Sunday, September 28, 2014
Technique: Twist
Generally we set Kraken up symmetrical on both tacks but this is something we'll now be changing. This has got us to the middle of the fleet but to get further up we're going to have to work our brains a bit harder.
Coming back from SD after the Beneteau Cup we had some wind in the middle of the day and were trucking along at 6-8 knots somewhere between close hauled and a close reach depending on the moment. As the wind dropped and veered we ended up close hauled and in the swell, slow.
Looking at the sails for a bit it seemed that the top third of the Jib might be pretty close to the back of the main. Though each sail had it's telltales flying well we were down to four knots in six knots of wind.
We opened up the top of the jib to the extent it was luffing a bit in the waves (keeping it strapped on the shroud at the bottom), and pulled the main in a bit tighter so that it was stalling a little at the top and this opened up the slot a lot better.
Without the wind changing we sped up to 5 - 5.5 knots, though I will admit that we cracked of 2-3 degrees as well.
During the Beneteau Cup offshore races this might have really helped. There was a sharp swell on the nose on starboard and the beam on port. On port we were trucking and on starboard we were losing a lot of momentum in the waves. Losing a couple of degrees to gain a lot of speed probably would have been a great bargin.
To get this right we probably want to open up the twist as we see bigger waves coming.
Coming back from SD after the Beneteau Cup we had some wind in the middle of the day and were trucking along at 6-8 knots somewhere between close hauled and a close reach depending on the moment. As the wind dropped and veered we ended up close hauled and in the swell, slow.
Looking at the sails for a bit it seemed that the top third of the Jib might be pretty close to the back of the main. Though each sail had it's telltales flying well we were down to four knots in six knots of wind.
We opened up the top of the jib to the extent it was luffing a bit in the waves (keeping it strapped on the shroud at the bottom), and pulled the main in a bit tighter so that it was stalling a little at the top and this opened up the slot a lot better.
Without the wind changing we sped up to 5 - 5.5 knots, though I will admit that we cracked of 2-3 degrees as well.
During the Beneteau Cup offshore races this might have really helped. There was a sharp swell on the nose on starboard and the beam on port. On port we were trucking and on starboard we were losing a lot of momentum in the waves. Losing a couple of degrees to gain a lot of speed probably would have been a great bargin.
To get this right we probably want to open up the twist as we see bigger waves coming.
Video: Single handing at it's best - Francois Gabart
Picked this Video up on SailingAnarchy. Really shows what it takes to single hand a real ocean going racer. When I single hand Kraken as a race boat (practicing, still haven't raced this way) I feel like I'm working hard the whole time but Francois Gabart takes this to a whole new level.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Race: 2014 Beneteau Cup
The Beneteau Cup was a fun event. Our final result was 5/8 and we're properly mixing it with the fleet, losing some battles but finally winning others. Fourth wasn't too far off and that would have us top side of the table. Looking at the distance to lead boat Kea there's a lot of work over next couple of years if we want to challenge but hey, that's why we're racing - if it were easy what would the point be!
Day 1
On our first race we were pretty solid up the first couple of beats and run. It was gratifying to see our downwind now as a competitive tool rather than a scare.... until the final leg when we got the biggest knot in a spinnaker to date. Five minutes spent sorting this out on deck without a head-sail up of any description saw us lose three boats, dropping from fourth with boats ahead in reach to seventh without. Lesson learnt - if its bad enough to drop a spinnaker too the deck and you have a spare packed throw the spare up and deal with the mess later.
On the second race we were again mid race and in a building watched the other boats have spinnaker issues, headsail issues etc. Then sat on our laurels and saw boats we'd passed round the top mark ahead of us. Lesson remembered. Play the shifts. Always play the shifts.
Now we're mixing it on the downwind legs we're learning new things there. We pushed above Adventure and Sorceror to get an inside overlap but went too far to windward and couldn't hold speed to the mark. On day 2 we took this lesson and during the first race drove up over Adeline and ate their wind.
Another lesson, at a bottom mark we rounded just behind Sorcerer with Fandango right behind us. Sorcerer was slow and we tried to drive under them only to become pinned. Bad idea.... eventually we tacked to clear our air but by then Fandango was long gone and ahead.
