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Solo News 28 Feb Print E-mail

 

28 Feb
The weather forecast had been pretty severe – warnings of gales and floods – but as is so often the case the reality was nothing like as bad. It just goes to show that coming down to the club and seeing the conditions for yourself is better than trusting the forecasters.
The wind was varying from about force 3 to a few gusts up in the 4-5 range – nothing like the forecast gusts of force 7, but it did keep raining on and off but again not as heavy or persistent as forecast. We had five keen Solos on the line for the first race making us again the largest fleet despite the weather keeping the senior citizens in the warmth. Graham Hughes was on the line for the first time in a long while along with Gareth, Arthur, Paul and Peter Halliday.
As we sailed out to the start Graham discovered that sailing a boat you haven’t been in for a while can cause odd things to happen. He sailed beautifully all the way from the clubhouse most of the way to the far bank when he decided that it would be a good idea to make sure he remembered how to gybe in some wind. He swung the boat round but the main didn’t want to come over, assumed he’d lost his touch and miss-timed it, baled out of the gybe, settled down and tried again – same result. A bit confused he decided to tack and this time he found that the main wouldn’t come over tacking. He ended up capsized with the main stuck against the shroud – realizing that he had tidied up the outhaul return elastic and inadvertently tied the boom to the shroud. With a bit of help from the safety boat he was able to right the boat and untie it well before the start and be ready but probably a bit exhausted. It did look odd seeing the boat on its side with the boom stubbornly pointing straight up.
With a longer gap than usual as the lone laser opted to start with the handicap we had clear air and a chance to sail our own race with no other classes to provide obstacles. Up the first beat Graham established a small lead over Gareth with Arthur similarly just ahead of Peter and Paul finding the fresher breeze slightly more challenging.
The course was a large one with lots of marks 8,6,4,1,F,5 with two beats – 5 to 8 (first leg) and again 4 to 1. Being a Northerly coming off the club bank the closer you got to the bank the more disturbed the wind was – something to bear in mind when the wind has to blow up over the high banks near the clubhouse. By the end of the run to 4 there were two close battles with Gareth right on Graham’s transom and Peter/Arthur similarly close. Up the beat to 1 Gareth managed to squeeze past Graham and help it at the start of the run. Unfortunately concentrating a bit on Graham and with no Lasers to lead the way Gareth didn’t pay enough attention to which mark he was pointing at over the far side of the reservoir and neatly led Graham round 6 not 5, and all the way up the beat to 8 only finding his mistake as Arthur and Peter came up the correct beat. Gareth then went all the way back to 5, round it correctly with a very confused Graham behind him not understanding why he had turned round and gone up the beat again – Graham retired once he realised he had followed the wrong course. Two complete legs behind was far too large a mountain to climb. Paul meanwhile was having his own adventures as he found his rudder slightly hard to control ‘honest guv I didn’t do anything it just came off in me hand!’ With good seamanship he managed to take down his sail so that when the safety boat came he was all ready for a tow home and an early shower. The force that rudder pintles take is enormous – I once worked out on a slightly larger dinghy that the force was about equivalent to a man standing on a board eight foot long – probably on a Solo only about like someone standing on the tip of the blade. The forces are huge – bolts are essential! Meanwhile with a bit more wind for a while Peter was enjoying himself and establishing initially a small lead, but by the end a comfortable lead over Arthur to end up.
1st Peter Halliday
2nd Arthur Phillips
3rd Gareth
DNF Paul Playle and Graham Hughes
So the moral this week is don’t follow the leader (especially if it is Gareth – that’s the SECOND TIME he’s headed to the wrong mark) – make your own decisions, write the course down and keep thinking. You have to keep the big picture in mind – concentrate too much on one boat and you forget to check where everyone else is or even where you are going.
I won’t be there next week as I’m away on business in the USA. The results are all on the web site – overall it remains extremely close between Arthur and Gareth at the front who have a reasonable lead over the tight race for third.
Whether you are in the hunt for third or just thinking about starting again as the days get lighter and warmer have a great sail Sunday and I’ll see you in two weeks.
We have a sailing committee meeting coming up – let me know of any issues or ideas for improving our sailing.  I will be bringing up some ideas for training / coaching to help newer sailors. Your thoughts as always would be welcome.
We are also still looking for helpers for the RS200 open meeting on the 20th.  If you can help (shore or water perhaps just for a few hours please let Hugh know).
Gareth
4859
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Solo news 21 Feb 2010 Print E-mail

