Sam placed really well yesterday, being the first Laser on corrected time. As well as giving the other Lasers a good pasting (and me for that matter), he now shows that he can write a nicely articulate piece of musing:
"Today (H&H11) was my first go in a radial in a blow, which could have gone either way! It certainly felt good to be planing again after outgrowing the 4.7. I was pleasantly surprised at how manageable a Laser can be, even when you’re a bit on the small side, if you’re not afraid to temporarily ease the main when hitting the gusts upwind. The key to this is loads of kicker; otherwise the main will power up as the boom rises.
I found that keeping a constant angle of heel worked wonders when heading upwind, however I should have stopped hugging the Thorney shore a bit sooner so I didn’t overshoot Sweare Deep, the windward mark. The close reach underneath Hayling was quite difficult to keep the boat flat with the gusty conditions and having to leave the kicker off to stop the boom dragging. I’d imagine that I need to grow and get fitter to be able to ‘ninja hike’ for the majority of the leg, but I’d be interested to hear if anybody’s got any tips for close reaching. Downwind, I noticed that doing transitions, where you sail broad reaches and by the lee, instead of directly downwind, made the boat much more stable, and quicker than sailing the shorter route, but I’d like to know whether that was the case from everybody else’s perceptions.
PS. Thanks to the race team and safety boat crews."
I feel your pain on the close reaches Sam, Rick Kennedy and I used to lament the ability of the larger sailors to thrash us on a reach in any sort of wind. And sailing by the lee seems to be the way to go, my capsizde video shows what happened to me when trying to sail a deep broad reach!
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