There is not much glory in sailing conservative and finishing away from the leaders but sometimes that is what you have to do to keep yourself in the game and maintain your chances for the next race days. Read on to discover what I mean.

Last saterday we had the first race day in our Kennemer Cup; this cup decide who may call themselfs the best catamaran sailing club in the area called Kennemerland. First year it went to Zandvoort my club, last year we lost it to Bloemendaal, this year the cup is looking for a new home.

I sailed 59 km in total that day. I think I was on the water for about 4 hours. First we had to sail our boats to cat club Bloemendaal where the racing for that day was going to be held. A good wind force 4 and building, medium waves and wind and waves were head on. We are double trapezing; I skipper with my 82 kg and my lovely female crew of 55 kg is standing beside me and saying how swell this all is. I'm looking towards an I-20 who is right behind us and we are matching there speed. Then a wave, a sharp pang ! and I'm submerged in a whole lot of foam. I'm hanging on my tiller extension and mainsheet for dear life as I know that we will be trouble if I can seperated from the boat. My crew is too inexperienced and her 55 kg is not enough to right the boat. I feel the boat literally jump on its side. I remember that I had just asked my crew to reduce my mast rotation to depower the rig somewhat more. At the same time as I fell off she must have slid down allowing the boat to almost summersult to its side. Later from the beach we hear that it looked like the boot just slammed to its side. So the boat is on it side and I'm hanging on by the traveller line and pull myself towards the boat. Then I hear :"oh no; Oh no ! So I'm thinking : What ? what ? Broken boat, broken leg or broken arm (in THAT order, Sorry) So I say ; "what is the matter ?" : she replies ; I went through between the mast and jib." So i'm thinking : "Ripped the jib, darn-it". Then some mumbling from the other side that I can't make out. So I go into survival mode. I shout :"hang on, never let go of the boat, and tell me everything you see or do" The boat is moving quite nicely on its side now, there is considerable wind and the waves rock the boat about considerably. I see the mast floating upward and notice the wind pressure on the trampoline, the boat has swung around, I fear that is going to right herself. So I yell hang on ! Keep her down ! But she stabilizes. I walk first to back to fully uncleat the main and traveller finding these lines are completely wrapped around the rudder and stocks. There is a job you want to do in force 4+ winds and waves, about 2 mtrs above your head. Took me a few minutes. Then I walk forward to measure up the damage and prepare to jury rig it to get to the beach again. The jib is flapping about. I grap it and investigate it for damage, there is none ! So I asked what happened ? What broke. She says : "I don't know." Then with a smile :Hey man; was that a crash or what !" .

I assure you guys, this chick does not what fear is.

Between 50 and 55 kg 5 foot 4 inches, but ready to take on Mike Tyson himself ! And she is competitive and eager to learn. I got really lucky here. If only she had the upper body strength of Scharzenegger to hunk on the mainsheet !

Turns out we broke two things; my trapeze adjusting cord and the cord holding the little sheet block to the jib. That was all ! I always sail with a few spare lines tied to my trampoline and several minutes later we were back up again. But without the trapeze for the skipper and without an operational spinaker as I accidently tied the spi sheet to the jib.

But it was all upwind work to cat club Bloemendaal and so we didn't need the spi anyway. We would rig it right there on the beach before getting out to the racing itself. We needed to sign in on land anyway.

And so we did. Now either we were completely bunkers or some-one got back at us for the last race where we roughed up some big boat (F18, F20, I-20's) feathers by finishing ahead of all of them on elasped time except 1 single F18. Of course we had been rather vocal about that stunt on the beach that day. Anyway, no matter what the reason when we pulled our spi right before the first race as a test it looked REALLY funny !

I couldn't understand as I had sailed with the spi two days before to tune it a bit and left it on the boat on purpose so we would be sure that it was rigged right and so that we could rig the boat quickly and leave early on this race day. Rigging up a spi in a hurry is always a receipy for mistakes. So what now !

We raced back to the beach to untangle it there and rig it properly. When we pulled out the spi we saw alot of twists and turns and a top halyard that was fixed to the clew corner and a tack halyard that was fixed to the top corner. This was just one big mess and we had too little time to sort it out there and then in ever increasing winds. So we decided to be on time for the start and take our chances without a spi. Sailing without it would loose us maybe 2 or 3 minutes, missing the start would costs us probably more. So we tucked it back in the snuffer and went out.

Analysed the start line and it was definately port biased. We were late so the flag for the last minute to start went down when we reached our prefered position on the port end. I guess a little at the time and 10 seconds before the start, we power-up, I yell :'get out ! get out !" I speed towards the port bouy on a reach and head up to hit the start line full speed and on the right course. I cross ahead of all other starters and I'm on my way. I look over behind the leech to check for any changes to the number of laps and I see a individual recall flag flying. Since I had to guess a little at the time I thought it too risky to just sail on and possibly score 22 points for a DSQ. So waht are we going to do ? We are not going to win this race without a spinnaker and a rating that still assumes we will pull a spi. This was a damage control race, get some points and stay in the upper halve of the fleet. So I go back, I rather drop a few extra points than risk being out of the game all together.

