and keep the crew bunched up at the base of the mast as well. weight in the back or the front of the boat will cause it to hobby horse and be slow.
They should be constantly aware of the heel of the boat moving their weight in or out accordingly and looking for, and calling waves to you so that you can take evasive action to avoid slowing down your boat. Good luck! Brian Brian Sullivan USA #20820 --- On Tue, 6/9/09, Brian Sullivan <[email protected]> wrote: From: Brian Sullivan <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IC27A] racing tips To: [email protected], [email protected] Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 1:15 PM I agree with previous statements. Lock in a consistent crew of 4-5 team members. At the start , give each of your head sail trimmers one side to own. That keeps them diligent and ready to tack on a moments notice until the gun. The start is everything. Nail the start and you have clear air to control your destiny. If you are at the helm at the start, have someone else watching traffic, watching the clock and calling the line. You need to focus on steering. (That remains the case going up and down the course). We usually trade off helm and tactics on different boards...laser focus on keeping the boat at optimal heel (speed) and consistently straight on your target. Keep your weight centered at the base of the mast. That means gear bags, sails, etc. leave the stuff you don't need for the race at the dock....light is fast. Take your crew out for a two hour practice before your next race and then buy them a burger and a beer for their effort. Practice: Starts... we use two freighter channel buoys and pretend that they are both sides of the line. Determine which end of the line is favored. Practice your approach and try to be on the line at the start on every round....know what 30, 60 and 120 seconds means as far as an approach distance in different types of winds. Find a mark to go around (We use another freighter buoy) and practice setting the chute. Jibe several times on the way downwind to another mark and practice your spin take down and headsail hoist with another rounding. Consistent crew work means that you can focus your mind and energy on tactics and boat speed. That all comes with confidence from a crew that has practiced together. A race is not practice. It is a race. You need to be prepared before that. Get out to the course 20 - 30 minutes ahead of the start so that you can plot your strategy and tactics for that week's race. Wash your bottom. Make sure that your rig is tuned. Make sure that you have someone watching for pressure on the course and head to it before your competition. Have fun! Brian Brian Sullivan Ballinderry Racing USA #20820 --- On Tue, 6/9/09, James Henderson <lamar_...@hotmail. com> wrote: From: James Henderson <lamar_...@hotmail. com> Subject: [IC27A] racing tips To: ic...@yahoogroups. com Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 12:37 PM Scrub your bottom every other week! To: ic...@yahoogroups. com From: j...@photoresponse. com Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2009 12:15:21 -0400 Subject: RE: [IC27A] Clevis length and racing tips I don’t know the answer to your clevis pin question and I don’t race. But, maybe I can offer some racing tips I learned many years ago racing. First, racing is divided into 2 groups; those who want to go around the buoys and have fun and those who must win. I think THE most important “trick” you can learn is consistency. Be consistent in steering, in how you set sails, how you sheet, and maybe the most important be consistent in how you tack (go over too hard-fast in light air is like applying brakes). And the most important feature of a good captain is communication. Tell your crew what you are doing/planning. Talk through maneuvers and strategy. Of course the captain has to make the ultimate decision but gather as much input as possible. And lastly, stay calm; events on the race course can make a normally calm person fly into a rage, but the calm skipper most times wins. Nothing builds consistency like practice, practice, practice. And of course sail as fast as you can. As a “Rock Star” on a boat I was on once said, “there is nothing on a sailboat that money can’t make the boat go faster.” But, I think invest in your planning and practice and a clean bottom and you should, over time, improve. Joe McCary Aeolus II, West River, MD joe at photoresponse. com www.aeoluswestriver .net From: ic...@yahoogroups. com [mailto:IC27A@ yahoogroups. com] On Behalf Of n2imz Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 11:25 AM To: ic...@yahoogroups. com Subject: [IC27A] Clevis length and racing tips Do any of you folks know how long the masthead clevis pin to hold a spinakker block is? I want to put a turning block in the forward location of the masthead. The boatyard suggested I do this, rather than installing the crane since he has seen many done just that way with no problems. I plan to run an asymetrical cruising spinakker from it. I see on Catalina Direct, the clevis is 5/16" in diameter, but they do not list the length. If possible, I would like to buy a few locally to avoid the cross country shipping charges. Also, I have started around-the-buoys racing this season. This is the first time for me skippering races on my own boat, only the third season with the Catalina and the first season racing at all in many years. I have a standard rig, with a 150rf genny. So far, we have last place clinched. I am hoping to improve a bit as the season progressed. Would anyone like to share any secret go-fast sail trimmming tips with me? (I'll bet this will start a stampede!). Thanks in advance Matty Alineup '87 Catalina 27 Windows Live™ SkyDrive™: Get 25 GB of free online storage. Get it on your BlackBerry or iPhone.
