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win the start - win the race!

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/15/2009 : 20:55:53

Indiscipline took 1st place yesterday in the San Diego All Catalina Association Turkey Day regatta. I beat 8 boats including the Cat 27 that most always wins, and the Cat 34 that is either 1 or 2 every time. There were 3 Cat 36s also. We clearly won the start and were first to the upwind mark. We had a nice set and flew spinnaker (only the Cat 27 did likewise). It was about 3 miles to the downwind mark. No one in the Catalina fleet caught us. We had a great run in winds about 5 knots. We did a messy douse and then fought back upwind about 3 miles to the finish. The Cat 34 and the Cat 27 caught us right at the line. We corrected over them by 3 to 4 minutes.

We won a turkey!

For me it was a 12 hour day on the water. I left Mission Bay at 7 AM. Picked up crew in San Diego at 10:30. Did the race, starting at noon. Dropped off crew, went to the after race party. Then I went to the anchorage and spent the night. Today I left at 9 AM. On the way out I got this photo:

The winds came up to about 15 knots. I got into my slip at 1 PM then went sailing with a friend until 5 PM.

Nice weekend on the water.

Indiscipline 1978 FK SR #398

Edited by - JimB517 on 11/15/2009 20:58:34

britinusa
Web Editor

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Response Posted - 11/16/2009 : 04:55:53

Way to go Jim. I guess that bad boy didn't join the race

Paul

Edited by - on

OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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4382 Posts

Response Posted - 11/16/2009 : 05:43:25

GREAT JOB JIM!

There's a lot to be said about winning the start - in addition your obvious sailing skills, it helps to not be in dirty air.

Way to go . . .

Edited by - OJ on 11/16/2009 05:44:05

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
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Response Posted - 11/16/2009 : 07:37:17

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by britinusa
 Way to go Jim. I guess that bad boy didn't join the race

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Wouldn't be a problem--his PHRF is -3600! (...an hour per mile)

Edited by - on

skrenz
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Response Posted - 11/16/2009 : 12:39:02

Congratulations Jim. I guess that makes up for the San Diego to Ensenada run ;-)

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 11/16/2009 : 14:57:26

Now that I have a little time to think, I can fill in a little more details.

Pre start, I decided to closely cover the Cat 27, Interlude. Interlude is very well sailed and has a dacron main but a new carbon fiber jib. He is faster than us and points better. We do very well against them downwind, especially in light air and calm seas.

The race committee set a 7.5 mile course all inside the Bay. Waves were 6 feet or greater outside so that was good for us. Wind was about 5 knots at times gusting higher, with direction shifts.

With 2 minutes to go we were just windward and ahead of Interlude, on the starboard tack layline for the favored committee boat end. I knew we would be early. But I wanted to stay ahead of him and the rest of the fleet. It was an upwind start in light air with a ebb tide helping us towards the line.

With 1 minute to go Interlude had to make a panic tack to avoid a leeward starboard tack Cat 36 boat running downwind away from the line (Interlude's bowman THOUGHT the Cat 36 was on port, but they were not). I did a 360 to starboard to avoid Interlude, swung around and right back on course for the line (I practice this a lot - I know I can do it in 45 seconds). The Cat 36 cleared out Interlude and the rest of the starters line a bowling ball hitting the pins. I was still early, ran the line for 10 seconds, and at the gun and flag drop hit the line 2 boat lengths down from the Committee boat at full speed. No one else was around. I didn't know it but a non racing boat towing a dinghy sailed right through the fleet and delayed everyone. Also, the committee was 30 to 40 seconds early on all the signals. I knew this but I don't think many of the others did. The race starts when the flags drop, not at 12:00 noon like it said in the SIs.

The windward mark was about 1/2 mile and we almost laid it on one tack. Several of the boat behind us tacked early and ran into a hole. We held our starboard tack until just short of the layline, tacked to port, did not have to duck anyone, tacked to starboard and rounded in 1st place. Before the start I knew we would go up spin with port pole so we had everything run. As soon as we rounded we went up pole, pre feed, up spin and down jib. It took about as long as you to read it as us to do it.

Now we had a long straight downwind leg to an intermediate mark. Air was light and we trimmed spin for a run. We raised pole and eased halyard for that deep running shape. 2 spin boats in the PHRF fleet 5 minutes behind us caught us on this leg, one right at the mark. One a 43 footer, one a 36 footer.

Rounding the intermediate mark, we went pole forward to a reaching leg down the main part of the bay. We were passed by the PHRF 36 footer at the downwind mark and stayed right with them at the reach mark. We did a rounding and had a lot of trouble with the douse (we were double handing) and so the 36 footer sailed away from us. Also we were caught by a Cat 30 in the PHRF fleet as we first close reached to a different intermediate mark, then tacked upwind to the start/finish. We traded tacks with the Cat 30 for a while until they gradually separated.

Near the finish we were rolled by the Cat 34 that always wins 1 or 2 in our class (very well sailed, non spin, racing sails). We tacked to port 6 inches off his stern for clear air. He sailed right to the port layline and we stayed on port then tacked for a starboard finish. The Cat 27 Interlude passed us 100 yards from the finish. He beat us by about 50 seconds. The Cat 34 beat us by about 1 minute 20 seconds. We had a Cat 36 just on our leeward quarter at the finish.

The race took about 3 hours. It seemed like 10 minutes to me. I was in deep, zen like, concentration the whole time. Communication to my expereinced crew was terse and straight to the point. We were not sitting around drinking beer and talking about the Chargers. With the exception of the douse, the boat handling was crisp and precise. I felt like I was totally "in the zone" that they talk about the whole time. At the start, I could glance behind me and in 1/10 of a second establish the positions, course, speed, and potential of every boat in the race, without thinking. In some way it seems to me like thinking was turned off or altered until we were sitting in the bar. It was a remarkable experience. When it was important, like at the near collisions at the start, time was slowed.

