B2B notes

I’ve been carrying this folded up, hand-written page of half-thoughts from post B2B race discussions in my pocket for a month now and I need to type them up before I forget it and it disintegrates in the washing machine. So here is the list in no particular order.

Things we did well: (I failed to take good notes but here are a few I can remember, send me more if you think of some)

1. The first couple hours we sailed well. In the light stuff we did not try to point as high as the others and seemed to have a better vmg.

2. Rich and Jim did an excellent job keeping boat moving in the middle of the night when the wind shifted and the pressure built up. Steering when the waves are hitting from the hind quarter is pretty tricky.

3. Keeping good spirits up for 24 hours when conditions were extremely frustrating. I truly appreciate the good attitude that everyone presented. Whale watching, dophins, brief periods of moonlight at night and good companions outweighed the negatives and we had fun. Even the diet of breakfast bars, ginger snaps and cup-o-noodles was well tolerated. (Mmmmm. Cup-o-noodles. I still have some aboard if anyone is hungry?)

4. Sunday morning, while we were bouncing around in the superlight wind, unable to get the boat moving under spinnaker, we kept working at it. It finally clicked that we should gybe over as the waves would hit the boat differently. It worked and off we went. Giving up five or ten degrees of “course made good” and moving is “way better” vmg than sloshing around going nowhere.

Things to do better next time:

1. Attend more of the after party. We were certainly made to feel welcome and it would have been good fun. But my brain was too tired to recognize that I should have taken a short nap and headed back to the yacht club for celebrating. Next time we will sleep until the last boat finishes and then go to the dinner. (Unless we’re the last boat! ;-))

2. More weather information and apply it tactically. We were thinking that it was a spinnaker run down the rhumb line and sailed pretty much down the coast to Newport. Had we gone offshore a little further we probably would have had better wind. Or at least the performance of the other boats that went out indicates that. Access to current weather charts (isobars) , satellite images, etc would provide some ammunition for decisions about where to go.

3. In the same vein, better knowledge on ocean current patterns. The current charts we had read before leaving did not match what we found out there.

4. Better instrument lights. Wemade sure the lights were working before we left, but at night on the ocean the instruments were difficult if not impossible to read. I am considering replacing the whole instrument package, they are 30 years old and obsolete.

5. Visible tell tales and draft stripes on sails at night. I have spent my entire life judging the optimum course to weather with input from the telltales and leading edge of the sail. At night the only way to take a look at the tell tales was to shine a light on them, and destroy your night vision. (Glow in the dark telltales and draft stripe? A deck mounted black light?).

6. Night sailing skills. We all would have been the better for practicing racing at night. We lost the most time between sunset and dawn.

7. It would have been better if everyone aboard had navigation and tactical experience. My thinking is that each shift needs to have at least one crew with those skills.

8. Improve communication. In the same vein, it would have been better if the navigation and tactical information had been communicated to everyone as a regular practice. I.e. person coming on watch is updated by current watch, and person going off watch records same info in log and charts the current position and time. Also, tactical plan, i.e. we’re headed to point x to try and catch a lift, when we get to point x we should be able to point higher, if not then re-evaluate.

9. Timer for off watch rotation. Simple timer of some sort that wakes new watch in time to put on foul weather gear, etc before coming on deck. Somehow in the middle of the night muddled thinking was to allow the person off watch a little extra sleep was doing them a favor. Timer would stop that from happening.

10. In the same vein, not waking the crew for sail changes because of the same muddled thinking. We did not put the spinnaker up as soon or as often as we should have for being in a race.

11. Another in the same vein, new person coming on watch should not go straight to the helm and steer. Steer on the second half of your watch, not the first half. Not being fully awake is not helpful for steering in a race at night.

12. Yet another in the same vein, we all need to look for and have the authority to sideline someone who is too tired or ill to do the job correctly (or for that matter, the option to tap yourself out). It is a safety issue not just a racing performance issue. This needs to be clearly agreed to by all parties aboard prior to leaving the dock. i.e. if someone points at me and says “your done, go below” I agree to do it without discussion on the matter.

13. Chart plotter, preferably visible from the helm position. This time the only chart plotter we had was a laptop GPS combo in the Nav station. I would love to be able to have the course to next waypoint, sog, vmg, eta, headed / lifted trend and current position on the chart visible to the crew on deck.

