March 30, 2008
I don’t think there was a lot to learn from yesterday, because the conditions were so variable. There was a dying northly that had already moved to the ENE. Which is surely a sign that things were going to get weird. The breeze was 0 to 8 kts and sometimes shifted 40 or 50 degrees or more. The lines were short, so it was difficult to get a clean start. Sometimes the start was so favored you couldn’t cross on the opposite tack. Sometimes the first leg was a fetch, sometime the downwind leg was a reaching no-gybe affair. There were big holes that if you fell into one, you could quickly lose 5 or 10 boats.
In general, it was a crap-shoot. I did well in the beginning because I managed to avoid the raft-ups and get of the line cleanly. The lines were so short, just a few people would squirt out and catch the first shift and be gone. The rest of the fleet was left floundering in bad air looking for a lane. Later when my starting luck ran out, I struggled off of the line and managed to jag a few shifts to get back in touch with Gavin who won the last few races. Apart from getting a good start, the two things that I would say are; when it is that crazy, you have to keep looking around. The puffs are isolated and change quickly, so you had to look over you shoulder more often; both up wind and down. The second thing is; if you are not going fast, change something. The wind was up and down so much, that I felt like I had to constantly keep adjusting the vang and cunningham. Pulling them on as the breezed increased and releasing them as the wind dropped; maybe 10 or 20 times a leg.
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