M'kay? Usually I do this as a disinterested third party with no real stake, but this time, in the interest of full disclosure, I admit I am hoping one team in particular does well this year. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

That said: http://ussailing.org/championships/adult/USMHC/alter07/entries07.asp

Tough fleet as always - who will figure out the Blade quickly enough to deal with Matt and Gina's normal dominance of the F16 fleet? Who will display the qualities the Committee seeks when awarding the Darline Hobock Sportsmanship Award? Who will be the "do-bee" that gets the Golden Cat Key? Will the youth team do as their predecessors have done and embarass multiple adult teams? Will Mary Ann Hess's head explode if she touches a boat without a flying "H" on it? Who will get the Bob Bergstedt/John Williams award for sailing every race with a smile even while in 20th (aka, last!) place? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

These questions and more will be answered in next week's installment of "As the Catamaran Gybes!"
<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

ps - still need willing souls Sunday and Monday to help assemble boats. Come for the fun, stay for the beer (on me). <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Wish I could be there again this year to help, but alas... not allowed.

I got my money on Matt and Gina.
I am REALLY interested to hear what the high end people say about the Blade. No holds barred opinions please!

Sorry, I'm working Sunday and Monday.

Are there any provisions for spectators? I was thinking of coming up, with my wife, and spectating on Saturday. Any chance of getting out on the water? Any motels near by?

Oops, JW... didn't know you were racing in it this year! OK, got out more money out for you too <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

We are planning on having one of the Seacat boats there all week for spectating pictures etc. I think Tback was going to have a party barge there for part of it as well.

What about Team Old Farts aka Fat Boyz - Nelson/Krantz.

The big questions is can the Blade handle 360lbs and still float?

amazingly enough the HT holds 400 (crew is a Fat B) and still floats so I think 360 will be ok for the blade <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

On the hotel question, from the NOR:



I don't know how many (if any) of the teams are staying at the Lexington - most are being put up by Club members and local cat sailors.

On spectator boats - YES! Melbourne Yacht Club does indeed have multiple spectator and press boats on the water all week. How cool is that?

Pete,

Condo's open ... although it's about 45 minutes up to Titusville from MYC.

I'll have my parent's party barge on Weds for sure....not sure if I'll be out much past that ... I've got work to fit in there someplace.

360 should be no problem. In fact, if there's a breeze, the weight will be really helpful.

Awesome! Cant wait. Ill be thar Sunday through Wednesday.

Ohhh wow ! Does John Casey has a crew from heaven !!!

I'm guessing combined they are right at the centre of the optimal crew weight range.

Although, is John C. willing to become the string b**** and have John W. "holding the tiller" when the winds go over 10 knots ? His weight will need to be out there in those winds and John W. on the wire won't do much at all. On F16's it pays to keep the skipper on board as long as possible. Steerage is sharp en sensitive, the skipper has to be solid as a rock when on the wire or you'll be bounching from side to side like the ball in a pin ball machine.

In big wind and under spi you'll want the bulk of the crew weight to be to the rear of the skipper, who is sitting in. And you can't have that when the skipper is ....

Wouter

360 lbs = 163.08 kg. Been there done that, actually raced the boat up to 170 kg and gotten 17th out of 43 F18's like that in light winds. It will be better to be at 140 kg = 310 lbs in such conditions but it is surprizing how small the effect of an additional 20 kg on board an F16 is, with the exception of the Taipan. I put it down to the modern hull shape with fat keels.

So it will not only float, it will race well with that weight on it too. If Nelson/Kranz are good sailors and figure out how to trim the Blade well quickly enough then they'll be in the front end of the pack. Experience is just so important because having the right trim is so important on these boats. Just as with the A-cats, have the right trim and you'll go fast, do not have the right trim and you'll be going 30 % slower. No amount of crew weight can offset that.

Wouter

Looking over the crews it is obvious that some careful "mating" has been taking place.

Old geezer Ken Marshack has been able to attract un (underaged ?) crew in Mike Siau. Obviously inpired by the attraction that Mike still posses a nicely trimmed figure.

Can the same be said about team Sarah Newbury and Jamie Livingston.

Susan and Tom Korz are now back together on a single boat. So they are going with the familiar (pun intended) and proven while not allowing other crews to gain to must crew weight advantage on them.

This brings us to the very weight advantaged Mac's, that is till the winds go over 10 knots. Another husband and wife team. This is all getting very intimate.