Final lesson, the current was strong and the safest course to the mark was a port tack. We didn't hit the mark but dropped the pole two times out of six roundings to emergency tack to clear. Other's weren't as lucky.
Beyond basic sail management and tactics I also wonder if we needed more twist on starboard as we were pounding into waves. Experimentation to be done....
Day 2
Day two were two WL races outside harbor island. This was an interesting variation but I certainly had some trepidation about local knowledge and suspect this might have been well founded.....
First race we went right when everyone on the fleet went left. We did this from a pretty good position and had to stall out a bit to make the tack. Ended up in third around the mark. Had a slow hoist again and were a couple of places from last at the bottom mark. Made a place back on the next upwind leg and caught up with the bulk of the fleet at the leeward mark but with everyone and their dog having an inside overlap on us. Went in low, picked up speed to the mark with a leeward drop and managed to squeeze up back into fourth. Were comfortably in fourth when we had a horrible shift on our tack for the line, having to throw another in to make the end we hadn't been intending on hitting but doing so seconds ahead of the approaching pack. FUN!!!
Second race we were slow.
I still don't understand this... but I guess the left was paying off better than the right. Looking at the data Kraken was sailing better than we've ever sailed. Tight (for us) tacks, high on polar speeds, speed over ground agreeing but somehow running last place until the final few hundred meters where we clawed a place back. We had one major mistake with a spinnaker drop but it only cost five to ten boat lengths and shouldn't have placed us in last place.
I'm missing something about wind or current in the bay.
Day 1
On our first race we were pretty solid up the first couple of beats and run. It was gratifying to see our downwind now as a competitive tool rather than a scare.... until the final leg when we got the biggest knot in a spinnaker to date. Five minutes spent sorting this out on deck without a head-sail up of any description saw us lose three boats, dropping from fourth with boats ahead in reach to seventh without. Lesson learnt - if its bad enough to drop a spinnaker too the deck and you have a spare packed throw the spare up and deal with the mess later.
On the second race we were again mid race and in a building watched the other boats have spinnaker issues, headsail issues etc. Then sat on our laurels and saw boats we'd passed round the top mark ahead of us. Lesson remembered. Play the shifts. Always play the shifts.
Now we're mixing it on the downwind legs we're learning new things there. We pushed above Adventure and Sorceror to get an inside overlap but went too far to windward and couldn't hold speed to the mark. On day 2 we took this lesson and during the first race drove up over Adeline and ate their wind.
Another lesson, at a bottom mark we rounded just behind Sorcerer with Fandango right behind us. Sorcerer was slow and we tried to drive under them only to become pinned. Bad idea.... eventually we tacked to clear our air but by then Fandango was long gone and ahead.
Final lesson, the current was strong and the safest course to the mark was a port tack. We didn't hit the mark but dropped the pole two times out of six roundings to emergency tack to clear. Other's weren't as lucky.
Beyond basic sail management and tactics I also wonder if we needed more twist on starboard as we were pounding into waves. Experimentation to be done....
Day 2
Day two were two WL races outside harbor island. This was an interesting variation but I certainly had some trepidation about local knowledge and suspect this might have been well founded.....
First race we went right when everyone on the fleet went left. We did this from a pretty good position and had to stall out a bit to make the tack. Ended up in third around the mark. Had a slow hoist again and were a couple of places from last at the bottom mark. Made a place back on the next upwind leg and caught up with the bulk of the fleet at the leeward mark but with everyone and their dog having an inside overlap on us. Went in low, picked up speed to the mark with a leeward drop and managed to squeeze up back into fourth. Were comfortably in fourth when we had a horrible shift on our tack for the line, having to throw another in to make the end we hadn't been intending on hitting but doing so seconds ahead of the approaching pack. FUN!!!
Second race we were slow.
I still don't understand this... but I guess the left was paying off better than the right. Looking at the data Kraken was sailing better than we've ever sailed. Tight (for us) tacks, high on polar speeds, speed over ground agreeing but somehow running last place until the final few hundred meters where we clawed a place back. We had one major mistake with a spinnaker drop but it only cost five to ten boat lengths and shouldn't have placed us in last place.
