Saturday morning arrives, bright sunshine, but not much wind - f2 on Cambermet and forecast to die. Dave and I were debating whether lugging the boats to TISC would be worthwhile, but Andy's enthusiasm to give the 300 a go tipped the balance and we arrived at TISC at 1300. Not much wind, but certainly enough to sail.
Dave and I got all technical before launching, mounting calibration strips on the mast and boom for vang and outhaul. After the lighter wind H&H races, I was interested in understanding rig set up for light wind broad reaches, and we needed some basis to compare changes.
The video was mounted on Andy's boat today, to record the joy of discovering the 300. So thankfully no footage of me looking like my grandmother. Key points of learning from today:
- Tried the technique of moving to a 'frying pan' grip prior to tacking. Feels very odd, but can see the benefits - there is no faffing about when you get to the new side, and it is easier to hike harder with your arm behind your back. The other thing it demonstrated was another defect in tacking, in that I put a hand on the floor to steady myself as I move across the boat, better footwork can stop that.
- More vang appears to be quicker on a broad reach in light winds. The leech of the sail opens and the top leech telltale starts to fly consistently. Boat on boat it seemed to make a difference.
- There are three set of taletells on the luff of the sail, to date I've usually focused on the bottom set. I noticed today that the bottom set are less reliable than the top two, so I'll be using those from now on.
- Tried lots of windward heel in a light wind. Gives a neutral rudder but its difficult and needs full concentration. Managed to sail about 200m upwind without touching the rudder, which was satisfying.
- Dave's boat has an additional bolt through the boom jaws, to strengthen the fix to the mast. It also acts as a mount for an outhaul block, and stops the outhaul tightening as the boom goes out. No prizes for guessing what will be on my job list for tomorrow morning!
- The whole target speed thing needs more work. My tendency to pinch in all situations is slow. Sailing upwind with Dave today, I decided to try footing and choose to sail below Dave through his dirty wind. Imagine the surprise when I hardened up and found I was able to sail under Dave and up and over with little difficulty. Dave shared my surprise and was really pleased.
A great day on the water, we had a couple of hours and learnt more than racing for a full series.
Andy looked very assured in the boat, certainly more so than my first foray in a 3. Upwind he had the whole windward heel thing going on, and good speed. The Laptop is struggling with Andy's video, but rest assured that I'll do my best to get it youtubed tomorrow at some point! Welcome to the pesky fleet Andy!
No comments:
Post a Comment