14. Also in the equipment vein: survival suits or a valise life raft instead of that silly huge thing bolted on top. It was a visibility handicap. I would much rather have to go below and drag one up than contend with that “chunk” on the cabin top. Survival suits could be stashed behind the settees or up front and would weigh a lot less than what we had.

15. Actual paper charts and tools to plot with. And something proper to write with instead a hard lead mechanical pencil that you can’t read against damp paper in the night.

16. De-junk the boat more. We were carrying stuff we did not need to.

17. The head had a couple issues. It began leaking around the pump handle again, just repaired it a month ago, bummer. It also has an issue when your output exceeds the ability of the bowl to prevent sloshing on your feet. Have not figured this one out yet, one hand for the boat and one for yourself while bouncing around in confused seas does not leave a hand free to pump it out while you are still putting it in.

18. I would like to put the reefing setup and us through the process. I have not reefed this main and everyone needs to be able to do it.

19. Bilge pump / engine well / shaft log adjustment. Water still builds up in the engine well while under power and sloshes around the cabin soaking anything on the floor with nasty water. A pump or something.

20. Rudder bearing needs repair. Bouncing around in the confused seas it has a noticeable “clunk” from side to side. Needs a new bearing at the base where it enters the boat.

21. New bottom. It is time to sand off and put on a new bottom, small blisters, though not structural yet, are not fast.

22. Mast overhaul. It is time to drop the mast and give it an overhaul. New standing rigging would be a good thing. New wind instruments and new masthead light.

Ps. A couple of us were taking Scopolamine and I noticed some side effects. I had a brief hallucination and others mentioned having them as well. It is good for motion sickness if you can tolerate the cotton mouth, but I may try something different next time.

2009 Bridge to Bridge

Hi folks,

I’ve been playing around with the GPS data from the offshore race we did a couple of weeks ago. We ran from Astoria to Newport against 7 other boats in our fleet, 12 boats total. We place 5^th in the racing fleet. It wasn’t a strong showing at the podium but I believe we sailed well for first time offshore racers. It will be interesting to see the corrected finish times.

Rick, Doug, Libby, and I went over some things we thought could be improved in regards to the boat’s equipment and operations. Maybe Rick can post the list?

It was certainly an interesting race. I know I had a blast!

Below I’ve put together some graphics that I thought were interesting to see:

• Google Map, Showing our tack
  http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=105852223684200837403.000471c14e04b0b3ae2d7&ll=45.406164,-124.178467&spn=2.988789,3.400269&t=p&z=8

• Screen Shot from Google Earth, Track colored according to speed
  https://ravensailing.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/b2bgoogleearth.jpg

-Rich

Thoughts on the RCYC Summer Regatta

Team Raven Racing took second place in PHRF-A in the RCYC Summer Regatta this past weekend.  During two days of sailing we had five races and took line honors in four of them.  That pesky Wy’East from Portland corrected out over us three times and won the regatta.

Rick started back to school this week and has been too busy to put his thoughts down, so I volunteered to capture what I could remember.  Team members – please feel free to add your own thoughts and comments!

Friday:

Conditions: It started fairly calm, but the wind built throughout the evening.  We had too much sail up for the second race but  no time to change headsails.

Crew:

• Rick
• Libby
• Rich
• Rebecca
• Herb
• Jim

The good:

• Rick’s start in the first race was a classic.  I don’t think the Portland boats knew what to make of him camped out on the starting line like that. 
• Sail trimming on the upwind leg was good enough to roll over Karma and beat everybody to the first mark. 
• Can we all take a moment and thank Wy’East for the showing us how to fly an hourglass?

The bad and/or ugly:

• We had a few slow tacks in the second race and enough sail trimming chaos to probably cost us the race.  Chalk that one up to having people in new positions.  Racing with a different crew from week to week certainly affects performance!

Saturday:

Conditions:  Varied.  We had everything from dead calm and sunny to gusty storm cells blowing through.  Thankfully the rain held off for the most part, at least until we were back to the dock.

Crew:

• Rick
• Libby
• Rich
• Jim
• Zach
• Brad

The good:

• Well, we’re all still alive and kicking, aren’t we?
• We had a couple of excellent legs where the boat lit up and showed what she can do.  Unfortunately those moments were fewer and farther between than usual.

The bad and/or ugly:

• Slow and poorly executed spinnaker sets and gybes.
• Poor upwind speed.
• No dedicated tactics person.

