Category Archives: Series

Spring, Fall, Wednesday night, and Frostbite Series

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, 2016, News, Results

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #14

Thank you to the race committee for setting up courses is these difficult conditions.  For the first two races the wind was light to non-existent with a strong down-river current.  The first race especially was challenging with the wind becoming too weak to get back up river for the second leg.  I got close to the committee boat then pushed back down river by the current.  The only wind it seemed came from the jets making north landings on the run way.  After twenty minutes of this the wind filled in enough to get around the leeward second mark and finish.

After the first race there was lots of talk of heading back in.  I was definitely in favor of heading in but the race committee wisely waited five or so minutes to see what would happen.  With some light wind from the south race two started.  After a moderately botched the start near the boat end I tacked to port for clear air.  I got lucky with a wind shift to make a long starboard tack all the way to the windward mark near the front of the fleet.  The wind stayed light but consistent enough to to finish the race without any drifting.

The wind picked up greatly for the third and fourth races and I managed to come in first on the fourth race.  That’s my first win in the frostbiting fleet so I was pretty pumped.  I really enjoy sailing every Sunday with so many sailors and I especially like the debrief and hangout after racing.   Thank you again to everyone who came out this weekend!

Tom Hutton

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 14

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, 2016, News, Results

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #12

1 Comment

Wind: NE @ ~6-10 knots
Weather: Sunny, high 40s/low 50s
Tide: heavy ebb

First of all, I would like to thank race committee for running 5 races in difficult conditions in which to set a course. They set us up farther east than normal (the windward mark was practically arms length from green channel marker on the east side of the river) to be able to get as much room as possible given the NE wind direction. Despite RC’s best efforts to set a square course, the wind did not cooperate and oscillated between the northeast and east, multiple time during each race. It took a three races for me to get used to all of the conditional factors on the course: the heavy ebbing tide, the oscillating wind direction, and the varying strength of the wind.

The Start: I came out pretty aggressive and found myself over early in the first two starts, which favored the boat. The third start favored the pin, which a few of us predicted. But my timing was off and a few boats got up to speed before I did. I won the fourth and almost the fifth starts by being patient, positioned middle-boat, but mostly by focusing on clear air and getting off the line with speed.

Upwind: Ease, hike, trim (that’s the motto, YOLO). My sincerest apologies for that terrible joke.  As a smaller guy, at 150 lbs, even at the wind speeds we were seeing, I had to start thinking about “medium air” conditions. Through a couple of the whopping 8-10 kts (maybe exaggerating here) puffs I would ease my mainsail about 0.5-1 foot, hike my ass off to flatten the boat, and then trim the main back in. If the puff seemed to be sustained, I would take the slack out of the outhaul, cunningham, and vang. In some of the puffs, I actually had to depower my sail. In the first two races, I went right initially to get clear air from the fleet who were mostly middle/left (I was behind). I found that this did not work, possibly because of the deep channel and the strong current. In races 3, 4, and 5, I tried to one-tack the port lay line, which worked very well in races 4 and 5, when I reached the windward mark in 1 and 2, respectively, with a healthy lead over the rest of the fleet.

Downwind: Most of the fleet followed the boat in front, which usually led to a line forming, trying to get the starboard/inside track at the leeward mark. In every race there was a pile up at the leeward mark because of the heavy current forcing boats south. I found that even in these conditions with a moderate amount of wind, the straight line/clear air was fastest. In fact, most of the time I aimed north of the mark because of the ebbing current. Not only was I compensating for the current, but staying to the sailor’s right, cleared my air and allowed me to pass a number of boats.