 

 
This was the fourth in our Open mini-series and we saw a couple of visitors arriving early with their boats. Unfortunately they were put off by the pack ice near the clubhouse despite there being a nice breeze blowing over most of the reservoir. We were able to pull a safety boat through the ice showing it to be quite thin, and the race team then used the safety boat to break up ice near the shore to allow launching. Paul and I moved our boats round towards the far Solo/Laser ramps which were clear of the ice. The concern was clearly whether there were any floating icebergs which might scratch/dent boats (especially shiny new ones). However after a short postponement we were able to launch and found that there was no ice on the far side (concern that there could be ice there which would drift into the race area). By the end of sailing even the clubhouse bank was ice free and most of the time the rain held off as well – we didn’t get the bright sun forecast earlier in the week but overall a pretty good sailing day.
 
 
So, a fairly cold start with a bit of drizzle in the air but a welcome force 2-3 with the odd decent gust making a welcome change to the recent light airs. With the senior citizens electing to stay in the snug comfort of the Solo rest area and a few more people put off by the ice we started with just 5 Solos. The start was slightly starboard biased so there was a struggle to control that perfect spot close to the committee boat. Arthur came within a whisker of shutting everyone out but Gareth just managed to luff and slow down enough to get above and behind Arthur and still bear away and avoid the committee boat to get to the line on the gun. (Missed the engine on the committee boat by about 6 inches). I’ve mentioned before that being able to sail very slowly without getting stuck head to wind is a great advantage coming up to the start. To bear away when the boat is almost stopped you need the centre-board up a bit (to move it back so making the sail tend to push the bow round the board a bit more) and you have to heel to windward (to move the pressure from the sails sideways and make that also twist the boat) preferably with the kicking strap quite loose as well. You can’t easily do it with rudder alone. So from the start Arthur was a boat length or so down the line at reasonable speed, Gareth right at the committee boat but not up to full speed – very even with the rest of the fleet in close pursuit.  The starboard start and attempted shut-outs continued in the B2B races this time with Gareth taking the leeward role and trying shut out the fleet in the last race. What was really good to see was that everyone understood the rules and didn’t try to barge in but worked on boat control to get out of a potentially tricky position. Quite impressive and good close starts in all the races.
 
The races all featured long starboard tacks which gave some good chances to look at the differences in technique or boat setup. Several times Gareth, Arthur and Tony were all in clear air on long starboard tack legs. Gareth definitely points higher but doesn’t go as fast as Tony who definitely goes faster but lower. Arthur is in between, loses a shade of ground to windward but is a shade faster through the water than Gareth, but consistently higher than Tony who is definitely faster but doesn’t point. This probably reflects Tony’s wavelength rig as a sea sailing setup where more power is needed to push through waves because pointing high on the sea can find the boat getting stopped by waves a lot more.  Not sure what the difference is between Gareth’s and Arthur’s rigs. In the stronger gusts upwind Gareth and Tony gain on Arthur probably just by being heavier but downwind Arthur gains on Tony by being lighter. Gareth seems to be able to gain height without losing much speed once the wind gets up while Tony foots very fast when the wind is lighter. Very interesting to have long legs where we could really see the difference. Mostly the wind on Sunday varied between sitting on the side decks and being just overpowered.
 