Managed to sqeesh a 12th finishing out of this race in 21 boats starting only to be welcomed on the beach later on by "That was a great port flyer, why on earth did you go back ?" A difficult question, I admit I was lost for an answer that would make sense at that particular moment. But then again I had to make a choice and I choose to get some points and not risk everything.

Anyway the waves and winds were building and building and the boat was restless when we waited for the second start. We had gone back to the beach and properly rigged the spinnaker but even before the start of the second race we decided that the conditions were too much for us to pull it. Afterall my crew has only sailed with a spinnaker for 2 times, both times in races but in 12 knots winds and below. We were pushing 20 knots now and the seastate was really building up. In hintsight, I think we made the right decision there. I pulled my crew out of the water two times during the second race when her feet were slapped of the side of the boat by a wave and she was dragged behind the boat. It would likely have been a mess if that had happened under a fully powerup spinnaker while overtaking these waves. We need more training as a crew to be ready for that kind of action. Mind you, she enjoyed herself inmensely ! I was thinking; I want to bring us both and the boat back in one piece.

Some will call us smart, some will call us chicken, but the fact of the matter is that we and 7 others were the ONLY ones to finish that second race out of 21 boats. ALL the others just DIPPED-IT, SKIPPED-IT or BROKE-IT. The Hobie 14 sailor who sailed to a 1st place in the 1st race with great style (2 min ahead on handicap on the number 2 !) overstepped it this time and capsized 4 times and finally retired without finishing because he just got too tired .

We were the last of the 8 finishers but we finished ! These scores how mediocre they may be were enough to put us on 8th spot overall out of 21 boats. And I didn't tell you guys about spi sheets getting wrapped around the daggerboard and other smaller mishaps we encountered along the way. It was clear that this was not our day and so sailing conservatively was just the right things for us that day. Actually the guy who finished 1st in the 1st race ended up at 9th spot and right behind us because he risked to much in the second race. No boat sails as slow as the one that is upside down ! Of the 11th boats representing our club, we ended up as 4th and thus our score is of importance in determining which club will eventually win as the first 5 of each club are used to make up the championship between the clubs. My result made a 12 point difference on a total of 70 points

So 8th spot out of 21, that is not glamourous, but enough to keep us in the game for the next 2 race days that make up this KennemerCup.

On the way back to our club, I was running really tired and misjudged a wave overtaking us from the rear. Our boat just broached and went over ever so slowly with us on the luff hull. There was simply no saving it, the wave simply overpowered the rudders.


In the next 4 weeks we will train hard and work on our crew skills so next time we can handle such weather and be truly competitive as well.

Mind you, the boat itself surprised me again. My F16, a derivative of the Taipan 4.9, does allow its bows to sink easily in the really rough stuff, but ALWAYS it popped out moments later. At times we were sailing at 30 degrees downward angles when surfing of a wave and often we would slam into the trough. Several times we would decellerate hard (but never stop), my crew was flung forward a couple of times but the boat just recovered and sailed on. Pretty soon my crew worked out that "Hang on !" meant :"REALLY hang on, with both hands and with force!"; after that the burying the bows became just part of the fun. With both of us securely at the back of the boat the whole boat would be subjected to a large thump when the beam hit the water but she would only heel forward a little and continue sailing.

It was quite an adventure, and this time sailing conservatively and just focus on finishing and keeping everything whole and on board worked well. 13 other crews weren't so lucky and they all scored 22 points for the second race alone. I scored 20 points over 2 races.

In the final listing I got 4 F18's and 1 F20 ahead of me and I got 3 F18's and 2 F20's behind me. So 'm right smack in the middle of the high performance fleet, while sailing of a rating of 103 as F18's have 102 (=neglectable difference). (I also got 1 H16 and 1 P16 in front of me and a score of such boats behind me). My score of being 4th among my fellow (eleven) club members is important in the final outcome of the championship between the clubs. So my rear guard work has payed off. So I didn't achieve much glory this day but I feel good about keeping myself and my club in the upper 1/3 of the listings.

Results listing : http://www.wvz.vuurwerk.nl/teams2005.html

Wouter

Wouter,

Would you mind keeping your posts "readable". Better to make your novels an attachment to your post, or hyperlink to your own site.
This is a forum not a library, sorry to put it this way.

Thats Wouters style of posting. Pretty extensive in his choices of posting.

Good readings though. Same applies to me as well. Not an A fleet sailor, but I enjoy myself too much to giveup any time soon.

Marc, what was it that you found unreadable? You're entirely welcome to your opinion, but personally I enjoyed Wouter's post. If it's the length that bothers you, feel free to pass on by. Noone is forcing you to read anything. I'm sure Rick will let us know if he has a problem with disk space.

Yeah we all have different personalities and communication styles here. Some people aren't as succint as others, but hey, life's like that. Relax.

Mark.

Wouter, I enjoyed you post, really gave me the experience of being there with you. I enjoy learning from your adventures.