Leeward Rounding: This was an important juncture in the races. As I mentioned above, the current forced pile ups. But it also left opportunities for boats rounding behind other boats to round inside. Normally, the boat in front of you has rights, as long as there was no overlap as you entered the 3 boat length circle. However, with current like we had, most boats were forced past the mark and could not round up to protect against the boat behind them without heading into irons (I fell pray to this in race 5, rounding the final mark in 1st). Two tips here: 1) for boats rounding behind, be patient, slow your boat down, if you see the boat in front of you starting his/her turn close to the mark (tight-then-wide), wait for the transom to swing around and start to round inside of your opponent. With the current, he/she will not be able to protect his water-at-the-mark. 2) for boats rounding in front of other boats, when you enter the 3 boat length circle, call for room at the mark from the boats around you (unless they had inside overlap of course).

With this amount of current it is difficult but execute a wide-then-tight rounding, shutting the door on your opponents behind you, and forcing them to round to leeward and in your dirty air.

Ultimately, this was a technical Sunday of racing because of the flukey wind directions and wind strengths. You had to really pay attention to your sail to ensure the tell-tails were flying and keep your boat flat.

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 12

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, 2016, Results

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #11

This past Sunday we had really nice weather conditions, warm steady (light) breeze coming from the south and nice crystal clear blue Potomac water with occasional small ice chunks just to remind us that we’re still frostbiting.

Thanks to RC Nick Allen and Cliff Bartlett for getting in a lot of races within the allotted time period. Also, it seemed the shorter course with three laps was popular, as it gave us some exciting mark roundings.  Thanks also to Fleet Captain Eric Peterson for helping us to build one of the biggest fleets I have ever seen. 24+ boats on typical day is really impressive.

So again I’d like to make this write up a bit more for the beginner. Nine years ago when I started with Lasers in PRSA frostbite, I was not only last in most races, but also so far behind that I had to remind the RC not to hold up the next race waiting on me.  So if you are new to this fleet and a little behind, just hang in there and have fun sailing, and time in the boat will improve your scores.

Here are some basic pointers:

Sail settings: On Sunday I had my vang on about 1/3, cunningham off except maybe upwind, then I had it slightly on. Outhaul was set so the draft of the sail was about 3” from boom. Note, if you seem to be doing well, don’t change your sail settings. If you feel slow, just go ahead and experiment and make changes to your sail settings.

Starts: On Sunday I was coming in on port and looking for holes in the line, and then tacking over to starboard at the last instant. Sometimes this works, sometimes not. It’s a little risky. Again, for beginners, start on a safe starboard tack, and try to get yourself up on the line and get used to being in the first row of boats. So long as you are on starboard tack and heading up if someone to your leeward hails you to come up, there is not much that can go wrong (except that you are over early). This is just something you need to get comfortable with. Good starts will then come in time.

Roll Tacks: I am probably not roll taking correctly, but I do know that when you come out of a roll tack, you should feel the boat sort of accelerate at the end. If you do not, then there is a problem, because that is going to affect your performance very much. Talk to me off line if you have questions. Erich Hesse who used to sail with us, commented once on my tacking and showed me what I was doing wrong, and sometimes being shown one-on-one will really help you. So don’t be afraid to ask someone to look at your tacking and give you their feedback. I am out a lot on Wed nights in the summer and also I’m usually out early before the starts on the frostbite Sundays.

Preparing to round the windward mark: If you can, take a moment to try to ‘clear the sheet’ (as Len taught me), that is get any tangles out of the mainsheet now so that when you go around the windward mark you don’t get stuck untangling your line.

Rounding the windward mark: When you round the windward mark, try not to let your mainsheet out all the way right away. Instead, let it out slowly so that the sail stays powered up as you begin the downwind leg. If you let it out all the way, right away, then you may be losing a little speed as your sail temporarily luffs.

Downwind Leg: When the air is light and steady like it was on Sunday, try to heel your boat to windward a bit and sit forward near the centerboard. As you are heeling the boat to windward, hold on to the top of the centerboard, and use your shoulder muscles to maintain the proper heel angle. This means you will feel your arm and shoulder getting a good workout, because as the boat heels too much or too little, your corrections are going to be made by your arm pulling on the centerboard, and your adjustments are going to be very slight and very smooth. All this will add up to you feeling your arm and shoulder getting a Nautilus style workout like at the gym, even when the air is light. When the air is heavy, you probably won’t be doing this, but rather hanging on for dear life like I do and trying to prevent a death roll.

