots). The boat seemed to find the groove more easily. The boat felt fast and light. We had been having trouble with the jib shape and tried barberhauling the jib on the upwind as we had done in previous races with those wind conditions. It had an effect as well. I think the overall compounded effects were excellent on boatspeed. This might be a base starting point for boatspeed now. This Sunday is the first Frostbite race. The winds are usually 10 knots or above and steady which should give me a good constant for benchmarking the next few races.

Think I need to start keeping a log of tuning, trim, vang cunningham and outhaul tension and wind speed and gusts for the next few races to see what effects they have. '

Still need experimentation to find the right combinations under all the conditions but I definitely felt the groove much more this weekend then the last little while.

This weekend regatta was the first time I had been on the water consistently since Kingston and the collisions. Feel like I have my confidence back. Looking forward to the series. I have all the data to crunch and diagrams to plot of the weekend races and will have them up shortly.

Love This Sport

2006-09-08T09:25:00.000-05:00

Scanning sailing blogs and came across this link on sailing anarchy. I have seen some of this footage in other videos but this is one of the better extreme racing videos I have seen. Enjoy! You tube has the video here. It is definitely worth a peek.

Are We Tacking Again? And Again? And Again?

2006-09-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

The crew was enthusiastic about last nights practice. The newly appointed Crew Chief conducted an excellent run through of tips and observations he had picked up from crewing on another J (who is in the top section of the fleet!). A few items were directly related to boat and deck layout. For example the winches were higher (vertically) then ours. Seems as though most of the top boats have custom blocks under the winch base to raise it up. We have been having issues with cross sheeting lately and it is possible that this might correct some of the issues.

Other pointers and observations were technique oriented. Simple changes in how we do things. When I took the J-world course they taught consistent middle of the road techniques. Solid techniques. While everyone has different techniques it is worthwhile exploring different ones to see what impact they have on overall speed, handling etc.

We went out and practiced fundamental tacking last night. Trying to analyze each step of the process and refine it to the point where it is second nature. Regular practice is going to have to be a regimen we get into for next season. We will need to start early and be consistent to advance.

After the practice we went back tot he clubhouse and had a great discussion with a local sail loft. I am hoping to get him out on the boat in the next few weeks to see if he can evaluate our sail shape and offer suggestions on trim etc. Think it will be very useful.

Organizing Crew

2006-08-31T09:38:00.000-05:00

One of the biggest tasks I have had to face is finding crew, organizing and training them. I finally feel like we are on the verge of becoming a good crew able to compete at the next level. The key to the next phase will be practice, practice and then more practice.

I think it is time to sit down and define clear roles and tasks within the crew. Over the winter I will try and organize some crew events to keep in-touch and review videos etc. (while drinking rum of course!) and plan together the next season.

I have read a number of articles in the past about crew organization and tasking. I will review and post thoughts on this. One key element will be start to parse out the tasks of crew chief. Responsibilities will most likely include arranging practice times and dates as well as developing a practice regimen to work on our weak areas.

Fall Is In the Air

2006-08-28T08:32:00.000-05:00

Smells like Fall which means only one thing. It will be time to haul-out soon. I hate haul-out. It will mean a long winter of off-season with no sailing what-so-ever! However I can use this time to brush up on basics and research, research, research.

The basin regatta is September 9, 10 so I have a few weeks in-between to possibly do some practicing and get together with the crew to discuss plans for next year. Our bowman crewed on another boat last few days and has some good notes to share. The tactician also has been reviewing the J videos and making notes as well.

The crew has requested that we sit down and write out responsibilities for each member. Up to this point we have been fairly loose as to exact duties. I think we are on the verge of becoming a tight crew and it is time to step things up a notch. Looking forward to next season already.

Summer Series 2006 Race 7 Results

2006-08-24T11:14:00.000-05:00

Results and notes from Summer Series 7 are posted here.

Winds prior to race were West and shifted to North just prior to race. The course was a bit confusing. I had to get my bearings on the next mark and where the wind was coming from for the pre-race. The course was an overall beam reach to beam reach. This threw me off a bit because of all the windward, leeward class races recently.

Overall boat speed was good. We undertuned the rig and it seemed to give us extra power and speed. I also tried sailing with boom vang, outhaul and backstay off and only a little cunningham on. This also seemed to make a difference. The traveller over all was centred but occasionally in gusts I dropped it a touch and alternated between letting the main out and adjusting the traveller. I kept the boat as flat as possible and we seemed to benefit from it quite a bit.

The low point of the race was rounding the second mark. I got into a situation where there was overlap and had to give way. I was over cautious and gave too much room. When I headed up to fetch the mark I went too far into the wind and lost power.. We lost speed and I had to foot off to regain speed in order to tack. By the time we gained enough speed to clear the mark on a tack large boats were fetching the mark which I had to give way to. I ended up getting shadowed big time on the next leg.

Gaining confidence back. Next race should be a good one. Will have my head back in the game again soon. Looking forward to the Basin regatta.

Rooting out Boatspeed Issues

2006-08-23T09:19:00.000-05:00

In an effort to achieve maximum boatspeed and figure out our pointing issue I came across this explaination from Ullman Skelly Sails regarding Tuning and the" J dimension". I took the opportunity to measure as much of the bottom of the boat as possible when it was out of the water for Kingston. The one thing I have not measured yet (or paid enough attention to) is the mast height and forestay length. This article seems to get at the root of our problem, and gives solutions that are worth investigating. The following is an excerpt from the Ullman Skelly Sails site.

The J-24 has an inherent problem of leeward helm. Leeward helm is evident when the center of effort above the waterline is too far forward in the boat, meaning the boat is not well balanced. The problem of leeward helm can be detrimental to boat speed and pointing ability, especially in light air. Leeward helm will make it difficult to steer the boat to windward where a balanced helm or a slight amount of weather helm will help the helmsman keep the boat in the grove while sailing very flat. “The flatter you can sail a J-24 to windward while staying in the groove, the faster the boat will go!”

By shortening the mast to minimum and lengthening the headstay and J measurement to maximum, you move the sail plan as far back as the class rules allow. Raking the mast aft will move the center of effort aft in the boat, which will induce more weather helm in the boat.

Note: If possible, we recommend having a certified J-24 class measurer mark your minimum mast length, maximum headstay length and maximum J. To cut your spar as close to class minimum as possible, you will need a class jig. There seems to be some discrepancy from one boat to another to exactly where the stem/sheer line point is at the bow. This point can make a big difference in your headstay length and J dimension. It is crucial to your upwind light air performance to have the mast length as close to minimum and the "J" measurement and headstay length as close to maximum as possible.

This is Class Racing!

2006-08-21T20:07:00.000-05:00


Here are the J80 North Americas, May 2006. This is the kind of competition we faced recently at CORK. Much tighter pack and some good fights for position around the marks. Some close calls (John and Tim this one is for you guys for giving me a hard time about my last few incidents! Non-sailors :-D ).

This is What it is All About

2006-08-21T19:37:00.000-05:00


Great video of club racing. Courtesy of Google video. It is pretty difficult to explain to non-sailors, the rush and complexity of racing sailboats. So for all the non-sailors this gives you an insight into the race course. Check the spinnaker work out at the end of the video. Looks like they recover but the video ends before it is certain.

Sad Day for Sailing Bloggers

2006-08-21T11:59:00.000-05:00

It has come to my attention that Tillerman, the author of the premier sailing blog "proper course" is considering scuttling the blog. His post this morning mentions time for a change. I think the loss of this particular blog would have an impact sailing blogs in general. The main reason I started my blog was to help fill the void of sailing blogs out there. The community has grown since, and there the numbers are increasing but as far as quality blogs "the Proper Course" is at the top!

Many thanks TIllerman for posting. I hope you do re-consider but if not Thanks for the ride!

J/24 Polar Diagram

2006-08-18T15:38:00.000-05:00

I manage to get my hands on a very old polar diagram noting VMG and optimum beat and run angles. I cleaned it up and posted it here for anyone who wants it. I have seen a number of searches and people on forums trying to find one.

A Little Feel Good

2006-08-17T13:06:00.000-05:00

So I have been feeling a bit tense about the whole few incidents lately. Thought I would check the web out for something that would make me feel a bit better. Found it. Compiled a few shots that made me smile and be thankful that we were not in them. Hope you enjoy.

Shaken not Stirred

2006-08-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

Need to get back on the horse so t speak. Two collisions in 10 day span....pretty nerve racking. I had tremendous hesitation on Sunday from shaken confidence. I know things happen in racing, and i need to get back in the saddle and find the edge again. The little part of you that takes the extra risk (albeit calculated).

I need to focus on the race. I had planned on going down later but will head out for the club now and spend some time tidying up the boat from the weekend to try and get my head in the right place.

UnCORKed

2006-08-16T09:11:00.000-05:00

Very tough weekend at CORK. Another collision (this time not my fault, although the boat as a whole needs to be more vigilant about where the competitors are at all times). Overall an amazing weekend. Tough in the sense of trailing the pack each time was difficult emotionally. The crew gave a huge effort all around.

The first race we did horribly. DFL! and DNF! Time limit restriction on the race scoring. The second race was a disaster as well. Primarily upwind we did not have the boat speed. The crew scrambled to analyze the other boats and try and find out the differences between the boats. What were we doing differently. We had tangled spinnaker issues again. It seems as though the takedown was the culprit again. To remedy this we re-flaked on the upwind.

The third race was even more of a disaster. We bailed after spinnaker issues again.

The fourth race of the day however, after re-grouping and analyzing saw us at the back of the pack but much closer to the fleet then ever before. We were having a really good race. The second upwind leg, mid course we tacked to starboard and checked the and planned our approach to the layline on the next tack. We were lifted and tried to get as much out of it as possible.

I heard a loud "Oh F_ck" and looked in my jib window. I saw a bow number about 15-20 feet out. I had to process which way they were going and try and make a split second decision. I chose to bear away and ended up t-boning another boat.

No serious bodily injuries (a good thing considering). My thanks go out to the organizers of CORK and to Boat Services Kingston and Ross Cameron for having Nillo (an amazing craftsman) work through the night to get us both back on the water for Sunday.

I am waiting on pictures now of the weekend and will post as I get them in.

Off to CORK

2006-08-10T09:56:00.000-05:00

Took the mast down yesterday amongst grumbles from the crew "...this is all wrong", pointing to the fact that it was Wednesday and they wanted to be on the water racing. I wanted to be out there too. With every passing gust the grumbles came louder and louder!

