Flying on the 470 Trapeze

Pouring rain, maybe 5 degrees C. AST has gone home, except for me and Zoe. Peter was keen on getting us to try double handed sailing. We had three 470's, eight sailors/coaches, and Maddy for the coach boat. Zoe took her Radial out and Peter borrowed Fionnlagh. Erin and Meri took their 470, Jenn took Phil Round as her crew and I had the good fortune of crewing for Steve. I haven't used a harness since high school in Doug Bell's Laser >>. I haven't run a spinnaker since Revelry in 2002, unless you count Philona's cruising chute. No pole with that. And keel boat spinnakers are different from dinghys.

Victoria Family Day Training - Crash

Big gusty winds today. Probably 20 knots. Outside Cadboro Bay there were waves and whitecaps. In the morning we did tacking and gybing drills in the bay followed by starting and stopping upwind drills. The we ran down to a mark outside the bay and began tacking upwind towards a mark that none of us could see. (I for one had no idea of even the general area where the mark was supposed to be). I totally forgot to crank the cunningham and was overpowered. The group stopped- at the time I didn't know it was because no one knew where the mark was. I stopped too as I caught up with then. As the coach boat approached, they all started again and I did too.

Steve pointed out I was working way too hard. Cunningham. I trying to yank it in, I stalled the boat. Then I was blown backwards. Steve yelled to ease the vang to power up. Before I could do that I capsized. As I swam to windward the boat was rapidly turtling under the force of the wind on the hull. I arrived at the centreboard just in time to see the last inch of it disappear through the slot. Oops.

Peter tried to help right it by raising one gunwale while I stood on the other but we didn't have enough leverage. I swam to leeward, kicked under the boat and managed to find the board. I kicked it up and grabbed the couple inches that came through the slot. Leverage. I righted the boat and then it came back over on me. Swam to windward, righted again and climbed in. Freezing cold. In the water too long. Luckily, it was lunch time anyway.

The reach back was fabulous- planing most of the way. Tricky tacking upwind to the dock between the yachts and the monster rock. I was shivering.

Key points for the morning:

• remember the cunningham when it's windy!
• when stalled, power up the sail a bit- ease vang
• good point: I remembered not to gybe as a gust hits. Best to be at full speed going into the gybe rather than get flattened by a gust right after the gybe.
  

Lunch talk
Keep the boat flat! It is an art. The idea is that increased wind power should increase boat speed, not heel. As a gust hits, ease the main so the boat doesn't heel under the force. As the boat speeds up, ease the main back in for more speed.

• Work on S turns while gybing
• Work on tacking slowly - i.e. less rudder (rudder=brake)

Afternoon
I was on port tack. I saw Zoe a little late, it took me a second to work out that she had the right of way. I thought she was about to tack to stay with the tack-on-the-whistle drill. She didn't tack and I tried to bear off but I was heeled from a gust and I couldn't ease the main without dipping the boom in the water- certain capsize under these conditions. Zoe's mistakes were not pointing high enough and being out of position for the drill. I ran out of time and before I could make the decision to capsize, my bow ended up on her stern, then back in the wate. No damage done. But the section of her mainsheet between the boom and the traveller was wrapped around my bow. This one small line prevented both of us from sailing free. I tried pushing her boat backwards from mine to get the bow out but there was too much force from the wind. Peter and Steve were yelling some instruction but I was focussed on the mainsheet and worried it would slip back further. Zoe capsized with her blades under Fionnlagh. I was still tangled in her mainsheet. I tried to get the pressure off her centreboard. Then Fionnlagh capsized the other way. Zoe cleared her mainsheet while I pushed the hulls apart to try to save the blades. Then we were free. The trick was to right both of the boats without another collision. I got up and out of the way. Zoe took a little longer. Net damage - small chip out of back bottom corner of my board, entire chunk of Zoe's back bottom corner gone. Sorry Zoe, my fault. I owe you a repair.

I found out much later that Steve and Peter were yelling for me to push the rudder and sail backwards out of the tangle. That would have been so much easier. I must work on my backwards sailing skills so that that becomes an intuitive option. Or maybe I should just look out for other boats!

Dear competitors, this photo might help you to recognize us on the race course:

Fionnlagh and Kate go to Sailing Camp

In spite of a general lack of sleep in the last two nights, I awoke early to the sound of rain. A brief venture outside revealed a total lack of wind. Still, I drove down to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club to meet up with the others and see what the plan for the day would be. When I arrived, people were busy rigging boats. The wind was picking up we were told. And so it was.

When the rain stopped, it was clear that Royal Vic is a beautiful place to sail. A view to the Haro Straight with snow covered mountains in the background. Coach Steve tells us the water temperature is 7C, which is probably quite a bit warmer than Glenmore most of the summer. Not that I was planning on testing the water.