Then the case of the Johns; little and large, mini and maxi, the fat and the thin, bold and the beautiful, the good and the ugly. Opposites attract they say and none more so then in this case. Lets wait and see whether this is just a marriage of convience or something more fundamental then that.

Brian Karr must have thought :"why not buy an experienced F16 crew ?" and he found Chuck Harnden when it was obvious the Mac's were not on the market.

Interestingly enough we'll John Lovell hooking up with Katy Pilley-Lovell. I'll go out on a limb here and guess that this match is more inclusive then just sailing together for this event. Teams Korz, Lovell, Hess and McDonald seem to be reading of the same page on this one.

Then Woody Cope did what can only be described as extremely smart. This A-cat sailor had an issue, he had almost forgotten what the word "crew" refered to exactly. But then he saw the light and initiated a top secret project were Tina Pastoor would infiltrate into the F16 class and sail the last 4 events with 4 different F16 skippers, gaining valuable intelligence on the wapon of choice for this Alter Cup. And leaving 4 deeply in love F16 skippers in the proces. Apparently Tina is one kick-butt crew.

But to top it off the youth team present, young and trimmed gods with an adulence insprired infallity complex. But even they are not leaving anything to doubt as they talked their parents into hiring them a Blade F16 to train on in preparation. Secret Source :

http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...Number=102963&page=&vc=1


It seems all crews have some "involved" strategy in to maximizing their chances. Will be interesting to see these strategies hold up under stress and strain of an Alter Cup event.


It is good to say no less then 13 mixed crews out there (male-female) with some women driving. Out of a total 20 crews. When was the last time that happened. Additionally we are seeing some 4 youth or young sailors in the mix. I'm totally biased towards F16's but this is something that is probably the result of the choice of Alter Cup boat and I personally think it is very nice to witness.


Wouter

A very good question and I think we F16 sailors must help the other crews a bit, to even the odds so to speak. So all you f16 sailors out there give your best advice to these teams new to the Blades !

(This will of course also make the Mac's victory alot more valuable, but don't tell anybody that !) <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />


Advice number 1 :

As quickly as you can sass out the way the rig responds to the mast rotation control. Proper mast rotation is critical. Both too much and too little mast rotation will hurt speed and pointing and note that you can not compare the Blade F16 mast rotation to what you do on other beach cats (except maybe the Capricorn F18). Typically you'll be running less mast rotation on the F16's then on other cats (do not point towards the shrouds unless you are running downwind). When done with the mast rotation then sass out the responses to the downhaul. It is sail design specific but the F16 mast is sensitive to correct downhaul trim as well, again both in speed and pointing.


Advice number 2 :

The mainsail needs to breath freely. Closing off the leech at the top of the mainsail is deadly, the boat may well feel fully powered up but it will be (much) slower then what can be achieved. Pretty much every time the boat feels bound up in sufficient wind to blast along then the leech trim is wrong. If you have to choose between keeping two on the wire and a tight leech or having the skipper sit in and open the leech then choose the latter. Even if both are suboptimal compared to a crew that can stay out and open the leech a little (the Mac's) then the latter is still faster for you. Unless you are really skilled, do not go in and out on the trap continiously, the reason for this brings us to the next advice.


Advice number 3 :

Keep the boat calm, approach sailing the F16 like dancing. Execute every manouvre with prefect control and absolutely measured and smooth movements. The F16 doesn't like rough riders and it will show its displeasure by going less fast then you could be going. On the other hand it doesn't appreciate slow or indecisive riders either. The right procedure is to discuss/plan what you are going to do, cover how your going to do it, then execute the actions in a smooth, measured and snappy way where the actions of skipper and crew are fully synchronized and always complete the planned action before changing the plans. Example do not accidently wiggle the rudders while going through a tack, that is indeciveness and often the boat will stall. Don't bang a tack but arc through it in a fast but smooth way and don't run across to soon. The boat only weights 107 kg while you are 130 kg or more combined. If you move your combined weight in the wrong way then you can stop the boat dead in the water. On other hand if you make use of this aspect then you can bang the corner as nothing swings around as fast as a mere 20 kg hull. Again sailing the F16 is like dancing. In dancing you and your partner need to think and move as one. Sailing the F16 you have a threesome where the boat itself is your dancing partner as much as your crew mate is.