If there was not so much to do still to prep for the race and figure out logistically (not to mention the work deadlines that I really needed to pay attention to so I can keep sailing!) I would have said eff it let's race then take the mast down. Hauling the boat out today at 3:00pm and on the road tonight to Kingston Portsmouth Olympic Harbour for the festivities.

Overall should be a good couple days racing. Look for update soon.

The Way I saw It

2006-08-04T09:02:00.000-05:00

Tiller man asked for a diagram. So here it is. Now keep in mind this is my recollection of events and in every dispute there are 2 sides. All comments good or bad are welcomed.

For a detailed view look download the pdf here.

I Doth Protest

2006-08-03T15:51:00.000-05:00

Heavy winds last night, gusts to 21 knots, swells 6 feet. Had a great start and first mark rounding on the second mark rounding, however, had a bit of a mishap. Us and them...Were on both on starboard broad reach layline to the mark. We were the leeward boat in the lead and the other boat had overlap at the zone. We gave the other boat buoy room as prescribed by the code. They Gybed ahead of us on the outside, I took the opportunity to Gybe on the inside to perhaps get a better position. During the gybe our jib sheet got knotted (we did complete the gybe), the other boat took what I consider to be a tactical rounding and headed up fast and hard. My two options were to head up to the wind (close to the mark) and risk getting pushed through the wind, backwinding the jib with a tangled sheet or bear off hard and go down below. I chose to bear off and head down as I felt it was the safest option to do so.

I attempted to duck his stern and scratched his port stern gelcoat, as the bow was completing the turn I managed to grab his motor and took it clean off. His bracket was damaged and motor gone but we continued to race. I felt horrible after this. It was a mere inch and I would have cleared his stern.

A protest ensued, I reviewed the rules. By the strict rules I did not keep clear astern and had no rights, I did however give him buoy room which I believe he took to far. He argued proper course (I think can be a bit of a gray area, and at one point during the informal talk he admitted to not leaving me enough room to head up) but in the end in the interest of making friends not enemies I withdrew my protest. After all it was not the race that mattered to me, it was the welfare of the crew and others aboard. There will be other races.

Will see what the end result is in time I guess.

Shuffling the deck

2006-08-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

Took some time this weekend and moved some of the deck layout around. Moved the main halyard controls to the mast, moved the topping lift to just below the mast with a swivel mount, moved the jib to to just below the mast as well on the companionway top. Also put cam cleats on the rails for the trimmer. Took the boat out for a spin on Saturday to check out the new config. Everything seems to be working smoothly.

Still prepping for CORK. Winds look ok for tomorrow. Will update after race.

Hard Work Pays Off

2006-07-20T08:52:00.000-05:00

Still trying to download the gps data from last the race last night. Windows software is not happy running on a Mac! Will have the race results posted as soon as I am able.

Great race last night. The hard work and regatta practice is definitely paying off. We jumped 5 spots in one night to finish 4th. Very happy with this result. To start with we gave ourselves plenty of time at the start and started the clock at 15 minutes to our race. We followed the countdown to double check. This gave us plenty of time to get into our desired start position. We did the startline dance (more like a waltz compared to the J fleet in regattas), and managed to have and excellent windward position start.

On the upwind leg we lost a little ground on the other J. Checked and adjusted trim and boatspeed and we were able to point as well and gain ground on the other J. When they tacked over we waited and tacked to windward of them. We managed to pass to windward on a good lift. Still working this one out but top third of the course they managed to pass us. Trying to resolve whether it was a trim issue or wind issue. They managed to get good speed on us and make a bit of headway. Come to think of it there is a large hole (windshadow from geography) between 1 and 3 and seems to me that is just about where we lost ground. Not absolute on that though. We were headed towards the Black hole "marker 3" with huge current. Large swells and light winds meant we would surely get pushed to the mark. Just before tacking to the layline we had to give right away to starboard boats. Footed off early to get some speed and make the duck less of a course problem.

Tacked to the layline (with a little extra in case) and made a good rounding. The pre-feed step had a little difficulty. The spinnaker came under the jib a little and had to be corrected. The chute flew nicely and we were in clean air on the downwind leg. The downwind team worked well together to focus on speed and we made time on the other J. The other J Gybed over at mid course. Crew discussions after the race determined that it was to avoid the hole. We held our course and managed to gain a little as the wind started to pick up a bit.

We had to point high to make the finish line but we managed to cross just as we were starting to get shadowed by the rest of the fleet.

Overall an excellent race! Congrats crew. Job well done.

Summer Series 2006 Race 3 preparation Stage 1

2006-07-19T09:18:00.000-05:00

Winds will be somewhat steady at 8-10 knots. A nice breeze. Could see an oscillating breeze from E to ESE. The sailflow forecast shows the wind over the race time consistently veering to ESE. Course predictions are 2:1:2:1. The committee may however set a 2:3:1:2:1 course as so far is their custom with winds like these.

Starting work on re-rigging the deck hardware to move more controls to the mast area. will be putting in a cam cleat or two today. Moving the topping lift control, and cunningham up. will save the main and jib re-rigging for when we are in Kingston for CORK.

Don't Be Afraid to Let it Out

2006-07-18T07:49:00.000-05:00

Over the last two seasons many people have either been introduced or rotated into the position of trimmer. There is one common thread that I see happening over and over again when a novice first starts to trim the spinnaker. The natural tendency is to sheet in when instead they should be letting out. I consistency see the spinnaker foot cramped up around the headstay. The spinnaker has some shape but overall is not flying properly. It is being choked.

Let the Spinnaker fly well in front of the boat. Remember that the spinnaker needs to be deep and full to power up. The adage applies to as well upwind as in downwind....When in doubt let it out.

Some of the speed issues we encounter on the downwind legs are caused by altering course to try and keep the spinnaker full. If the spinnaker collapses too much the helm has to correct fall off to keep it full until it is under control again. Watching ad playing the curl of the luff edge is crucial in keeping the spinnaker powered up and full.

Battered, Bruised...But Not Always Beaten

2006-07-17T09:34:00.000-05:00

Port Credit Yacht Club hosted it's Open regatta this weekend. J-24 world qualifier. I took Friday off and delivered the boat to P.C.Y.C. with a crew member. I knew the winds would be light and figured it might be a long haul. Turns out other than a small puff or two the lake was flat. The entire trip took about 6 hours in some inclimate weather.

Saturday was beautiful weather. Once the wind decided on it's course it came up nicely and filled in the entire sight line. Heavy gusts at times. We did 4 races on Saturday. Start timing was excellent. We were on the money every time. Made my job easier. There were a couple general recalls which gave us a chance to set up again.

We had our usual issues with spinnaker and mark roundings. The crew is getting better at communication and getting their head in the race a little more. I am able to concentrate on boat speed and pointing a little more. Good tactics all weekend.

The best part of the weekend was finding that other boat that had the same issues we did and be able to race competitively against them. It makes racing fun for a new crew. There is a good sense of accomplishment.

Overall an excellent weekend. Some blood, lots of bruises, sore muscles and sun exposure but overall an excellent regatta. My thanks to the crew for a fantastic effort!

What the Fog do You Mean Race Cancelled

2006-07-13T10:09:00.000-05:00

Well, the rain was pretty heavy at times but lightened up on my way down to the club so being an optimist I thought "sure there will be a race. A little light drizzle...No problem. Have my foul weather." Did a quick visual check and trees tops were swaying quite nicely. I was getting excited. About a block from the club the sky was black and the wind was howling. Did not look good but knew which way the wind was blowing and was sure it would clear. Was not prepared for the Fog that rolled in though. Once down at the club I chatted with a few locals who were racing and they said that the visibility was still good enough to race.

Out we went! There were larger than normal swells but the wind did it's usual drill of dying down as we enter the channel to head out to the course. Once out there we bobbed and bobbed for a bit. Then there was a light breeze. Waited and waited for the committee boat (along with 5 or 6 eager racers) but the RC was a no-show. We scanned the radio but no communication.

Finally one by one the boats packed it in and headed for shore. Our crew being eager and always willing to sail decided to have a bit of a sail around. The wind had come up, fog had lifted and the we were sailing away nicely.

Why was the race cancelled again (and not postponed?)

Summer Series 2006 Race 2 preparation Stage 1

2006-07-12T11:31:00.000-05:00

Looks like some wet and windy weather is scheduled for the race tonight. Winds forecast at 25kph for mid race and winds backing around 5. N to NNE winds for the race. Should most likely be a triangle course. Wich will most likely include marker number 3 (the inffamous black hole) I will keep inn mind the wide rounding lesson of the last race.

Working on the logistics for the CORK and Port Credit Regatta (PCYC this weekend). Lots to do and so little time.

Will check back on results of race. Crew short one today. Will be sailing with four instead of the 5 that I wanted to start to carry.

Another Skip On-board

2006-07-09T19:12:00.000-05:00

This upcoming weekend is the Port Credit Yacht Club Open Regatta. We will be taking part in this regatta. The regatta is a J24 world qualifier event so the competition will be tough. I am hoping the crew and I will again learn a huge amount at this regatta.

There is still a lot of prep work to do. I have to co-ordinate the boat delivery, crew schedules, accommodations, and logistics for the race.

Went for a pleasure cruise on the weekend and met up with Simon, who was trimmer among other things on Gray Jay last season. He is now teaching a CYA credited course out of Bluffers Park Marina with
Nautical Escapes. Simon is a major contributor to our club newsletter. His stories, anecdotes and informational bits highly informative and amusing. I have asked him to come aboard as a contributor to The Skips Blog in an effort to increase the overall content that is available and perhaps increase the frequency of posts.

Look for his posts in the near future. I have asked him to include a write up for Nautical Escapes. I am looking forward to having another skip on board for discussion and content.

Summer Series 2006 Race 1 Results

2006-07-07T08:22:00.000-05:00

The data and analysis for the race is posted here for the Summer Series Race 1.

Overall a good race. Looking back at the data and analyzing the race things were good. Major issues were the start sequence. The wind was medium to heavy at times and unlike class races where the course is perpendicular to the wind the line was skewed to the mark and wind so it is difficult to reach back and forth down the line to keep an eye on signals and the committee boat.

I think we may try dropping the jib and mulling around near the committee boat for the first start and time our start sequence from the second start which should be a 15 minute window. Once the timer is set in clear view of the committee boat we should be able to focus on pre-race positioning.

The first 2 legs were great and most of the third leg. The killer was the current at mark 3. I cut it too close and did not allow room for current or error. The wind died or we were shadowed and lost power to steer. Ended up trying to launch the spinnaker from the wrong side and it got tangled. It took some time to recover. But the last leg we rallied and fought back. Ended up way back in pack but a good overall effort.

