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FROM THE COCKPIT: DAY TWO FROM JACK JENNINGS

17 NOVEMBER 2006• Back by popular demand is the special, National Championship edition of From the Cockpit written exclusively for the event, on the course with Jack Jennings. Enjoy!

Today was another challenging day of sailing for the fleet at the M24 Nationals in Jacksonville. Yesterdays conditions tested boat handling and speed, today’s conditions measured the ability to adapt to the changing wind conditions. The Florida Yacht club is situated on the St Johns River. The river is about 2 _ miles wide. In addition there was a fair amount of current moving from south to north down the river. Mix this with a light and shifty northwest breeze and it was a major task to stay ahead of the conditions and the fleet.

Our sailing improved today. In the lighter wind it was easier for our team to manage the boat and keep her on her lines and balanced. In the lighter wind it also becomes much easier to talk through situations so that entire boat is clear on what needs to happen as things develop.

Reading and staying in the breeze was key to making gains. Upwind this was very true in race 4 where in general we saw the lightest wind speed of the day. It seemed that the entire day the puffs moved around the river. In race 4 the left side had an increase in pressure and the boats that came in from the left on the first beat did well. The pressure increase on the left was so great that during the last leg of the first race some boats were over standing the finish to sail in the breeze. This tactic paid off, and many boats were able to gain valuable places reaching over the top of boats that were not in the pressure. Unfortunately we were on the wrong end of this and lost several places on the last beat.

The sailors were not the only ones struggling with the conditions in Race 1 the Race committee actually moved the windward mark for the second beat to a position that almost allowed the fleet to fetch the mark on port tack. This made the downwind a reaching leg.

Race 5 was the highlight onboard USA 548. We started the race about mid line just below the midline boat. Mark Hollerbach helming USA 500 “FU”had a terrific start bow out on us. USA 500 was feeding us bad air so we were looking to get onto port tack, which was the favored tack to the weather mark. When we had a lane we tacked to port as did the majority of the fleet. In race 2 the middle of the course had the best pressure. USA 500 and USA 548 benefited and made a bearing gain on the boats to leeward. The wind began trending to the right and many on the boats on our left hip began sinking bow down as we tacked back to starboard in phase with the wind shift. The right hand shift lasted long enough for USA 548 to make gains on the hip of USA 500 and cross the fleet. Also working there way up the middle in good position was lightwave 655. Both USA 500 and USA 548 tacked to leeward and ahead of the port tacked lightwave as the wind shifted back to left. With a slight shift back to the right we tacked to starboard and rounded the mark 1st with Lightwave and USA 500 close behind. Sailing out ahead of the fleet is really fun. The lead boats are generally the best sailors so they sail in phase with the wind and this usually allows the lead boats to separate from the middle of the fleet, who are back battling for every inch of race course and every breath of wind. We worked our way downwind, I made an error on our lay line that allowed Lightwave to get inside of us at the leeward mark. On the second beat the left side again paid off with pressure and direction as we lost a few places to the teams that had rounded the right gate (looking downwind). Still in pretty good shape at the weather mark we rounded seventh. USA 500 had made a move up now in second place.

There was a nice gap between this group and the rest of the fleet so we could be opportunistic on the last upwind leg. We ended the race finishing fifth making a two passes in the last 300 yards to the finish. Its amazing how focused a boat gets when it is doing well. Everyone onboard is quite and calm. It’s the best teams that can stay calm and focused when there not in the best positions ahead of the fleet.

In Race 6 the right hand side off the starting line turned out to have the best pressure. We again chose to start in the middle this time right at the mid-line boat we tacked to port shortly after the start. USA 660 “Flyer” came out of the right hand side in good pressure and in right hand wind shift. We sailed to there line and tacked to starboard. The right hand shift held all the way to the weather mark. We rounded in the low teens.

Race 6 was hard on us as we allowed some of the boats near to us to take us out of phase with the wind and the gusts. This was very frustrating. Its never a good feeling to be in a good position and work yourself backwards. In hindsight we had many opportunities to protect ourselves but because we were not patient we got out of our game plan and the nice rhythm we had in Race 5. Around the second weather mark we were in tenth place with a boat close on our heels. We new that we wanted to gybe to get in phase with the wind, unfortunately the boat behind soaked low to prevent our gybe. We continued to try to work down to his line so we could clear and gybe, eventually we gybed as did the boat astern effectively blanketing our wind. We headed up to try to get our bow out in clear air, no luck there so we gybed back to starboard. In hindsight we should of stayed low out of our gybe allowed the boat on our wind to pass instead of gybing back to starboard and out of phase with the wind. If we would of stayed low we would off lost to the boat astern but stayed in phase with wind shift to the right. As it was we compounded our problem by gybing back to starboard. Our two extra gybes allowed Full Throttle, Rosebud and Rock n’ Roll to close considerable distance to us. There wind shadows now making it difficult for us to find fresh breeze. Patience is so important in close racing, the best sailors see the big picture.

For a lot of teams this was an up and down day, I was happy that our team was able to compete with the top half of the fleet and I think we are all looking forward to the last day of racing at what has been a very exciting event.