Canadian national Mike Dobbs and American national Glenn Brown, both full
time residents of Southern California, attended the U.S. Tornado Nationals
in San Diego. They sailed on Mike’s Marstrom Tornado “Full
Tilt.” Mike immediately follows the Nationals with the Olympic
Pre Trials. Mike began Pre Trials with a fellow Canadian as crew but was looking
for a new crew when Glenn Brown made this post to Catsailor.com.
" Mike Dobbs broke his crew, and another team may have, too. If you’re in
the San Diego area, and you can crew for him tomorrow and/or Sunday, give me
a call…, and I will put you in touch. I’d do it myself if I didn’t have prior
commitments. (I crewed for Mike in the Nationals this week.)"
A genuine tale of the underdog gaining new ground, you should find these reports
a very pleasant read. Thrills, spills, and collisions with beasts are
all contained herein. Here are their reports, so far:
Fri Oct 6, 2006 9:20 am
I’m dragging the boat on the tilt trailer there tomorrow morning…should be
quite a sight as I pull in to the yard with the Mini Cooper rig!
The new Carbon mast is already there as is a new main to go with it. From
the registrant lists, looks like the usual suspects will be there, including
the Canadian team of Alain & Eve-Marie from Montreal and Martin & Ben
from
Michigan…these boats are our nearest rivals, so far I’ve only beaten them
rarely.
We have high hopes…got a day of pro coaching under our belts now…though
we now have a better idea on what to improve, it remains to be seen if we
can execute on those things in a race situation.
I plan to make race reports nightly if time permits…starting Monday.
Mike
Be sure and read the rest of the reports, great stuff from on the scene!
Sun Oct 8, 2006 7:59 pm
A post from Glenn Brown.
We’re back from a training day on the water. We’ve improved since last
year it seems, but have our work cut out for us to move out of last
place! But we’re definitely better than last year, where the Nationals
was our first sail together.
Mike’s new carbon mast is installed. Other than being light, and easy
to hoist the sail, we’ve not been amazed yet. The word is that there
is significant variation in the Carbon Masts, so they are not the
perfectly uniform creations everyone hoped. All the rigging needs to be
4" longer with the new mast, which caused us a lot of grief, but we’re
working around it.
We’re struggling to get the sail shape just where we want it, with the
new mast and new Ullman/Zuccolli main. (It seems a bit full at the
hounds and flat above that), but with one day on the water, that’s no
surprise. We’re also struggling with the new Ullman spinnaker.
As I write this, Mike is replacing the telltales on his jib with yarn,
which he prefers. That’s fix number 101 in the past two days.
OK, I need a shower and some sleep. More as I can.
–Glenn
Mon Oct 9, 2006 9:44 pm
US Nationals Day 1
The first day of racing saw barely 6 knots wind in heavy marine layer
over San Diego. Racing was delayed until ~2 pm…before all 12 boats
gathered ~3 nm south of San Diego’s south bay.
Team full Tilt (now sailing under CAN 99 sail designation) got a bit
boxed in at the middle of the line and had to dive for a leeward hole
to get out just ~20 seconds before the gun…this gave us too much
speed too soon, so we put the helm down hard to round up…a bit too
excessively since we ground to a halt at 5 seconds to go. Couldn’t get
going in time and ended up parked right in front of CAN 2 with Alain D
at the helm. He had to tack off to port just after the gun. We got
going and were in clear air as the leaders were well off.
We were
surprised to find that we could live with the leaders for a some
time.. We made an early gybe, soon after Charlie & Johnny did theirs.
They are several hundred yards out in front, but no further to
weather. Again we could live with the leaders for the rest of this
hitch….in fact just before the layline we appeared to have closed a
fair bit on them. When we were sure we were on the layline, Charlie
still hadn’t tacked…we went before them. Initially, it looked
brilliant, but as we closed to the mark, a header hit us…two more
tacks needed! Lost 3 or 4 places right there…but still got to the
1st top mark solidly in mid pack. After a good gybe set to port…we
found we could not live off wind…everyone went much lower while we
kept trying to sail the wild thing…going high and sheeted hard to
lift the hull. Had a good battle with Martin & Ben Malcheski (from
Green Bay)…they were windward and behind initially, but worked it
down easily & passed us after separating a great distance to lee.
Just didn’t seem to be working for us. Our gybe angles were
terrible…beyond 120 degrees! made it very tough to call out
laylines.
Had a good battle right near the finish with Mark H of this
list…had to use some good tactics to keep on top of him across the
line. We finished 11 out of 12 starters.
Race 2 got us a much cleaner start, with some water below and Charlie
to weather on our hip. We dove for the leeward gap to keep our air
clear, but inevitably they drove over us. We really were getting
hammered in the bad air and tacked off to port as soon as possible.