I will try to post on mark roundings. Wide and tight to the mark, a good tactical rounding. I need to review and burn it into my brain. I should review with the tactitian as well so we are both on the same page when approaching the mark..

Local Knowlege Pays Off

2006-07-06T15:56:00.000-05:00

Just working on the race data sheet for Summer series race 1. Great night overall except for the last mark! Our best race boat speed and trim wise overall yet but fell short at the windward mark #3 where I tried to take the mark too tight and ended up having to tack. This shortfall caused a whole series of events with the spinnaker, which ended up putting us at the back of the pack.

Telling our story at the bar after the race seemed to get the same reaction from most of the sailors. The conversations went pretty much like this:

RACERS: "So how did you do tonight?"

US: "everything was going great till we hit mark 3. misjudged the mark and ended up drifting too close and tacked in circles to avoid it"

EACH AND EVERY RACER: "yeah been there and done that. The current on 3 is killer when there is a North wind. You have to give yourself plenty of room then extra."

Seems asthough it is common knowledge for those who have sailed the course for years. I seem to recall a couple races last year and one this year that we did the same thing. Now I have that marked burned into my brain and know there is nasty nasty current there.

Lesson learned!! (Again!) WIll post the results as soon as I can. may not be till weekend.

Summer Series 2006 Race 1 preparation Stage 2

2006-07-05T12:10:00.000-05:00

A quick check on Sailflow.com shows that even though the wind is NW it is changing direction in between lakes and coming backup SSW. So this should be the trend for the race. Looks like at present 7 knot winds. Winds may be a bit less than forecast due to wind backing in. No hard data to support the theory yet but working on it.

Radar shows some showers and cells forming. Depending on winds we may get a bit of rain. Accuweather is calling for showers at 4:00 pm.

Summer Series 2006 Race 1 preparation Stage 1

2006-07-05T07:25:00.000-05:00

Weather for the first race of the summer series looks good. Indications are oscillating breeze NW to NNW and back to NW. Winds seem really good at 25km/hr. Should be a nice sail.

Things to look for tonight will be where the leaders go on a North wind. My predictions are a 2:1:2:1 course with the windward mark being the toughest due to wind shadow.

Will take a look at sailflow.com (new site for weather). This site has some great features and is geared to sailors.

Spring Series 2006 Race 8 Race Results

2006-06-29T16:48:00.000-05:00

The data and analysis for the race is posted here for the Spring Series Race 8.

We left the dock early, wanted to get a bit of tactical practice in before the race. There was wind all day up to the point when we were ready to go out. I knew the forecasts and knew there would be wind but not sure what time it would come. I saw the forecast for a dying breeze just before race time and the pick-up during race.

The 2 long blasts let us know the race was postponed for up to 45 minutes. Off in the distance I could see a large band of dark which was the wind coming in far out. The crew were not all in favour of my observations some had doubts. The wind came up in a big way and in a hurry. The cell whipped winds around 180 degrees from what was expected and some boats were caught off guard. Everyone scrambled to figure out whether to start the race on a spinnaker run or reach. I chose the reach. The wind was going to shift based on the patterns I was seeing.

In the end the reach was the correct decision. The wind on the first leg lifted about 30 degrees pushing us right to the mark. The boats that launched found themselves in a mess when the wind changed. You could see some of the spinnakers collapsing and crew scrambling to try and raise the jibs.

The NOOD regatta, definitely made an overall improvement for our boat speed. We were neck in neck with our competing J-24 in the fleet at the first mark and halfway to the second. We lost ground when we got caught in some dirty air and did not tack below to find clean air. I have written about the importance of finding clean air. I got caught up in the boat to boat excitement instead of focusing on the overall tactic of clean air. Lesson to be learned.

The overall standings came out last night. Gray Jay was 7th overall. We did not compete in the Spring Series but overall last year we were 5th. Chalk it up to a learning curve and new techniques. The Summer series I am hoping to start crawling up the standings.

Racing in the NOOD

2006-06-26T17:37:00.000-05:00

Back from NOOD Toronto. What a great experience. We did absolutely horrible in every race and made just about every error and mistake you could make in a race. On the positive upside it was a fantastic learning experience. It is reminiscent of my J-world course. 4 days of intense sailing (including time on the water there and back from the regatta).

The most important thing I learned at the regatta (besides how to get back to port before the free-pour of Mount Gay Rum was over, was how to handle the twist on the main and properly trim the J for maximum power.

I had a discussion about sail trim with the person who got me started in racing. When we raced together he had a Tanzer 26. He said (about main sail trim) that he found you could set and ignore the main. That may be good on a Tanzer but not the J.

The Jay is so sensitive to minute adjustments on the traveler and mainsheet as well as the jib. The function and communication of the trim team (helmsman and trimmer) is extremely vital to boat speed.

When the helmsman trims the traveler more than an inch or so it requires the trimmer to re-adjust trim on the jib. Likewise if the trimmer adjust the jib it affects the main.

On the 4 hour sail back on Sunday I put the tactician on the helm as much as possible and I became the trimmer (again). It was great. I had been on helm so long that I forgot what a challenging and exciting position the trimmer has. This was my primary position when racing the Tanzer.

The time also allowed me to focus on micro adjustments and combinations to trim with both the main and jib to see where the optimum settings are for speed and acceleration. During the race we had a little coaching from another class racer who avoided all the cliche clique that comes with some classes and offered us some advice when they saw us struggling. It was welcomed and implemented.

The advice was to set the mainsail at the black band on the mast. I had seen the bands in articles and measurements but there was no in-depth information as to how to use the information just the information itself. It reminded me of why I set out to create this blog in the first place. I searched for a resource on the net that provided in-depth information for varying levels of sailors that wanted to race. I found that the majority of the sites were on a particular class boat or discussion group or they were extremely basic and referred only to sailing or cruising. I think it is important to share information which will help someone else become a better racer. After all even if you are racing in the same class or fleet it can only improve your game by keeping you on your toes.

I will be posting the NOOD race results and analysis as soon as I can.

Spring Series 2006 Race 7 preparation Stage 1

2006-06-20T15:21:00.000-05:00

Weather looks awesome tomorrow. We should do very well. Most likely a little over powered on the gusts. Forecast is for average winds at 15.3 knots and gusts up to 25-28 knots. There are thundershowers expected at some point tomorrow. Not sure when yet.

Winds will be South Southwest. Thursday looks good now too. Looks like the weather has shifted and it will be blowing hard all weekend.

NOOD Regatta preparation

2006-06-19T23:35:00.000-05:00

Had the opportunity to take Saturday as a "Fathers Day" bonus. I was able to get down to the boat early and do some needed work on the boat in prep for the regatta.

I moved the winches forward, which were set way too far back near the traveler bar to effectively tack. Filled in many of the left over holes. Tried to pick up the new windward sheeting car for the traveler (West Marine seems to have lost a skid, with the shipment on it!).

The wind on Saturday was fantastic. Best sail of the season so far. Big gusts approaching 40km. Biggest problem was the stays. I have not been tuning the rig weekly as I usually do (mostly due to lack of wind). The upper shrouds worked their way loose with the increased loads on the mast. Had to drop sails and tighten and tune rig on the water.

Got about 7-8 hrs of heavy sailing in before heading in for night. Heading to the NOOD regatta, Toronto this weekend. It will be our first class event. Not expecting fantastic results but looking forward to it as an entry into the class racing circuit.

I will be sailing the boat down to The National Yacht Club on Thursday. Planning the trip over. Prelim indications is light winds for the trip so it could take somewhere around 4-5 hrs to get there. I have to make it by 7:00 pm in order to meet the registration deadlines. Filing forms etc...

The weather outlook is good for Wednesday and weekend.

Spring Series 2006 Race 6 preparation Race Day

2006-06-15T13:39:00.000-05:00

Man the racing fleet must have pissed somebody up there off! To date this has been a brutal race season. 2 of six races have been completed. But last night on the water was like being in an episode from the twighlight zone.

All day I tracked weather, checked the forecasts...Again and again. Left at 1:00 to go down to the club....Flags were still flying. Winds out of North as predicted. Yes even a little rain as predicted. Wind direction at the bluffs was not the same as the rest of the surrounding area but I cleverly figured that out (see previous post), but the wind velocity was as forecast.

Awesome I thought to myself...This is finally going to be a great sail...A good race. Coming down the hill you can almost see across the lake to Youngstown. The water looked patchy. There were a few boats out and sails were flying.

After turfing about 50 lbs of excess weight from the boat the crew came aboard and we went out to practice. A little bit of wind. Things will pick up I thought. On our way out a boat still in slip shouted..."Let us know if there is any wind out there"....To which my reply was "we are going out to make a sacrifice to the wind gods!" Out into the channel we went to a sea of calm.

Not a breeze anywhere. We motored out to mark 1 where we sunned ourselves like a herd of iguana for a bit waiting for the fleet to come out...Hoping that the wind would pick up. We watched the committee boat come out with the fleet trailing. Some did not even bother to hoist even the main...Sail covers still in tact. The announcer on VHF-WX2 droned the wind conditions at various points close by. Toronto Pearson airport....Wind East 8 knots.....Toronto City Centre Airport wind East 4 knots....Etobicoke wind North East 4 knots.

The race was postponed 45 minutes in a desperate attempt to find wind.

After an agonizing period of slowly sailing drifting back and forth, the horn blew 3 long blasts. The fleet scattered like cockroaches fleeing from the click of a lightswitch.

Fully rigged and nowhere to go the crew decided to fly the spinnaker and just keep cruising to see if we could actually make it in. At about 9:00 (the usual finish time for the race...The winds picked up. By the time we got back in the club and de-rigged the wind was gusting nicely.

Take a look at the flatline from 7-9. What type of sacrifice to the wind gods would be appropriate? I was thinking of a full bottle of Appletons VX into the channel as we made our way out the course next week would be a good start!

Spring Series 2006 Race 6 preparation Stage 2

2006-06-14T08:47:00.000-05:00

Geographical Effects on Wind

The overall purpose of this blog is to keep an online reference (mainly for my own sake) of all my races, theories, learning links, thoughts and strategies with the hope that it wouold create a database that I can reference and continually analyse.

This season has been about learning the wind. Checking the forecasts for today, the indicators pointed to a definite North wind. But looking at the wunderground weather stations of my area the wind is coming SSE for only the Bluffs area.

