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NEWS
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| FROM THE COCKPIT: JACK JENNINGS REPORTS FROM ONBOARD AT NATIONALS | |||
Today's sailing was very challenging. In race 1 the boat end of the line was favored and in general the wind seemed to be trending to the right. The fleet at this years Nationals is very competitive. This means that knowing the right place to be is only half the battle, the more difficult part of the equation is executing the plan. The best teams have the ability to manage their speed and hold a lane to the line. On a boat like the Melges 24 which has very thin underwater foils it takes very careful helming, trimming and weight placement to manage position on the starting line. In a major event like the US Nationals no one wants to give up an inch on the line, this led to several general recalls before race one could begin. As one competitor moves towards the line the next boat moves closer and the domino effect continues until a good portion of the fleet is over the line. On the third attempt the fleet managed a clean start. We were in relatively good shape slightly to leeward of the mid line boat with USA 630 (Argyle Cambell) to our weather hip and Team Gill to leeward and slightly bow out. It is always a good feeling to get off the line with a good lane and be moving well. Today one of the major challenges upwind and downwind for the helmsmen was managing the puffs as they came very quickly and were very hard to see on the water. This didn't allow the helmsmen much time to react. The teams that managed the puffs and kept the boat flat and fast quickly moved out and separated from the fleet. About 5 minutes into the race we were hit by a large gust USA 630 on our hip was able to manage the puff and accelerated over the top of us as we rounded into the wind and lost speed. This put us in a compromised position. There is always a trade off in big fleets, should you sail in bad air towards the next wind shift or tack and sail in clear air away from the next shift. At this point in the race it looked as though we could cross the group of boats on our weather hip, so we chose to tack. Unfortunately for us we tacked away from a sizeable left hand shift. Gill and USA 630 had now extended away from us substantial and the boats that had started further down the line where looking to be in very good shape. With the majority of the fleet on port we worked our way to the right side. The leaders that were inside on the left hand shift seemed to hold there lift longer on a bit of shelf of wind. We sailed what we considered to be our median heading on port tack of 300 degrees across the coarse. As came towards the starboard layline we looked to be in the mid to upper teens at the top mark. With a large group of starboard tackers coming into the mark we chose a thin lay line about 100 yards to the weather mark. We rounded the top mark in fairly heavy traffic and hoisted the chute unfortunately for us this is where the wheels fell off. We had an issue with our tack line and cam cleat fitting. The cam cleat began to pull out of the deck so to properly secure it back to the deck we had to head back to the dock for new longer bolts and a proper backing plate. Unfortunately this caused us to miss the start of race #2 by about 7 minutes so we started behind the fleet. We finished 39th out of 47. At the start of race #3 the pin end was very favored. Our team anticipated that a many of the fleet would bunch up near the leeward 1/3 of the line. We also felt that the port tack was the longer tack to the mark and wanted to be able to tack to port shortly after the start. We were thinking the first shift of the beat to be back to the right. Again execution is where the best teams separate themselves from the middle of the pack. The fleet was more spread along the line with many boats setting up near the mid-line boat. We had a second row start and tacked to port shortly after the gun. We were steering a course in the 285 to 290 range ten degrees above our median port heading of 300. We were in phase but with the lift the boats that started closer to the pin end of the line were moving well and in good position to sail fast in the lift and make a bearing gain on the boats to leeward. Again we approached the weather mark in a mid fleet position. Downwind was very difficult. As we sailed the on starboard gybe the first 1/3 of the leg there would be a lift (right hand shift). Gybing off the lift initially would have been ideal but was not possible as there were startboard tackers that had rounded behind us that would get the puffs sooner and be able to dive low, pining us out using there starboard advantage. Downwind like upwind you really have to be opportunistic and position the boat to get to the next shift before your competitors. The bottom half of the downwind leg had a left hand wind shift. The boats that where able to sail low in puffs at the top third of the leg gybe on the first right hand shift to port and then come back at the leeward gates on starboard were sailing the least distance and on the knocked gybes. Upwind there would be between 3 and 5 major wind shifts. Downwind the boats travel so fast with the wind that there may only be 2 major wind shifts at most. If you want to maintain or pass boats you have to pay close attention to the wind shifts and work to stay in the pressure. We were not able to execute our plan and lost places on the downwind because of it. The whole day Bob McElwain our helmsmen struggled with the gusting conditions. With the puffs it was important to not make large adjustments to sail trim. I saw many boats in the middle of the fleet sailing up wind with there mainsail leeches flogging out of control about 50% of the time. In big breeze this does allow the helm to put the bow down and go faster but the main is no longer generating lift. The fleet leaders are able to maintain control of there mainsail shape while keeping the boat at an acceptable level of heel. Patience and anticipation is key. Finding a good upwind balance and then being patient working on feathering when going through the larger puffs requires a lot of concentration. If the helmsmen become frustrated and starts making whole sale adjustments to the back stay and mainsheet in each puff the feel on the helm never is steady enough to sail the boat consistently up wind. Our team needs to work on finding this balance to make improvements going into Fridays racing. Our best leg was the last leg of race number 3. By then the fleet has become very separated. Shortly after we rounded the leeward mark we tacked to port. The first shift of the last upwind leg was 20 degrees to the right. We tacked to Starboard on a heading of 245 about 15 degrees above our median starboard heading. Bob did a good job tacking the boat this leg with a slow smooth turn. This shift gave us enough leverage to gain about 5 boats on the last upwind. We were able to stay in phase and finish 27th. Our goal for tomorrow will be to crack into the top twenty of the fleet and stay consistent. |
International Melges 24 Class Association
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