More lessons in ‘stay out of trouble at marks’ or perhaps it should be ‘plan ahead and make sure you know where everyone is’. Tony had slipped ahead of Gareth on the beat in the first back to back when coming to the windward mark there were also two RS200’s and Tony got trapped outside two boats allowing Gareth, from just behind, to cut inside and sneak through. Tony probably should have slowed down as he got to three lengths and dropped in behind the RS’s so Gareth would have been forced outside him or to have also slowed down.
 
We also had the interesting situation of a starboard hand windward mark after a short leg dog leg to mark X between 1 and F (to keep well clear of the ice in the first race). A starboard hand windward mark is tricky. If you are coming in on starboard you have no rights to tack in the way of a port tack boat coming in. Equally if you are coming in on port you have to give way if the starboard tack keeps sailing he doesn’t have to tack. Generally it is a cat and mouse game of timing your approach. Coming in on starboard you want to force the port tack boat to tack then when he does you tack round the mark. Coming in on port you want to be able to duck under the starboard tack and still be able to squeeze up to the mark. He can’t tack in your water, but if you go behind him you might not make the mark. Sometime both boats slow down slightly! Usually whoever is planning ahead best wins.
 
I have to say a few words of encouragement to Paul who had one of those days when things didn’t go right including a swim on the beat after losing a fight with his main jammer and a swim coming in at the end on his approach to the pontoon. We all get days like this and it was great to see him smiling after it in the warmth of the club-house. Great to have to have you in the fleet Paul – now the water has welcomed you as well!
 

Race 1 (Class race)
Race 2 Back to Back 1
Race 3 Back to back 2
Gareth
Gareth
Gareth
Arthur
Tony
Arthur
Tony
Arthur
Tony
Dave Thorpe
Paul
Paul
Paul
 
 

 
 
Overall mini-series it's still Gareth from Rob Wilder from Arthur but Tony can romp up the table if he does the last three races on March 21.
 
Overall winter O-League Gareth edging ahead of Arthur with these two well clear of the pack but Gareth will miss at least one more race which might let Arthur through again, but with the O-League it is getting hard for either of us to score many points now.  The race for third remains too tight to call.
 
In the late winter short series it’s again Gareth from Arthur with Tony Penfold now moving into third place ahead of Malcolm but with four races to go nothing is decided.
 
Of course the back to back races also count towards the handicap pm series which is also very tight at the top with Gareth sandwiched between the RS200s of Peter and Mike Curtis. We have had a lot of incredibly close results this series – in the first B2B on Sunday Tony was third on handicap one second ahead of the Paul Browning (RS400) who was one second ahead of Julie and Tom in their RS200 and just behind them Arthur and Kevin Pearson (Laser) tied for 6th. Seconds matter – 5 places separated by 11 seconds corrected time – if you could save one second on each tack that’s more than enough. We had 5 marks, and two laps so again one second gained on each mark is about all it takes. It isn’t only about going fast it’s also about not losing time in every tack, gybe and mark rounding. It’s a bit like imagining a relay race – every changeover is critical – think of each mark like the changeover in a relay. Sure you need your runners to go fast on each leg but often the team who makes the best changes wins.
 
We also saw Graham Hughes putting his boat back on the water and giving it a good tryout between the races. Hopefully he’ll be back racing us soon.
 
Next week we’re back to the regular start sequence – class race as always Handicap then Laser then Solo with the Back to Back races just being one start for everyone.
 

 

Gareth

 

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Solo news 14 Feb 2010 Print E-mail

 

14 Feb
Not much romantic about the weather for Valentine’s day – I knew I shouldn’t have said it was getting warmer last week, but the days are getting longer. However, on a cold and grey day we had three races with three different winners - can't get much closer than that. With light winds the fleet didn't spread out as much as usual despite quite large shifts.
 