Advice number 4 :

Don't sail the F16 like a power boat. The concept behind the F16 is its low drag nature. It is more like downhill skiing then motorcross. Find the right start trim and then watch the F16 pick up more and more speed while you readjust the trim to gain even more speed. Always try to stay at speed so you don't have to walk through this staged accelleration proces again. Under spinnaker the gusts can come in hard, you absolutely must spot these and steer down and sheet in a fraction before they hit. Then the boat will accellerate forward while staying absolutely flat. Note that no crew is quick enough in getting out in these circumstances. If you are too late you will lift high and have to shed lots of power. Also note that the F16 can accellerate very rapidly in these gusts, thus suddenly changing the angle of attack and the magnitude of the apparent wind and magnifying the onslaught of the gust or collapse your spinnaker. This is why you'll need to readjust your trim BEFORE the gust hits. It is similar to other cats like F18 but the rapid accelleration can make this aspect more pronounced. It gets really funny when your crew is not prepared and looses his balance while on the trap. At the time the crew stumbles backwards, the boat will suddenly "miss" a very big amountof weight (over 60 %) and jump ahead, it weights only 107 kg itself. The same aspect has caused some singlehanded skippers to be thrown of the back of the boat.

In specific to skippers, be very controlled on the tiller. If you make large tiller movements at speed then you can launch your crew into a bare foot waterskiing frenzy.


Advice number 5 :

Under spinnaker in big wind, have the crew trapeze behind the skipper. This is pretty common place on all spi cats now but the thing special to the F16 is to already do this when when bearing off to downwind from being closed hauled. This will keep the bows up when passing through the beam reach. This is really the only spot where the short hull length on the F16 is really noticeable. Do not try to bear off or even "nail the bear away" when both the skipper and crew are inboard and the crew is forward at the spi cleat in big wind. You may not be going swimming, but you'll get a very good shower and loose all boatspeed. Sheeting out the mainsail is simply not enough in big wind. The large squaretop will at some point find wind and start pushing the mast forward and the bows down (a sudden power hit) and the F16 is no I-20. One trick to solve this issue is to have the skipper stay out on the trap while the crew moves in. Then when rounding the A-mark both the skipper and crew move back on the boat. The skipper will then probably be to the rear of the rearbeam and the crew will be sitting just in front of it. Once the power hit has passed you can move forward and prepare/execute the downwind leg, there is no more danger then. This procedure is only necessary in big wind.

An alternative is to keep the crew out on the trap while the skipper moves in (or is in) and have the crew move back on the trapeze and hand him the tiller (and mainsheet) the crew then continues to steer around the A-mark and do the bear away (using the mainsheet to pin himself to the hull and using the rearbeam to prevent him from being launched forward). The skipper can then prepare the spi hoist and even do the first downwind leg working the spi sheet. During the first gybe you can switch the roles back again. This alternative can work really well actually and is certainly worth considering if the Alter Cup racing rules do not specify that only one person can steer the boat during the whole race week.


Advice number 6 :

It may well pay of to have the skipper work the traveller at the same time as he steers when sailing under spinnaker. Of course you'll leave the mainsheet cleated. The F16 mast has proven that it can fully withstand this even if its top bends significantly. You'll find that the luff hull drops down inmediately and that you require alot less rudder movement to make the curves. This procedure is probably only attractive in unstable wind conditions or in very rought water conditions. In stable conditions you should be able to get max performance with careful steering alone. I personally use this trick to make the finish line under spi if that is located on a reach from the C-mark. Personally I believe the bending of the mast top because of letting out the traveller slackens the luff sufficiently to be able to carry the kite higher. At the same time you are depowering the mainsail and thus can keep the boat down even in relatively big winds. I found that I could stay higher then the other spi boats (F18's) even when only single trapping on this reach to the finish.


Advice number 7 :

You have to check whether what I'm about to say is still true on the 2007 version of the Blade.

In my experience the response to the downhaul is too slow to correct in time for the F16 lifting a hull during a gust or something. An added drawback is the sensitivity of the mast to the downhaul setting, if you can not find the exact same setting quickly after the gust has passed then you are losing too much performance. I've found it pays much more to set the downhaul to a good average for the conditions on the upwind leg and just work the mainsheet in the gusts. It is also my experience that the skipper is too slow on the mainsheet to make good use of this and if he tries to be quicker then he is moving the rudders about too much. So we as a crew settled down on the procedure where the skipper steers, adjusts the traveller, downhaul and jib as well as looking what the competition is doing. The crew is trimming the mainsheet constantly and is looking ahead for windlanes, shifts, gusts and favoured sides. The crews then gives tuning orders to the skipper where the skipper gives tactical feedback.

