BRIBON MOVISTAR Wins J/80 Catalonia Championship

(Barcelona, Spain)- The 2018 J/80 Catalonia Championship was hosted by Real Club Nautico Barcelona over the past weekend for a fleet of twenty-one teams from across the region. A total of five races were held over the two days in relatively light winds, very unsteady in direction, and with quite a swell rolling across the race track. As a result, it meant a tough test for skippers, tacticians and crew that had to work hard in each of the races to stay in contention for the regatta.

Winning the regatta was past J/80 World Champion Marc de Antonia; his BRIBON MOVISTAR team posted a 1-6-1-3-3 for 8 pts net.  After a brilliant last day of racing with two bullets nearly allowed Jose Maria Pujol’s DECKMETAL to pull off a surprise win.  However, it was his first three races that prevented the dream from occurring, recording a 7-2-6-1-1 for 10 pts net.  Finally, it was Rosa Artigas’ MIKAKU that took the bronze on the podium with a fairly steady tally of 2-5-3-5-2 for 12 pts net.  For more J/80 Barcelona Winter Series sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Hamble Winter Series- Week 6 Report

(Hamble, England)- Week six of the HYS Hamble Winter Series dawned with blue skies, beautiful sunshine, and a forecast for some breeze, though nowhere near as much as the two previous weeks. What could possibly go wrong? Well, as it turned out, the Committee Boat, Jabberwock, refused to start and an urgent message was sent ashore. With Andy and the River Taxi alongside, the combined brainpower ascertained that it was not a loose wire, or a faulty starter battery, but that the house battery bank was to blame. With that turned off, the little 75amp hour starter battery kicked the engine into life and all was well.

With the battery bank now slowly charging, the Committee Boat headed for East Knoll and the Race Team WhatsApp'd the fleet with their intentions. The forecast was for the wind to go to the East but it was 060 when they arrived on station and it never went past 070. With that direction and the forecast in mind, PRO Kathy Smalley decided on courses containing triangles, sausages and beats. The number of triangles and sausages depended on the size of the boats. Class 1 and 2 would in fact go to Royal Thames twice whereas Class 3 & 4 would not. All classes finished with a spinnaker reach to the hamblewinterseries.com buoy.

There was significant, though neap, tide crossing the start line and this made the decision on where to go interesting. Most teams in Class 1 decided to hog the boat end, which led to a number of performance enhancing expletives being heard. With a large NKY Lines container ship in the Thorn Channel, the PRO was relieved to see that the fleet knew that they had no rights whatsoever, and that they all behaved impeccably.

The J/112E DAVANTI TYRES, sailed by Chaz Ivill and Paul Heyes, once again won on handicap in IRC 1 Class. As a result, after tossing out their first two “practice” races of a 3-6, they are the only team in the fifteen-boat IRC 1 Class to have posted a podium finishes; in fact, three 1sts and four 2nds.  They are leading the class by just two points, so they will have to be vigilant in their final weekends.

In IRC 2 Class, it continues to be a battle of the J/Teams.  The J/109 JAGO (Mike & Susie Yates_ was keen to keep tabs on the J/109 JIRAFFE (Simon Perry) as they are the two leaders of the series.  JAGO was OCS, despite what Mike Yates said later in the bar, they spent the race "clawing their way back into second place,” as Susie put it. JAGO went left up the second beat and put herself back in contention.

Meanwhile, the J/88s have been dueling it out for the balance of the podium in IRC 2 Class, as well as fighting for the lead in the J/88 One-Design class honors.  At this stage, it’s a “dead heat”, a horse race of epic proportions developing between Gavin Howe’s TIGRIS and David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J-DREAM. To add to that anxiety, both boats have had their “send it down the mine shaft” type scores; TIGRIS with a 7-12 and J-DREAM with a 7-11 as their current discards.  At the moment, TIGRIS leads by one point over J-DREAM in the IRC 2 scoring.  Those two are also leading the J/88 One-design scoring, followed by Dirk van Beek’s SABRIEL JR in third.
  