This really hammers the point home about Geographical shifts and how much attention needs to be paid to them. We have entered the NOOD regatta at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on June 23, 24, and 25th of 2006. Our disadvantage will be that the sailors who sail the area will have much better knowledge of the wind patterns then we will. In an effort to try and minimize that disadvantage I will start tracking the regatta location winds and see if I can discern any noticable patterns.

Winds look great for today's race. I will keep tracking till I have to leave and see what the winds are doing and to check on the city effect.

Spring Series 2006 Race 6 preparation Stage 1

2006-06-13T14:41:00.000-05:00

The forecast is predicting some good winds for tomorrow's race. Initial indications are a persistent shift from ENE to NNE over course of 3 hrs during the race. If the model is correct then the winds should reach about 10.25 knots or higher. Wind gusts will most likely be a factor as well.

Lots of wind the last couple of days and there is a large weather system to the south (Florida) passing up the East coast which could bring a bit of residual wind and weather this way for tomorrow as well.

Tactics tomorrow should be medium air tactics. Focusing on the start and the upwind beat. I think the course will be (orgin 1) 3:1:3:1.

With the wind at this angle it would be wise to head down farther towards the bluffs before tacking over to the mark. From previous races (like last week) it is apparent there is more wind compression and pressure closer to the bluffs.

Spring Series 2006 Race 5 Race Results

2006-06-08T17:24:00.000-05:00

The data and analysis for the race is posted here for the Spring Series Race 5.

The wind was a dying breeze and light at that. Initial reports indicated that the breeze would die down around 8:00 pm. A later forecast said the winds would hold steady through the race. Sometimes first instincts are always the best.

Speaking of which...heading out onto the course I constantly check the windex to see where the wind is coming from and periodically go head to wind to check the true wind angle just to see what is going on. All the way out last night I kept telling myself it was a 2:1:2:1 race based on the wind. Last year I was right the majority of the time and would be the first ones around the mark setting up.

We got out to mark number one and watched as the committee boat set up in a very awkward fashion. I could not quite put my finger on what they were doing. The course was set 3:1:3:1 and we proceeded to race the course (let's just say it was not one we want for the books. Pretty much went bad from the start. At least it is out of our system and we can't get any worse then that...only better!).

Looking over the race data and wind data and plotting it in my race notes diagram it is very apparent that the course should have been a 2:1:2:1 course. My instincts were correct. The last leg on the diagram shows a huge shift to 0 degrees. i did not put the windshift arrow on.

Let me know what you think, should the course have been a 2:1:2:1?.

Spring Series 2006 Race 5 preparation Stage 2

2006-06-07T08:40:00.000-05:00

From the available weather forecasts looks like it might be a dying breeze starting at 14 kph (7.6 kts) at race time dropping to a whopping 3 (1.6 kts) kph by 10:00 p.m.

So upwind tactics and downwind tactics will be plan for a dying breeze and stay middle of the course. On the downwind leg this strategy will pay off particularly well.

looks like the course will be (1 starting) 2:1:2:1 if the winds keep up S or SSE.

Spring Series 2006 Race 5 preparation Stage 1

2006-06-06T21:15:00.000-05:00

So far a favourable weather report. I am pretty sure we will not get rained out tomorrow. I have, just in case, offered my daughters kite to Ehecatl in the hopes that he will allow us to complete more than one leg of a race this year.

The official forecast:

Winds: ESE at 16 kph

Wind Gusts: 32 kph

I played baseball obsessively as a kid and learned one key truth. Baseball players are superstitious. So to avoid jinxing the weather I will refrain from my normal analysis of the weather and change my approach. I will look at the forecast again tomorrow before going out.

Spring Series 2006 Race 4 Race Results (not!!)

2006-06-01T20:11:00.000-05:00

Turns out the race was cancelled yet again. The storms started pretty much as predicted about 5:00 pm. There were large storm cells that brought tornado watches to Surrounding Toronto areas. The cells were rumbling and flashing on the bluffs behind us as we prepped the boat to go out. Once the race was cancelled, and the rain cleared it looked as though it was safe to head out for a sail (since the boat was rigged any way why not!).

Got out into the lake and watched as a rather large cell started heading towards us spitting large bolts of lightning into the lake. We kept a close eye on and caught some good wind on the fringe of the cell for about 15 minutes.

Storm passed and so did the wind. Motored in to shore and hit the clubhouse.

There is always next Wednesday!

Another Look at Wind

2006-05-31T11:32:00.000-05:00

Took another look at some of the forecast. Seems as though we may get 10 knots tonight with a dying breeze around 9:00 and rain coming in. This all looks great on paper. Will see how it turns out!

The course layout for this wind is a direct windward leeward course for (origin mark:2) 1:2:1:2. If the winds shift the way they are predicted to we should start on starboard and maintain the starboard lifted tack as all the way up the leg. Which also means we should be on port tack for the downwind. This means we should gybe over soon after rounding the mark.

Spring Series 2006 Race 4 preparation Stage 3 (race day)

2006-05-31T11:24:00.000-05:00

It is 12:22 pm local time. Rain is coming in from North East right now. There is little wind. Preparing for light to no wind tactics tonight. Will post the race or lack of race tomorrow.

Spring Series 2006 Race 4 preparation Stage 2

2006-05-30T14:15:00.000-05:00

The jetstream has changed from what I expected but not in the direction I had anticipated. Still can't get a handle on the weather yet. Think I will have to wait till tomorrow and see what develops. accuweather extended detailed forecast is calling for 11 knot winds, whereas some of the other sources are calling for less than 10 knots which usually means 0-5 knots.

I will check back later tonight to see if any of the forecasts have changed.

Spring Series 2006 Race 4 preparation Stage 1

2006-05-29T18:15:00.000-05:00

So far it is not looking good for Wednesday night. The official forecast:

Wednesday
South winds less than 10 knots becoming southeast. Chance of showers and thunderstorms. Waves 1 foot or less.
Wednesday Night
Southeast winds less than 10 knots becoming south. Showers likely with a chance of thunderstorms.

Quick peak at the accuweather forecast shows a pretty slow moving low pressure front moving across the Canada. The 48 hr shows a small budge over 48 hours. I should know a little more tomorrow. will check to see if the front has progressed further than expected. If it has there is hope that the wind might pick up at least enough to race.

The best scenario here is if the jetstream takes a nose dive. The front will come closer to Lake Ontario and should pick the winds up.

I can always be optimistic!

Good news is the boat GPS is now functional so now I can download races and overlay and analyze the data more accurately. I have been relying on my mental picture of the races to create the data for my maps and race result diagrams. I was pretty accurate when I downloaded race 3 and compared it to the posted version. General course sailed (with the exception of one, maybe 2 tacks or gybes, was on the money. What was really apparent was the huge lift and wind change before rounding mark 4. The revised exported GPS data is here and the original analysis is here for comparison. Another neat bit of visual data was the massive pre-race jockey for position data that is collected and displayed from the GPS. Very neat to see.

Spring Series 2006 Race 3 Race Results

2006-05-25T15:57:00.000-05:00

Just finished the race results and analysis for last night. Added a few more graphs and changed some of the data around to work a bit better and more concise.

An excellent effort by all crew. This was the first race of the season and with a crew that had not raced together yet. I will mention the mantra that I tried to express last night. Sailboat races are won by the crew that makes the least mistakes. All crew...Even skippers...Make mistakes. The key is quick recovery. Last night we made more mistakes then the winning boats, but overall we had a super race. Excellent start and awesome first leg. If the course was not shortened and the wind held we may have been able to make some more ground and place better...But there is always next week!

I think I have refined my pre-race data gathering sources. I am finding Wunderground as an invaluable source.

Biggest issue last night was knowing where the mark is or the next mark. I found that we spent the majority of the legs with everyone in the boat straining to try and find sight of the mark. It was not a course that is sailed often. From what I am piecing together (local knowledge gathering) the course usually occurs late summer and early spring races. Lucky if the course is run twice in a year.

The solution to the problem is to create a "plot the mark" day and go for a pleasure cruise and plot the marks into the handheld GPS. This, albeit the easy way out, is a backup solution. I will create a version of the on-board laminated course that includes relative bearings to each mark from each mark. This will quickly get us a rough bearing to follow instead of blindly following the pack and hoping to catch site of the mark.

Couple of technology challenges last night. New equipment, mast position altered and some minor modifications on the boat over the winter coupled with having to shake off the off-season dust made it challenging. Good to be back on the water.

Spring Series 2006 Race 3 preparation Stage 3 (Update)

2006-05-24T11:11:00.000-05:00

Winds are starting to back to South. Wide view of weather system shows south winds coming in From Buffalo across the lake. It is amazing to have all this data available at a glance. I will however need to get wireless connection at the boat so I can track this data on race days.

The bluffs are very protected and I can barely get a phone signal. The club however does offer a wireless connection.

Looking at this larger system I can see why now that when the winds are forecast from the South that sometimes they end up as West Southwest. Looks like a South wind can channel along the lake and the shoreline landscape seems to effect the wind and cause it to turn direction.

Wunderground stationmaps are a wonderful thing.

Spring Series 2006 Race 3 preparation Stage 2 (Race Day)

2006-05-24T09:13:00.000-05:00

Following the forecast looks like the wind will shift with backing winds to the South around Midnight. Westerly prevailing. So possible dying breeze and persistent shift to South during the race.

Southwest winds always mean it's a toss up at as to which bouy we start at. I am going to lay my money on starting at 2 and a course of 3:2:3:2 for today. We'll see how it goes.

Will be tracking the wind today till the time I leave. Hope to get out early and do some tests with the new compass and get some practice in.

Spring Series 2006 Race 3 preparation Stage 1

2006-05-22T17:56:00.000-05:00

Official Wunderground weather report for Wednesday race night is as follows:

Wednesday
West winds 5 to 15 knots becoming southwest and diminishing to 10 knots or less. Waves 1 to 3 feet subsiding to 2 feet or less.

Wednesday Night
Southwest winds 10 knots or less becoming south. Waves 1 foot or less.

Last few days there has been a nasty low that has been driving in the cool North winds into our area. From the satellite shot, it looks as though there will be a high in the area which will calm things down somewhat. I am putting initial money on about 10 knots. I checked the almanac for the last 5 years. Temperatures are pretty normal for that day and same as what the forecast calls for. The interesting thing is that gusts for this day are pegged at 35 km/h to 54 km/h. So given the last few days I will not dismiss gusty conditions. Will post the tracking of the high tomorrow to see where the jetstream is taking it. It could change quickly to a NW wind condition and gusty if the systems do not move quickly. Tomorrow should be a good indicator of weather for the race. Will have my brother in law on-board who has not raced yet. Think he will enjoy it. It will officially be our first race of the season and only one or two max races left in the spring series so I think I will concentrate on summer series as our main races this year, along with regattas and CORK.

