Category: Updates

This week brings the last races of the summer series.  We are involved in tight battles on both Tuesday and Thursday nights.  Assuming I have computed this all correctly, here’s how it stacks up*.

Tuesdays, battle for third

Because of cancellations this summer (freighter traffic and high wind), the Tuesday series will only include 7 races including the one coming up.  As a result, we can only drop one race from our total scoring, even though we’ve missed three nights on the water.  Clearly this hurts us in the standings:  Top Gun is assured first place (going into the race with 5 points) and Battlewagon is assured second place (13 points), followed by Remarkable (17 points) and then PERSPECTIVE (18 points).  So, to tie for third place, we have to beat Remarkable.  It’s a tough challenge, but we have beaten them before.  Let’s do it again!

Thursdays, battle for second, third

On Thursdays the situation is quite different.  After this week, there will have been ten races, which means each boat can drop the lowest three scores over the weeks.  This helps us a lot, since we have missed exactly three races.  Going into this weeks’ race, and removing the three worst scores from each boat, we have the following:  Sabotage is assured first place (6 points), followed by Battlewagon (13 points), Perspective (15 points), and Big Yellow (16 points).  Yes, 2nd, 3rd & 4th places are up for grabs. So how do we win second place? We need to finish ahead of Big Yellow and two places ahead of Battlewagon.  We’ve beaten them both before (June 30th).  Let’s do it again!

*Note: Sandpiper and Eclipse have not sailed enough races during the summer season to qualify, even if they show up this week.  So, although we would like to beat them, it won’t affect the series score.  In all the point tallies above, I’ve adjusted the scoring to reflect results as if neither boat showed up all summer.

Each of you who have been aboard for a race, have seen me up at the shrouds before each race with my wrenches and calipers.  Many of you have written down some numbers…what’s it all about?

Well, I found it hard to believe at first, but have been able to convince myself that it’s true:  changing the length of the shrouds by just a few millimeters has a profound affect on the power generated by the sails, and especially the balance between the power from the jib and from the mainsail.  These small adjustments also have a big impact on the ability to point, as they influence the ability to remove sag from the forestay.

It’s easiest to see at the extreme ends:  sailing with a really soft rig (ie: shrouds about a cm longer than a really taught rig) helps us go much faster in light wind, as the sails can take a much fuller shape, but we can’t point as high (and don’t need to).  And in really high wind like on Tuesday, without the rig really tight, there is just too much power and the boat is difficult to control.

From the theory, each of the shrouds has a different affect on the sail shape:  the upper shrouds bend the mast; the intermediate shrouds un-bend the mast; together they enable the backstay adjuster to tension the forestay; the lower shrouds keep the mast from bending to leeward.  As a result, it’s not a simple matter of tightening them all a similar amount as the wind increases:  the ratio among them is also important.

So, I’ve been measuring, tweaking, logging, watching replays of our races, and examining our upwind performance relative to the other boats in the fleet.  As a result, I’ve been able to develop an approximation of high-wind and low-wind tuning that should be appropriate for PERSPECTIVE.  There aren’t many other J100s racing out there who have taken the pains to document their settings, but I’ve found one other (which has a shorter forestay, and sets up the mast with less rake than we do, as a result).  “Miss Marvelous” tuning numbers for high wind and low wind are quite different from PERSPECTIVE’s, but the trend and pattern is similar to what I’ve found.

Comparing what I’ve found with the settings for “Miss Marvelous”, and after some more discussion with Doug Folsetter and Keven Piper, I’ve come up with a draft tuning guide that we can use for a while.  I’ll keep taking notes and thinking, but let’s use this for now (TWS=”True Wind Speed”, all numbers are distances in mm between the bolts in each turnbuckle):

 

Now that the #3 is with the sail loft to be re-cut, I’ve been looking back on raceQs data, other notes I’ve been keeping, and doing a little trigonometry. Here are some interesting facts:

1. On an average race we spend about 60% of our time sailing upwind
2. For each degree of pointing ability, we sail 1.5% to 2.5% less distance upwind.
3. We are typically sailing 10% more distance upwind than Battlewagon, but sailing about 5% faster than them, which makes us fall behind them on the beats.
4. For a race of about an hour long, each degree of pointing would save between 30 seconds and 50 seconds (assuming we didn’t sail any slower — debatable)
5. Which means that 7 degrees of pointing could translate into nearly 5 minutes off our time.
6. And looking back, that often would have been enough to catch Top Gun.

