Archive for February, 2009
Racing on the 21st of February
First day out in the Impulse. It was blowing quite strongly and it was going to be a good test of the boat.
The start was fairly good, starting a few slots down from the committee boat end with a little speed and was with the front of the fleet for the first couple of tacks. James mistook the course for being a port course and took me off the wrong side of the island, but this didn’t cost a lot time.
Poor tacking was the main problem. The impulse tacks very differently to the laser and I need a lot of practice tacking. Getting out in a race in 15 knots probably isn’t the best place to practice. The boat would stall coming out of the tacks, losing valuable time.
The rest of the course was fairly uneventful with a few lighter sailors getting away on the downwind leg. Unfortunately at the mark in front of the rowing the vang broke, and that was the end of the race. At least I know what one of the weak links on the boat is.
Here is the GPS log from the race:
Sailing 21st of February at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging
GPS Log of Feb 14th
Here is the GPS log of the racing on Feb 14th. I have used everytrail.com to show the details. The full trip details are available on the Every Trail website.
14th of Feb Race
Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS Geotagging
Race Log: 14th of Feb
Weather: 5~10 knots, a couple of stronger gusts, Southerly Breeze
Course Notes: Port Course, 2 big laps, 4 smaller laps.
Start: Starting at course boat end, pin favoured, didn’t loose out to much except for the first 2 boats off the pin. End of the day the course boat is still favoured on Albert Park.
First Beat: Worked the side of the island, and kept to the south east of the fountain. Seemed to be successful most of the race.
Course Notes: Didn’t venture to fair into the narrows followed the ‘Haintz’ route of staying towards the eastern wall. This was strengthened by the erection of a number of marquees along the western wall next to Carousel.
Had to tack near the entrance of the narrows, but didn’t loose much ground. Caught up to Chris who went into the leg with a 4~5 boat length lead, got caught up Rod who had a good run past the tree. Next leg (run out of the narrows) got caught up by a number of boats, 5 of us rounded the bottom mark together.
Upwind was where you could make a decent break from the fleet. Worked hard at keeping the boat level in the stronger breeze and nailing each tack. At the top mark only Ken was close to me. After the pursuit through the narrows Ken and I had pulled out a significant lead which meant we had little worry from the rest of the fleet.
With the wind easing off it became harder and harder to keep up with Ken. Ken made good ground, especially taking lifts off of the point restaurant. The island was still favoured and Ken didn’t make the mistake of going into what I consider a ‘no go zone’.
Of course on Albert Park Lake the first rule is that you don’t make rules. But in general if you use the fountain as a guide (the little white dot in the picture above) you should always try to go between the island and fountain in a southerly breeze.
I hope to have usable GPS log of the race up in the next couple of days.
Ultimate rope up boom recovery tool
Found the ultimate tool for retrieving ropes from booms/masts etc.
Rope retrieval Tool
This tool is a thin metal skewer with a hooked end at one end and a threaded end at the other, it is about 30cm long. The thread fits perfectly into smaller garden steaks made out of bamboo. For those that can’t identify it is a bike spoke.
Next time you see an old bike dumped in the hard rubbish collection run out with your plyers and remove a couple of spokes. They undo near the rim by remove the threaded nut that goes through the rim.
New vs Old Fittings
Just replaced a number of the older fittings on the boom with new fittings. I am not sure how old these fittings are but a number of the blocks didn’t turn at all so they needed replacing.
Old fittings top, new fittings bottom
Ronstan claims that there new fittings are super light. Having digital scales kicking around the garage, I thought it would be worth my while seeing how much difference there is.
Old fittings, 235 grams.
New fittings 91 grams
The new fittings are only 91 grams, so a 144 gram savings. While I didn’t do this for the weight saving, it is nice to know that the new fittings are a fair bit lighter. The new fittings save there weight in two ways, one they are made out mainly a light weight plastic instead of metal, and there is much lighter weight ways of securing the fittings to the boat. In the case of the main blocks a rope is used, and in the case of the micro blocks (9 grams each) they are attached via spectra running through the centre of the block.
Racing Log: 3rd of Feb
Weather: Strong Easterly Breeze, ranging from 5~20 knots. Inconsistent breeze.
Course Notes: Starboard course with the bottom rounding mark in front of the club. Top mark on opposite side of the island. The windward shadow of the island extended nearly the entire lake between the island and the road on the upwind leg. Unless you were a couple of boats lengths away from the wall you would be in less breeze and a knocking position. The legs were the wind was lighter the windward shadow had less of an impact, but as the wind built he shadow grew.
Also on the windward leg, have to remember that just because the water is ripping on the windward shore doesn’t mean there isn’t wind right next to the shore.
Downwind leg was a matter of picking up the best gusts as they travelled along the course. The strongest wind sometimes being found closer in to shore.
Racing Log: 31st of Jan
Weather: SSW 5~15 knots of breeze, building during the afternoon.
Course: 2 larger triangles, 4 smaller triangles, Port course
Start: Start was in front of the club, with a pin end bias. The end of the line near the retaining pond making it a bad tactical move. Slowed boat down the line with 20 seconds to go, at the start reached along the line and started about 1/3 along the line with good boat speed. Unfortunately this let other boats start from the committee boat and took the advantage of being able to hold the boats under them.
First Beat: Close fought beat with a number of boats taking different routes to the mark. The island side of the course was favoured, but covering the middle of the course did not lose to much time.
Course notes: Avoiding the fig tree, travelling to the easter shore of the narrows seems to be the faster route. Steve and Geoff both climbed up the fleet by travelling along the wall. A lifting windshift at the end of the narrows will nearly always bring you to the mark without having to tack. Boats taking a higher tack through the middle of the course come to the mark with more boat speed , but seem to lose out during the ‘passing of the fig tree’.
The downwind legs coming to the bottom mark in front of the club provide a challenge. With a southerly wind the island can provide a wind shadow. Typically I found heading towards the club allowed for carrying more speed across the lake, then into the stronger breeze coming around the other side of the island.
Boat handling: Working on roll tacking, worked fine most of the time. Special emphasis on the healing at the start of the tack improves the boat speed through the start of the tack. This caused one capsize during the race when I tried to roll the boat over as a wind shift hit.
Downwind the heeling to windward seems to be faster.
Other notes: Weed was a constant problem, checked centreboard and rudder at the start of each leg. During the beats watched the centreboard and pulled the board if needed.