Frostbite is Right!

2006-05-21T21:35:00.000-05:00

It is the long weekend and nothing better than to check the forecast and see that it calls for a partly sunny day with winds blowing like stink. Call whatever crew is available (being a holiday weekend and all...And most people are snug in their cottages, and head down to the boat.

Forecast is calling for winds NW 25 knots increasing to 30 by noon then diminishing to 20 knots in the afternoon. Nice wind! We reached the dock and it was howling. Winds were as predicted about 30 knots. I put on the usual marine forecast as we were hanking on the blade jib and getting ready to ride the whitecaps. The winds seemed pretty harsh for the shelter of the club. We ventured out into the channel to start our awesome day of sailing when as we rounded the corner we got hit from a freezing blast of air that was probably hitting the 40 knot range. The boat (without any sails) heeled as if we were under full sail in a 20 knot wind!

That was my first clue! We got out into the mouth and looked at the waves, all the while the weather forecaster was repeating in French then English that the winds were gusting up to 75 km/hr (38 knots). At this point I still thought we were good. I have been out a few times now in 30+ knots and the boat was great.

Just after clearing the lighthouse I decided to head to wind and put up the blade jib to test the crew resolve and how the boat would handle in the gusty conditions. (being fresh from off-season and all sometimes it is best to work up to the 30+ knot winds). The gusts were hitting so hard that I could not even head-to-wind to raise the sail, not to mention the cold North winds were just biting cold. 10 minutes into the motor out I thought my fingers were going to fall off from frostbite.

That was my cue to tell the crew we were heading back to drink in the warmth and comfort of the bar. I did not hear any complaints.

Quick peak at the weather for Wednesday race looks really good. Sunshine, 18 degrees (Celsius). No wind indicators yet but from the long range patterns it looks as though it might be somewhere in the 18-25 kmph area. Will be updating daily to see if I can formulate a plan.

Spring Series Race 2... Rained Out

2006-05-18T09:22:00.000-05:00

I got down at the boat at 2:00 pm. Started my prep. Skies were still relatively clear; there was some cloud cover coming in but nothing to worry about. Had one of the crew help me up the mast to fix the broken windex. Back to the dock and waited for more crew before we started hanking on the sails and flaking the spinnaker.

Huge downpour started about 4:30 and lasted till about 6:50 (race time) lightning all around. I kept watching the wind. The storm was coming from the Northwest, but all the forecast predicted Southwest winds. To the Southwest....clear skies. So I waited and Waited. Finally we got the word the race was cancelled.

The crew was anxious to get on the water and at least have a go at a sail if there was no race. I was cautious because of the lightning. It had stopped raining for a good 1/2 hr. The skies looked good from the wind direction and now I could see a little bit of wind on the water so decided to go out.

Within 1/2 hour of getting on the water the winds picked up to about 15 knots...skies cleared and the winds continued to increase to about 25 knots. We did some drills around Mark 1 and called it a night after having an awesome sail.

Spring Series 2006 Race 2 preparation Stage 3 (race day)

2006-05-17T09:45:00.000-05:00

Environment Canada Marine Forecast:
Wind southwest 10 to 15 knots increasing to 15 to 20 this afternoon then diminishing to 10 to 15 this evening. Mist patches. Scattered showers developing near noon. Risk of an afternoon or evening thunderstorm. Waves less than 1 metre building to near 1 late this afternoon. Outlook..Moderate to strong southwesterlies.

Wunderground Forecast:
This Afternoon | Southwest winds 10 knots or less becoming west. Showers with a chance of thunderstorms. Waves 2 feet or less.
Tonight | Southwest winds 10 knots or less becoming south. Chance of thunderstorms through early evening. Chance of showers. Waves 1 foot or less.

Looking at tthe forecast I think I can gain an advantage if I can grab the persistent shift to South. From the data so far looks like it will either be a 2:3:2:3 or 1:3:1:3 race either way I think we are starting at marker number 3.

Will have full details of the race to follow tomorrow or shortly after..

Spring Series 2006 Race 2 preparation Stage 2

2006-05-15T18:48:00.000-05:00

The winds have been fairly steady and blowing nicely. My second weather check looks pretty ugly for Wednesday.... Reports 60% chance of rain and winds W. 15km/h. Accuweather reports "Clouds and sunshine with a shower; breezy. Winds from the WSW at 16 kph." I need to find out which forecaster is more accurate this year. Last year there were way too many differences in the basic forecast.

The mast is now up and tuned. We moved the mast to back to the J-dimension of 111 5/16th inch measurement (from the North sails tunign guide). Once completed we to k the boat out and tested everything under load and all seemed fine. Gray Jay survived the first winter in my hands. Nice to know! It is nice to know that each one of my ziploc baggies with written instructions was empty and there were none left over!! I hate spare parts!

All is good. The windex was damaged during the mast hoisting and the new traveller has been ordered. I don't think it will be in before Wednesday but hopefully it will.

I will check wind again and see if there is a better forecast tomorrow.

Spring Series 2006 Race 2 preparation Stage 1

2006-05-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

First race of the season for Gray Jay and her crew. Initial look at the weather indicates that Wednesday will be wet. 60% chance oof light rain. High of 14° and low of 8°. Initial forecast indiucates SW 10km/h.

Light winds and rain. Yesterday the wind was forecast out of East. Same speed. The weather is pretty unsettled right now. Will check back tomorrow and see what new information is available.

Have the crew going down to put the mast up tomorrow am and out for a warm up sail. Weather should be ok. Rain is expected.

Will fly the new spinnaker and see what kind of shape it has.

Homesick Sailboat Racing Blues

2006-05-09T00:23:00.000-05:00

let me start by saying this post is in no way a complaint. Right now I am enjoying the sunshine (constant I might add) of Scottsdale Arizona. When I left Toronto it was 50 ish (Fahrenheit). We have had 90 degree weather all week. I have had a great time. I was fortunate enough to do something many people will never do so I took advantage of the opportunity. My brother (owner of gray Jay) just purchased a formula Atlantic race car and was down at the track in Arizona testing and getting it up to speed. My son has a need for speed at 3 years old and the best person to help him with that would be my brother whose passion is speed and racing cars.

So while at the track he asked me if I wanted to take the on-track driving course and take the formula Mazda our for a whirl around the track. Who was I to say no! I am not one to turn down an opportunity like that so I agreed whole heartily. Since we were kids we raced something, snowmobiles, bikes, whatever...competition has always been a key ingredient in our family genetic composition.

I completed the on-track course with a gentleman (and I do mean gentleman) by the name of Will Hartje who was my instructor for the day. We drove a street car (BMW M3) for the first two on-track sessions to find the line of the course which is the key to speed. He pushed me to take some chances that probably would not have had the confidence to do if I were alone in the car. The final on-course was in the formula Mazda where I was alone. My sailboat racing experience helped me mentally prepare for the track and focus on what had to be done. I went out and had a blast. I did not fairly give the car a good work out but I did enjoy every moment in the car. If I were to do it again I would practice with a standard months in advance. My weakest point of the entire track experience was my shifting. It does not help driving kids around in an SUV for so many years!.

Anyway the purpose of the post was to say that even though it was a fantastic experience I still think about the Wednesday race that I will miss while I travel home. I am eagerly looking forward to putting the mast up this coming weekend and getting Gray jay back out on the water on Saturday.

Will whom I spoke about earlier is interestingly enough a huge sailor in my books. I was fortunate enough to speak at length with him at my brothers house after the days events. I will hopefully be able to do a number of interviews with him on tactics and racing in general. His experience is overwhelming. He really knows his stuff and whatever I post of his I am sure will be of value to my readers.

A huge thank you to my brother for all this week and making my passions a reality. Without his generosity and recognition of my passions I would not be the skip on Gray Jay.

What A Difference 180 Days Makes

2006-04-10T23:04:00.000-05:00

Yahoo podcasts (beta format) is gearing up to dominate the podcasting market by providing a very comprehensive search engine. In November 2005, one of my frequently visited sailing sites Seadated began podcasting. Back then there was only one other sailing podcast that I could find through itunes (furled sails).

Yesterday I did a quick search on Yahoo to see what I could find. My first search was a simple "sail" keyword search. It surprisingly yielded some great results both video and audio podcasts. The first entry was "The Captain Humphreys Video Blog". I have to say it was not exactly what I thought it would be. I will give it another try when the next episode comes out but quickly stopped watching it.

Full Sail Radio caught my attention and I listened to it for a bit. The segment had a great intro to racing for the novice. Thought it was well done. I look forward to future podcasts. I did some other searches as well with racing in the keyword mix and came up with some others. I was surprised to find the Volvo Ocean Race has a podcast.

Turning my attention to itunes I quickly checked out what was available. To my surprise there was a good number as well. Some of them were the same found on yahoo but the point here is that the content is growing. You never know maybe a video podcast of The Skips Blog is in order.

Ode to Teak

2006-04-09T17:00:00.000-05:00

Just got back from a long day at the boat. Slowly waking Gray Jay from her winter hibernation. Everything is in good working order. I did notice that the bottom will need a good clean before I put in the VC-17.

Spent most of the day sanding the teak toerails. Have to admit they are in rough shape. Not horrible but rough. Lots of elbow grease is the answer. Spend 3 hour sanding..(2 people) and managed to get 1/3 of the boat done. With each sanding stroke I kept my mantra..."this WILL look good when it is done". I bow to the strength of the teak wood. The boat has been exposed all winter and most likely three to four winters since it has had any wood treatment on the toerails. The rails had some major grain grooves in them which required an awful lot of sanding to smooth out.

I have never applied Cetol before. Got a kick when I read the back of the can. "rags that are used during application may burst into flames. Ensure that they are soaked in water after use". Hmmm...guess I will be using gloves for application. And a mask! Think I will throw my clothes out after soaking them in water!

Lots to do on the boat. Bottom seems to be the major issue. Looking forward to race season now. It seems much much closer now.

Trendspotting

2006-04-08T10:28:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I should see if I can find any long range climate forecasts that may have an impact on the weather this year (for example el ninio).

I did some digging and came up with the Environment Canada climate and weather office for Canada. Although this data will not guarantee results it may help spot general trends in the nearby water systems. I can pick 3 nearby stations and analyze the data from them on a day to day or month to month comparison.