So, can we point 7 degrees higher?

With the #3, I’m convinced.  In fact, on Thursday, we did point 7 degrees higher than June 2nd and June 7th, using the same sail. (Note: we did this when the main wasn’t reefed, and was mostly powered up).  On June 2nd, we finished 6th, but could have been third, and on June 7th, we finished 5th, but could have finished second, if we were pointing like Thursday night!  And now that we are getting the #3 re-cut into a flatter shape, we should be able to point a few more degrees higher, and shave another minute or two off our time.

Why will re-cutting the jib help?  Four reasons:

1. A finer entry, means the tell-tales will fly properly when sailing closer to the wind
2. Shallower shape means the jib will be less powerful, so that we can power up the mainsail more fully in the strong wind, and sail just as fast (maybe even faster).
3. Using the mainsail for power improves pointing, since the force is generated behind the center of balance of the boat
4. More control over weather helm to keep the rudder from creating drag — should also translate into speed.

So, I’m very optimistic about the performance we’ll have with the new #3 once its re-cut.  Can’t wait for another windy night to try it out!

With the #1, the story depends on the wind speed.

When the wind is low (<7 knots), we’ve been competing well with a very soft rig, generating a lot of boat speed, not quite pointing as high as the rest of the fleet.  June 23rd was a good example, when we were second to the windward mark after Sabotage, and kept that second place all the way to the leeward mark when I made a big tactical blunder.

We haven’t had as many races in the 10-15 knots range, so there is still room to optimize.  At the upper end of that range, it may make sense to drop to the #3, since I’ve noticed that leeway becomes a big factor with the #1 in higher wind without the main fully powered — the gusts push our bow down rather than up.

Of course, this is the wind zone where a #2 genoa would be just the ticket. (Nice and flat with a tight rig)

Similar conditions to last Thursday, maybe a little less windy.  Tightened uppers & mids and maxed out the backstay.  Now the new #3 looks like this:

 

Still lots of sag, and the sail is still quite deep, but we were pointing higher than ever.

Hi All,

I noticed Calvin do something brilliant on Thursday night, and asked him to write it down so we can all learn.  What did he do?  He had the spinnaker pole rigged before we hit the layline so that he could get it on the mast and on the guy within seconds of tacking onto the layline.  If we can all get the hang of this, it will be a strategic advantage — we will be able to hoist quickly at the windward mark no matter how short a layline we select, which means that we can sail where there is better wind.  Often, when the wind is from the west, we want to avoid the Burlington shore at marks 1, 3, 4.  This is the magic we need!

Here’s a video clip showing the impact of Calvin’s innovation:  watch how quickly the pole is ready!

And here is how he made it happen (instructions, in Squirrel’s own hand):

 

 Gold/Brown – Jib/genoa sail. (I drew this for #3 jib, but it’s exactly the same for the #1, just further aft.)

 Blue – Jib sheets

 Aqua – Spinnaker sheets (current configuration is sheets used as guys, and it doesn’t really matter until after the hoist)

 Grey – Spinnaker halyard

 Green – Pole down (I know, not the technical term, but much clearer)

 Red – Pole up (ditto)

 Purple – Pre-fed spinnaker (ran out of blues)

 Black – hull and spinnaker pole (pre lay-line its under the jib sail)

Given the position of the jib, wind is coming over the port rail <Pre lay-line>, and over starboard rail <On Lay-line>; which is the typical setup (can’t remember ever coming at the windward mark another way)

 

<Pre Lay-line>

Spinnaker bag on the rail, clipped in, then pushed under the bottom lifeline so that the bag is on  it’s side and halfway over the toerail. Red tag aft, green tag forward. Spinnaker sheets shackled to the clews, velcro out of the clew rings and reattached to the bag so they don’t tangle in the sheets. Spinnaker halyard clipped to head ring. Head velcro strap out of the head ring and out of the webbing loop on the bag, attached back to itself. At this point the bag is held closed only by the bag top velcro edging. De-velcro the forward 1/4 of the velcro edging, this will help pre-feed later. Spinnaker halyard needs to be quite loose, enough slack that it can wrap around the jib without affecting the shape. In the diagram <on lay-line> you can see how the halyard wraps around the jib. Obviously with the #1 genoa sail you will nee much more slack. Once you have enough slack, have Pit lock the spinnaker halyard and whip the spinnaker halyard behind the spreaders. Yes, it looks messy having the spinnaker halyard flop about near the mainsail, but it keeps the spinnaker halyard from interfering with the jib when tacking.