In Class 3, no one was surprised to see the Greenhalgh family effort (Dad- David and daughter Libby) on their J/92 J’RONIMO leapfrog into third position on the podium once the two discards took effect after eleven races.  Thanks for contribution from Trevor Pountain.   Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth   For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/88 Fleet #2 Schedule Announcement

(Rye, New York)- After the J/88 Annual Meeting, and many long, productive discussions on coordinating with other fleets for a series of strong one-design J/88 events, the J/88 Fleet #2 is excited to announce their 2019 J/88 One-design schedule.

J/88 FLEET 2 SCHEDULE 2019:

• Jan 24-27- St Petersburg J/Fest- St Petersburg, FL- 6 entries
• Feb 15-17- St Petersburg NOOD- St Petersburg, FL- 6 entries
• Apr 11-14- Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC- 8 entries/ 10 committed
• Apr 27-28- American YC Spring Series- Rye, NY- 9 committed
• May 4-5- American YC Spring Series- Rye, NY- 9 committed
• Jun 1-2- Cedar Point One Design- Riverside, CT- 8 committed
• Jun 23-28- East Coast Championship- Block Island, RI- 3 entered/ 6 committed
• Jul 15-18- NYYC 175th Anniversary Race Week- Newport, RI- 3 committed
• Aug 3-4- RYC YRALIS Championships- Riverside, CT- 8 committed
• Aug 10-11- New England J/Fest- Newport, RI
• Sep 21-22- STC LIS Championship- Larchmont, NY- 9 committed
• Sep 28-29- American YC Fall Series- Rye, NY- 9 committed
• Oct 5-6- American YC Fall Series- Rye, NY- 9 committed
• Oct 17-20- J/88 North American Championship- Larchmont, NY- 8 committed

Please note- that in addition to the One-Design schedule, there are a number of distance races that are well attended by J/88s and, often, the J/88’s get their own section.

DISTANCE RACES

• May 11- LYC Edlu
• May 18- IHYC Gear Tester
• Jun 29- RYC Stratford Shoal Race
• Aug 29- SYC Vineyard Race
• Oct 5- IHYC Gear Buster

For more J/88 Class sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

AIRFORCE Three-Peats J/105 Bermuda Challenge Cup

(Hamilton, Bermuda)- Every November, for three days, the Bacardi Keelboat Regatta is held in Bermuda. Racing is held primarily for one-design boats such as Etchells, J/105s, and International One Designs. The J/105 fleet is an invitational-only event, as they race with a combined Bermuda and International crew to compete for three awards- Bermuda and International Divisions and the Overall AXA XL International Challenge Cup series.

This year’s event ran from Thursday November 15 to Saturday, November 17 with a fabulous opening reception held at Bacardi World Headquarters in Hamilton on Wednesday November 14, 2018. Bacardi was once again the title sponsor with Bermuda Tourism Authority as a supporting sponsor.

A spokesperson from Bacardi stated: “Bacardi has always been a strong supporter of sports and in particular sailing, both in Bermuda and internationally, and is very pleased to once again support this event.  The international flavor of sailing competition and the natural camaraderie that goes with it resonates with Bacardi’s values. We wish all the competitors three days of great sailing in the pristine waters of Bermuda.”

In addition to Bacardi’s sponsorship, the J/105’s were competing for the AXA XL International Challenge Cup, a sponsorship supported by one of Bermuda’s largest re-insurance companies (their Managing Director is an active J/105 sailor in the local fleet).

The J/105 fleet fielded its usual strong contingent of competitors with international helmsmen and crew hailing from the US and the UK, paired with an equal compliment of local Bermuda sailors onboard each boat. Most have participated in the event several times over the years, annually yielding one of the strongest gatherings of amateur sailors in Bermuda.

The AIRFORCE Team were the local favorites, having won it twice before.  But, the racing again proved to be very tight. There were seven J/105s competing this year in a Bermuda Series where the Bermuda skipper drives, alternating races with the international skipper for the International Series, and combined results for the AXA XL Overall Trophy.