Things to do better next time:

• Practice?  Having new people in new positions is always fun, but slightly less fun in the chaos of Portland racing.  It would be better to put the most experienced crew in their usual spots or to hold training sessions with new crew.
• We need to put the shackles back on the spinnaker sheets and do more of the rigging for the spinnaker while we’re still at the dock. 
• Okapi II had their pole on the mast during the upwind leg – we should experiement with this approach on a non-race day.
• Someone on the crew needs to be appointed to do tactics for each race.  Rick needs to focus on the helm and may or may not have time to look around and make decisions.
• We need to try using the secondary winches for mainsheet trimming on the upwind leg.  If that doesn’t work then perhaps it’s time for a 6:1 system.

Race Notes 6/18/2009

Race notes: 6/18/2009

Conditions: I would call it medium. 10 – 15 knots. Dark water in the puffs. Current is less than last week, the river height has come down. Probably a little more than 1.5 knots. Overcast skys, totally flat river until half hour before the start so there was no chop or rollers to speak of.

Crew aboard: Libby, Toni, Tami, Rich, Rebecca and myself

My bad on the start, I had a good bead on it, but lost concentration in the traffic. I wound up underneath Enchantress moving slow at the start. It took a bit to get sheeted in and by then SP&M was underneath us and out front. We had to gas Enchantress a bit to get out in front, and then tack as soon as SP&M ran out of river. Which put Nanuk on crossing ahead of us on starboard just like last week. We ducked behind Nanuk and put the hammer down and made it to the first mark well ahead of the fleet. A quick tack around the weather mark and spinnaker set fire drill commenced. We got it up OK, but still need practice accomplishing a “Cidgem” fast set.

The fleet was having a difference of opinion about where to sail going back up the river. I chose the Washington shore yet again. Nanuk chose the Sand Island track yet again, and since the downwind mark was on the Oregon side, I think he convinced several of the others to follow him that direction. But I happen to have been passed a couple times sailing that course and know that the fasted way to mark #4 is right past mark #3. You wind up fast reaching to #4 instead of sailing slowly dead down wind to get there.

We did a VERY conservative spinnaker take down, probably lost a minute there, but it really did not matter. We tacked around the mark and with the ripping current behind us the difference between us and the next boat to round was magnified by every second that we spent sailing with the current behind us, while they were still heading into it to last mark.

A tug and barges made life difficult. It went right through the fleet as they were rounding the mark. Ugly.

We sailed past the concert on the way back, short tacking up the St Helens channel, Good job on the winches crew! Good race!

Race notes 6/11/2009:

Conditions: Meduim light winds slowly building throughout the race. NNE shifted at the halfway point to NNW. Heavy current again, the river is still in spring mode: fresh, high and fast.

Crew Aboard: Rich, Zach, Toni, Tami, Herb, Kyle and me.

It was nearly perfect night for sailing. Steady winds, light waves, mostly clear sky and just warm enough to leave the jacket down below.

Libby, Patti and Cheryl did race committee duty last night so we tried to put on a good show for photographs. 😉

I was a little early for the start (starts are a little different with 9 boats on the line) and spent 20 seconds running down the line. It cost us later on as boats to weather controlled when we could tack.

Nanuk had hit the line right at the committee end. Mo-B-Dick and I had to take her stern, but the crew did a great job of talking me through a tight crossing and we managed to keep the sails full and driving as we crossed behind. We managed to roll over the top of Mo-B-Dick and squeak out into the lead.

A relatively risky line across the lower tip of Sand Island saved us a tack and when we did tack we were right on the layline for the first mark. We rounded smartly and started for the Washington shore. The spinnaker was delayed some after rounding, folks are still figuring out where to lead all the sheets and guys that fill up Raven’s pit.

We slid up the Washington shore out of the current as much as possible. The wind was unusual with an easterly slant. Normal is out of the north with a slight westerly slant.

Nanuk took the Sand Island side and was doing very well up to the upstream tip of the island.  They were pretty much dead even with us until then. The wind shifted back to a slight westerly slant and we did a quick gybe around the end of the last jetty and started reaching up along the shore out of the current.

That’s when Nanuk started falling behind.

We had the spinnaker pole jump off its attachment at the mast and cause some excitement, but crew managed to keep things under control and kept the spinnaker flying, ease the pole down and reattach it without much fuss. Nice recovery crew!