Jim Klein

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 11

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, 2016, Results

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #9

The wind for our Sunday, January 17 frostbite racing was just enough to overcome the current – which wasn’t running all that much. Frank and Bill ran two WL races and then mercifully released us to walk our boats back to the dock. I was a shame the wind didn’t cooperate since we had 23 boats drifting around.

As with any light air race, having clear air and getting off the line in the first row were critical. Once out on the course it was important to account for the current when determining the laylines. Since the wind zephyrs were coming from assorted directions it was best to stay near the middle of the course. I overcame a significantly poor start in the 1st race just by drifting up the middle.

The rule of thumb I follow is to flatten the sail in very light winds, similar to heavy winds. I had my outhaul on pretty tight, a little vang on, and the boat heeled to leeward to help get some shape in the sail. When going to weather the boom was just outboard of the transom and my body weight forward. Staying very attentive to the sail and adjusting course to meet the zephyrs and apparent wind changes was a full time job.

The inconsistent wind caused the second race to be a reach back and forth. With the current running at right angle to the course you had to decide how much above (up wind, up current) the mark you wanted to sail to get the best VMG and/or not have to tack and sail up current to make it around the mark. It is difficult to decide just how far above the mark to sail in this situation, but recognizing you have a problem is the first step.

A few weeks ago Jacob’s write-up was a sincere note of encouragement to the sailors who are just launching their frostbite programs. I would like to echo his message and thank everyone for contributing to the pleasant atmosphere we enjoy. Our fleet is now as vibrant as it has ever been in the decade I’ve been sailing at PRSA.

-Len

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 9

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite, 2016, Results

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #8

Sunday, 1/10/16 was 55 degrees and sunny – an excellent day for racing on (and in) the Potomac. The wind was SSW 15+ knots with gusts in the very high 20s. The tide was ebbing pretty hard most of the day. Adam and Jamie, along with their lovely supervisors, ran four first-rate W2 races for 15 boats.

The random gusts that pumped down the course all day provided much entertainment. It was fun trying to harness them downwind and equally fun watching and participating in the mass capsize events. After one capsize I sat on the hull for a while and delighted in the spectacle of a fleet running downwind in way more wind than it needed. There were a lot of strong wind veins that played downwind – if you looked for and got under them. I found staying on starboard tack downwind and sailing by-the-lee to be the most stable. There were instances when I was fighting the wind with the sheet and the rudder to keep the bow from being blown down wind. In the lulls I worked to the east and tried to ride waves. I had expected decent size waves given the opposing tide and wind but was disappointed. Locking into the cockpit with the legs was beneficial when the breeze was on.

There were relatively few boats OCS given that the current was pushing the boats upwind at the start. I worked hard, with moderate success, to leave enough room for acceleration. On 3 of the starts it was under 5 seconds before I pulled the trigger in order to allow for the breeze and current.

The upwind tactical challenge for me was finding a good port lift to take to the airport side of the course. The wind shifts were short lived and I had trouble getting underneath any lift. My sense was that they were just moving too fast. Occasionally I was able to sail upwind in a vein to avoid the relative lulls. I avoided cleating the mainsheet, playing the well vanged main and working the rudder to keep the boat flat and moving in the unstable wind conditions. James and Eric were very careful to cover their closest competitor to stay in similar wind.

My boat handling killed me all day long. The self-inflicted errors that resulted in 2 capsizes included; not clearing the sheet of tangles before rounding the top mark, and over-tightening the vang before the leeward rounding then sticking the boom in the water. Basic heavy air tacking technique also cost me points. I was struggling to come out of the tacks lower than in moderate breeze and build speed before sheeting the main.

