Midwinters East - What To Get Out Of The Practice Day

Thistle MWE is here!

We didn't have a great day of weather Saturday making it hard to get on the water.  Tomorrow bring the practice race and since most of us haven't sailed Thistles yet this year it's important to do the most you can to prepare for the regatta tomorrow.

The key if figuring out what the things you can work on to add the most improvement to your regatta, especially on day 1.  Before heading out tomorrow make a list of the things you want to accomplish.  A few typical items are:

• Checking all the control systems to make sure they work
• Tacks - lots of them
• Gybes
• Spinnaker sets -  standard, gybe set, etc
• Take downs
• Time on distance runs - VERY IMPORTANT
• pick a point (a mark, crab pot, etc) and set a rolling timer at 2 minutes or so.  Practice your timing runs to hit the mark at full speed right on time.  You'll be amazed how far off you are at first and how quickly you can dial it in.  
• Speed testing - work with 1 other boat to do 3 minute drags in a straight line.  Make sure both boats are up to speed.
• Check the current and how it affects you around the starting line

For the practice race you know people will push it very hard.  Focus more on your maneuvering and controlling yourself around the boats around you than getting a clean start.  

After getting back in, check your boat over well to make sure nothing came loose or is about to break.  And most importantly, get ready for day 1 so you can be relaxed and focused when you hit the water.

Straightening Your Mast - The Most Important Part of Tuning Your Boat

Is your mast straight? Is it really straight?  A straight mast is the most important part of your boat tuning and setup.  You shouldn't start anything else until your mast is completely straight.  Only then should you move on to tuning your mast diamonds, forestay, pre-bend, and rake.  

Because the thistle mast is so bendy, it is extremely susceptible to getting small bends and curves over time. The locations vary, but there is typically a large single bend the length of the mast composed of a few smaller bends, often near the middle and lower spreaders.

First, you will want to evaluate the straightness of the mast with no diamond interaction. Sighting the mast by eye alone can be difficult. Not only does the ambient angle of the lighting affect how the bend/straightness appears, but it is very difficult to determine where in fact a bend is along the length of the mast. 

To take the guesswork out of the process, take the main halyard down the mast and attach it to the gooseneck and cleat the halyard taught with a knot in place of the halyard ball. Then tie a spare piece of line tightly around the mast, pulling the halyard into the mast track. Do the same with a piece of line at the top of the mast, as the shiv is often offset to the side of the mast track once load is applied. Make sure the halyard is centered in the track at both ends.

Disengage all diamond wires and sight the halyard along the length of the mast. Note where the halyard is not in the middle of the track. If the halyard is within the mast track, the mast shouldn’t need to be straightened off the boat. While doing this sighting, ensure the halyard is held perfectly centerline by the keeper lines at the top and bottom. 

If the halyard doesn’t fall within the mast track, it needs to be straightened. Keep the same setup, but remove the mast from the boat and put it in between two chairs or picnic table benches with the ends setting on pads. Move the supports in so only the section of the mast with a bend is between them. 

At the apex of the bends sit or push down on the mast - you must apply the force slowly and steadily - NEVER BOUNCE THE MAST. Depending on the bend it may take your full weight for several minutes to work a bend out. If you think your boom bend under vang load is gross looking, this will be another level of discomfort. Keep working the mast, until you are within tolerance. 

Once the mast is straight, engage the top diamonds. Pin the halyard along the length of the top diamond section and check for straightness along that length. Adjust the diamond tensions side to side ¼ turn at a time until the section is straight. It helps to be in the ballpark of your desired diamond tension while doing this, but the right number isn't necessary.  Being on the light side of diamond tension is better.  Disengage the top diamonds and do the middle diamonds, then the lower diamonds using the same process. Do each section individually as each section interacts with the next. 

Once all the individual sections are straight, attach all the diamonds and check straightness again. Often, it will be slightly out of straightness. Adjust the diamonds to get it perfect. Then, check your numbers for the diamonds so the average of each side to side meets the tuning guide. If the difference is greater than 1 ½ to 2, the mast may need to be straightened again or the process begun from the beginning to get it within tolerance. 

At this point you should have a straight mast.  Time to move on to the diamond tensions and the rest of setting your rig up.  

