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Solo News 27 Dec 2009

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  • Solo News 27 Dec

    As I’m writing this on the 31st  I’d like to wish everyone a happy new year.

    Well it’s been almost a year since I started these ramblings… the thing is there’s always more to learn about sailing and the wind is always changing. Since new year is about resolutions I guess I’ll have to provide a few…Most seem to be about breaking old habits or trying to start new ones.

    1. I will make the effort to be on the water 10 minutes before the gun to see what the wind is doing.
    2. I will be on the line on the gun so I start with clear wind (even if I’m not in the perfect place)
    3. I will keep the boat flat in gusts rather than letting it heel before I react
    4. I will plan my mark rounding especially the leeward mark to start wider and end up really close to the mark fully sheeted in
    5. I will gybe cleanly without falling in (even when there are no spectators) – That’s one for me because twice now I’ve gybed perfectly by the club-house each round but fallen over out of site over by mark 4.
    6. I will get on the water whenever the conditions are suitable
    7. I will make sure all the gear works well on my boat – especially having a sensitive wind indicator for light weather. (It can be any type but it must be balanced so it reads true even when the boat heels).
    8. I will wait a few seconds to be sure the wind has really shifted before I tack

       

    Ok that’s probably enough. Those of you who are members of the class association and watch the class web site message board will know that there is a lot of debate about adjusting the forestay on the water. Someone is proposing a rule change that will allow the forestay to be adjustable by control line lead back to (but not aft of) the mast. This would not be allowed to be adjusted during racing but could be altered between back to back races. There is a lot of debate both about the way an EGM is being called and about the proposal. For those who are not in the association please consider joining. You get three informative class magazines a year and help sponsor the behind the scenes work that makes the class thrive. (At £18 and less for early renewal it’s pretty cheap!)

    My opinion is that the proposed change is silly. Either allow adjustment or ban it. Having a control line lead to the mast is open to abuse. My preference is to keep the boat simple – sure sometimes I get the set-up wrong – then it is a challenge to get the best out of the rig with the things we can alter more easily.

    I would like to know what you think. Should the class allow forestay adjustment on the water? Only between races? At any time? Never once launched (tied up on a pontoon would not count as launched).

    For what it’s worth I do adjust forestay, mast heel and shrouds for different conditions, but I have never tried crawling over the foredeck between races! I have altered the mast heel between races when it went very light and I needed to stand the mast more upright.

    Well, the old year draws to an end and the pre-Christmas series is done (results on the web site).
     
    1st Gareth
    2nd Arthur
    3rd Peter C

    I have now got the overall (o-league scoring) on the web site as well as the autumn, open series and (from next week) winter series. Please let me know of any errors or omissions – to get your points in the short series for being on duty you usually have to tell me. Sorry there are no points for OOD in the o-league system – if anyone can figure out a fair way to do it I’ll try to program it. It does seem a bit unfair if you are OOD on the last week

    Pursuit race this week, forecast looks promising if a bit cold. – I have suggested the winter pursuit be 60 minutes rather than 75 but don’t know for sure if that will be adopted. Watch when entering which length to get the right start number.

    Happy new year

    Gareth
    4859

     

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