Wednesday, January 27, 2010

MOCR Day 2


It was (relatively) cool last night and today with low humidity. The 470's had three races in 8-12 knots from the North. It was gusty on the water, and we were challenged with respect to predicting puffs and shifts. They were strong but short lived, making it tricky to keep the boat balanced and powered up. We had a good all round learning day.
The first start of the first race was postponed, which was great as we got a second crack at starting in this talented fleet. We got a much better start on the second try, and were up with the fleet throughout the first beat. The wind shifted to the right but we momentarily lost focus and ended up on the left, which cost us a number of boats. We had a good reach and passed a boat right at the finish.
The second race we tried to start under the current leaders, which was not the smartest idea!  We picked up a couple boats on the second upwind and had a good reach and run. In the 470 fleet you pump the boat to surf waves downwind, but in the lighter wind it was only possible to surf some of the waves. There are also rules about how often you can pump; in over 8 knots of wind you can pump as much as you like, in less wind only once per wave.
The third race saw us get a good position on the starting line, but due to lack of communication we accelerated a bit late. The wind had shifted even more to the right, so it wasn't a very tactical beat, everyone went right. We are doing a really good job of calling the laylines; and are able to make gains at this point.

Overall it was a challenging day but we learned lots. Our priority right now is to improve our boatspeed and starts so we can hang with the good guys a little longer each race.

Results for the regatta can be found at http://rmocr.ussailing.org.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you two are learning lots. Keep up the good work and have fun! Good blog by the way.

    ReplyDelete