By 3:30 the wind had clocked around to WNW with some nice 35+ gusts, we were glad to be on our asphalt beach; telling lies and watching the airplanes fight the cross winds to get back on the ground.

-Len Guenther

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 8

Frostbite, Hangover Regatta, Lasers, Lasers, 2016, Results

2016 Hangover Regatta

If you grow up sailing on a small creek, as I did, you are no stranger to shifty winds, land bends, dead spots and downdrafts. While the Potomac is a far cry wider and wilder than Beaver Dam Creek in Point Pleasant, N.J., it was no less fickle wind-wise on New Year’s Day for the Potomac River Sailing Association Hangover Regatta, which saw a very tight fleet of 30 boats, scrambling through an oscillating breeze that seemed to switch on and off at will.

All in all, conditions were, in my opinion at least, near ideal for a frostbite regatta (though many including me, were wishing the unseasonably warm weather of the week before had stuck around for a day longer) with a nice 8-knot breeze ushering the fleet out of the marina and past the runway of Reagan International Airport  and quickly building into fresher, sustained gusts.

As many of you may know, I usually sail on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk with the Hampton Roads Sailing posse.  Four of us, Charlie Brewer, Britt Drake, Grant Simmons and myself schlepped it up I-95 for the regatta and by the time I arrived at 10 a.m. Charlie and Britt had built a nice little firepit with some of the river driftwood down by the boat hoists and were keeping their hands warm by the crackling fire. The out-of-towners drew a bit of amusement, but at least it took the chill off.

And it was brisk: The weather station at Reagan International Airport recorded a mean temperature for the day of 37 degrees with a maximum in the partly sunny afternoon of 47 degrees. Winds were generally SSW at about 8 mph with a maximum recorded wind speed of 21 mph and a few gusts up to 24. (There were a fair number of upturned hulls during the day for those caught out by the blasts. I got caught trying to sail deep by the lee when one of those gusts caught me. My scramble up the deck was too late, but I didn’t get wet, so I am not counting it as an actual capsize even though I brought some souvenir Potomac River bottom mud home on the head of my sail.) Charlie said he got dipped twice, once going upwind when a gust came at him behind the sail. “normally you can just hang on and it will switch back and lift you up,” Charlie said. But not that time, apparently. I spent a lot of time looking ahead (upwind) and behind (downwind) to try to read the gusts from the angles and heal of other boats. It served me pretty well as I was able to prepare for a few major onslaughts of wind before they got to me.

Race Committee Chair Nabeel Alsalam set a perfect windward-leeward course with a leeward gate and a short-leg upwind finish. Races were run twice around the course and, given the conditions, lasted about 30 minutes each. A total of five races were run and the scoring included a throw-out. Starts were run in three minute sequences with a whistle countdown, so if you are like me and sail without a watch, you were not at any significant disadvantage. (We run with three minute starts down in Norfolk, too, and it seems to be a lot better for dinghy racing, even with bigger fleets. How hard is it to choose a spot on the line and set up in a Laser, after all. And less time to get cold. If the line length is about 30 seconds, two minutes is plenty of time to run a check and commit to a strategy, I think.)

Despite the very shifty gusts, the line was very square all day, with a slight committee boat bias. This was balanced out by a slightly favored left side of the course which seemed to pay off with a bit more pressure and for those boats that went deep enough into the corner, a huge lift to the windward mark along the western shore of the river.

And that seemed to be the challenge of the day: how to tap into the shifts and very localized pressure zones. Upwind, the pressure seemed to emerge from the right, but the better lifts seemed to favor the left. A key was not to get caught in the middle too early on the course.

In the first race, both Charlie and I joined the massive fight for a spot near the committee boat and got caught up in the air sponge of sails losing whatever advantage might have been gained by the line bias and losing options to tack out in the throng of boats. After seeing the left-side boats cash in, we both found ourselves switching plans, moving down to the center of the line below the scrum and able to blast out with a clean lane. This seemed to pay off in several races as the lift back to the mark seemed to be greater the deeper out you got.