Next set the pole lines. This is very easy to get a tangle with, so triple check everything. We set the spinnaker pole ‘fingers up’, as seen in the bottom of the diagram. In this configuration, the spinnaker pole hoist lines (thin spectra attached to both end of the pole, with a ring in the middle) will have a black piece of electrical tape wrapped around the pole up hoist line. This is very important to get right: Before getting the pole up/down lines, trace the hoist lines along the spinnaker pole from one end to the other. Pull the pole down hoist line out onto the deck (towards port side) and ensure it goes from one end of the pole to the other without wrapping on anything. It should be outside the forward deck spinnaker pole cleat (black plastic). Then do the same with the pole up hoist line (black tape) except that it should stay behind the jib sail. It is necessary to work behind the jib sail to do the pole up, but it is possible to trace the line without letting go of it, thus ensuring it is clear. Following the diagram: grab the pole-up line off the mast, take a bit of slack, pass behind the jib sail, above everything on deck, inside the lifelines (important not to thread through the lifelines) and underneath the jib sail to your other hand. Holding the pole up with one hand, trace the pole up hoist line with the other hand, bringing it under the jib sail and visually check that it has the black tape. Clip in the pole-up line and ask Pit to take in some of the slack. It should be pulled  back underneath the jib sail and clear above the lifelines, but not taut. Take the pole down line off the mast and get a a lot of slack, enough to make it to the forward end of the pole. Remember this line has a block on it, so 1′ of slack in the Pit = 6″ of distance on the foredeck. Following the diagram: pass the pole down line behind the jib sail above the jib sheets (Important), between the jib sail and the lifelines, underneath the jib sail and attach to the pole down hoist line ring that was pulled clear. Once pulled under the jib sail, it is very difficult to get more slack. Do not take in the slack, it will be needed for maneuvering later. Yell aft that you are ready to tack. If you don’t yell, they won’t hear.

 

<during tack>

Typically the movement is from the high side, to middle, then up the new high side as the tack is completed. For quickly setting the pole, you need to move in half the time. Move to the low side so that as soon as the jib sheet is let out, you can access the aft end of the pole. Watch your ankles and shins for the jib sheets, very easy to get rope burn or caught&pulled.

As the boat comes onto the lay-line unclip the spinnaker pole from the base of the stanchion and lift the pole end toward the mast. Do not bother with the forward spinnaker pole clip. If you time it right, the spinnaker pole can follow the jib sail across.

 

<On Lay-line>

The end of the spinnaker pole has a sloped catch. This means that the pull cord does not need to be pulled to put the line in. Holding the spinnaker pole about midway, push the catch against the mast ring in a back&up motion, listen for the sound of the catch closing. Lift the to starboard and up about 12-18″ off the deck. The twist motion of setting the aft end of the pole in the mast ring usually will pop it out of the forward pole clip. While holding the pole in that position (see diagram for <on lay-line> you can reach the spinnaker guy (aqua line on the starboard bow) and clip it into the end of the pole. Then call pit to pull on the pole up line.Note that you will need to set it about 12″ higher than would be level because the pole up line stretches. Then call for the pole down line to be tightened (you will notice the pole drop a bit). Check if the aft Crew are ready for pre-feed. Pull on the spinnaker guy until the clew shackle is right up against the end of the spinnaker pole (see diagram in purple), this may be difficult depending on the pressure on the jib sail and how deep the spinnaker was packed into the bag. Remove the rest of the velcro from the top of the spinnaker bag and head to the mast to prepare to hoist the spinnaker.

 

Easy, right?

 

Before the race on Thursday, Four Hands snapped this shot of our #3 jib in about 18 knots of wind with the rig tight. the backstay near max, and the mainsail reefed.  Notice how deep the sail is (look at the shape of the blue stripes), and how much it forces the forestay to sag.  This deep sail generates a lot of power, but doesn’t point as high as we would like.  Besides, in this wind, we are spilling power from the mainsail to keep the boat from heeling too much and rounding up. This also causes us to not point as high as we would like.