The first day of racing produced a gorgeous sunny day of 10-20 kts with four races counting, two for the Bermudian skippers and two for the International skippers. The second day was blown-out, with winds topping 40+ kts. Fortunately, the huge North Atlantic storm passed quickly, producing another day of 10-20 kts of breeze that permitted four more races to determine the winner of the AXA XL J/105 International Challenge Cup.

As anticipated, it was the team of Bermudian Peter Bromby and Peter Snelling on AIRFORCE that ultimately won the regatta.  However, it was a rocky road to the top of the leaderboard for the AIRFORCE crew.  After four races on day one, they were sitting in third place.  Then, on the closing day they had to contend with a DSQ in Race 6 that nearly torpedoed their chances for their three-peat win.

Leading after the first day of racing with a 1-2-3-2 were the duo of Bermudian Trevor Boyce and American Stew Neff sailing YABSTA.  While sailing fast and smart on the first day helped their performance, that was not to be repeated on the closing day. The YABSTA crew could not find good pace the last four races, closing with a 6-3-4-6 to miss the win by just 2 pts and settle for the silver.

American Mike Riley and Bermudian Ed Faries on BACK IN BLACK also experienced a roller-coaster scoreline.  Closing with a 1-2-1 tally on the last day to rocket up the leaderboard from mid-fleet, taking the tie-breaker at 28 pts each over MAYHEM (American Jason Owen and Bermudian Jon Corless). Rounding out the top five was the PASSION Team (Bermudian James MacDonald and Texan Bill Lakenmacher).

For the Bermuda Division, winning was Peter Bromby, followed by Jon Corless in second and James MacDonald in third.

In the International Division, winning was Mike Riley, with Stew Neff second and Bill Lakenmacher in third position.  For all scoring of the J/105 AXA XL International Challenge Cup   Follow the Bacardi Bermuda Keelboat Regatta on Facebook here  For more Royal Bermuda YC Bacardi Keelboat Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/121 Northeast Sailing Calendar 2019 Update

(Newport, RI)- The J/121 fleet continues to grow and next season, nearly one third of all the boats worldwide will be sailing in the New England area for the summer. Kicking off the season will be the 2nd Annual J/121 Spring Tune-up hosted by J/Boats and the Newport Shipyard. The great line-up of events continues, highlighted by Block Island Race Week, the NYYC 175th Anniversary Regatta and J/Fest New England. Let the fun begin! Here is the list of the events and links.

May 17-18    J/121 Spring Tune-up/ Newport Shipyard, Newport, RI – a combination J/121 clinic/regatta with onboard coaching and daily recaps– a great way to get up to speed within weeks of spring launching. Four boats and seven owners participated in 2018 and as many as eight teams are expected for 2019.

May 24    Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race (Stamford, CT) – this 186 miler is the first offshore distance race of the season and a great shakedown for teams planning on more offshore racing during the year. It’s a commitment to get the boat down to Stamford, CT and back after the race. But, worth the effort if you want an early season challenge and some potential speed-record setting legs.
 
June 7-9    New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta (Newport, RI)– this is the big season opener in Newport with usually 150+ boats participating and a variety of courses. Friday is the classic round-the-island race – tailor made for the J/121.  The weekend is a choice of buoy racing or mid-distance open, course style – a great tune-up for Block Island Race Week.

June 23-28    Block Island Race Week (Block Island, RI) – this biannual classic attracts teams from all over the east coast for five days of spectacular racing.  Storm Trysail Club will provide the J/121s (with at least 6 boats) with a class start and the ability to sail Round-the-Island type courses, which Block Island is most famous for.

July 7    Marblehead to Halifax Race (Marblehead, MA) - the principal offshore race of northern New England, this 363 mile race goes from Marblehead, MA to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

July 15-20    New York Yacht Club 175th Anniversary Regatta (Newport, RI) – New York Yacht Club’s anniversary regatta only comes around every 25 years, so this is a must-attend event!  The NOR indicated that entrants must be members of NYYC or three specific guest clubs, but one can also apply to the sailing office.  With several J/121 owners being NYYC members, there’s an excellent chance for a class start.