In the first race the lead changed many times. On the first downwind leg there were four boats side by side trying to gain an advantage for the leeward mark. Arthur came out ahead followed by Gareth, Peter and Mervyn with Tony Penfold back in the hunt. Arthur established a small lead but with the shifts it never looked safe. On the last windward leg with the fleet still very close Arthur went too far left and realized that the pontoon was closer than the windward mark and called it a day leaving Tony to come in ahead of Gareth.
 
Second race started with a drag race towards the left with Arthur, Tony and Gareth virtually neck and neck until Gareth split off on what looked like a small shift only to sail into a flat spot and watch Arthur and Tony sail round and over him. By the windward mark Arthur had a lead over Tony with Gareth about 50 yards back. On the final run Arthur and Tony initially went slightly high Gareth went low on the more direct course. Arthur rode a small puff back down to the lay line into a great defensive position (would be inside at the mark if anyone came close and on a favorable course to the mark). In practice he pulled away slightly to end up second on handicap while Tony got stuck in a light patch and Gareth crept through to be inside both a laser and Tony at the last mark. Amazingly two boats snuck in between Gareth (3rd= we don’t see many ties!) and Tony (6th) on handicap – it just shows how close
 
The third race finally had a little more wind with enough to stretch the legs and sit on the side-decks upwind (still not enough to sit out but much more comfortable). Gareth established an early lead on the first beat. By the end of the first lap it was Gareth from Arthur from Tony, but very little in it. On the second beat Gareth found a great lift to pull clear and this time Arthur found a hole up the middle while Tony found some speed to overhaul him. Overall on handicap Gareth won with Tony third and Arthur sixth.
 
There were some good examples of not panicking when things look bad. Several times I thought I had got a good shift and got past Tony in the first race, but he didn't panic and try to get in my wind, he just waited for the next shift to come back his way and pulled ahead again. Sometimes when you've gone the wrong way you just have to take your medicine and get back with the fleet, but don't be fooled into doing it too soon. Wait till the wind comes back a bit your way, you might find that the advantage has swung back.  Of course if the wind continues to swing you lose out but generally the wind's progression is not smooth so you can wait for a favorable shift. If you watched the Americas cup race on Sunday you will have seen Allinghi favoured by a shift to the right and be ‘ahead’ of Oracle only for the shift to come back slightly towards the end of the leg and Oracle to be much closer. The whole business of when should you tack and when should you hold on is not simple. I’ve been chipping away at it for at least 40 years and I’m still learning.
 
Sadly Dave Strachen tells me he is moving to Edinburgh and won’t be able to commute back to the club – I’m not sure this is really a valid excuse but we wish him and his family well and hope he finds a good club across the border. He hopes to drop by and see us before he goes.
 
Gareth
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Solo news 7 Feb 2010 Print E-mail

 

 
It was good to see double figures on the water again. 10 boats keenly contesting the pursuit, and seven solos in both back to back races. Despite the gentle sleet/snow outside my window as I write this on Monday the days are definitely getting longer and for the last couple of weeks weather is not quite as cold as it was a few weeks ago. It is definitely time to start thinking about spring sailing and getting ready for summer.
 
I will be asking those who haven't sailed for a while what we should do to get them on the water again as the weather improves. I can certainly understand that sailing when it is sub-zero is not for everyone but it is time to start planning for the new season! As you probably know Malcolm Barnes is taking over as trysail coordinator and for my sins I'm now sailing secretary (not giving up the day job as Solo Captain though). Last we decided that the priority for the club was boats on the water. We are a sailing club – the more people we have sailing the easier everything becomes. More members implies easier duties, more people to help on working parties etc. One of the areas we are concentrating on is joining up the great initiatives to help people start sailing (Trysail and Juniors) into regular club sailing. We need to make an easier transition from the euphoria of just sailing a boat where you want to participating in racing. It is a big step from being able to sail to being able to sail efficiently and quickly round a course, but I think we can help. After Easter I will be planning some more training sessions and perhaps seeing if we can get a small Saturday fleet going as well as our keen Sunday series. Let’s also not forget that just sailing for the joy of sailing is fine – not everyone want to race although it is a great way to improve your sailing. I know you will find that the more you sail the more you want to sail! If YOU have other ideas or request please let Malcolm and I know.
 
