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[Re: BMoran]
#32103
04/06/04 01:05 AM 04/06/04 01:05 AM |
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,037
Central California ejpoulsen 
old hand
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old hand
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,037
Central California | Paul and I had a great time. It was primarily a monohull regatta but 11-12 cats were there racing, including 3 Tigers (a 4th not registered), H20 (singlehanded), P19MX (singlehanded), P18-2, TheMightyHobie18, H16, etc. A bunch a real nice folks. Paul and I both sailed F16U the first day but my 10 year old son joined me for the second day, so we threw on the jib.
A few weird things happened, though. Neither Paul nor I had ever been to or sailed at Folsom Lake, nor did we have a clue as to which marks were which. And of course we didn't get off the beach early enough to explore. Oh, and I fell of the back of the boat on the way to the course and nearly capsized.
Anyway, we were under the basic assumption that the first mark would be UPWIND from the start. I hit the first start well and worked up to the first mark, rounding it in front of the lead group. OPPS, that's mark #13, not #14. Hmmm, which way am I supposed to go??? Well, I sailed off the wrong way for a while (hey, I wasn't the only one--the H20 and a Tiger were right with me) but finally got back on track, coming back to finish 4th (elapsed). Who would of thought the RC would send us off on a PORT REACH toward the first mark with the RC boat the favored end??? Yikes!
The second race was more conventional, with the first mark upwind, etc. I pointed great cat rigged but Paul, being 30-40lbs lighter than me, seem to trap sooner and smoked downwind. I think I ended up 4th again (elapsed) behind two tigers, the H20, and the P18-2 (not really sure of these details).
A third race was planned for Sat, but the wind basically died by this point. We were all bobbing around wishing we had paddles (we were on the OUTER course a long way from lunch) when all the sudden we were in a starting sequence. HUH??? Well, I drifted across the start about 10 min. later (broke cardinal rule of getting too far from the start). We all drifted and bobbed. Boats 10 yards from each other were on different points of sail. Spinnakers hung limp; rigging clanked around; crews climbed out the bows; zephyrs clocked around. I got stuck in a hole the size of Cygnus. Okay, at least there's a throw out. Enough said.
Sunday the breeze was better. My 10 year old, who has never raced but has been on the boat a few times (mostly just playing on the tramp in the garage) decided to join me. So we added the jib and notified the RC. Race 4 got underway. We stalled in irons just before the start and, as the fleet stormed by us, decided on the ol' second-row-port-tack-start. Okay, not the smartest, fastest, most strategic approach, but we had to improvise and at least we got a lift from the rest of the fleet's sails. My son is not strong enough to pull the jib all the way in, so at first I was oversheeting the main before he could get the jib in. That's why we ended up in irons. He also managed to get his legs stuck in the jib blocks every tack--poor guy. Yet he was still smiling ear to ear. We worked our way through the course and manage to catch back up to Paul. Then, as we turned downwind, Paul turned on the jets, wild-thinged past us and we never saw him again. Hey Paul, you got a motor on that thing? We definitely couldn't point as high as cat rigged (but the added power was nice) and the jib was sort of in the way downwind.
We finally had our act together by race 5. It was two laps around a triangle. We figured out the favored pin and caught some nice shifts going upwind, finding ourselves well ahead by the first mark. (The old "sail the shortest distance" approach.) All of the sudden it was like my son just ate some of Popeye's spinach. He started cranking in the jib, trapping when needed, and stopped sitting on the spinnaker sheets. Now we had some teamwork going. Two Tigers and the H20 caught and passed us downwind, but we caught and passed them again by the windward mark. We lost ground again downwind but made it back up to take line honors. We were crossing each other at every tack and jibe, so it was pretty close racing. Actually, the H20 (singlehanded, so DPN <64) crossed the line just barely ahead of us, but he was DQ'd for sailing through the start when starting lap 2 (we had to tack off to avoid doing so ourselves). Best of all, my son had a great time and told me that all the scrapes on his knees were worth it.
Anyway, I'm not experienced at buoy racing but was very impressed with the boat speed and ease of handling of the Taipan. She is incredibly smooth and responsive! And she responds to finesse rather than brute force. The Taipan made us look good, not the other way around. I really enjoyed sailing it in both F16U and F16Sl configurations, but I like the way it handled F16U best. I'm still losing several boat lengths when dropping the spinnaker (crew would be nice for that); I need to figure out an autopilot; for the tiller and work on a better way to routing the retrieval line. Also, I know I'm not optimizing my downwind speed and need to work on spinnaker trim, hoist height, luff tension, etc.
Having said all that, the F16 seemed to compete very nicely with F18s. I didn't really believe it until this weekend. I actually think that if the winds heavier we would have had an edge on them. As conditions were, we seemed very even in terms of boat speed, and most of the results were due to tactics. An experienced Tiger sailor won the event yet never took a bullet; he just had good, consistent tactics and horizoned me in a few heats.
Let's do it again soon, Paul. Fair winds!
Eric Poulsen
A-class USA 203
Ultimate 20
Central California
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