We began with windward/leeward tacking/gybing practice. I felt rusty and the wind was picking up. Hiking required most of the time. I'm more confident gybing now than I was before Hastings. Roll tacks are terrible again but that is likely due to fear of the new waters.

Next drill was starts. Two minute countdown with the expectation that we would sit on the line and sheet in with 10 seconds to go. Later variation of this drill was two minute countdown with the start anytime in the last 30 seconds. This forced us to sit near the line early. I'm still having trouble with getting to the line at the right time. Too late, too early and over before the start. I also need to work on accelerating quickly from a stop. The coaches said no vang when sitting, a little vang just before the start. Sheet in, allow the boat to heel and balance it for acceleration. Then go all out on the vang and block to block on the main. It sounds so simple but I'm not executing quickly and smoothly.

The next drill was about improving boat speed. All on starboard tack we reached out of the bay. We were then divided into groups: Bytes, Lasers, and Radials. Three Radials. We pulled even with each other and took off when the coaches said go. I fell behind quite quickly. It was comfortable full hiking conditions with gusts above that level. My difficulty is in handling the gusts and keeping the boat level. The coaches were asking us to steer the gusts to keep the boat level instead of dumping the sail. This was not the whole story as I found out back on land. The idea is to punch the rudder quickly to level the boat and then return to even helm. I was luffing to wind which also levels the boat, but it's slow. The other piece that I didn't know was that dumping the sail is okay to avoid stalling in a gust, provided the dump is short and I sheet in again within a few seconds. When tired and scared, the tendency is to leave the sheet out, then I end up steering to the sail trim which puts me on a close reach instead of close hauled as I should be. Way off course.

I think we were on the water for a bit over 2 hours in the morning and another hour in the afternoon. Following the afternoon session, we joined the Royal Vic team for a tactics talk. I learned a lot about the effects of the wind shadow. Most surprising was that tacking past the transom of another boat should give a lift- making ducking more attractive in certain circumstances. We also talked about lee-bow effect and how it is important to tack out of that situation. If covered on a tack, it can be best to foot away to clear air.

Okay, that's enough techie talk for now.. or is it? All that close hauled sailing was answered with an equal distance of fast reaching. I learned a lot there too. Sit further back in the boat, keep shoulders square to the boom, position feet so that I can shift forward or aft as needed. The big difference was holding the tiller extension at the U-joint with the extension vertical for better control. So much easier on the arms and Peter said I have stopped stearing like a drunk! The gusts were fantastic and several times I thought the boat would take flight. Super fast planing is awesome and I am managing to keep the fear under control and smile a bit more on the water.

4 more days of camp to go.

Fionnlagh's Road Trip

Peter MacDougall came by this morning and we carried Fionnlagh out of the basement and onto the ASA trailer. I need stronger arms as I was struggling to lift the stern over the top of the stairs. I think I've lost a bit of strength since the end of the season.

Peter is taking Fionnlagh and 5 others to Victoria. I'll be joining them on Feb 15 for the ASA family day weekend training camp at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. I'm hoping to stay for the Frozen Assets regatta, but tempted to return for the GSC AGM and Annual Banquet. If there is a Radial fleet and a decent forecast, I'll stay for the regatta.

Stay tuned for training tales.

The Ferocious Frostbite Regatta

It's a wild, wooley weekend here in Calgary. Last night it rained and it snowed and then rained again. I expected to wake to a white wonderland but fortunately, the snow didn't stay on the ground east of Scott Hill. The temperature hovered near zero and the trees swayed this way and that way in the wind.

This called for all the gear: full wetsuit with shorty wetsuit on top, neoprene socks, water shoes, polar fleeze, rain pants, water resistant windbreaker, windstopper gloves, toque, and of course the ever insulating life jacket.

Sail West 2006 Tied for First!

After the first day of the regatta, I'm tied for first place! Very exciting! With 25 Radials, this is the largest fleet I've ever raced in. The wind was exceedingly light and shifty today, resulting in several postponements. Several times, we began the start sequence only to have the AP flag go up with one minute to go. Collective groans.

Chestermere was a great place to be in May (although very cold) but now it is proving to be less than ideal for sailing. The big challenge for this regatta will be keeping the daggerboard and rudder free of weeds.

If you build it, they will come

Tonight a fleet of Radials appeared on the reservoir! Liz has a brand new sail and mast section and plans to come regularly. Two other guys may come again but one will go for the full rig next time.

The winds were light and most of the full rigs pulled ahead of us easily. Chris was trying out his new laser and was sometimes within reach of the radials. I was ahead of him for a good deal of the time, but I think he beat me to the finish line most of the time.

In the first race I had a decent start and was sailing well upwind. I lost a bit of ground at the windward mark (3) because I made a tactical error a couple of tacks before the mark which allowed Chris to get the inside. I rounded right beside him but he was a little shakey coming out of the turn and I had to wiggle suddenly to avoid hitting his transom.