Poking around I found the US navy NexSat site which provides some great data on daily weather. The wind indication has upper lower and mid level displays as well as microwave. The data also allows for quick drill down to region for whatever data you are on.

Crisp, and Clean

2006-04-06T21:33:00.000-05:00

Received the new Spinnaker today. I bought it online from North Sails and have to say that it is in immaculate condition. It was a grade 10 of 10 sail and is in perfect condition. From the looks of the sail it has not been even flaked to fly yet!

Can't wait to get fly it! I will be going down to the boat this weekend to open it up and do an inspection. The winter was not that hard so I don't expect any surprises.

I was at the club last night to attend the Basin Race Committee meeting (along with the Club Race Committee that I joined as well). Overall joining the committee has given me a few insights into the regatta and overall planning of the season. It has also given me a inside look into some of the problems that they encounter when timing. Should have a post or two in the near future.

I need to create a checklist and prep list for the season. Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow.

Another Year of Racing Begins

2006-04-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

Just want to say sorry to all those readers who visit the Skips blog and have found no new posts for quite some time. While sailing is always on my mind I guess the cold weather got to me and I did what most Canadians do in cold weather...hibernate.

The new (sort of) spinnaker will arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to that. I went with North Sails certified used sails for this year. The main is in great shape other than a tiny rip in the window which I will have fixed shortly.

Just itching to get down to the boat and start the prep work for the year. Have a lot to do. Posts will be slow to start as I slowly gear up for the season. Snow today...so that sort puts a damper on things. Hopefully the weekend will be good. Only a few weeks to launch. Again thanks to those who have been reading. Look for quite a few posts during the racing season.

To all those who are racing as well. Good luck this year and lets hope it is a windy one. I should make a note to check out if there are any long range forecasts for the summer temperatures, winds, weather trends that may have surfaced over the winter months.

What is the Difference?

2006-02-01T20:45:00.000-06:00

Checking further into the San Diego and Newport issue and came across some great excerpts and advice from the J/24 US class website forums.

Brad Read had some insight into where it all started:

The Newport and San Diego designed J/24 Sails are design evolutions that have come from Vince Brun and Ken Read's sail lofts over the last 15 years. The sails are designed using the experiences that the J/24 sailors have had over these years.

He goes on to say

Basically, the designs reflect rig tuning philosophies more than any difference in sailing conditions where the 2 lofts are located.

San Diego North Mainsails are fuller and have more curvature in the bottom 1/3rd of the luff (luff curve) of the sail because the NS SD tuning philosophy historically has relied on more Pre-Bend in the mast. This flexibility is a plus for inducing headstay sag in light air, among other reasons. The San Diego Main required a genoa to match and the San Diego GP Genoa reflects shape features to match up with a
fuller mainsail.

The Newport Mainsail was also developed with a specific tuning theory in mind. The Newport Mainsails are constructed with less luff curve (for a straighter mast ). The area taken away from the luff curve gets put onto the lower roach to increase power in the back of the sailplan. (reducing the ever-present leeward helm problem in light air.)

The straight mast allows for greater headstay tension in heavier air. The backstay load is translated into more headstay tension in breezes where de-powering is needed.

Clears that up. Now as to which is better Geoff Moore, Owner of the Newport Shore Sails loft offers this bit of advice on choosing one over the other:

last year at the midwinters all top five boats had different sail designs. This year at Key West five of the top six had different designs. There was no discernible pattern to the order. I am sure there are plenty more examples, but the point is that the J/24 One Design rule works! In every regatta there are times when we are fast and then times when we struggle. There are just too many variables to explain exactly why this happens.

My next task is to find out how to identify which sails I inherited with the boat. Hopefully there are markings on the main, genoa and jib that will give me some indication. The logic online seems to point to having the same design for all sails based on rig tuning.

Leaning Towards San Diego

2006-01-31T21:06:00.000-06:00

Researching and trying to hunt down a new spinnaker for the upcoming season. Have sidetracked from sailing for a bit but time to get my head back in the game.

I also joined the race committee and have first meeting tomorrow night. Hoping to get a bit more insight into regatta planning, course layout etc....Anything to keep feeding the knowledge machine.

Have a line on a San Diego spinnaker, and awaiting details on another North Sail spinnaker. I am starting to understand the difference between the San Diego and Newport Designs that are out there for the J/24. Found the North Sails had a nice concise explanation for the two different designs.

From what I have read so far I think I am leaning towards the San Diego spinnaker. Looks like it is a more versatile sail for the winds that I will encounter on the lake this year.

Show Me the Wind

2006-01-03T20:49:00.000-06:00

First purchase for the upcoming season will be a racing compass. So far the Taktick compass is the front runner. This is a mast mounted compass that will allow me to see data on the helm without having to rely on only the tactitian or trimmer to relay the data, letting the crew concentrate on the tasks at hand.

This particular compass seems to check out on the J24 class requirements so far. I will have to do some more investigating to be sure.

Technical plus factors for this compass are:

wireless

start timer

tracks wind shifts

large display

computes line bias

shock resistant

waterproof

The next step is to check to see if the compass transducer fits the current through hull fitting, if not assess what work will be required to make it fit. Also will check out some forums to see if I can find out what the top guys are using.

Will be searching for a spinnaker next. Any thoughts on the compass good or bad please send me feedback.

Apologies to Gary Jobson

2006-01-03T12:16:00.000-06:00

In the previous post I incorrectly referenced Gary Jobson as the author of the North U trim guide. The actual author is Bill Gladstone. Must be all the post holiday lack of blood circulation to gray matter syndrome. Sorry Gary (not that you would actually be reading this post!) The article is correct now.

North U Trim

2006-01-02T19:48:00.000-06:00

Mentioned a while back, after posting bits and pieces of Bill Gladstone's North U course material, that I was going to purchase the course material in full form and review it. Well Santa brought me the North U Trim Guide this year.

Most of the stuff I have read from Bill Gladstone has been extremely useful and packed with strategy and technique. But I have to say I am a little disappointed right now. I am about a third of the way through the first of two CD's. As I popped the CD into my Mac running OSX, that's right, the publishers of the CD had enough foresight and courtesy to offer the material in an OSX compatible format (which is not difficult given the multimedia software apps that are available in today's production houses) the menu appeared with a great preview of the content.

This is where it starts to fall apart. Now I may be a little bias here because I have spent a good part of my life developing material and presentations for corporate clients but what I saw on the CD hardly uses the media to it's advantage.

If you have ever sat through a really poor Powerpoint presentation then you can sympathize. The animation (a couple boats crossing each other used over and over) has no bearing on the information, the voice over really is poor quality and badly written and read (sorry Bill) and the actual content is primarily contained in the voice over with very little text support to re-enforce or visuals to explain. The video clips on the CD are small and poor quality. The clips play after the voice over is finished and the clips themselves are not shot for the CD but rather a dropped in to give the CD the illusion of multimedia.

I will continue to view the entire contents of both CD's and do so once or twice again to make sure I have given it a proper review and will report back again on my final findings. But right now I would hold off purchasing the CD set and concentrate on the paperback version. Seadated informed me that the book is a better buy and I am believing it right now!

Happy Holidays

2005-12-21T18:59:00.000-06:00

It has been a busy month with work and all as well as preparation for the holiday season. So for obvious reasons I have not been able to post as much as I would like to. Apologies to my readers for my lapse. I will have some R&R over the holidays to write. I am hoping to be able to spend some time with Posey's Tactic simulator in between shoveling snow and flying down the hills with the kids on the sleigh!

Just want to wish everyone a great holiday, hoping everyone has a chance to relax and ring in the new year with a bang.

Best wishes to you and yours!

The Skip.

Budget Time

2005-12-12T21:54:00.000-06:00

In the process of reviewing the state of the Gray jay and preparing to set up a budget for repairs and "sail fast" modifications. The preliminary budget is about 10K. First on the list is to find a suitable class sanctioned spinnaker. Not sure yet whether to go to a sail maker or try to find a "used regatta sail" (I have seen some in the past that are "used once" and then sold). I will have to seriously check them out.

The traveller needs new cams or a replacement windward sheeting car so I am looking into those as well. The main has a small tear in the plastic window so I need to get that repaired as well. One item that is on the must have for gadgets is a digital compass that will display headers and lifts and count down the start (in large display numbers). I am getting ready to do some class racing now with a year under my belt in this boat club racing. Promises to be an eventful season full of colourful language and lots of learning. Looking forward to it!

Some of the go fast mods on my wish list are faired keel and new rudder. The next step is to set up priority maintenance vs. speed spreadsheet and start the process of pro and cons.

Will post my thoughts and get some feedback from all of you!

Proving Ground

2005-12-09T09:40:00.000-06:00

I hate long flights...So I figured what better way to pass the time then to download an audio book to my ipod and listen on the way to Jamaica. I found www.audible.com on the net and decided to grab a book or two for the journey. Found a few sailing books...some of which were not available in Canada (what is up with that?).

Picked 2 books that interested me the first was The proving Ground by G. Bruce Knecht.

Publishers Weekly reviewed the book:
Coolness under extreme pressure marks not only the subject of Wall Street Journal correspondent Knecht's highly praised book about the ill-fated 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race but also its writing and reading. Knecht, a sailor as well as a journalist, uses good journalism and novelistic flourishes to tell the story of one of the worst disasters in modern yachting history. Of the 115 boats that started under clear skies in Sydney, just 43 would finish. Many sailors lost their lives, while others were rescued by airborne heroics after the fleet had been ripped apart by unforecast winds and 80-foot-high waves. Matching Knecht's cool professionalism, veteran actor Stanley Tucci who has himself played journalists as diverse as Walter Winchell and Joe Mitchell reads the story with a minimum of melodrama, letting the words and deeds of those involved re-create the danger, horror and final triumph of man over nature.

The book was a fascinating listen. The courage these sailors needed to venture out into the ocean and deal with the full fury of mother nature pounding on them relentlessly was inspiring and frightening. I have examined my own inner strength at this point in my life and concluded that as much as I desire to test my courage and face death in an ocean crossing race, I cannot risk leaving my kids without a father for selfish reasons. After hearing the tales of survival and contemplating some of the unbelievable decisions that had to be reached during the storm, I know that the time is not right for me to even think about such a race.

I know, in time, when the kids are older, I will be faced with the same nagging question....should I or should I not try a once in a lifetime journey, a survival test, a test of courage and determination. I know I have the strength to do it but I need to resolve the inner issue, the voice in my head that says you are a father and should not willingly put yourself at that level of risk for a joy ride.

