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Neil Update

What we worked on.

It was a light breeze around 4-8 knots so we worked on upwind light air tacking, and downwind light air gybes.  Both of these are done in front of the tower.  We also worked on buoy roundings.  When the wind picked up a bit we were able to practice our wire to wire tacking.

Roll Tacks in the Contender

What you need to do is the following steps, movement is done in front of the tower.

• heel to leeward to initiate the turn
• lift up extension to make sure it clears all string
• start turning the tiller fairly hard
• heel the boat as far as you dare to windward
• let the sail fall on you and then
• let go of the tiller
  
• over to the other side pushing hard on the new windward deck to pump the sail full and move the top batten
• grab the tiller from behind and clean up
  

Gybing in light air, what I do.  Movement is in front of the tower.

• Make sure you are free and tidy
• have a bit of vang so that your top batten will come over
  
• heel to leeward to keep sail over
• prepare tiller
• turn until sailing past the downwind gybe point and the sail wants to come over
• pump the sail over and hold back to get the top batten to flip sides
  

Steph Update

Steph wasn't nimble, Steph wasn't quick. Steph went swimming. Again.

Due to a happy convergence of Mars with Venus (and Roger's schedule freeing up), Team Sunday finally lived up to its moniker and met on a Sunday, making everyone's life just that little bit less confusing. Having shown up late last weekend, I arrived at 7:30 am - to find OHCC completely empty, except for the large goose that had claimed squatting rights on the newly installed dock. At ten to eight, Neil finally came straggling along, followed a bit later by Roger and Mike.

Since some breeze was forecast (wrong as usual), I had prearranged a ride with Mike Smits on CAN80, since I figured it might be more useful to watch a wire to wire tack up close (also because there's a lot of stuff to do to on KC47 before I will take her out again). While the Garda video is all well and good, those guys are in the middle of a race, meaning things are sped up. Also, you can't really ask questions.

I tucked myself under the boom of CAN80, and eventually the breeze came up enough that Mike could do some wire to wire tacks. While the rigging between CAN80 and KC47 didn't differ too much, the trapeze handles did, so for the benefit of the Texas boys, these observations apply to the "old school" handles (i.e., without the PVC tubing that allows you to unhook while out on the wire). One thing that drove me nuts was how to actually get myself out on the wire. Watching Neil, it almost seemed like he stood up and dropped down, but the way Mike was doing it was much closer to trapping on a hobie or 420 - drop your butt on the deck, then kick out with the front leg. Mike was pushing off against the centreboard trunk, but since I am shorter, I had to make do with the cockpit (making sure all the time not to yank the tiller with me on the way out). One thing that always made it easier for me to do this as crew was having the jib sheet to give me some balance, and in this case, the main did the same thing, which worked out well. Another interesting thing is that Mike throws the tiller away during tacks and gybes. He didn't heartily recommend doing it, but it also looked like a lot of the competitors in the Garda video were doing something similar.

Further re: trap handles: the difference (as I'm told) is that once you have the PVC tubing, you can actually unhook while you are out on the wire and get back out and then hook in. This move will save you time, but you have to be pretty comfortable holding your own body weight up. That being the case, I think I'll be sticking with hooking and unhooking in the boat for a while.

Unfortunately, Roger's extension snapped off (somewhere, Frank Whittington's ears and wallet twitched), and he had to head in early, but Lee Smolin joined us (a bit late, but better late than never!). The wind was starting to get lighter, so we did some more circles with Neil. Entertainingly (and maybe for my benefit), Mike and Neil engaged in a bit of trashtalking (Neil accused Mike of being a pincher (Mike calls it pointing), and Mike accused Neil of just sucking); hopefully, this will make for some amusing races later this season.