A jaunt round the harbour, 300ing with Matt and Claire

After the Easter weekend sailing, RS400 sailor Matt J dropped me a line about sailing the following weekend (Matts quotes in this post are in no way made up for the purposes of blogging): "Mark, all the ladies at Slipper have been commenting on what a dashing figure you cut in your 300, I wonder if you could take me out in a borrowed boat, to see whether my meagre skills are up to the job".  OK that's not quite what he said, but we did arrange to go sailing, along with the ever reliable training-partner-Claire.

A few notes on Matt before we get into the sailing.  He has sailed a number of different classes including the Finn and RS400, and even had a brief dally with a 300 a number of years back.  He has placed in the top 5 in the 400 Europeans, and I think top 10 in the SB3 Europeans.  Given this impressive track record of performance, I thought that some video footage from Matts boat would be of interest to blog readers, but Matt was slightly reticent on having the GoPro mounted to his boat: "If you think you are putting that GoPro on my boat, you can ***********.  There is no way that you are going to post ******* video of me on your ******* blog."

He is looking to buy a singlehander to compliment the 400, and considering a Devoti D1, 300 or Finn.  Clearly my objective for the weekend was to try and sway Matt towards the 300.  We are physically quite dissimilar - I'm a bit light at the moment at 68kg, Matt is 100kg of brute force - and it was interesting to compare boat-on-boat performance.

To the sailing.  The only time we could arrange was for dead low water at Thorney, so launching was interesting given the 3ft of slip we had to work with.  "Don't worry, its only Mikes boat, I'll leave it floundering on the smelly Thorney mud whilst I sort the trolleys out" said Matt, clearly disrespecting the borrowed boat.  But we managed to get out into the channel after a bit of faffing - by this point training-partner-Claire had already self-launched and was ripping it up around Cambermet.  Sunny, force 3-4 easterly, and flat water, perfect.

At this point, the session started to feel remarkably similar to the Andy Gould sessions over Xmas.  All of my carefully planned process goals flew out the window as we immediately got into a 1.5 mile drag race to the main channel in the harbour, followed by an hour of boat-on-boat upwind/downwind cycles, much more like racing than training. It is impossible to stifle the competitive instinct in situations like this, unless the other person is also orientated towards the same goals!

But there were some interesting points of learning from the day:

- The difference in weight made less difference than you would expect.  Matt was marginally quicker upwind, faster on a close reach, but slower on any broader point of sailing.  Some of that will be technique (on both our parts), but nevertheless the boats were much closer in speed than I thought they would be.  So two boat tuning with disparate helm weights is plausible, but obviously sharing settings wouldn't be advisable.
- Upwind, there is definitely gains to be made by footing for a few lengths to get up to speed and then tweaking the boat up to point.  We both tried this and it works, but is counter intuitive to helms who naturally point. 
- Earlier this week I wrote down my process goals for the next 3-6 months.  A point of interest is that even the act of writing them down appears to have benefits.  As I approached the windward marks, my thoughts immediately focused on the aspects of a perfect bearaway, and lo and behold the body just seems to execute on them.

Will Matt buy a 300?  I sense he has a leaning toward the flashy D1, or technical Finn.  And maybe he has a chance of getting those downwind in more than a force 4 (only joking, this is my way of trying to provoke him into buying a 300).

Process goals

I recently posted an article on the Rooster website about the psychology of sailing, and the benefits of setting process goals.  I've had a couple of emails on the subject since, and it seems that the literature is strong on theory but short on examples.  So I thought I'd post up my analysis/goals in the hope that it may be of use to others who are thinking about undergoing a similar exercise.

 

So here is my analysis of my sailing, the elements in red are the ones that I think are lacking and need work as a priority, orange is 'needs work but a second priority', and green is OK.

 

 

And here are the goals that I've set, based on the above:

Fitness I've handled in a single diagram:

 

So lots of work to do, it is a never ending feast of training and racing.  Thank goodness Spring is here at last. 

Easter Monday Madness

Update 2/4:  Andrew F sent me the following photo, taken a couple of seconds before the start of the race at the business end of the line.  432 is clearly preparing for an almighty pump, the ISO is nearly up to speed.  Any comments about 432 being OCS will be heavily moderated!

  
The final race of the Easter weekend today.  The met office were forecasting a cold easterly f5-6, and again they were spot on. We sailed from 15:00 or so:

The cold weather and water must have put a few off, we had 10 boats sailing today. 

