I did a local "cruising race" last Saturday. 21 miles down the Columbia River from Kelly Pt to St Helens. The wind was on the nose with one tack favored a bit some of the time. Starting at about 1130, and winds were about 6 to 8, getting spotty with holes here n there by early afternoon and then filling strongly as the afternoon wore on, as per usual in late summer.
Been doing this annual trip since about 1980, and this ended up being one of the fastest sails in the last decade. Lower 'half' of the course saw building winds to over 20 kts.
With our 95% jib, we were handicapped when it dropped below 8 to 10 kt true, but above that we were able to drive very far up into the green zone on the meter, almost into the red when pinching up.
And that leads to a discovery (proving that you can learn new things no matter how long you have been sailing). My crew was a fellow Viking with a ton of miles on his E-34, and a lot of racing experience.
I should point out this event is informal to the extent that crossings are seldom adorned by any yelling but rather by dropping off enough to let the other boat pass safely even when you are 'stand on'. Lots of what I call "please and thank you" sailing. Some years it takes until 5 in the afternoon to finish, after an 11 am start. This year we were in the back of the pack of the fastest boats and were done by 2 pm.
We saw a lot of solid 7 kt on the meter, hard on the wind.
My 'crew' is very observant about the water and wind and was seeing holes to avoid in the lighter air parts, and he taught me some good stuff about trim. (I like to drive, but there is much to learn when able to focus on trim...)
We kept adjusting the lead on the inner tracks, and also the traveler. Later in the day in big air he noted that the jib leach was a bit hooked and let the leach line out some which helped it.
While we could bemoan our lack of larger genny (and a couple of young folks to crank the winches to tack it!), the composite 95 really proved its mettle.
We got beat by several boats with 'full inventories and crews' but when we revealed at the dock that we were using a three blade fixed prop everyone seemed impressed with out speed, or they were being polite.
We were considered the fasted in the 'cruising' group, for whatever little that's worth.
By comparison, there was a J-41 (42?) and a Melges 24 that ran off and hid from everyone. An Etchels and an Olson 30 were ahead of us, but not by very much.
So, to the point. I was getting reminded to fall off a bit due to 'starving the jib' and after finding that in medium airs we could go quickly from 4 to 5, or from 6 to 7, by doing this I found that I was unconsciously driving too high a lot and this was slowing us down. "But look at how high we're pointing!"
During all this the tell tales on the main were all kept streaming, and the outhaul was pretty much all the way back to the band.
No great epiphanies here, but it's good to learn more about the Throttle Position on the helm!
Comparatively, powering is so much easier.... set the revolutions to 2400, watch the knot meter rise to 7.1 and drive it home yesterday in almost no wind at all. Crew for that trip was Otto Von Helm, and I was able to get back to home dock before noon when the day's heat started to soar into the 90's.
Another bit of steering trivia: when motoring homeward, I could see clearly the temporary drop in speed when making larger rudder moves. i.e. if I altered course with series of one degree clicks the speed stayed the same, but if I tapped the ten degree button for a larger correction, speed dropped a tenth or two for a few seconds. So the old advice about turning too quickly and slowing the boat is as true as ever.
BTW, a good part of our overall speed was due to having the bottom scrubbed on Friday. Lots of slime according to the diver.
Lots of facets to sailing a boat well, and when it hits its "groove" it's just SO rewarding.
Been doing this annual trip since about 1980, and this ended up being one of the fastest sails in the last decade. Lower 'half' of the course saw building winds to over 20 kts.
With our 95% jib, we were handicapped when it dropped below 8 to 10 kt true, but above that we were able to drive very far up into the green zone on the meter, almost into the red when pinching up.
And that leads to a discovery (proving that you can learn new things no matter how long you have been sailing). My crew was a fellow Viking with a ton of miles on his E-34, and a lot of racing experience.
I should point out this event is informal to the extent that crossings are seldom adorned by any yelling but rather by dropping off enough to let the other boat pass safely even when you are 'stand on'. Lots of what I call "please and thank you" sailing. Some years it takes until 5 in the afternoon to finish, after an 11 am start. This year we were in the back of the pack of the fastest boats and were done by 2 pm.
We saw a lot of solid 7 kt on the meter, hard on the wind.
My 'crew' is very observant about the water and wind and was seeing holes to avoid in the lighter air parts, and he taught me some good stuff about trim. (I like to drive, but there is much to learn when able to focus on trim...)
We kept adjusting the lead on the inner tracks, and also the traveler. Later in the day in big air he noted that the jib leach was a bit hooked and let the leach line out some which helped it.
While we could bemoan our lack of larger genny (and a couple of young folks to crank the winches to tack it!), the composite 95 really proved its mettle.
We got beat by several boats with 'full inventories and crews' but when we revealed at the dock that we were using a three blade fixed prop everyone seemed impressed with out speed, or they were being polite.
We were considered the fasted in the 'cruising' group, for whatever little that's worth.
By comparison, there was a J-41 (42?) and a Melges 24 that ran off and hid from everyone. An Etchels and an Olson 30 were ahead of us, but not by very much.
So, to the point. I was getting reminded to fall off a bit due to 'starving the jib' and after finding that in medium airs we could go quickly from 4 to 5, or from 6 to 7, by doing this I found that I was unconsciously driving too high a lot and this was slowing us down. "But look at how high we're pointing!"
During all this the tell tales on the main were all kept streaming, and the outhaul was pretty much all the way back to the band.
No great epiphanies here, but it's good to learn more about the Throttle Position on the helm!
Comparatively, powering is so much easier.... set the revolutions to 2400, watch the knot meter rise to 7.1 and drive it home yesterday in almost no wind at all. Crew for that trip was Otto Von Helm, and I was able to get back to home dock before noon when the day's heat started to soar into the 90's.
Another bit of steering trivia: when motoring homeward, I could see clearly the temporary drop in speed when making larger rudder moves. i.e. if I altered course with series of one degree clicks the speed stayed the same, but if I tapped the ten degree button for a larger correction, speed dropped a tenth or two for a few seconds. So the old advice about turning too quickly and slowing the boat is as true as ever.
BTW, a good part of our overall speed was due to having the bottom scrubbed on Friday. Lots of slime according to the diver.
Lots of facets to sailing a boat well, and when it hits its "groove" it's just SO rewarding.
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