Upwind Pointing - Hints?

L

LaserBen

New Member
Any ideas about why I couldn't point today?

Force 2-3, fairly sharp chop (without working the boat you'd take every 3-4th wave over the bow). Had cunningham so it was just pulling the creases out, outhaul about 1 hand length from boom (maybe a tiny bit tighter). Kicker so that it was just in tension when block to block.

I was thinking maybe my traveller wasn't tight enough (main block was 1.5-2 inches off the deck?)

After 2 good starts it was very disappointing as I just slid down to leeward of the fleet as I couldn't hold my lane off the line :(

Help me!
 
In force 2-3 You probably want a lot less vang than you had. Taking waves that big in 5-10 knots will smack you to leeward a alot. My wild guess is that your wave technique needs to improve. You may have been pointing higher than you thought in a effort to hold your lane, but your over vanged main was stripping your speed off while every 3rd-4th wave knocked your nose to leeward. You never had a chance... booh ooh ooohoo hoo

LOL :D

My favorite irksome conditions are just as you describe, we get them here at the end of winter. It takes an extra effort to remain aware to what the wind is actually doing without refering to the wave height. Practice in those conditions for a while and you'll be set.
 
sounds about right tbh - I'm a pond sailor and am damn fast on the flat stuff, and I've got a lot to learn about sailing on the wobbly!

So what would you recommend - loose vang when block to block?

I was finding that on acceleration from the line i was ok - i.e. got up to the same speed as everyone around me when taking off from the line at the gun. But then I was just getting slower and slower and had to put my bow down a bit to keep the speed on. Then drooping down out of my lane into the dirty air of the boat the was to leeward of me but was now directly in front :'(
 
yeah that pretty much describes how one single error turns into a whole load of problems all the way down to dirty air syndrome. The sudden increase of speed is normal on take off, but then the following stall rings alarm bells that something isn't trimmed properly.

At least you had somewhere to go to leeward - so you must have been protecting your lee.
 
The biggest thing that helped me to point higher, ironically, was keeping the bow down. If you stay powered up, the waves won't affect you much, while if you pinch through them they'll just push you down.
 
Sit as far forward as you can. You also never want to be double blocked in chop and air. This just doesnt give you enough speed to go through the waves.
 
The biggest part of light air sailing is not caring about pointing to a certain extent. Go for speed, foot if you can. Good rule of thumb foot then point. Keep the boat powered up, that much vang and being block-to-block was a major power loss for you.
 
what i do is i have little to medium vang depending on the choppiness and in those conditions i would leave a small amount of crease in the sail but the best advice is have clean air, and keep the bow flat
 
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