The setup of the my boat is now finally sorted and the skipper is starting to get his shit together as well. I would be kidding myself if I didn’t say that I still has a looooong way to go, but I am definitely moving forwards.
I am still loosing too much time turning corners, but I am now getting a pretty good handle on where to go downwind (at St. George at least). Having never raced a modern, asymmetric skiff has really hurt in this regard as tacking downwind to the extent we do now was never a requirement in the “good old days”.
My straight line speed of the boat upwind is now pretty good, compared with the top guys, (if I don’t make any mistakes), but I still can’t point anywhere as high as they do. My old MSL11 and softer c-tech mast might be playing a role here, but I also think that it is probably my technique.
This video shows the start (which was the best of my career) and up until the first tack. Luka is the red boat and I am the green one, and he ended up beating me by 2 mins to the top mark.
So I still have heaps to learn, but I am getting better … slowly.
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:18 am
luka seems to helm quite a bit more than you
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:32 am
That is probably because he knows what he is doing and I don’t …
I need to chuck the Helmet Hero wide camera on my boat to see what I am doing, and then compare it to the GPS trace.
I might be playing the mainsheet where he is steering. I actually think that It is just be that my GPS has a lower data capture rate than the every 2 seconds that the Velocitek’s do, so I have less data points and appear to be steering straighter ….
March 14th, 2009 at 9:22 am
bruce, i was watching this race doing times, you sailed well, but really need to pull the mainsail on. this will give you alot more height.
an yes you were easing more mainsheet in the gusts, luka was just going higher every puff.
March 14th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Chris, I have looked into this. My prodder is too long, which means my lower main is too full, and my mainsheet bridle needs adjustment as well, but yes, I need to steer instead of easing sheet.