Hugh is planning to change the duty cycle slightly this year to try and improve team numbers on Sunday and reduce numbers on Saturday. The plan is to have slightly fewer but larger teams, but only have half teams on Saturday. The idea is that we need full teams on Sunday with the larger number of boats sailing but for Saturdays we will split each team in two sections each of which will do one Saturday. Overall each member does the same number of days on duty but hopefully we’ll be less stretched on Sundays and we won’t have more people on duty than sailing some Saturdays. If you didn’t attend the AGM you might not know that we have a vacancy for duty team manager to take over from Hugh – if this is something you might consider please let him know.
 
Well, back to this week’s news...
Sunday was a gentle but rather shifty northwesterly wind. We welcomed Paul Playle (5046) to our fleet for the rest of the winter (we hope to tempt him to stay longer) – with a very pretty home built boat. As the day went on he got faster and faster - finishing second solo in the last B2B.
 
The pursuit race started in a gentle breeze which never really got up to more than sitting on the decks although I'm told some of the faster boats were sitting out on their first beat - I guess that's why they seemed to get close rather quickly but when the wind went lighter we held them off for a bit longer. Within our fleet we probably slowed each other down a bit because we had a lot of excellent close racing. At the front Gareth got through but then forgot to check the course and took a rather long route from 8 to X letting Tony Penfold and Malcolm through, but after a couple of laps the places settled down to Gareth (3rd overall) chased by Arthur (5th) who in turn was being chased by Tony (7) and Malcolm (11) with Paul (12) not far behind. The second half of the fleet was led by Frank Beanland from Chris Smith, Dave Thorpe, Mike Lipscombe and Martin Mitchell.
 
In the back to backs we were comfortably the largest fleet which meant we got in each other’s way more than the other classes! More good lessons in watching the bigger picture not just fighting small battles. In the first Arthur sailed a great run getting past several boats by sailing clear out of trouble while they battled among themselves, and in the second Tony Penfold did the same to get clean away while Gareth, Arthur and Malcolm were in-fighting.
 
The first of the short back to back races (very short this week as the race officer was keen to allow the AGM to start on time) also showed what a good start and going the right way up the first beat can do, with the first Solos at the windward mark being two of the oldest boats in the fleet - Chris Smith and Dave Thorpe. Gareth and Arthur managed to slip past but Chris held on well to finish third while Dave's adventures at mark eight are best forgotten. The whole fleet was very close at the finish. 
 
The second B2B started close but, once he had broken clear, Tony Penfold sailed away from us followed by Paul who also made a clean break from the pack led by Arthur. Gareth just crossed ahead of Malcolm with Dave Thorpe getting the better of Chris Smith.  With shifty winds it is very hard to get all the shifts right as the variable results show but watching other boats and trying to work the shifts generally pays. You have to somehow be able to watch what's happening everywhere while still sailing the boat as fast as you can.
 
Overall it is very close in the late winter with Gareth and Arthur tied at the front and only 0.7 of a point between Malcolm and Mervyn for third. In the overall Arthur's lead is now only two points and incredibly close for third with only point between third (Merv) and fourth (Malcolm) and a further one point to Frank who's been keeping a low profile but putting in some good results when the wind is suitable. Peter Cottrell is only three points behind Frank. Four boats within 5 points - all still to play for. With some good turnouts there are lots of points available, and with the overall scored by o-league every race counts. All the results are on the web site.  
 
With the Americas cup finally (hopefully) finally sailing (Monday's racing was abandoned due to insufficient wind) I think we can be thankful that we have such a friendly club. Sure we race keenly, but what goes on the water stays on the water and we share a beer in the Solo rest area (as it is now named) those of you who were at the AGM will understand - I will have to put some class stickers on the new window.
 
