bjmoose
Member
I've done a bunch of starts, not so many starting drills. In a word, my starts stink. So last night I was out practicing some starting drills, trying to hold position at a buoy.
Vang off.
Boat pointed close-hauled, above close hauled, or (almost) head to wind.
Tried to keep the boat pretty flat.
The general pattern was that the wind would start to push the boat backward, I'd give a skull or two if necessary to bring the bow down a bit, tug a bit of mainsheet on to power up a bit, the boat would power up, heel over, and scoot forward and left on the line.
The challenge is to minimize this left drift down the line. In 90 seconds, I was moving like 5 boat lengths or more. Flat water, moderate breeze, puffy and shifty.
Also, annoyingly, sometimes the boat would simply be driven forward and windward (crossing the "starting line") despite the fact that the sheet and vang were both off. That obviously leads to an OCS position and having to remanuever for a new line position (if there's even time, otherwise simply a go-back-and-restart.) It's on a lake; there's no possibility of current doing this; it's a wind and sail drive thing.
So, I have two questions.
1. How do I prevent this unintended driving of the boat to windward?
2. How do I improve my technique so I minimize the number and size of bites I have to take to leeward, to maximize my hole to leeward and minimize my opponents hole?
Vang off.
Boat pointed close-hauled, above close hauled, or (almost) head to wind.
Tried to keep the boat pretty flat.
The general pattern was that the wind would start to push the boat backward, I'd give a skull or two if necessary to bring the bow down a bit, tug a bit of mainsheet on to power up a bit, the boat would power up, heel over, and scoot forward and left on the line.
The challenge is to minimize this left drift down the line. In 90 seconds, I was moving like 5 boat lengths or more. Flat water, moderate breeze, puffy and shifty.
Also, annoyingly, sometimes the boat would simply be driven forward and windward (crossing the "starting line") despite the fact that the sheet and vang were both off. That obviously leads to an OCS position and having to remanuever for a new line position (if there's even time, otherwise simply a go-back-and-restart.) It's on a lake; there's no possibility of current doing this; it's a wind and sail drive thing.
So, I have two questions.
1. How do I prevent this unintended driving of the boat to windward?
2. How do I improve my technique so I minimize the number and size of bites I have to take to leeward, to maximize my hole to leeward and minimize my opponents hole?