The start was a very orderly affair, whilst the pin end was again very biassed the number of boats sailing made for an easier start for most.  Then we had a lovely jaunt round the harbour, seemingly reaching for at least 80% of the course.  I could tell that the assymetrics were just loving the white sail reaches.

Some highlights of the day:

- Andy and stand in crew Simon had an interesting race in their ISO, but kept it together to lead the fleet to the finish.  There were a couple of boat handling incidents on the first downwind leg (more on this later), but they stayed upright and fast.  Andy had this to say after the race (and I am in no way making this up): "Given the cold conditions I decided to wear three wooley jumpsuits under my drysuit today.  I was warm, but found it difficult to move around the boat whilst having the flexibility of  a michelin man."  Time to invest in some SuperTherm Andy.

- Mike and Emma were subject to another Significant Grounding today, whilst trying to avoid the shenanigans in ISO 1037.  They had a full mast-in-the-mud-and-boom-in-the-mud experience.  Emma was not happy:

(Emma is on the right, highlighting the mud on the mast.  Training-partner-Claire is on the left, and looks as if she has spotted a bar that might supply her first glass of Blue Nun of the day)

-  The rescue boats had a busy day, superbly manned by Noel, Robin, Alex and Angela.  It is cold in those patrol boats, but they were out till the end.  And kudos to those who made it round the course in those conditions despite a few capsizes, it was windy and everyone did well to get back in one piece!

- A special thanks to Sarah ad Jonathon in the race hut, excellent race management and a superb choice of course (read the 300 report later to find out why).

Thats it at Slipper for the next couple of weeks, the tides are wrong next week and there is a Feva/Tera open the week after.  But with BST kicking in maybe it is time to start evening sailing.

300 Log : 1st April

Date: 1st April
Venue : ESC
Race : Handicap race
Tide : 45 after the start
Conditions : ENE f4-6, flat-ish water
Result : Probably 1st of 10ish boats

Positives:
- Good start.  Kept on with the theme of getting in the mix at the favoured end and happily managed to win it today.  I really like the whole port tack approach, but should probably start to practice longer approaches on starboard I find them far more difficult to judge.
- Generally good speed about the course, but it was a course that certainly favoured the 300.
- Blistering run, fully planing by-the-lee and really gunning it.  But also in control (after getting the bear away sorted).  Managed some good transitions between BTL and broad reach, and felt as if I was controlling the boat rather than vice versa.  Very pleased to see the practice paying at least some dividends.
- Wind was very gusty and shifty - thought I was doing OK with the up-in-the-lulls down-in-the-gusts stuff.
- Nailed one gybe in a particularly harsh gust.  Not the cleanest exit, but safe.  Pleased that I didn't take the wearing-round option, although I did consider it.  Demonstrates a little fortitude and confidence.

Points for reflection:
- The boat is so much easier to handle in flat water.  So I think I'm going to practice a lot at Thorney this year, much more difficult conditions (at least so far this year).
- Sailed with lots of vang all round the course today, letting 1/3 to 1/2 off for dead downwind.  Rig felt great.
- Poor tactical decision after rounding Northney, should and tacked and taken the long tack!

But another Good Race, and a great end to the Easter weekend!

Easter Sunday Sailing

Today was the first of many '3 race series' in the new season.  Each of the three races is about 30 mins in length, over a triangle/sausage/triangle course.  The great thing about the format is the focus on starting, boat handling, mark rounding and boat on boat tactics, and the compact close nature of the racing.  For these races the RO elected to set a course with starboard roundings, which gave another dimension to the racing, especially at the windward mark.

We had about 15 boats on the water, in a very gusty f3-4 easterley.  The course was set on the edge of a tidal channel which made the starts interesting.  Some highlights:

- Andy and Vicky were well frothed, and I think contenders for the series.  The races are relatively short and I've no idea as to the differences on corrected time, but if I were a betting man I'd slip a fiver on their ISO (at 2:1, they weren't miles in front).  There was a rather unfortunate tea-bagging incident after one of the starts - Vicky wasn't very pleased - which forced a tack onto port under the rest of the fleet.  Transpires that it was the way to go, and they popped out of the windward mark in the lead! Fortune favours the brave (or in this case, those who can't cleat their main).

