300 Race Log - 14/10/2012

Date: 13th October

Venue : ESC
Race : Handicap race, 1 hour
Conditions: WSW, F1-3, very patchy and shifty
Tide : 45 Mins after start
Result :  2nd overall

Positives:
- Good start,  lots of  space on the line, was able to climb up to the main fleet and nudge in front whilst climbing over Andy and Vicky.
- Good boat speed upwind, reasonable boatspeed downwind.
- Enjoyed the race.

Point for reflection :
- Ditto on broad reaching speed from previous two races (getting rather tedious, but improved on Sunday!)
- Pointing.  A&V pointing significantly higher in their ISO.  That said, I was more interested in speed than pointing (trying to train myself to have two modes of footing/pointing, as the natural inclination is to point).
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Date: 14th October

Venue : ESC
Race : Pursuit race, 1 hour
Conditions: N F1-4, very patchy and shifty
Tide : 15 Mins after start, 4.9m, made for an interesting race as the usual tidal rules didn't apply
Result : 1st of 13 boats

Positives:
- Good boat speed on all points of sail.  Had a bit of an epiphany moment with broad reaching speed when I accidentally kept outhaul on after a windward rounding.  The flatter sail seemed quicker, despite the received wisdom on a looser foot offwind.  I wonder whether a very full sail encourages separation.  The logical extension of this is more vang aswell.  So definitely a move in the right direction, I can see a way forward with a bunch of tuning on outhaul/vang.
- Reasonable start.  Focused a bit too much on starting ahead of the Merlin, ended up starting 3-4 seconds after the gun but at full speed.
- Really good upwind compass work.  Rounded Tye with the Merlin close behind, playing shifts gave me a lead of 40-60m by Shepherd.  Put it all down to compass work.
- Pleased with boat handling.
- Very relaxed.  Had another epiphany moment after racing yesterday, where I realised that all handicap racing should just be considered as fun sailing (unless there are other 300s involved of course).
- Shook a shocking hangover.

Points for reflection:
- Being relaxed makes you faster I think.
- Upwind from Northney to the club was fully powered.  It was interesting to note that tweaking on a little more vang resulted in better speed and less hiking - must be something to do with reducing drag of the rig.
- Could use a hour of mark roundings, not as sharp as they were a few months back.

Things to work on:
- Need to get out and confirm the outhaul findings for a broad reach.
- Need to replace outhaul controls, rope is on its last legs.
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Starting to get more consistent in these winds, need to get out in stronger winds - can't wait!