Academy Sail Training 12.07.2014: We had a clear and warm winter’s day in Cape Town for our sail training yesterday. Unfortunately it was the very first time since 12 months that we didn’t have any wind. Not even the slightest breath of wind, just a little breath of nothing from NW, not enough to fill our sails. After unsuccessfully looking for wind inside the harbor and outside in the bay, we decided to call it a day and went sightseeing with our 3 academy boats through the V&A. Some of our students have never seen the Waterfront from that angle and they truly enjoyed it. Back at the mooring our Lipton team decided to wait for wind and to go out for another training session later. Howard and I decided to enter the Double Handed Race with two of our students. Usually the sea breeze kicks in at 1pm on a clear day in winter. 21 shorthanded crewed boats found their way to the start line and our race officer Ron Keytel, with the help from Luke and Adrian, was able to drop 2 weather marks in a perfect position in front of Green Point, to keep us in the small wind band closer to land for a perfect windward leeward course. Before we got to the start line we had to rescue the Miura ‘Matador’. After getting their engine serviced, they found out that there was no engine oil put back in and they were drifting under sails slowly towards the harbor wall. Our little 5hp outboard engine pulled the 4ton Miura effortless outside the harbor and to the start line. I wonder what they gonna tell the mechanic who serviced the engine recently. We got away to a clear start in the middle of the line and soon were fighting it out with the Class1 boats as we dropped all Class 2 boats quite quickly. In fact the start line was so square, you could have started from either end. The pin end was the shorter distance to the weather mark but the other end was in flat water, protected by the harbor wall. It’s not often that the fixed pin end and the mark on the harbor wall allow for an even start line. Daphne Jacobs is usually on halyards and it was quite a challenge for her to trim and to do foredeck. This girl is not scared to get out of her comfort zone when it comes to sailing. As a young single mother she has the challenge to put food on the table every day and to raise her little daughter single handed. I really wonder how she finds the time to go sailing with the academy on a regular base. This girl doesn’t take crap from anyone and she really can put up a fight if you corner her. On the other hand she is willing to take her sailing to the next level and is always asking me for advice. Because of her commitment to sailing and her performance orientated attitude, I really like to sail with her. On the first beat we had to find the best trim on Mac a Tini. In fact this is our slowest boat in the academy. We have not been able to tweak the rig perfectly and she is not as good upwind as the other boats. Nevertheless we found our groove after a couple of try and errors and were able to pull away from the other boats in our fleet. I was explaining Daphne the importance to get the right leech tension in the light air. She was able to get the trim right very quickly which was quite impressive. Most students don’t understand easily what it takes to adjust the sail trim for the different wind and sea conditions. After the first round we were leading our class by half a leg and I was already worried if we might have sailed the wrong course, which is almost impossible if you only have to round two marks. We were only in touch with ‘Mwah’, a J111 and the leading boat of class1. Doug Alison and Steve Meek really had her flying with good sail trim and nice angles up and down. I was wondering why ‘Mwah’ in class1 and us in class2 were able to pull away from the fleet so easily. Without exception, all the boats I watched throughout the race had their sails trimmed in too hard and sailed to high. This is an absolute no go in light wind. You have to get your boat to target speed as quick as possible before you try to get height. A strapped boat in light wind is not sailing to optimum VMG. Most of our students who come from a dinghy background tend to sail too high in light breeze and don’t give the boat enough time for acceleration. This is always the first thing I try to explain and it often takes them quite long to understand. In light wind a performance yacht will take up to 30 seconds to get on target upwind speed. On an older design boat like a L26 or Miura, it can take up to 1 ½ minutes after a tack before you can start pointing high. Most helmsman and trimmers are not patient enough to let their boats reach target speed, trim on too early and in the process sail too high but too slow. If you think your boat is not rated fairly and you are not able to sail to the rating in light breeze, you should first do a bit of homework. If you don’t have any speed graphs supplied by the boat designer, you have to make up your own table. Once your boat is fully up to speed you trim on your sails and bring the boat up to the point that the boat speed starts dropping again. The best VMG you will achieve in maintaining a good combination of boat speed and height. Note the best upwind speed for the given wind speed and sea condition and take this as a guide line for your upwind target speed in similar conditions. I bet you will perform at least two minutes faster on any given day and upwind leg without even spending a cent on your boat. A clean hull with good sail trim a steady hand on the helm are the most important factors to sail your boat to the rating. A new set of sails is only making it easier to maintain target speed but without the basics of sailing it won’t let you win any races. It’s so great to see that the Kling Double Handed series at our club is doing so well. When I was trying to revive the shorthanded sailing at the RCYC 5 years ago, Gordon Kling came to the rescue and started to sponsor the series. Good courses combined with the traditional sit together and a glass of sponsored wine are a true recipe for success. Thanks to Luke, who took over to drive the double handed sailing and of course to Gordon Kling, who is sponsoring the series since 4 years already. If you haven’t tried shorthanded sailing, you don’t know what you are missing. It is only you and your team mate sailing the boat. The best thing about that kind of sailing, you can’t solely blame your crew if the boat is not performing well. 50% is on you. Unfortunately I was not able to join the table for the prize giving as I was the lucky one who was chosen to retrieve the laid marks in the bay. As a bonus on the way back to the harbor, Luke and I were treated with the biggest rising full moon I have seen for years. What a great ending to a great day of sailing at the RCYC. Coming back to the performance of our youngsters in the race. Daphne was performing so well on the foredeck and on the sail trim that we were able to win our class very comfortably. Howard Richman on JML1 took a more radical approach and handed over the helm to Wade Ashton. Wade only joined the academy recently and never helmed a L26 before. Guess what? They came second in our class. Our kids in the RCYC Sailing Academy are often able to surprise me if they are given a chance to perform. I bet we will hear a lot more from Daphne & Wade in future. The current knowledge I have today, I had to gain over a period of 10 years in yachting. Some of these kids learn as much in as little as 6 month. It’s a bit scary to realize how little time it can take to become a good yachtie. It is only a matter of time until I get my ass whipped from one of my students. That fear alone keeps me motivated to become a better sailor myself every time I go out. It’s a win-win for all of us.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:10:57 +0000
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