Regatta winner Charlie Brewer had another idea which twice paid dividends for him (and burned him once, too.) He ducked the entire fleet on one start to go out far to the right to try to get to the pressure lines first. He was out nearly by his lonesome and it wasn’t looking good for awhile, until he came zooming into the top mark clear ahead of the fleet with only (I believe) Eric Peterson nearby. I have seen Charlie do this before in Norfolk and his thinking is, (correct me if I am wrong, Charlie) if you are in clear air and sailing fast rather than mixing it up in the crowd you are likely to do well. The shifty conditions certainly helped that strategy. If you were attentive to the breeze you could climb the ladder pretty fast. If not, there were a lot of snakes around.

Toward the end of the day, the river current began to sweep out along the eastern shore and played an interesting role at the bottom mark. Logic seemed to dictate that if you sailed to the left (going downwind) the outgoing tide would sweep you into the gates. But that led to a more direct downwind angle which actually turned out to be slower. (In my experience on the course) Those sailing deeper to the right, sailed hotter angles at the bottom and often got a little lift of speed near the gates that squirted them forward. It worked for me, anyway, once I cottoned on. The big key downwind, I found, was just to look aft for the pressure lines on the water and try to position in front of them well ahead of their arrival. Then, work the waves and gusts building speed ahead of the waves and soaking down once the pressure is full on.

Thanks again to Potomac River Sailing Association for hosting this event and inviting your friends from the south up to take part. It was a great time and the after-race brew and chew was a lot of fun. Hope to see you next year.

Robert Suhay

2016 Hangover Regatta

Regatta Photos (courtesy of Jim Lane)

Frostbite, Frostbite, 2016, Results

2015/2016 Laser Frostbite #7

1 Comment

It was a great Sunday with very pleasant weather; mid-forties, sunny and a light breeze. Ideal for the lighter weights among us. The turnout (24) was excellent, especially considering that, only two days ago, we had the Hangover Regatta with thirty boats on the water. And it was great to see some ‘old’ warriors on the water once again (Chris, Nabeel).

This write-up isn’t really about wind shifts, favored ends, technique, and all that. Rather, I would like to give some encouragement to the many newbies in our fleet. Hurrah for them! Perhaps your finishes are a bit disappointing to you right now, but just wait. As an example, I joined the Frostbiters ten years ago. I had sailed and raced a bit in a Sunfish. But I was not a natural and had no college sailing experience, having started sailing in my late twenties. Once I joined the PRSA Laser fleet, my main goal was not to finish last, survive my dunkings in the dirty water, and not hit other boats. Even with those modest goals, I wasn’t very successful with many bottom-of-the-fleet finishes over the years. I made notes of my mistakes (many), hoping to improve. It took a long time, but this past Sunday I was lucky; got good starts in races 2 and 4 and held on to get decent finishes. And I didn’t foul or hit anybody! So, my advice to the fleet newbies is to hang in there and practice as much as possible. Don’t forget the spring and fall seasons and even in the summer you may have a good outing or two. You will get to the top of the fleet sooner than you think!

With respect to the actual racing, Todd Blekicki and Lindsey Bach (thanks for great committee work) set a longer than usual windward/leeward course. With the wind from the South, we went a long way towards the I-495 bridge and then downwind towards the airport. Finally a short upwind leg with a finish on the other side of the RC boat (classy!). ‘Once around’ took about 25 min for the first three races. The fourth race was trying because the wind had dropped to almost nothing; the magnetic tape on my (home-made) wind vane barely moved. But once we finally got close to the leeward mark, the wind changed to NW and my tape showed some action again. I rounded the mark, but was told that I had finished; surprise! Good decision though, because it was almost 3 PM and the course would have to be reset for a fifth race.

PS: Congratulations to Jamie Moran for winning the day.