Perhaps in time I will resolve the issue. I will re-visit it and contemplate it. I am not one for looking back on life and saying what if....I usually grab ahold and say why not! But this seems different somehow!

The second book is the unabridged version of Sailing Around the World by Joshua Slocum.

The New York Times review says:
...a literate and absorbing yarn published in 1900 and still in print....His story is a convincing tale of the intelligence, skill and fortitude that drove a master navigator.

I slept on the plane on the way back from Jamaica so I never actually listened to this one yet. I will give you my two cents when I do.

Reality Bites

2005-12-07T12:18:00.000-06:00

Yes I have been back for a bit now and have not posted. (Thanks for the prod Seadated!). I have been procrastinating and trying to juice the holiday for everything I could. The trip was fantastic! I enjoyed every bit of it. It took three days to unwind and get into the Jamaican groove. I think what really happened is that after three days of heavy partying I finally realized I had a hangover and knew it was time to sit on the beach motionless for the majority of the day.

It took a few days to try and arrange getting sunfish to sail around on. Everyone wanted to rent us the large 60ft catamaran complete with captain and drinks, but I wanted a small cat or sunfish.

We finally made a deal with an all inclusive near Hedonism (sidenote: some people are not meant to be naked in public, no matter how much they desire to be so!) It took a bit of wrangling but we did get a deal on them. We sailed them back to our hotel that afternoon which went on into the night (took about 2.5 hours to sail back with building breeze).

The next 2 days (which was how long we had rented the sunfish for) turned out to be windless days. Seems as though it is either really windy in Jamaica or no wind. We gave up on the sunfish (no wind? What do we do now? Drink!!!). The tropical depression came in very quickly without much warning. Nobody was on the water at all and no one was willing to rent us a sailboat given the conditions (probably the best since I was the only one who knew how to sail!) )Waves and wind were very heavy. Much erosion on the beaches. Have some great pics which I will post. We never ended up renting any other boats the entire vacation. Spent many nice evenings enjoying friends and great dinners. Spent most other days in the sunshine drinking on the beach.

The trip home was ugly and cold. The temp hit negative double digits (Celsius) last week so I think I was also suffering from the blahs!

Anyway just wanted to give you a quick update and let you know I did not get imprisoned in Jamaica, or purposely miss my flight and decide to make Jamaica my permanent residence. Missed my kids and was glad to get home to see them. Playing major catch up now (the joys of owning a business!), and a little procrastination (also the joys of owning a business!).

I will get back on the positing bandwagon shortly when I catch up. Here is another pic of the view from our balcony. When find a suitable web photo album I will post more.

Is Rum a Cure for Depression?

2005-11-14T17:41:00.000-06:00

Tropical Depressions that is. Tropical depression 27 is forecast to pass by Jamaica on Friday, just 2 days after we land. I have been tracking the storm and will continue to track it in the hopes that it passes by without too much force.

On the upside it presents a great opportunity to drink copious amounts of rum while waiting for the skies to clear. It also presents a great opportunity to do some killer sailing on Thursday if the winds are not too strong! Otherwise I will be spending a good deal of time on the edge of the centreboard!

I still have lots of packing to do so most likely won't get to the blog till I get back!

Virtual Spectator

2005-11-13T09:51:00.000-06:00

Had the opportunity to load up Virtual Spectator for the Volvo Ocean Race. What a great way of including fans in the action. The telemetry data is amazing and the graphics give you a great sense of the overall race. Checked this morning and two of the boats had to turn back to port suffering damage. I was able to log on and watch as one of the boats tacked back and forth as if out of control and then go through the weather data, boat speed, VMG and other data to see what was going on.

Big kudos to the Volvo Ocean race and Virtual Spectator, and the sponsors who paid for us to be able to view the race in detail for free. Almost (not quite but almost) would make getting a PC worthwhile. I hope in the future the producers of Virtual Spectator will take into account the Macintosh community.

Virtual Non-Spectator For Mac

2005-11-12T09:09:00.000-06:00

Woke up this morning hyped. The Volvo Ocean race started this morning, checked my e-mail for the update and...what's this? Virtual spectator for the Volvo Ocean race has finally arrived! Details were slim on the website. A desktop application that promises to deliver race results like never before. Putting you right there close to the action. As the site put it:

Observe the racing from the deck Brasil 1, view the rest of the fleet from the top of the mast of The Black Pearl, or follow the movement of the fleet from the outer reaches of earth's atmosphere as the 6-hourly updates give you the latest positions of the race participants.

Move backwards in time and view the historical moves of the competitors. Look ahead to the expected weather systems, and anticipate how each of the boats will react.

Perfect! I can follow the race, analyze the competitors tactics...learn from the pro's. But wait... the last line reads...Please Note: Virtual Spectator is only available for PC

No problem...fire up virtual PC and run it from that...NOT. Sorry Mac folks, no dice. If you have a PC and check it out let me know what you think. Download it here.

Ok...Now the Season is Over

2005-11-10T07:27:00.000-06:00

Woke up this morning to the site of little white flakes gently falling from the sky. No accumulation but mentally puts an end to the sailing season for me :-(

The light at the end of the tunnel is Jamaica in 7 days :-). Temp is 84 and sunny with consistent. 10-15kt winds over the last 2 weeks. Looking forward to a lot of sailing.

The First Leg | Advanced Sail Theory

2005-11-09T20:32:00.000-06:00

So this post may appeal to some and not to others. Apologies in advance to the latter. My knowledge hungry tendencies have gotten the best of me yet again and I have managed to dig up some articles on advanced sail theory in the hopes of better understanding the dynamics of the sail and how it applies to trim, speed and pointing. Although one or two of the articles are way to in-depth for me I thought best to present them anyways. Someone out there may benefit!

The first article, albeit a bit hard to read grammatically, gives an overview of the couples and forces on the sail and boat. The article is pointed towards an understanding of the tendencies of the boat to turn into the wind, and focuses on better boat balance through an understanding of the dynamics. The article is a part of www.sailtheory.com written by Pim Geurts, and is the section titled couples and forces.

The next article, Tuning, is another from the same site www.sailtheory.com and covers sail shape and twist. A good read with some good visual explanations.

The next two articles are from Arvel Gentry (Boeing Commercial Airline Company ), although a bit dated at 1981, they have in-depth information on sail theory and lift principles as well as notes on airflow separation and sail interaction. The first is A Review of Modern Sail Theory. This one is pretty packed with technical information and theory.

The second article from Arvel is titled Aerodynamics of Sail Interaction. The abstract for the paper is as follows:
"This paper deals with the basic problem of the interaction between a mainsail and the jib. Since this paper is written for the sailor rather than the aerodynamicist, all aerodynamic terms and concepts are developed and explained as they are needed. The characteristics of the flow about the jib and mainsail airfoils when they are each used alone and when they are used together are discussed and illustrated. Results from these flow field studies give a very complete and accurate description of the jib-mainsail interaction problem.".

A pretty intense read but worth it if this type of information appeals to you.

Think I have beat this topic to a pulp so next post will carry on with the first leg and get into the next phase which will be "the critical first tactical move".

The First Leg | Mainsail Controls

2005-11-07T19:36:00.000-06:00

The main sail (in most instances) has the most possibilities of adjustment when it comes to trim. The controls include halyard tension, mainsheet, outhaul, cunnigham, boom vang and backstay tension and traveller. The J is particularly sensitive to minor adjustments to the main. A little traveller, or mainsheet, or a little boom vang makes a noticeable difference.

Positioning and depth the draft of the sail is the key power in the main sail and ultimately speed. The key to speed is lift and creating the surface area to provide lift. The controls are all designed to move and position the draft to ultimately balance between boatspeed and weatherhelm. Too much heel is slow. Generally each boat has an optimum heel angle which should be maintained.

Here are a number of resources for mainsail trim and controls. The first couple are from Sailnet. The first is a good look at the mainsail and explains each control and its general purpose for overall sail shape. It comes in 2 parts. Part 1 of "Mainsail Controls for Performance" can be found here.. It covers halyard, cunningham and outhaul adjustments. The second half of the article covers backstay and boom vang.

The second article from Sailnet, "Basic Mainsail Trim for Racers" Part 1 and Part 2 are more specific to racing and deal more with the angle of attack and twist of the sail, and explores the concept of shape and power more. The article, by Pete Colby, deals with chord length and surface area and other advanced concepts. Very good read.

Performance Racing - Mainsail Trim & Controls by Bill Gladstone deals with some of the same details as the above articles and offers some good visual cues to demonstrate the closed and open leech and twist as well as a good visual that shows how backstay tension affects the main. Also deals with balancing the boat between speed, pointing and weatherhelm.

This article by North Sails is goes over the basic controls as well. If you have read the top few it may not offer much more info

Some J specific links to mainsail trim. First from JWorld Articles, secondly from the J24 class site written by Geoff Moore. If you are a J24 sailor you probably have checked them out already. If not there are a few good tips and vantage points that might help. The Geoff Moore article has some insights into mast pre-bend and the importance of tuning. Will be reading this one again when stepping the mast next season.

Bill Holcomb has written an article (primarily for a Catalina) regarding weatherhelm, indicators and ways to adjust for it. One of the ways is adjusting the main and or controls. Worth a peak, deals with some other factors such as weight distribution etc.

I know this one is a repeat from the a previous post on trim but here it is again. North Sails mainsail trim. Has animated visuals and is broken down into sections for easy reference.

Another article by Geoff Moore written for Shore Sails. Not J24 specific and deals with more general concepts of mast bend. Has some good analogies and ways to look at sail shape. Some interesting insights into reading the mainsail control positions to determine keel and mast position and rake and whether they are in balance with the boat. Will give this one another read before stepping the mast as well.

Somewhat Live or Memorex

2005-11-05T08:26:00.000-06:00

Live: (or at least taped, digitized and put up for streaming)
Canada, unfortunately, does not have as large a sailing community as Europe. The major networks favour the major sports (hey...Business is Business). With broadband expanding to the point of video-on-demand service, we are getting closer and closer to the concept of the sailing channel, web tv on demand. For now though here are a few resources that will help those cope with a lack of sail coverage.

T2p.tv, broadband, subscription based video, as well as a free section with good video tips. As they put it: "From major sailing regattas, throughout the US and Caribbean, to sailing destinations, to the sailors, the boats and the sport, t2p.tv covers it all with same day coverage for major regattas. With over 50 features and 100 shows including events, news, interviews, and destinations, t2p.tv is the place to see sailing."