August 10-11    J/121 Open Course Rally @ J/Fest New England (Newport, RI) – J/Boat owners from around New England will rendezvous for a fun weekend of racing and socials.

August 16    Ida Lewis Distance Race (Newport, RI) – the 15th edition of this 120nm to 165nm overnight race that starts off Fort Adams State Park and finishes inside Newport Harbor with a bottle of champagne awaiting every finisher.

August 30    Stamford-Vineyard Race (Stamford, CT) - This 238-mile course stretches from Shippan Point through the swirling currents of Plum Gut past Block Island, and on to the light tower at the entrance to Buzzard's Bay. Once reached, sailors return by leaving Block Island to starboard on route to the finish in Stamford Harbor.

September 1    Conanicut Round the Island Race (Jamestown, RI) – the oldest continuous yacht race on Narragansett Bay, this event drew 100 boats in 2018 with the J/121 CRESCENT winning its class and finishing 2nd overall. Add to Flipboard Magazine.

CARRERA Wins 6th Argentine J/24 Title

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)- The most famous J/24 fleet in Argentina may be the one situated on the Rio de La Plata, just north of downtown Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. Club Nautico Olivos and their local J/24 fleet hosted the event. Sixteen competitors participated to determine the final winner of the COPA PIMMS Argentine J/24 Championship (note- this “local” fleet includes World Champions). Winning the event for the sixth time (a new record) was Matias Pereira’s team on CARRERA (A. Guerra, F. Scarpatti & J. Delgado). Here is what took place over the three-day weekend from November 16th to 19th.

Friday- Windy & Wavy
With a good 20-plus kts wind from the East Southeast, big waves and cool weather, the CN Olivos RC Team managed to complete three good races on the first day; participating were teams from Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, and an enthusiastic female crew from Uruguay!

Fast out of the box and putting establishing a firm hand on the top spot was Pereira’s CARRERA team, posting three straight bullets to lead by a wide margin.  Also enjoying the windy, wavy conditions were Sebastien Halpern’s crew on MORRUCHO (G. Mirralles, F. Monetti, and E. Despontin), posting a 5-2-2 for 9 pts.  Just behind them, it was a tie at 11 pts for third place between the SEA WOLF crew (P. Senestrari, M. Halac, P. Despontin, & skipper Guillermo Parada) and the U2 Team (G. Aporszegi, M. Ferrero, F. Ambrus & E. Pittaluga).

Saturday- Canceled
Sadly, the day dawned bright and beautiful, but the forecasted wind never materialized as the J/24s were slowly drifting down current on the Rio de La Plata headed for Antarctica!  Wisely, it was best to cancel the day’s sailing activities not long after noontime. In fact, for most teams, it was time to “party” in the Saturday evening cocktails & dinner that seemed to start much earlier than most expected!

Sunday- Gusty Shifty Northerly
The final day started with a good strong wind in the 20-plus knots range from the Northwest and, as the day progressed, it kept rotating (veering) into the NNE quadrants and slowly diminishing in pressure. Despite the difficult conditions to keep resetting marks for the Race Committee and mark boats, they managed to pull off running four races! That meant all the teams could enjoy one discard race for the final results.

In these very challenging weather conditions, it was clear the top two teams were CARRERA and SEA WOLF.  Posting their worst result of the regatta on the opening race (a 4th), the CARRERA team closed with a commanding tally of 3-1-1 to wind the regatta with just 8 pts net.  The SEA WOLF crew was hopeful that winning the first race of the day portended even better things for the next three races.  However, that was not the case.  Like the phoenix rising too close to the sun, they burned their feathers and came crashing to Earth, closing the regatta with a 6-2-3 to take the silver with 17 pts net.  With a bit more consistency, the MORRUCHO crew may have had a chance at the silver.  But, a 3-10-3-6 scoreline on the final day blew them out of contention, having to settle for third place on a 21 pts tie-breaker over RINA-ALAGUA (a famous team led by Nicolas Cubria and crew of M. Cubria, F. Bertrand, & J. Filidoro).
For more Argentina J/24 Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

NEW Doublehanded Class Debuts @ Antigua Sailing Week 2019

(English Harbour, Antigua)- In view of the ever growing demand for double-handed racing, the organizers of Antigua Sailing Week (ASW) are pleased to announce 2019 will benefit from the addition of a new Doublehanded class.

