Miami US Team Qualifier #2 Regatta 1-10-98 7:45 pm
KITTY HAWK REGATTA REPORT
Well we're at it again. We are down in Miami racing for a spot on the 1998 U.S. Sailing Team. This is the second of three regattas for qualification. We won the fist regatta in Canada.
Carrie Foerster drove our good boat down to Miami from Dallas. She left just before the snow hit.
Bill and I flew in Friday night (work you know).
Friday night Bill and I arrive in Miami at 8:00 pm. Carrie and Bill Cantrell picked us up at the airport. We went to the sailing center and rigged or boat till about 11 pm. Then found our hotel and went to sleep about midnight.
The other teams have been training hear all week. So we had some catching up to do. We got to the boat and rigged and went out right away at about 8:30 am. The race didn't start until 11 am but we needed some practice. Also we had moved the Jib cleats way forward and we needed to see how they worked. We made a few minor changes to the sheeting system, Carrie and Cantrell went to the skippers meeting and informed us on the changes on the water.
RACE 1
Fifteen boats were on the line for race one. The wind was much better than we had hoped. It was blowing 12-18 out of the northwest. We got off the line ok and worked the right side of the beat. This was the most wind we had sailed in for some time and we were a little uncertain of our speed. We rounded the top mark around sixth, most of the boats ahead of us got a shift from the left but a couple boats were just plain going faster! We slowly ground down the group ahead and finaly finished the race fourth.
RACE 2
We made some changes to the boat for race two , the biggest change was to rake the rig farther aft. To do this you ease the jib halyard off and lower the shrouds using the chainplate adjuster. We also straitened out the mast by using the mast puller and sweeping our spreaders forward. We had to straighten the mast because the main was inverting in race one. At the first mark of race two we were in the lead, our changes worked! Our race went sour at the leeward mark when the spinnaker sheet went under the bow. I had to steer up the next beat while Paul re-rigged the boat. We rounded the next mark third and lost Morgan Reeser on the last reach to finish fourth again, oh well. We actually were not too disapointed because the speed was there, the sheet over the bow thing can be easily solved. (We need to not drop the spin halyard so quickly and not let the spin sheets go until Bill has the dpinaker gathered up. This is the same problem I had in the F.D. )
RACE 3
Race three was our best. It shaped up to be a three boat battle with us, Morgan Reeser and Peter Kaitcha. We took the lead on the second beat and held off Morgan at the end to win.
RACE 4
The final race of the day was not our best.
Actually it started out pretty bad. At the general recall start (When a generall recall happens their are too many boats that start the race too soon and they have to restart the race). Well on this start a boat got out of control and rammed in to the side of us. It put a crack in the side of our hull and took a piece of our stern off. We were OK to race, but out boat would leak a little bit.
For the real start We didn't get off the line well and went right. But the left was favored and we were way behind at the first mark. We spent the rest of the time catching up. We finished fifth.
So after day one we sit in third place. Morgan Reeser is ahead with seven points, Peter Kaitcha is second with eleven points and we are third with fourteen. I am not sure who is in fourth but I have been told they have eighteen points.
This was a good day, lots of sailing and learning. Our boathandling still needs work but were getting there.
I was very happy with our improvement in speed today. Considering we have not race in this much breeze.
Tomorow we have 3 races to finish the series. We just have to keep improving and I think we did a lot of that today.
See ya Paul Bill Carrie and Coach wild Bill
A big thanks to Bill Cantrell and Carie Foerster for providing, video, lunch, coaching and so on. We hope to keep improving tomorrow.
Also thanks to Jim Anderson of Rush Creek Yacht Club for flying Bill out here.
And Thanks to Super Dave Williams of Raytheon E-SYSTEMS GARLAND for donating air miles to fly me out here.
We couldn't atempt this without everyone's support. Thanks .