Gareth
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Solo News 31 Jan Print E-mail

 

31/Jan
 
Wind light but always there, first beat from 1 to 8. The class race saw some of the closest racing I have had this season. Off the start it looked quite even but Arthur took the right shifts early on the first beat to definitely be ahead from about half way up, showing impressive windward speed to round ahead of Gareth, Mike, and Malcolm with Peter a bit further back (Peter had gone for a different approach hitting the right corner on the beat but losing out significantly over the rest who went left or middle/left). On the run Gareth found some good speed and caught Arthur while Mike and Malcolm started having a close dual. The race continued really as two fights - Gareth and Arthur rarely more than a couple of boat lengths apart and behind them Malcolm and Michael having a similar battle.
 After getting through on the run Gareth made a poor rounding and let Arthur drive through to leeward. (reason was that the mainsheet is slightly too short so to get the boom right out on the run I have to let the traveler out and I had forgotten to pull it back in so when I rounded up - no power). Arthur then covered Gareth up the rest of that beat and again up the beat back to 8 so we started the run again with Arthur just ahead of Gareth then a gap to Malcolm and Michael having their own battle. Down the run Gareth got alongside but Arthur had carefully stayed on the inside to have water at the leeward mark. This time however Gareth made a better rounding coming in from a bit wider to squeeze up on the mark and got a slight lift. Two quick tacks on a shift gave the chance to get his nose ahead. Then the tacking duel began again! Rarely more than a boat length in it Arthur tried to wriggle through but Gareth kept the cover tight - Arthur even resorted to a dummy tacks. Goodness knows how many tacks we made but amazingly Malcolm and Michael didn't catch us - I think they were having their own private dual, and good tacks in light weather don’t cost much. It’s all about being smooth and timing the roll – no panic tacks and no mistakes. So at the last windward mark it was Gareth from Arthur and Malcolm from Michael with Peter (unusually) at the back with positions maintained down the reach to the line.
 
The back to back races were over a quadrilateral course which unfortunately seemed ideally suited to three sail boats - they carried their kites on three legs. The first race though showed how close things can be. On handicap 5 seconds between the first 4 boats in four different classes (Laser, 470, Solo, RS200) with Gareth 3rd, Arthur 6th and Malcolm 10th. In the second race the three sail boats seemed unstoppable with the first single hander Arthur in 7th, Gareth 9th and Malcolm 10th.
 
Despite what I said in the blog a few weeks ago about it usually paying to go left on a beat to mark 8 I obviously wasn’t listening when I wrote it!. In the first race Peter C went right and for a while looked good but closing on the mark he had lost quite a bit. In the second back to back I made a good start but part way up the beat the faster RS200s Merlin etc. were blocking my wind so I either had to sail through all their dirty wind or tack earlier and go right a bit in clear air. I chose to try and keep clear air – I should have known better. Arthur and Malcolm hit the left corner behind the ‘fast’ boats and came into mark 8 clear ahead of me. So I guess my lesson for the week is to have a plan about which way to go up the beat and remember the bigger picture. Don’t get diverted by one or two boats if you think your strategy is right. Sure – try to avoid really bad wind shadows from other boats but if you think it pays to go left then find a way to do that. I got suckered into thinking about small boat on boat tactics and forgot the bigger picture.
 
We hope to welcome a new Solo to the ‘Barn on Sunday – Paul Playle in 5046 I know you will make him very welcome and show him how we do everything.
 
The forecast for Sunday looks promising medium winds and not quite as cold. Time for some of our hibernating winter sailors to start thinking about emerging?
 
It is also the club AGM after sailing so please come along and give us your feedback – as a committee have we been doing what you want this year, are there things we can improve for next year. As you will have no doubt seen from the agenda I have been asked to standing for sailing secretary – Peter Curtis will be a hard act to follow and I will be leaning on him for support, but I will want your input – as a club (and as a fleet) how can we make your sailing experience better?.  
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