If you have questions about this process, find Brad Russell or Mike Ingham in the parking lot at St. Pete for MWE or send us an email at bradarussell@gmail.com or mike.ingham@northsails.com. 

The Wind Spotter - Figure Out Who It Is On Your Boat

This is reprinted from a Sailing World article by Mike Ingham.  For the original article go here: The Wind Spotter - Sailing World

We once had a fifth man on board who was relatively inexperienced. He didn't have much to contribute to either speed or tactics, so in the spirit of giving him something to do, we assigned him the role of “wind spotter.” He blew us away with his ability to see and communicate the wind on the course. By the end, he was the main tactical contributor, making the tactical decisions all but obvious from the picture he painted. He completely immersed himself in the role. Perhaps with no pre-conceived expectations he did not realize that wind spotters are rarely that dedicated.

Some people seem to have the ability to “see” the wind. But, of course, wind can’t be seen, so instead they have a knack seeing indicators affected by the wind. For sure there are some techniques worth discussion.

Good vision: Some people just see better than others, chose them as your wind spotter! Sun glasses: Quality glasses with the right prescription if necessary.

Understanding texture: More wind usually creates small ripples on the water which show up as dark patches on the water. Seeing this texture is the main role of the wind spotter.

Filtering out external visual input: Just because an area of water looks dark does not mean there is a puff. A cloud above, a mountain in the background, or the reflection of the sun can give us false visual input, so taking this into account is important. For example, if the sun is shining off the water, it looks lighter there, but it may well not be. If it then it gets a little duller in the sun’s reflection, that might be signs of a puff. One technique is to try and just look for the ripples themselves and compare one area to another. Darkness is a good start, but discerning that from true texture is a much better indicator.

Higher up is better vision: Try seeing a puff from just inches above the water - you can’t. So standing on the gooseneck before the start and standing up on the deck occasionally during a race really helps especially in seeing wind in the distance.

Technique: I like polarized glasses so it filters out some of the reflection that looks like lighter wind. I like tilting my head so I see the water with and without the polarization to get a different view. I also like to look away from a spot I am not sure of then back. By scanning side to side I can better see texture differences. Just staring in the distance isn’t good enough.

Other indicators: We look for anything that might help us, such as other boats on or near the course, flags, cruising boats in the distance. Change in cloud patters will surely bring something different in the wind, so looking at the water below the side the clouds are changing at is a great place to focus attention.

Lulls: It’s just as important to find wind where there’s less wind. There are signs, such as one side being shinier, or boats “standing up” (sailing flatter with crew members sitting in). But be careful not be fooled by the reflection of the sun, or cold spots on the water. Some local shiny spots are sometimes areas of cooler water that in turn have a thin layer of cooler air which the wind has trouble penetrating.

The wind spotter is not the puff caller. Instead the wind spotter is looking for a trend for the tactician to take advantage of tactically by being the first to see it. There are three zones that the team should be looking for wind.

Zone 1, immediate: The puff caller is looking just a few boat lengths out and counting down “puff in 3, 2, 1,puff on.” The puff caller is helping the boat go fast by giving the team a few moments to adjust sail trim, body weight, and steering in the immediate time frame. They are not the wind-spotters responsibility because they are about speed, not tactics.

Zone 2, short-term trends: The wind spotter is calling 10 boat lengths or more out. These are puffs and lulls that are far enough away that they could be used tactically.

Zone 3, far: Scanning the edges of the course. Comparing wind on each layline and beyond for bigger trends.

Seeing the wind is of no use if it’s communicated well. “There is more wind on the starboard layline than the port” is good information. “Because there is darker texture on the water and the boats to the right seem more powered up” is even better because it give confidence and credence to the initial statement. “The left seems shinier and the boats are standing up” seals the deal; the tactician has no choice but to head to the right.

Dedication rounds out the best wind spotter. It is one of those thankless jobs that even the most dedicated teammate fizzle out on. To relentlessly look for wind and communicate it for an entire regatta is not easy, but done right, it sure is effective.

-Mike Ingham

Regatta Checklist

As much as we go to regattas, it still seems like we always forget something.  We have a regatta checklist to help us make sure everything needed to sail and live makes it into the boat or car.  Feel free to use this checklist and modify it for your own needs.