Sail.tv, an excellent idea. Nice interface. Very similar to t2p.tv. But from what I can see it has up to 2004, but has not been updated since (...not sure what happened there?)

Adventures Online, more up-to-date then sail.tv, has some laser events and cat event coverage.

Memorex:
For those who prefer to make their own reality and command the seas in the safety of their desk, there is Virtual Skipper 4, coming soon. Great graphics....Most likely will not be available for the mac and from experience (version 3) will not work with virtual PC. May have to buy a PC laptop for this one!

The First Leg | Sail Trim 2.0

2005-11-04T19:47:00.000-06:00

I think the reason sailing appeals to me so much is my passion for understanding and mastering artforms. Although very scientific and rooted in mathematics, design and physics, sailing is an artform that requires finesse and a subtleness that is mastered like music or painting. It is the feel of the brushstroke and pressure along with the consistency of the mix of paint, or the brightness of a note or feeling the vibration of the string on the violin or guitar that creates the effect. Masters of any artform have an underlying understanding of the fundamental principles that govern their world. It is the colour theory and basic shape theory for the visual artist (the fundamental building blocks of all objects), and the principles of light, material and refraction of light, that enable them to reproduce with stunning realism on the canvas.

Where am I going with this? Understanding sail trim and mastering it requires knowledge of the underlying principles of aerodynamics, the physics of airflow, the physics of lift. I am not an engineer, or mathematician, but consistently reading articles and researching the underlying physics makes it easier for me to understand the feel of the sail and what I need to do to achieve the results I want.

Having said that I have another list of trim and sail theory. Some are a little more in depth and technical but great resources. Here we go:

A great interactive place to start is the National Geographic Volvo sail trim simulation. An interactive flash guide to trim. It allows you to adjust the rudder and trim the mainsail and immediately see the effects on speed on all points of sail. I have this posted on my permanent links so sorry to those who have accessed it there. Think it a great place to review or start.

Another place to start is overall review of the sailing basics. Vega Sailing School, (for catamarans) has a site that explores the basics of Apparent wind, Sail Trim, Changes in the Wind, Balance and has sections on sail trim simplified and a section more in-depth.

Basic fundamentals of sail theory. A good primer. Has good visuals and quite in-depth

Stanford Yacht Research: An explanation of Sail Flow Analysis. Another great in-depth resource for understanding how the wind reacts over the combined main and jib together. Good reference for understanding the slot principle and airflow dynamics.

Sail Twist from www.onemetre.net. Another in-depth look at the jib and how the luff and leech effect the attack on the wind to deflect the airflow over the main. This site has a link to spreadsheets for those who crave numbers and formulas. For those who don't it is still a good read with information that can help in the understanding process.

A technical note from WB Sails which explores the Effects of the Side Bend of the Mast. Will help with smaller boats and dinghies more than the larger boats where stay tuning is more of a factor.

A few sites I have saved till last because they may be repeats for some. US Sailing sail trim article. From the Miami Valley MYC Newsletter, a quick reference guide to trim in different air velocity conditions. And finally a sail trim guide (pdf format) from Quantum Sails. A viewpoint from a sailmaker. Has some good visuals and information.

I will save the really technical articles and published info on sail theory for another post or include it in a separate sidebar.

The First Leg | Trim, Trim, Trim

2005-11-03T11:48:00.000-06:00

As promised here is a list of urls I think worthy of a good read. The first is Performance Racing Trim, Boat Speed, Boat Handling and the Racing Pyramid. Refer to chapter 3 on sail trim. Written by Bill Gladstone and NU Seminars. The article covers basic lift principles, sail shape (with lots of visual references as a guide). The article is a good starting point for sail trim for both main and jib. Lots of useful information here. The complete book can be ordered here.

This link The Quest for the Perfect Shape, is an article I had referred to early in my blogging and I think it is in the permanent links. The site deals with the "think as one" principle. Trimming the sails as if they are one large airfoil to maximize lift.

The good sail trimmer is constantly in search of the right shape for the conditions or desired condition (speed vs pointing). This North Sails article Upwind Sail Trim Techniques explores the role of the trimmer and goes through the thought process and actions taken.

Wally Cross tackles trim from many different angles in this article. Lots of useful information here. Worth a read. May need to re-visit this article for some downwind tips as well.

Neil Pryde Sails published an owners manual for their sails. Some nice information from a sail designers perspective on trim and helm balance.

A short but insightful reference regarding proper sail trim. Some pointers for novice trimmers regarding oversheeting. Also a good reference to the frequency of trimming. Covers tell tales which I will include references for as well. Written for a Hobie but useful principles here.

USA sailing keelboat course: sail trim and shape is a primer with some good visual references and links to follow.

This site has a great visual library of sails trimmed well and poorly. Helps put trim into a visual context and helps give you a visual of good sail shape. I like to look at the overall shape. Also great visual reference to know when your sails are NOT trimmed!!

SAIL Magazine's Sailing Tips by Michael Tamulaites, Associate Editor, a great in depth look at trimming the jib. Changing the jib halyard tension to achieve better sail shape are some of the experiments we did this year on the water. Not sure how much of a difference it made, I did not have an accurate system set up at the time to record any statistics. I will review this article again before spring time and plan a sail trim day or two on the water to experiment and log the different variations.

This sail trim sim is a useful visual utility for sail trim. It shows you various tell tale positions, camber and is very interactive. Great for testing some scenarios out and getting a visual grasp of trim.

North Sails also has an interactive page, a little less in depth but deals with main twist and tension. Definitely worth a gander.

A great site for tell tales is Telling Tales. Using the tell tales can tell you when your sail is in proper trim. I use the tell tales to steer by and check proper airflow with the ones on the leech of the main and jib. A very important concept to get your head around. Airflow is the key to speed and lift.

UK Sailmakers has good technical data on sail composition and some trimming techniques. Mostly technical data related to making the sails. A good secondary reference.

www.fleet47.com has a quick guide to sail trim. Short, concise (a little visually hard to read) but otherwise some good advise in quick point form.

Hope these sites are not redundant and offer some good starting points. Still searching and bookmarking.

The First Leg | Trim for One

2005-11-02T22:37:00.000-06:00

The most important trim concept with a main and jib is to think of the two sails as one large airfoil. The overall shape of the two combined sails defines the lift and speed that the boat will have. Trimming should follow a sequence with the main trimmed first to balance the helm. The mainsheet and traveller should be the primary controls in lighter winds, and as wind builds adjust the outhaul first until the draft is 30-40% aft of the luff (the power pocket), then begin adjusting the boom vang to flatten or close the leech. Once the wind builds to the point where all available bodies are on the rail, use the backstay adjustment to open the leech.

After every adjustment, re-check the overall trim again. It is usually necessary to adjust the jib once you have properly shaped the main for overall foil shape. The slot or groove of the foil should be even all the way up. If it is uneven the airflow will not be optimal.

The jib draft (power pocket) is adjusted by moving the cars forward and back. One thing I will be doing this year is drilling holes in the jib lead track in between the factory holes to fine tune adjustments on the jib.

Have been researching sail trim sites and will have a nice list compiled shortly. Some good resources out there. Look for them in the next post.

Seadated Podcast Now Available

2005-11-01T11:11:00.000-06:00

My search never ends for informative sailing and racing content on the web. Of all the content available on the web you would think there would be more on sailing, racing in particular. With more and more bloggers entering the scene and one-click publishing picking up speed the content is slowly being made available. Apple introducing the new video i-pod will help drive video based content as well.

The Seadated blog, one of the sites I frequent has just launched a podcast based on the popular site. In the premiere podcast the author of the site, and host of the podcast Claude Nix, gives a rundown on what kind of content he will cover where he will take the podcast over time. One Comment in particular caught my attention from his initial podcast. He remarks that when he sails on Kahuna he is "like a sponge" and is tries to learn as much from the rest of the crew that he can. Love his attitude and lack of ego. The only way to learn is to admit what you don't know and then find out how to do it. His podcast has a great tone and is very informative. Please check him out and give him your support. He is an apple user, as am I, so that, in itself is another reason for support (lol)!

His latest podcast deals with protests, the do's and don't of witnessing and filing them. Some great information here and comments along with some personal observations. I have been waiting for a podcast like this to come around, very glad the sailing community has a new resource like this.

The only way to make sailing and racing content on the web better is to propagate and support those who put it out there for everyone else.

Working on the Chain Gang

2005-10-30T17:28:00.000-06:00

Haul out crew this weekend....very very tired and sore. 2 long days, 250 boats, 2- 20 tonne cranes and gusty winds...not to mention ice on the decks this morning... made for some interesting moments.Victoria is in 4th position and holding. Will catch up on crew notes from them tonight before I crash hard. Will write soon.

The First Leg | The First Two Minutes

2005-10-28T20:31:00.000-05:00

The moment the starting line is crossed, assuming there is no foul or correction needed, focus should turn to trimming for speed and upwind boat handling. Try to get as much speed out of the sails as possible. Most articles and books I have read suggest not tacking within the first two minutes of crossing the line.

The tactician and helmsman should be communicating and deciding when to start implementing their overall upwind strategy. The strategy will have been formed based on a number of factors. Primarily, the favoured tack, the shortest distance to the mark. Secondarily wind shifts, persistent, oscillating, patchy, dying or building breeze.

I have written about wind shifts and methods for tracking, and the gains that can be achieved by playing them in previous post. Bill Gladstone has written an very comprehensive article on upwind tactics here. In it he shows examples and calculations of how playing a 10deg windshift can make huge gains overall (or potential losses if not taken advantage of). The article is packed with useful information on upwind strategy and tactics.

Once boat speed is up and fleet starts to implement strategy, trim for pointing and begin using offensive and defensive tactics

The overall strategy should be a solid plan for the race, Tactics are what should be fluid and used to carry out the strategy.

Next posts will start exploring sail trim for upwind beats and boat handling for speed and pointing.

The Start | Go for Speed Off The Line

2005-10-27T14:19:00.000-05:00

During pre-race maneuvers and before you cross the line there will most likely be less wind and disturbed wind created from the other boats on the line, boats upwind on another start. To make the best of your starting position ease your sails out a bit for speed. Keep your sails full and flatten when you have reached cleaner air. This will help maximize your power off the start. A flatter sail will allow you to point but the fuller sail will drive you faster and power you through the dirty air.

Try to adjust sail trim when you are at the beginning of your maneuvers and mark the trim off on your sheets with a grease pencil or piece of tape so you can reproduce your trim results on your final approach.