Win or lose, I'd like to get to that state again.

Edited by - JimB517 on 11/16/2009 14:59:31

JimB517
Past Commodore

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3285 Posts

Response Posted - 11/16/2009 : 15:05:35

By the way - what went wrong at the douse?

We went up jib before the mark. When we rounded the mark, we needed to tack the jib but it got hung up and backwinded on the pole. The spin blew through the foretriangle because I was late on the halyard and got tangled.

Keith was on bow trying to sort things out. I was driving, tacking the jib, sheeting in main, blowing spin halyard and trying to run the boat with the sails we had while Keith sorted out the mess upfront. It all would have been OK had the jib blown past the pole so I could have sailed the boat while Keith got the spin down.

All in all it cost us a minute or two flopping around istead of sailing on the close reach towards the next mark.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/16/2009 : 15:22:49

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JimB517
 ...All in all it cost us a minute or two flopping around istead of sailing on the close reach towards the next mark.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">...meaning you could have outrun the 27 and 34 to the line. Next time! Great work and a great story--thanks!

Edited by - on

Derek Crawford
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3321 Posts

Response Posted - 11/17/2009 : 11:49:03

Well done Jim! We all knew that you could do it.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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5896 Posts

Response Posted - 11/18/2009 : 10:05:58

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JimB517
 The race took about 3 hours. It seemed like 10 minutes to me. I was in deep, zen like, concentration the whole time. Communication to my expereinced crew was terse and straight to the point. We were not sitting around drinking beer and talking about the Chargers. With the exception of the douse, the boat handling was crisp and precise. I felt like I was totally "in the zone" that they talk about the whole time. At the start, I could glance behind me and in 1/10 of a second establish the positions, course, speed, and potential of every boat in the race, without thinking. In some way it seems to me like thinking was turned off or altered until we were sitting in the bar. It was a remarkable experience. When it was important, like at the near collisions at the start, time was slowed.

Win or lose, I'd like to get to that state again.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

When a sailor races in a highly competitive fleet, almost all the racers will be good sailors, who know the racing rules, how to trim sails, find the wind, get a decent start, handle the chute, etc. Among those racers with good basic skills, the ones who will win the most consistently will be the ones who are best at keeping their focus throughout the race. Among those good racing sailors, the ones who are concentrating will see opportunities that others will miss. They'll maintain a higher average speed around the course. They'll foresee potential problems, and avoid them. If you lose focus on your steering or sail trim for a few seconds, you can easily lose enough speed to fall back a half boat length or more. That lost time and distance can never be made up during that race. When you cross the finish line a half boat-length behind another boat, you'll begrudge yourself the momentary lapse in concentration that cost you that small amount of time and distance. Serious racers don't allow casual conversations among crew during the race.

Physicality has very little to do with the sport of sailboat racing. It's a cerebral sport. It's exhilarating and addictive to be in the zone like that, because you know you're working at the limit of your intellectual ability, and you'll want to go there again and again.

The best part is that, if you can benefit from intense concentration on the race course, you can probably benefit as much by doing the same in your career.

Edited by - on

NCBrew
Captain

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USA
338 Posts

Response Posted - 02/05/2010 : 12:01:14

Just love this thread!!!!

I don't have good sails and have not raced in 25 years but I just bought a 1977 Catalina 25 and I know I will get involved with the local PHRF fleet. Even if I do not win I can at least gauge myself by my finishes.

What is the PHRF of the swing keel Catalina 25 standard rig?

I think it is 225?

I am looking for a good racing watch or a countdown clock to help with the start.

Thanks for any help.

NCBrew

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 02/05/2010 : 12:28:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by NCBrew
 

I am looking for a good racing watch or a countdown clock to help with the start.

Thanks for any help.

NCBrew
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Most digital kitchen timers have a countdown/count-up feature. I just picked one up at Lee-valley for $15.00. Counts up for and hour after the start, then its anyone's guess. Good enough for my purposes though.

Edit to add link - prices musta gone up a bunch. http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&p=58254&cat=2,40733,44734

Second Edit to add... When cruising we used this to remind ourselves to make logbook entries of our position etc.

Edited by - Prospector on 02/05/2010 12:57:55

SailCO26
Captain

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USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 02/05/2010 : 12:52:06

F'ing USSailing used to have a PDF with the national High/Low/Average ratings, but every time I bookmark a page on that site it changes...

Your best bet would be to contact your local PHRF organization anyway, since that's who'll issue your cert.

Edit: looks like the USS site it somewhat down for maintenance, scheduled to be back sometime Sat Feb 6th. Maybe it'll be back then.

Jim

Edited by - SailCO26 on 02/05/2010 12:56:15

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 02/05/2010 : 15:43:36

[url="http://offshore.ussailing.org/Assets/Offshore/PHRF/High+Low+Mean+PHRF+Handicaps.pdf"]US PHRF Statistics (PDF)[/url]

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Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2010 : 06:33:37

You may find tha tregional PHRF ratings can differ widely from th eNational ratings. Check with your local ratings dude. We race on a medium-small lake, but our ratings are taken from PHRF-LO (Lake Ontario). In our fleet it is widely recognized that the wind is very different from Lake Ontario, and that light-weight boat from the cruising class (like, say, a Catalina 25) will have a big advantage on PHRF over many of the race designs, since they are rated for the windier open water of Lake Ontario.

You may find similar advantages/disadvantages where you are.

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