I'm missing something about wind or current in the bay.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Race: Oceanside to Mission Bay and Back
This was our first coastal race since the windless 2014 border Run. On the way down we checked out the high frequency radar overlay and saw the chance to jump on a decent current eddy swirling through La Jolla and wrapping around to Mission Bay.
There were nine boats in the fleet, several of them slower cruisers and three other of our normal Oceanside "A class" competitors. We hoped to do well as Kraken has typicially proven fast in a straight line, our maneuvers letting us down as we learn.
In this case we set off on a reach and it seemed the other fast boats were doing better than us so we followed plan A and dropped deep into the bay under spinnaker. Early on we bit some kelp but a little work with the flosser saw a decent lump come off and boat speeds seemed to come back up to reasonable. As we came back out from our deep course and rejoined the fleet it became apparent that we hadn't gained much, in fact we were significantly behind the fast boats, in fact.... we were being passed by the slower boats... dang.
Gopro on boat pole an under boat. Big strand of kelp. We tried to floss some more, nothing came off (as you can see in the video below the kelp was halfway up the keel). We tried to pull the kelp down by attaching a weight (part of the anchor) to a line and pulling it down but water resistance on the line kept it up at the top of the kelp. The slow boats were still passing us. Eventually we dropped the spinnaker and backed down.
Damn.
Once clean we managed to pass the slow boats but in a dropping breeze and now back on the same track as the other fast boats we didn't make much ground on them. No idea if the course we took worked!
On the route back everyone took a pretty conservative line out of Mission Bay to avoid the nearshore kelp beds. This also took us high into that same eddy and gave a better current profile, though in practice the current had changed, the eddy gone and it was on the nose the whole way back.
Prima quickly stretched away and Shaman quickly overtook us. Disappointing. We shifted the jib lead outboard and started to maintain position against Prima and Shaman. Once we got Spinnakers up Shamen stretched away, Pole Dancer went high and Prima maintained their lead. We overtook everyone else and rolled in fourth.
LESSONS!
1) Move jib lead outboard faster! I made a little line and shackle designed for this that should make it easier.
2) Check for kelp with gopro if in ANY doubt.
There were nine boats in the fleet, several of them slower cruisers and three other of our normal Oceanside "A class" competitors. We hoped to do well as Kraken has typicially proven fast in a straight line, our maneuvers letting us down as we learn.
In this case we set off on a reach and it seemed the other fast boats were doing better than us so we followed plan A and dropped deep into the bay under spinnaker. Early on we bit some kelp but a little work with the flosser saw a decent lump come off and boat speeds seemed to come back up to reasonable. As we came back out from our deep course and rejoined the fleet it became apparent that we hadn't gained much, in fact we were significantly behind the fast boats, in fact.... we were being passed by the slower boats... dang.
Gopro on boat pole an under boat. Big strand of kelp. We tried to floss some more, nothing came off (as you can see in the video below the kelp was halfway up the keel). We tried to pull the kelp down by attaching a weight (part of the anchor) to a line and pulling it down but water resistance on the line kept it up at the top of the kelp. The slow boats were still passing us. Eventually we dropped the spinnaker and backed down.
Damn.
Once clean we managed to pass the slow boats but in a dropping breeze and now back on the same track as the other fast boats we didn't make much ground on them. No idea if the course we took worked!
On the route back everyone took a pretty conservative line out of Mission Bay to avoid the nearshore kelp beds. This also took us high into that same eddy and gave a better current profile, though in practice the current had changed, the eddy gone and it was on the nose the whole way back.
Prima quickly stretched away and Shaman quickly overtook us. Disappointing. We shifted the jib lead outboard and started to maintain position against Prima and Shaman. Once we got Spinnakers up Shamen stretched away, Pole Dancer went high and Prima maintained their lead. We overtook everyone else and rolled in fourth.
LESSONS!
1) Move jib lead outboard faster! I made a little line and shackle designed for this that should make it easier.
2) Check for kelp with gopro if in ANY doubt.
Gear: 3DI sails
Kraken's main race sails are 3DI. The main was one of the earlier 3DIs that came with the boat and the #1 Genoa a more recent sail I purchased in late 2013.
The shape maintained by the sails is impressive. Here's a video on the construction method:
The shape maintained by the sails is impressive. Here's a video on the construction method:
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