I won't go into scientific details of why this is but it is my experience that you want to limit excessive lifting of the F16 hull to a absolute minimum. The F16's don't like at all to be riding high. It can then take ages for the boat to come down and speed ahead again. It is absolutely true that it is far better to prevent the luff hull from lifting then to bring the hull down again even if that means slacking the mainsheet significantly. This is an apparent wind/low drag boat. Losing speed results in a big performance hit and it will take time to back up to speed again. So what I have found works best is to have the crew sheet out (sometimes rapidly) at the onslaught of the gust keeping the luff hull only inches of the water and then pull back adjusting it continiously to the windstrength in the gusts and the accelleration of the boat. If you do this right, you can really feel the boat jump ahead and go up a speedgear with every gust. Only a fully dedicated crew is fast enough to ride the gusts like that. The skipper is there to hang his butt overboard and carefully help the crew by steering up and down a bit in synchronized way with the actions taken by the crew. And of course adjust the downhaul if the conditions stay changed after the gust. And that includes sailing the boat at a higher speed after the gust has passed, that too will sometimes require adjustment of the downhaul.


Advice number 8 :

Weight placement is an important factor on the F16, and even more so on the blade as it doesn't have T-foil rudders as the Stealth. Any crew who is not moving about (on the trap) is not doing his work right. Nearly all changes in sail trim and conditions are linked to a certain weightplacement readjustment. Example, when a gusts hit upwind, the crew in the trapeze needs to sheet out (possible rapidly) step back and then pull the mainsail back in to keep the hull out and accellerate the boat, then he steps forwards again. The skipper does the same when on the trap or leans overboard during the onslaught and steers (very) gently up at first and possible steers down again during the accelleration phase while moving back in. Pretty good abdominal work this is. Another example, when bearing away from upwind to downwind or a reach the crew moves back together while arcing the boat away from the wind. When passed the beam reach course the crew moves forward again, adjusting their weight placement as to keep the bow riding flat. All this weight adjustment is simultanious to any other action that is going on on board and accompanied by the usual talk about future actions and strategy.


Like I said guys and gals, sailing F16 is like dancing. Smooth synchronized movements and multitasking your way towards glory all the way. It is probably a very good choice to have so many (superior multitasking) women on board this Alter cup. Now if the men will loose some pride and volunteer to do the grunting up front pumping the main upwind and the spi downwind, everything will be all right.

Good luck to all crews !

I'm hoping for a very tight race.

Wouter

As one popular US sports radio talk host says...."Rack it"!

Excellent post Wouter ... now if you can give suggestions on light wind sailing as the weather for Weds is calling for 5-8 kts.

Is Wouter qualified to give racing advice?

Post your best F-16 sailing advice and let us compare. This is catsailor, not that other forum.

Are you qualified to question my authority ? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Wouter

Light wind sailing ?

That is always a difficult one as there is only so much you can do with trim. Mostly the gains are made by good tactics and spotting where the wind is.

My own mast and sail combo like alot of downhaul and a slack mainsheet in light to very light conditions. And I found that we as a crew sit on either side of the boat on the mainbeam or in front of it and we don't switch places during a tack or gybe. We just stay where we are and keep the boat really calm. This way it seems to track really well and keeps the speed up during manouvres. This point is very important because of the fact the crew weight is so large a component of the whole. There is not alot of momentum to keep going if the crew moves about the boat.

My own boat likes alot of twist in these conditions and even though at first you don't know it is accellerates to higher and higher speed for quite a time. People won't believe me but I actually overtake F18's and I-20's in the light stiff this way. My combined crewweight is 145 kg to 150 kg so we are not the lightest F16 crew. For some reason my Taipan F16 has a very good light wind performance. And over the years, due to landyachting, I think I had gotten very handy at coaching a rig to speed in marginal conditions. On a landyacht you have to get out when you stop and push the cart. You very quickly learn to keep the cart moving all the time even if it is only with 10 inches a second. With landyachts the trick is to get some speed and then have the apparent wind building and use that to get more speed. I think the F16's are comparable to that. But it is probably true that all cats have this. However I've only gotten good at it with my F16 and never with my other boats so maybe it partly the result of the boat design as well.

Quite often I found that it can be faster to sail downwind without a spinnaker then with if the conditions are really light. But I think this too applies to most modern cats anyway.

But to me light wind sailing is still an art form of the senses and feeling. I can do it but I can't really explain how I do it. So I fear that everybody just has to find this one out for themselfs.

Sorry,

Wouter