Race manager Lorna Saunders says, “This will add an exciting new dimension to ASW. Safety being paramount, the Doublehanded class will have its own start and courses will be carefully planned to accommodate doublehanded participants. The courses will be a mix of round the cans, with slightly longer legs and some days a coastal race. We look forward to thrilling, competitive sailing.”

Antigua Sailing Week takes place from 28 April to 3 May and the Notice of Race is now available.  An optional Round Antigua Race takes place on the 27 April, which will also offer a doublehanded class, and is the perfect warm-up event prior to the five challenging days of Antigua Sailing Week where everyone is invited to race, chase and celebrate.

The professional race management team will continue to offer exciting racing for participants who range from fully professional campaigns to crews of family and friends.

Post-race prize-giving ceremony at the Antigua Yacht Club.
Post-race daily prize-givings and an exciting week-long social calendar, including the 10th edition of Reggae in the Park, the mid-week Lay Day Beach Party and the prestigious Final Awards Ceremony, are key events on the “must-do list” during the week.

But first, experience all of the action from our 2018 event in this fantastic recap. To get a flavor of the scenes at Antigua Sailing Week watch this highlight video here.

For any questions, please contact Lorna Saunders, Race Manager, Antigua Sailing Week- phone +1-268-717-9619 or email- Lorna@sailingweek.com   Register to join Antigua Sailing Week for 2019 here Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/121 Nominated @ British Yachting Awards

Performance Yacht of the Year Category (London, United Kingdom)- The J/121 offshore speedster has been shortlisted in The British Yachting Awards 2018 Performance Yacht of the Year category.

For the first time, the established and influential Yachts and Yachting Awards and Sailing Today Awards have been combined as the British Yachting Awards. This a new event draws upon the very best boats, sailing gear, sailors, achievements, destinations, and events from the past year, placing the spotlight onto the finest of both the racing and cruising worlds.

The winners will be announced at a champagne reception from 6.30pm to 10.30pm on Tuesday, 11th December at the prestigious Royal Thames Yacht Club headquarters in Knightsbridge, London.

The winners will be published in the January 2019 issue of Yachts & Yachting and the February 2019 issue of Sailing Today, on newsstands by Friday 14 December and Friday 28 December, respectively.  A full list of Performance Yacht of the Year nominees can be found here Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Bacardi J/70 Winter Series- Act I Preview

(Miami, FL)- The first Bacardi Invitational Winter Series will take place December 1-2, 2018, this coming weekend, on the sparkling aqua-blue waters of Biscayne Bay. Hosting the event will be Shake-A-Leg Foundation in Coconut Grove, just south of the completely refurbished Monty Trainer’s Bar and Cafe on the waterfront.

An incredibly talented fleet of eighteen boats has assembled to begin their bids to improve their performance for the 2019 sailing season.  In fact, the first major J/70 event will be the J/70 Midwinter Championship in late February 2019 that will also be sailed in the same waters of Biscayne Bay.

Leading contenders for the start of this winter series will be teams like Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT (1st 2016 J/70 Worlds), Trey Sheehan’s HOOLIGAN- FLAT STANLEY RACING, Henry Brauer’s RASCAL, Pam Rose’s ROSEBUD, and Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE (2nd in 2018 J/70 Worlds).