An early takedown was followe by some sweet wind pressure while on the lifted tack in the fastest current on the way back. All good. Zach even took a turn on the helm (with a little peer pressure!). He needs a little time there to build up confidence, but steered just fine as we tacked down though the Sand Island channel to the finish.

We corrected out over Nanuk by about 60 seconds. Which I find fascinating since Libby and I GPS’d the course we took, and the course Nanuk took, and showed a difference of 90 seconds. I am convinced that if Nanuk had followed us up the Washington shore he would have been 30 seconds ahead.

Things we did right:

• Good boat speed and assertive driving on second tack
• Nice recovery after pole jumped off the mast
• Weight on the rail and good sail trim to weather

Things to improve:

• Spinnaker set needs to be quicker
• Starting on time would be nice
• Be nice if crew and I were confident enough to gybe at will

Race Notes: 6/6/2009

It was one of THOSE races. Light air for St Helens, and blowing straight down the river in the same direction as the heavy current. 7 knots air from the South, 1.5 to 2 knots current

Crew aboard, Libby, Rich, Zach, Brad, Rebecca and myself.

It was a long distance race, down to Martin Slough and back. A downwind start, reverse handicap style made things interesting. Slowest boat starts first, fastest boat starts last, theoretically all boats finish at the same time. The advantage for a long distance race is that you place where you finish. No one has to keep track of the finish times or calculate the results after the race.

We started all the other boats, and then started ourselves, 22 minutes after TGilli and Pizzaz. It was a lot like the teacup ride at Disneyland. The cups spin around and move up and down, but all move around at exactly the same speed. So it was riding the fast current all the way down to Martin Slough. The boats all moved down river at almost the same speed. If a boat started 20 minute before we did, they got to the mark 20 minutes before we did. On the way down to the mark I was saying this race was going to be decided against the current on the way back.

Little did I realize how true that statement was. We did a nice take down, (good job crew!) a seamanlike rounding at full speed, right at the mark, a smooth first tack and cleared the mark on the way back up river. And just like that we were out in front. Clearing the mark allowed us to get back to the Oregon shore into lighter current and commence short tacking for the next 4 hours back to the finish.

Things we did right:
Nice spinnaker work, an excellent gybe and a nice takedown at a critical moment.
Good crew communication with new folks on the boat.
Short tacking up the Oregon shore out of the current.

Things to improve:
We need to mark all the control lines so folks know where to stop pulling.
Practice steering in light air, or maybe just more time sailing the Genoa.

Race Notes: 5/28/2009

It was very windy, I’m guessing 20 – 25 knots….gusting higher. Heavy current and short steep waves, especially in the shipping channel between mark 1 and the Washington shore.

Race committee duty graciously absorbed by Neal and Patti, THANK YOU!

Crew aboard, Toni, Tami, Rich, Herb, Libby, Gail and myself.

We managed to weasel our way into running the line on starboard with no one underneath us, but it was blowing hard, the boat was moving fast, and we wound up too far down the line by the time the gun went off. When we hardened up it was time to tack and there was traffic. I pinched up and held out to the last minute and boats to weather of us tacked away allowing us to tack also. We quickly squirted out into clean air and that was pretty much all she wrote going to weather. Nice job Toni and Tami on the winches!

We rounded the weather mark several boat lengths ahead and started for the Washington shore. Jetty ducking up the Washington side to get some current relief is the strategy that keeps paying off. It seems slow, and the knot meter often falls down to 5.5. The speed over the bottom (vmg) when your sailing in 1 to 1.5 less current is such a huge benefit when the current is ripping like it was.

The decision not to fly the spinnaker was popular with the crew, although the spinnaker was not happy about it, and tried to escape on its own volition. Thanks for catching and stowing it Herb! The only thing slower than shrimping the chute is running aground.

Barnestormer flew their chute last night and put on a show for the rest of us. Although it is normal for IOR designs to oscillate running downwind it looks like Mr. Toad’s wild ride to the rest of us.

I only looked back for a small percentage of the race, but it seemed to me that Enchantress was the only other boat hugging the Washington shore out of the current, and Raven and Enchantress were first and second, and I am guessing that is no coincidence. 😉

Things we did right:

• Ducking jetties up the Washington shore.
• Keeping the excitement level tolerable.
• Short tacking up through the St Helens channel.

Things to improve:

• Skipper needs to communicate better during prestart maneuvers.
• Still need to improve sheeting in speed during tacks.
• Still not quite full on race mode with spinnaker. Needs practice and regular workers.