KITTY HAWK AIR REGATTA REPORT
9:57 pm 1-11-98
On the Airplane Home to Dallas
We started the day early again. Hit the water about an hour ahead of the others, 8:30 ish. The wind was still out of the northwest but less velocity maybe 6-9 mph. Our early start paid off. We got a good feel for the breeze and had the boat tuned nicely. We changed the shroud settings to move the rake forward (what the heck does that mean????). Well the shrouds pull top of the mast backwards in the boat and also hold it up sideways. We made the shrouds slightly longer so we could move the top of the mast forward. Moving the top of the mast forward and backword is called rake. The reason we did this was to power up the sails. Yesterday it was windy and today it was light air so we wanted more power in our sails. Its kind of like going from a jet fighter with swept back wings to a slow stunt plane with wings that go straight out. I hope that makes some sense..... probably not...
1st race of the Day
We had a small battle with morgan to win the boat start. And we actualy ended up forcing him to tack out at the boat and we won the boat start. Bill and I had been watching the good wind on the right side of the course and had also been noticing the wind shifting to the right. So after we won the boat it was a hard decision to tack out to the right. As it turned out we were already lifted and had ok wind. Morgan and half the fllet bailed out to the right side of the course. and looked ok at first. But we held on starboard and got a good header. We rounded the first mark in the lead about ten lengths ahead of Reeser. For the rest of the race we increased our lead and won by a lot!
Race 2
Between races the breeze picked up so we adjusted the rig (we tightened the shrouds and raked the mast a little) and added some clothing (the clothing was mainly for warmth, however we did put our sailing boots back on. We took them off in the first race to remove as much weight from the boat as possible, but when it's windy we need them to pad our feet as we jump (and stumble) around the boat.
The race was again a two boat battle with us and Reeser. He rounded ahead at the first mark and we were fourth. On the run we passed two boats and up the next beat we passed Reeser. On the next reach our spinnaker would not go up, it was stuck on the spreader, oops. We were passed by another boat while we were trying to figure out why the spinnaker would no go up. Reeser went on by to win the race. We passed that boat on the next run and we gained a little on Reeser but not enough, so we were second.
After the race coach Skip told us how to launch the spinnaker without hitting the spreader.
With one race to go the top two positions were already settled. Reeser/Burnam won and Foerster/Draheim would end up second. We could have gone in but we need all the practice we can get. To get ready for the next race we had to replace our spinaker sheets. The cover had frayed off about 4 feet during the last race. We had brought out some extra sheets on the coach boat, but it was all tangled up with some other line. I had put the sheets (Sheets are lines are ropes) in the washing machine and dryer at home to see if I could roughen them up so they would be easier to hold on to. These sheets were made out of pure Spectra wich is very strong but also slippery. Well after about 15 minutes we got the mess untangled and replace the old sheet. The last race was good training for the top two teams. Without any remaining presure or signifigance to the scores we had some fun with Reeser. We matched raced him at the start for about three minutes and got the best of him most of the engagments. At the start the fleet went left and Reeser and us went right. We were going the wrong way so at the top mark we were in a pack of maybe seven boats. By the leeward mark Reeser had moved from second to first and we moved from fifth to second. We passed him up the next beat (had an exciting tacking duel), he passed us on the next reach, we passed him on the next run, but then he passed us again on the same run. Great fun! However we had an extremely bad jibe to the finish and got rolled by two boats to finish fourth. Oh yeah those new spinnaker sheets are still too slippery. We need to find something different.
As you might be noticing we seem to be fast on the runs and not so fast on the reaches. We are using a new spinnaker that is bigger and fuller. We think it is a factor on both points of sail. It is fuller which is probably slowing us on the reaches, but bigger which is good on the runs. We need to figure out how to make it go fast on the reaches or possibly have it flattened a little for better reaching speed. (again its like having jet fighter wings for the reaches of big cargo plane wings for the runs. )
Well all in all a great learning regatta and we are assured no worse than second place on the 1998 U.S.sailing team. We might even end up the top ranked team if Reeser slips a little at the regatta later this month. Eather way we are now qualified for the 1998 world championships in Spain.
We are on the plane waiting to get into Dallas, of course its 2 hours late ( due to fog in dallas) they just anounced it will be after midnight, yuck.
Bill's Injury report - fingers destryed by spinnaker sheets need some down time for healing. (and some new gloves)
Thanks agin to David Williams (Raytheon Sytems) and Jim Anderson (Rush Creek Yacht Club) for flying us out here.
SEE YOU AT HOME ITS TIME TO GET SOME SLEEP.
PAUL AND BILL