The series consists of three events, the next two are scheduled as follows:
Jan 19-20- Bacardi J/70 Winter Series II- Miami, FL
Mar 6-9- Bacardi J/70 Winter Series III- Miami, FL
For more Bacardi Winter Series sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Seabags Women's Sailing Team- interview of Mike Ingham

(Portland, ME)- The SEABAGS WOMEN’S SAILING TEAM continued to have fun racing their J/24 during the 2018 sailing season.  Their all-women crew had more than a dozen women crew cross the decks over the course of the season.  Their skipper, Erica Beck Spencer, is also the team leader, keeps the women organized, and often leads them on training weekends to keep their skills sharp. She also works closely with World-class coaches, such as Mike Ingham from the North Sails One-Design Team.

Here is Erica’s recent interview with Mike at a recent regatta:

“I love dock talks at regattas. I sit in the front row, my trusty notebook open, scratching down everything I can (because that is how I remember things best), and am never short on questions to ask the pros.  I’m a regatta nerd. Everything I learn at each dock talk and more goes in that notebook and on more than one occasion someone has approached me to say,  “I want your notebook!”

So, we’re changing the title of this blog to The Dock Talk and the Sea Bags Women’s Sailing Team hopes to share with you lessons from dock talks, insights we glean from the experts, or learnings from our own experience at regattas.

While dock talks offer a wealth of information to any sailor, they do pose a challenge for even the most seasoned. The answers to questions presented at dock talks are usually just sound bites—a short answer given to maintain the attention of the audience. Responses are not usually detailed enough to change someone’s strategy or sailing practice. To that end, I am thrilled to share something new we’re going to try. Mike Ingham, US Sailing Coach of the year in 2017 and 2018 J24 North American Champion has agreed to do a question-and-answer column with us.  We plan to feature Mike regularly, so we hope you’ll check back often. For today, let’s kick off our first Q&A.

Erica: The pros all seem to be able to point higher than me and most of my fellow J24 Corinthians. I've been told it is all about flow over the keel and you can't start pointing higher until you have enough flow. I know a zillion factors affect this pointing ability, but let's talk about the big ones. And for simplification let's say that the breeze is about 8-11 knots (everyone's on the rail but we’re not overpowered.)

Mike: Let’s focus on pointing higher than VMG (Velocity Made Good: practically put VMG= optimum height/ speed angle for making progress upwind) for tactical reasons.  The range between VMG and pointing artificially high is maybe 4 degrees.  Higher than that and the speed drops off way too drastically.  So hopefully that frames the discussion.

Erica:  OK great, so how do you go about pointing high?

Mike: First off, don’t overdo it or it will backfire.  Ease into pointing by gaining speed first.  If someone is right below you (like at a start), you still can’t stick it high too quickly because until flow gets going on your foils (keel and rudder) you will just slide sideways and although your bow will be pointing high, you will go really slow and slide sideways –the worst of both!  I see many people try to point by trimming in their jib hard and although tempting, over-trimming the jib is not the way to point. When pointing considerably higher, especially in lighter winds, the pressure on jib will decrease (think the extreme of luffing) and the jib may get tighter in the leach and we may actually need to ease it.  If trying to point higher by heading up, and your jib leech telltale stalls, you need to ease.

Erica: Sounds slow. I can picture my team getting frustrated with me…

Mike: You mostly get point by simply heading up a little and paying attention to the leech of the main –you get height from over-trimming the main and thus hooking leech. I look at the top leech tale and see what % it is flowing.  If in VMG mode, I might have it stalling 50% of the time.  Then in point mode I would trim it in so it is now stalling 70-80% of the time. Over trimming the main will give you more hook.  If it comes easy with main trim, then great!  But if the hook is hard to come by, ease backstay and possibly vang. Each will straighten the mast and that makes the leech tighter.  Easing cunningham, and outhaul also add some return (hook) and thus leech tension.

Erica: What percentage of your time are you looking at the leech of the main versus the luff of the genoa?