Thistle Regatta Checklist

Tampa Bay Weather Recap - Feb 22

Today was the final day of J24 Midwinters.  While we didn't have any racing, we did have a sailing condition we should experience through Thistle MWE.

Here's the expectations from yesterday:

The result is High Pressure (3), Gradient (1), Air Warmer than Water (1), which is a score of 7. That score says: 

• If air warmer than water expect modest & unpredictable changes in direction w/ little change in speed
• If some regular veers or backs occur expect them to break into irregularity - stay defensive

The expectations didn't hold true today.  The Gradient breeze was non-existent and we had glass conditions all morning.  Racing was called at 1:30 because of the cutoff time, but shortly thereafter the sea breeze came in.

There were some great takeaways from today.  First, the gradient breeze was dead and the forecasted temp was 80.  This calls for a sea breeze.  Our Tampa Bay info tells us to watch for cumulous clouds over St. Pete (and from Davis Island the surrounding land as well).  We know the sea breeze won't come in until those clouds are gone.  

Sure enough, the clouds went away and around 1:30 the sea breeze started to spill into our area.  At 1:55 it was full and solid all the way at the top of Tampa bay from the normal direction of around 210.  It filled very nicely and was a gorgeous afternoon.  I would guess the sea breeze was in the MWE sailing area around 1:30.  

In conclusion, watch for the clouds, and if they form and then start dissipating watch for the sea breeze to come in.

Keeping track of Tuning, Trends, and Tips for Locations

We all have a lot of information that could be really useful if only we could remember it.  I found a great type of notebook that works for recording tuning settings, notes from a day's races, lists of things to fix or do, or anything related to your sailing.  

The Moleskine Professional Large Notebook has an index to let you quickly find the info you're looking for, a very good format for recording some heading notes, lists of items, and details for a day on each page, a column for topics, and room to expand on those topics.  

They are especially useful for tracking your tuning numbers over the season and recording how the changes felt, and more importantly, what you would change next time.  

They come in all kinds of colors (my Thistle one is green) and they've worked very well for me so far for sailing, work, and personal lists.

I found them at Barnes & Noble if you want to get it locally (in black only for Professional edition) and on Amazon in several colors: Moleskine Professional Notebooks on Amazon

Tampa Bay Weather Analysis - Feb 21 Review & Feb 22 expectations

Here was the expected weather for today:

The result is High Pressure (3), Gradient and/or Sea Breeze (1 or 2), Air Warmer than Water (3), which is a score of 6 or 7. Those scores say for our expected conditions:

• If air warmer than water expect modest & unpredictable changes in direction w/ little change in speed
• If some regular veers or backs occur expect them to break into irregularity - stay defensive

The breeze was much, much more consistent in speed and direction today. We had a heated land surface to windward so there were still puffs and lulls, but the shifts were much smaller and there were not small rapid oscillations on top of the bigger and longer oscillations. This is because the air temperature was warmer than the water and cooled the breeze.

The breeze started from the NE, but in a period of 10 minutes shifted to SE.

We had a tough day, but a lot of people struggled. It was very difficult to figure out which way to go, but both sides paid at times. While the matrix said direction would be king, the windward land caused gusts and lulls that made finding the pressure equally important. Overall the forecast was pretty good for knowing what to expect.

February 22 Forecast and Expectations

• Air temp: 70-76
• Water temp: 64 degrees
• Wind type: Breeze or Light Air (4-11)
• Breeze Type: Gradient
• Pressure System: High Pressure

The result is High Pressure (3), Gradient (1), Air Warmer than Water (1), which is a score of 7. That score says: 

• If air warmer than water expect modest & unpredictable changes in direction w/ little change in speed
• If some regular veers or backs occur expect them to break into irregularity - stay defensive

With the direction forecasted to be SE going to SW, we have a good chance of having at least 2 miles of runway over water, so the expectations should be more likely to be accurate without the influence of land.  Breeze from this direction in St. Pete typically have long oscillation frequency and puffs typically veer (shift right).

If it blows less than 6 knots, the forecast doesn't apply because you are sailing in Light Air, not Breeze.  In that case, sail for pressure always at the expense of direction.  And you want a lot more twist in your sails.  

This is the last forecast before MWE, but I'll follow up with a recap of the results for this one tomorrow.  We have some great content coming up in the next week leading up to MWE.