(Do you see the water droplets flying across the frame?  There was a lot of spray up there — four hands was drenched after taking this shot!)

I’m going to have the sail re-cut to a flatter shape and we’ll take another picture in similar conditions to see what the difference is.  I expect that we’ll see less depth, less forestay sag, and we’ll be able to get back all the power lost by keeping the mainsail fuller.  The result should be a much higher pointing ability, no significant reduction in speed, and much less distance sailed to the windward mark.  And that should help us compete with the J35s on windy nights.  Let’s see!

What a surprise!  The day started as sultry as they come:  morning drizzle, humidity like a greenhouse, a hot sun beating through the veil of clouds.  The rain had stopped, but the deck of PERSPECTIVE was wet when we arrived.  By the time the gear was stowed below and the sail covers were off, my shirt was as wet as a shammy at an all day car wash.  Floating around at the start line looked like this, and the wise sailors swam under the oppressive tropical sun.

 

Race was delayed thirty minutes to let the wind fill in a bit.  And then a wondrous miracle began.  A tickle of a breeze filled in slowly to six, even eight knots of steady air from the north-east!  Calvin and I didn’t trust the breeze to hold, so we took a page out of our notebook from Tuesday, and sailed low and fast.  We escaped the clumps of bad air at the start line to build boat speed, and chose a course closer to the shoreline than everyone else, who headed straight toward Bronte Harbour (almost due north).  We didn’t venture far west before turning up, gradually taking five degrees at a time in an arc that was about half a kilometer west of the rhumb line at its extreme.  I liked the insurance this would give us against some holes appearing in the middle of the course, but we were exposed to a knock if the wind chose to back.

The miracle is that there were no holes in the lake, and the wind veered a bit to give us (and everyone else) a lift.  This made for a very short race — only 90 minutes!  We were all surprised, especially given the conditions at the starting line.  But no one was more surprised than the race committee.  When they called on the radio to find out what our ETA was, we let them know the first boat would be there in twenty minutes.  They had to drop their lunch and hurry out in the boat to set the finish line.

In the final stretch, as we converged with our fleet, we were even with Stigaro, behind Big Yellow and Bobby McGee.  We had sailed further, but faster — just not fast enough to pull ahead.  The last twenty minutes were interesting as we saw Big Yellow fall into a hole near the pin end of the finish line, and it cost them a lot of time (and the race) as they tacked in light air to pinch across the line.  Seeing this happen, we tacked while still in good air 200m away.  Bobby McGee and Stigaro managed to limp across the line at the pin end without tacking, and we closed the gap at the boat end, finishing a few seconds behind Stigaro.

So, we played a strategy that didn’t pay off: sailing a longer course as a hedge against probable holes in the lake that didn’t appear, and tacking to avoid a hole at the pin end that filled in just strongly enough for our competitors.  Would I make those choices again?  Absolutely!

What about the sailing you ask?  Marvelous!  Absolutely marvelous!  The wind was so steady, and the lift happened so gradually that Squirrel and I were able to adjust trim one centimeter at a time to squeeze out improvements in boat speed in increments of 0.1 knots.  We were moving like cats at the start, weight on the low side and forward — Calving watching the tell-tales, and calling information to me where I could reach all the lines.  By mid-point we were both on the high side, and we were making the competition nervous with our boat speed.  They heaved a sigh of relief once they could see we would converge among them, and not ahead.  Next time!

Had to miss this leg.  Off to Boston for a presentation to the Board.  Went well.  That ought to keep the PERSPECTIVE improvement fund solvent for another season.  (wink)

Had a fantastic belated father’s day with Skootch today.  We departed Port Dalhousie on placid waters and motored west for an hour until the breeze began off our starboard stern.  Up went the spinnaker and we enjoyed a four hour cruise with the kite drawing us westward between 4 and 6 knots.  With the auto-helm doing its job, we munched sandwiches on the bow, in the shade of the chute!

We even jibed a few times and had no trouble dousing.  Just after we got the spinnaker down, the wind shifted to the south and picked up quickly — our timing was charmed.

Thanks for a great day Skootch!

And now’s she’s snug in Newport, looking dangerously fast!