Mike: Even though main trim is super important, I spend most of my time looking at those jib tales and just glance up and read the % stall on the main.  The important tale is the one on the biggest/ most hooked part of the roach. -if you have more than one, it’s the one that stalls first. That leech tale will alternate between flowing and stalling over a few seconds. For example, it may flow for a second, then stall for 2 seconds and translates to around 60-70% stall. I will be watching the jib tales for maybe 15 seconds then I will glance up for those 3 seconds to understand my main trim then go back to looking at the jib tales for 15 seconds and so on. In addition to that, I adjust the main trim whenever there is wind change. For example, if my target is 70% stall, and last I checked I was spot on, but then I get a lull, I will ease main and then look up and fine tune to get it back to 70%.  To circle back and relate this to pointing high, I will do this regardless of pointing, VMG, or footing, but the target stall time is what changes.

Erica:  We talked steering angle, jib, and main trim, what about the other controls?

Mike: Less important for sure, but worth a discussion:

• Traveler: Pull the traveler up so the boom is just above centerline.
• Heel: Over-flatten the boat.  You need the blades more vertical than usual to get the most lift off your blades.  It’s just a few degrees more than normal.  If you are sailing a round bottom dinghy and sailing with just 2 degrees of heel, then sail absolutely flat A keelboat you might be sailing with 6 degrees, notch that down to 4 degrees.
• More on heel: Flattening the boat also has the added bonus of getting your sail area a bit to windward to help if the reason you are pointing is to get away from the boat to leeward
• Controls: I don’t change a lot of the controls.  If I think I will be in point mode for a while, I might fluff up the jib halyard a little and ease the ham.

Erica: Did you just say “fluff up the jib halyard and ease the ham?” Making sure I’m paying attention?

Mike:  Ha, yeah “fluff up” is not a technical term, it means ease the halyard.  Easing the main cunningham “ham” loosens the luff and easing the jib halyard loosens the jib luff.

Erica:  All that discussion was for “ideal” 10kt conditions.  How does all that change when we are overpowered?

Mike: Once overpowered, it’s more about sailing really flat and pinching.  When overpowered the main is already eased so the top tale is always flowing.  You will still need to trim in your main when pointing, but instead of trimming to the main leech tale, you trim to keep the boat at the correct heel.   I rarely look up, instead I focus on the heel, puffs, lulls and waves.

In all conditions, you need a human speedo.  Even if you have some instruments, you still need someone on board to gauge your height/speed ratio.  They should know if you are too high and losing too much speed to make it worth it.  There is such a fine line and for sure you do have to feel it, but your human speedo will give you a visual comparing other boats to give you a sanity check.

Erica: Sometimes I feel I can point for a while but then the wheels fall off.  What’s going on?

Mike: I find pointing a little high (1-4 deg) is ok, but pointing really high (5+deg) is unsustainable. If I really need height for some tactical reason, I look at pointing high as cyclical.   In all conditions, I will overtrim and pinch until I feel the boat start to slow then put the bow down and get speed again and so on.  It’s walking a knife’s edge and if you get it wrong by staying high too long it is a disaster!

Erica: In all conditions? Even at the start where every second counts?

Mike: Well, in short, yes, especially in a situation like the start.  But don’t confuse weather conditions with a segment of the race.  When I say “all conditions” I mean all wind conditions. There is always a VMG heading for all wind conditions and I can really get some extra height relative to that but if I go really high I can only hold it for so long before I start to slow.  Racing with waves is a different story, so I guess I did not really mean “all conditions”.

Erica: So, tell me more about height in waves.

Mike: Getting height in waves is super tricky. If you go high at the wrong time, a wave will kill all your speed.  I focus much of my attention at the upcoming waves, but I find it super helpful to have a teammate call flat spots so I know when I can point.  I often can see waves just fine and can deal with them, what I can’t see is a nice flat spot, so I often prefer my teammate calling flat spots and really bad waves, but not all the little waves.

Erica: This is brilliant Mike, thank you so much. I know I learned a lot and hope others will too.  I learn best when I have easy slogans to remind myself of key points. Some of my Mike Ingham takeaways are:

• To point gain speed first
• Point off the leech of the main
• A flat boat moves sails to windward
• Call flat spots

Follow the SEABAGS Women’s Sailing Team on Facebook here Add to Flipboard Magazine.