Jacob (175892)

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 7

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite Series, Results, 2015

2015/2016 Frostbite Series #6

All,

Today turned out to be a nice day.  Temperatures were close to 70 and the wind was 10 to 20 our of the south.  We had 9 boats make it out to the course and we ran 6 races all olympic courses that were running about 15 minutes each.

I think that there were a couple of important things sailing today with the top one being don’t capsize (though I think everyone did this at least once).  With the wind, the best way to sail fast was keeping the boat flat.  For the last 2 races, the wind built and the wind clocked left slightly.  When the wind shifted, the second leg of the triangle was definitely faster to sail by the lee.  You could tell this by watching Eric’s speed.  I chose not to do this however because of the shiftiness of the gusts and heaviness of the wind.  My opinion is that it was safer to not sail by the lee today on that leg.  Eric had one chicken gybe at the mark after doing this because of the puff that he was currently in.  The other important thing today was checking for stuff on your blades.  With all the rain there were a ton of leaves in the river and the blades were constantly building up.

The other important thing today was coming off the start line (as always).  With the brevity of the races though I think that starting well and keeping the boat flat and fast were about 90% of the racing.

Look forward to seeing everyone out next weekend or on the 1st.

Farley

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 6

Frostbite, Lasers, Frostbite Series, News, Results, 2015

2015/2016 Laser Frostbite #5

PRSA Lasers,
 
Another pleasant Sunday on the Potomac. About 28 boats showed up which made for some interesting starts and mark roundings.  The wind (or lack thereof at 12:30) started south-southwest and as predicted, built slightly and went south during the 3rd race. In the 4th and 5th races, the wind oscillated between the south and south-southwest.
 
The RC set the course in the same spot as last weekend, just east of the marina. When everyone got out there, RC started us out with a kinetics practice race before the wind filled in, with just a windward mark and a downwind finish. In the extremely light air, this was a great time to practice roll tacking and gybing.
 
The Start: In races 1 and 2 (both windward-leeward 2x around), wind was light but manageable.  The boat was about a boat length high of the pin, which caused some congestion at the boat. I found that starting in the middle was just as effective because I could get off the line with speed and clear air. Fowl tide caused a sizeable line sag in the middle, also contributing to the opportunity for clear air at the start. Race 3 was pretty similar, but I got a little too anxious and was over early. The start line for race 4 was more square; clear air again was the key. For the 5th start, the wind had gone more south, making the pin more favored.
 
Upwind: My controls (outhaul, cunningham, and vang) for the whole day were pretty loose. There were 3 things I tried to focus on that translated into boat speed: 1) clear air—This is so important in a 28 boat fleet, 2) tell tails—I tried to always have both tell tales flowing back, no pinching! 3) heel—in the lightest air, a bit of leeward heel kept the boat moving, while in the relatively stronger breeze, keeping the boat flat worked. Playing the shifts was important as the afternoon went on. Most of the afternoon, there was enough breeze to almost two block the mainsheet and in the puffs (if you can call them puffs) I would two block to get an extra lift. One side of the course didn’t pay off consistently from race to race. Some legs I went right, others left. Focusing on boat speed, using the 3 points above, really made the big difference.
 
Downwind: The fleet’s tendency is to work its way left, to protect the inside overlap. In light air, I have found that sailing a straighter line, close to the rhumb line, can be quicker. This worked in most downwind legs (last week and this week), as many racers sailed extra distance to the left. However, this strategy only works if you can create separation with the boats behind you. 3 points for boat speed downwind: 1) clear air—a little more difficult downwind but if you can create a little bit of separation from the boats behind you, clear air goes a long way, 2) sailing by the lee—typical sailing by the lee worked: windward heel, center board up, and sitting forward of the cockpit, 3) mainsail trim—I don’t let the main out past 90 degrees because this causes some wind to spill out of the top, though this is an area for debate. Also, as the wind built through the afternoon, I added just enough vang so that the leech (the leading edge when sailing by the lee) was tight and could catch the breeze.
 