I don't have lots of downwind experience in large waves. When you said:

"On the way back to our club, I was running really tired and misjudged a wave overtaking us from the rear. Our boat just broached and went over ever so slowly with us on the luff hull. There was simply no saving it, the wave simply overpowered the rudders"

Please elaborate on how you usually steer downwind in larger waves to avoid broaching. Do you usually head more downwind when the wave catches up to the transom even though the can plow the bow into the wave trough in order to prevent being rolled by the wave?

Thanks,

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

In 5 min on the water you'd get the hang of it. I'll try to explain.

When a swell begins to push the boat, it tends to turn the boat up wind (when waves/swells are behind, usually the wind is also). So as the boats "catches" the wave and begins to pick up speed, you absolutely must steer more squarely down the wave to avoid broaching (which I have had happen to me, just like Wouter). Depending on the wind speed, you may going too slow and eventually loose the wave (ie the wave is going faster than you); or you may be going about the same speed as the wave and just surf it; or you may be going faster than the wave and punch into the one in front of you or (if it is a large swell) sail up the back of it like going uphill. The last situation--going faster than the waves--is the most exciting.

I've found that when you are going faster than the wave you've got to really be on your toes and do a lot of steering. In that situation, I surf down the face of the wave and when nearing the trough--but before loosing speed going up the back of the next wave--I feather back onto the face of the wave diagnally rather than trying to sail uphill. Sometimes you can get the angle just right and stay on the face of the wave for a long time. It allows you to sail downhill, which is very fast. Of course in certain racing conditions you may not be able to hold the right course and may need to sail over some waves to lay a mark. But the idea is to sail downhill as much as possible.

Sailing "downhill" in 2 foot windswell is fun; but doing it in 10 foot ocean rollers is something you'll never forget!

Thanks, Eric, great explanation.

So if I understand you, the wave itself tries to turn you upwind, kind of like a wave induced weather helm, and initially, you need to anticipate and counter that to keep from broaching. Then as you get closer to the trough you stay on the same wave by heading up slightly. The only thing that's not clear is that if you head up slightly to try to stay on the same wave, I would think that would power you up which would cause you to just sail onto the next wave (diaganally) through the trough?

Also, if you WANT to sail onto the next wave, is it generally preferable to do that by heading up slightly so you don't hit the next wave head on and sail up it's back more powered up?

Thanks,

Jerry

Jerry,

Wind speed, boat speed, wave height, wave speed, wave steepness, boat type, spinnaker vs no spinnaker, etc all come into play in a very complex way. Basically, when you get out in the waves you try to surf as much as possible, at the same time trying to get to where you want to go. Lots of ways to sail over the next wave; yes you've got to power up to do so since you're going uphill and/or punching through.

With a little time on the water in some good waves you can get the hang of it very rapidly. It becomes more of a feel thing once you're used to it. You find yourself automatically steering through the waves.

I first learned to sail in waves on my family's Catalina 27 sailing in and out of SF Bay and down to my hometown of Half Moon Bay. In the Bay you get short square waves close together; outside the Gate in the open ocean you can get some huge rollers--you can be 100 yards from another boat and only see the top of their mast if you're both in troughs. On a keelboat like the Catalina, you can never hold the wave for long and are always rounded up by it. So you just get in a rhythm after sailing downwind/downwaves for a couple hours. But driving a planing monohull or catamaran is much more thrilling because you can catch the waves. Lasers do it, TP 52s do it, and we can do it.

The only "inversions" I have had in the Spitfire in the past 2 years were in the same bit of water, Galway Bay, about a year apart. Conditions were the same both times, steep waves rolling into the bay, force 4.
We rounded the spreader mark and, while launching the kite, we suddenly broached and rolled slowly. On other laps, with the kite up and the cat moving well we had no problems with the waves. I think that, in this case, we sat on the top of the wave (not up to speed), the bow dipped down the front of the wave and the relatively short rudders came out of the water - no steerage, turned into the wind and capsized.

Dermot.

I was out on the lake that same day, going downwind was a real stinker. The lake is 10nm across but only about 5m deep.
When the wind blows along the full length the waves get very steep and short, the length of the boat just barely fits between those 3ft high waves.

(ps. Wouter, will you be going to Hargen on the 9th of July?)

Tony,

On which lake are you sailing ?




We haven't decided yet. Actually my crew and I haven't even discussed this yet. I will ask her this weekend, I think. Our agreed program for now is all club races and the REM-race in august. This doesn't exclude any additions though. It could be nice to sail my boat over. Anyway; all ideas at this moment, no decisions yet. Also dependents on how I'm getting on with my assignment. Speaking of which; my break is almost over already and I still want to answer the Tornado vs F16 question.

Will keep you updated; though.

Wouter

Thanks, Eric. We just don't get waves like that on my local lake so I've got no experience with them. Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts!

Jerry

Tony,

Ik betwijvel of we naar Hargen aan Sail toegaan, we mikken op de Westland Cup.

(I doubt wether we will go to Hargen aan Sail, we're looking to be at the Westland Cup.)

Wouter