- Matt and Gael led the 400s round the course in all races, albeit with a few notable incidents.  The first was a rather brash and agressive bearaway on the line onto an unsuspecting but well cntrolled 300, fortunately the excellent seamanship of the 300 prevented maritime disaster (well gelcoat damage, which in OCD-land constitutes maritime disaster).   And a near-capsize on the 1 minute gun of a start, after a gybe.  Made me wish I'd mounted the camera to the boat.

- Mike and Emma had a mixed day on the water.  Emma had had a 'spa day' for her birthday on  Saturday, which apparently involved drinking Bacardi till 03:00.  Apparently this was not the best prep for a feast of hoists and drops, and excessive crew-work.  But who knew that spa days could be such fun, I may well put one on the birthday list.  Or maybe we should go for one in Minorca.

- Good to see Dave Valentine and Simon Robinson back on the water in their Lasers.  I managed to completely stall my boat on the line right in front of Dave, cocking up both of our starts.  But fortunately Dave was very gentlemanly appeared quite sanguine about the whole thing.  And we were general recalled, hurrah.

- Training-partner-Claire was back out in her 4.7.  I suspect another heavy night on the white wine (perhaps she was on a spa day?), there was some rather tetchy commentary about more alledged inaccuracies in Slipper Musings earlier in the week.  But the excessive drinking did not appear to be slowing down her boat, she was mixing her 4.7 up with the standard rigs at many points in the race.

Wind looks to be up for tomorrow, but what do these forecasters know.  I predict a balmy f3-4.

300 Race Log : 31st March

Date: 31th March
Venue : ESC
Race : 3 race series, approx 20-30 mins each
Tide : 1 hour after the start
Conditions : E f3-4, flat water
Result : 2nd of 15 boats

Positives:
- Got into the mix of the starts with mixed results.  Excellent starts on races 1 and 2, three poor starts on race 3 (two general recalls and one black flag).  Need to have a think about where I was going wrong on the poor starts, but I'm pretty sure that starting sandwiched between two faster boats wasn't helpful.  Much happier with the port-tack approach than judging a starboard approach for 1min+.
- Really pleased with offwind and downwind speed, I was able to keep the boat planing when going dead downwind using angles, very pleasing.
- Generally OK with boat handling and mark roundings (there was lots of that today).  Made the practice worthwhile.

Points for reflection:
- If I'm going to keep getting into tight spots on the start, I need to practice close quarter handling and learn what the boat will tolerate.  Not easy, but something I've not put much time into practicing yet.
- In the first race the majority of 200 fleet and a 400 went up the right hand side of the beat and clearly made good gains on the overall fleet.  The Merlin and ISO did the same in race 2, with the same result.  Yet despite recognising this I kept plugging the left hand side, largely because the start dictated this (I couldn't tack).  Far better would have been to hold back and ensure an ability to get onto port quickly.    Speaking with Matt after the race we wondered whether there was a persistent shift due to the geography of the land alongside the channel.
- Not pleased with speed upwind.  Spent too long sailing with max vang/downhaul in stupid winds, and appear to have lost the touch with medium winds, both in terms of rig setup and technique - needs practice.

But all in all, Good Racing, its all about having fun on the water and everyone seemed to enjoy the racing today.  Lots of smiles on the shore.

300 Race Log : 30th March

Date: 30th March
Venue : ESC
Race : 50 minute handicap
Tide : 30 mins after the start
Conditions : NE f3-5, some wind-over-tide chop but nothing significant
Result : 2nd of 15 boats

Positives:
- My strategy at the startline is usually to let others fight for the prime position, and start a quarter of the way down from the favoured end.  Not so this season, I've decided to try and improve starting by being closer to the favoured end, preferably in prime position.  If I cock up a race or two as a result, so be it.  Todays start was mixed.  I approached on port with 30 secs to go, and tacked in front of the assembled fleet.  Andy and Vicky got under me just before the gun and sailed through my dirty air which was impressive.  But I'm happy with the new approach.
- OK speed on all points of sailing, and good compass work upwind.  Again really pleased with speed dead downwind, managed some more planing by-the-lee today which is always heartening. 
- Good gybes today, no dropping of sheet yay.
- Pleased to be able to find patches of wind downwind, head is starting to get more out of the boat.

Points for reflection:
- Shouldn't have let Andy get under me on the start.  But theres always next time.
- Going to have to practice the 'changing gears' thing in the next practice session.  Far to passive and reactive, and its not good for boat speed.

But all in all another Good Race, most enjoyable.  More of the same tomorrow!