Richmond Summer Series: Race 6: All about the twist

Another beautiful evening in the Auckland: City of Sails - or as it is better known at this time of year, the City of Sales! Not much of a breeze but enough to get 10 miles up and down the Waitemata Harbour and have a beer or two along the way.

Course 7

No wind warning tonight, with an 8 knot southerly - some of the time - a very strange wind indeed which appeared and disappeared as quickly. Course 7, same as last week was shortened with a finish between Jan Maree and Resolution. That was two flags on the committee boat - one being the S and the other Blue, meaning finish between here and the mark.

The Crew

John (Skipper), Dave, Nicola, and Tim.

The Start

We were still a bit slow to the line, I think about 1 minute back, but the fleet was a strong 12 boats and I didn't want to get too close and screw up. So we were catching up again... although, yes we did catch up, as the wind hole was between Princes Wharf and Devonport.

Progress

Our No.1 pole man was not available tonight so it was up to me to organise the pole-out of the genoa - having been going into the wind we now had it directly behind us. I'm sure at one stage we could have dropped the sails and gone faster - drifting out with the tide.

One thing we did play around with was sail twist, and it was to good effect coming down to the fleet before joining them in the hole. By bringing the traveller across and adjusting the boom vang we were able to manage the twist so that at least some of the sail was flying well. Nice trimming by Dave.

On the way back from Rough Rock we did get some breeze, probably in the 12 knots area, which dropped again to 8 to 5 knots by the time we were at Resolution. We had also been playing with the outhaul, giving a bit of shape to the mainsail once the wind had gone past the 5 knot stage. With no real advantage to flatten the sail again the draft was too far back. I tried rigging up a cunningham downhaul - trying to remember how I rigged it on the Laser. With some crazy ropework I got a 4-to-1 advantage - but still couldn't get the draft forward enough to point well with power.

The Result

Well 6th on handicap - our best result yet - and we know we can do better. That may mean me accelerating the addition of more sail controls - actually I'm looking forward to the 'inventive' engineering challenge.

No prize at the club-house this week.

This is the last Wednesday Night race for the year - back on the 20th or January, 2010.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
cheers
johnhs.