Mark Roundings: Tide was big factor today. The flood was strong so over standing upwind worked. On the leeward roundings, if you were clear of other boats, a wide and tight rounding mitigated some of the tide. If you rounded with other boats, the tide generally pushed everyone low of the mark, leaving the door open for boats behind. As we discussed in the debrief, communication leading into the 3-boat length circle needs to be more prevalent. If you are entitled to room at the mark, let the boats around you know. If you are not entitled to room, slow down so that you don’t get pin-wheeled, you might get an opportunity to gain a boat or two if they get swept past the mark by the tide.
 
Thank you to the Race Committee for running 5 fun races and dealing with the light conditions. Thank you Eric for bringing the TV and DVD player to the debrief. Looking forward to watching The Boat Whisperer!
 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Frostbite, Frostbite Series, Lasers, News, 2015

2015/2016 Laser Frostbite #4

Hello Everyone,

Thanks to Keith  and Magda for running our races last week. Keith found a good spot for us to sail in, just out in the river due East from WSM, and a little north of our regular ‘power plant’ spot.

The wind was roughly out of the south, but also somewhat shifty. As I was one of the first boats to get out in the river before the races, I probably should have been trying to figure out if the MD or the VA side had better wind, but I was not really paying attention. Lesson learned: I guess if you get out early you should try to figure these things out. The tide was running out all day and was significant (low tide at 4 PM that day).

We only raced two races, as the wind died almost completely by the end of the second race. For the first race, I estimate we had about 4 kts steady. The second race was maybe between 4 and 1 kt. I’ll just sum up information for both races together below:

I set up my outhaul so that at max draft, my sail was about 3” from the boom, my cunningham was completely off, and my vang was left pretty much untouched and was on maybe about 1/3. Before each race, I raised my centerboard to clear any grasses, and I also checked my rudder as it too would pick up twigs.  Also, on downwind legs I tended to raise the c/b all the way once to clear it.  If you pick up stuff on your rudder, you will feel it in a slight vibration of the tiller. Any plant life stuck to your blades will really slow you down, so be vigilant.  I thought the start line was pretty square so I set up to start in the middle of the line which gives me more options. At the last 15 seconds or so before the start, I keep up boat speed so that if someone comes in and attempts to get on my lee side, I can sail down hard and prevent him/her from getting that overlap. I was surprised at how much room I had in the middle of the start line for both races. So coming off the start line I felt like I had good speed. From that point, (as was taught to me from Erich Hesse) it is vitally important that you focus on speed and getting those first few feet out in front of everyone else. (In other words, this is not the time to take a break.) This is the time to really focus all your attention on sailing as fast as you can to get in clear air. Now, as this was a light air day, and my body weight is lower than most, I had a big advantage, and I knew if I could just not make any mistakes, I’d come out ok, as was the case. On heavier air days, I usually way behind the heavier people.

Upwind, I just look for which side I thought the wind was stronger, and I kept in mind that as the current was going south, the laylines for the windward mark would be shifted a boatlength or so to the north. So I tacked onto the starboard layline a bit earlier than if there had been no current. This put me right at the windward mark and I did not end up sailing any extra distance. As for mainsheet,  mostly I had about 8” between the traveler and aft boom blocks, but when the wind really died, I let it out even more in an attempt to keep the boatspeed up.

Downwind, I just looked behind me and tried not to sail in dirty air from the boats behind me. Oddly, I was still able to pretty much sail the rhumb line and still get pretty clean air. The boats ahead of me tended to go way left to protect anyone from getting an inside overlap on them prior to the downwind mark, so I let them go left and just kept to the rhumb line.  Remember as the current was going south, to give the downwind mark extra room or else you’d be swept into it by the current.

In both downwind and upwind sailing, I tried my best to keep my weight very far forward in the boat, even at some times sitting ahead of the centerboard. Maybe that is too extreme, I don’t know.

Hope I have not left anything out. First time for me in 8 years to do the 3rd place write up.

2015_2016 PRSA Laser Frostbite Series 4