We then cleared nearly all the boats above still on starboard. Our
hitch to port seemed like the correct choice…as most of the fleet
soon followed us. We were looking really near the layline…with only
one boat further in front…the Chu brothers. They are pointed a
little higher but we seemed faster and managed to close up the gap a
fair bit. We made a good layline call and were on schedule right
with the leader group at the mark….I think we ended up 4th or 5th
to the top mark. But once again, lost lots of places before the next
downwind gate. Must have been 8 or 9 at the turn around. We tried the
right side again but it didn’t pay off this time…lost some more
spots and were back at 10 or 11 at the top mark. At the 2nd downwind
gate, we only had 1 boat still behind us (Mark H) and he had gained
lots. The last windward we just settled on keeping in front of
Mark…made a good layline tack to the top mark and held him off. The
last downwind we tried sailing lower with an eased spinny…changing
our technique of trying to fly hot all the time. This made our
layline calls much more on the ball. I think we extended some on Mark
down the leg and crossed the line in 11th again.
I think we’ll be doing more "mild thing" tomorrow in the light stuff.
Mike.
PS: Martin & Ben Malcheski wanted me to give a shout out to their
supporters back in Green Bay!
Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:21 pm
US Nats Day 2
Day 2 at the Nats saw sunny skies & better breeze
and no delay on the scheduled start time of 12:00 PM…which was unfortunate
for those boats (including us) at the back of the cue to use the single launch
ramp. 5 teams were late to reach the starting area…some ~4 miles
from the launch dock. We were within 2 minutes of the starting area
under spinnaker when the gun went off for the first start…in all 5
teams failed to make it there in time. Tomorrow we will definitely
get in the front of the launch cue!
But, we went ahead and started (late) with the other 3 teams in close
proximity. Mike Grandfield & Alain Dubuc (with a shiney new crew on-
board) were just a couple of lengths ahead at the line. Winds in the
7-8kt range. Had a great weather leg…staying right with those two
guys…Mark H & Martin/Ben Malcheski were behind. At the top mark we
were roughly the same separation and same order. Team Full Tilt made
a great downwind leg…using our modified technique of sailing with
the spin less strapped, letting us make proper gybe angles. We closed up
the gap by the 1st bottom gate and ended up just a boat length behind Mike
G.
on the right side of the course for the next upwind leg (Alain had
taken the left side of the course). Mike made a better layline call
at the top mark than us, and we dropped back a bit, having to make
two additional tacks. But, we were closer to Alain regardless because
right side was a better overall. Downwind, we had a good battle,
Alain gybed to the right soon after top mark, we held the left for a
bit to gain some leverage. This paid nicely, as we had another really
good off wind leg and were right with Alain all the way down to the
gate.
We stayed in touch up the right hand weather leg with
Alain…Mike G just a few hundred yards further ahead. on the way to
the last top mark, we heard a bang…mast had fully rotated…control
line had pulled the cleat off the deck. Glenn jumped right to it to
jury rig the line. After rounding & setting the spin., we again tried
going a little down the left side while Alain & Mike both went
immediately right. When we gybed over to the middle, it was nip &
tuck with Alain…he barely crossed ahead. On approach to the finish,
we came in on starboard, Alain came down on port. It was very close,
a slight bauble on our part cost a few vital boat lengths in the last hundred
feet to the line…Alain squeaked past into 9th, we took 10th. Still
a very satisfying race after the problems the day before.
Heat #4 saw steadily build winds…now in the 10 kt range. Made a
good start in the middle of the fleet, with Charlie & Johnny just to
weather and ahead. We knew they would blow past quickly, and this
left us a little free air. We did our best to follow them as they
tacked up the leg and did a pretty good job…we found we could point
with them, and stayed reasonably in touch though you could see where
all the training & experience goes in that team…they are just
sailing machines! By the last few hundred yards to the mark, we found
ourselves sitting in the middle of the fleet…what a great feeling!
Had a good rounding & set, and made another good downwind leg…boat
feeling light and powered up. Gybe angles still very predictable. We
could not hang with the top group however and lost a good number of
spots. Soon found ourselves amongst the usual suspects…Alain,
Martin & Ben, Mike G. & Mark H. We kept the pressure on Martin & Mike
(ahead) and Alain & (Mark behind) all the way to the gate and up the
next windward. Mike had stretched out some; Martin with him. We had
another good off wind with Alain now some 8 or 10 BL behind as we
came around the top mark for the second time. As we hoisted the spin,
found a big knotted up ball of spin sheet jamming up the lazy
side…preventing a proper hoist. Glenn had to let the sail flog for
quite some time while doing the untangle job. Alain came screaming up
but some how we held him back and got going again…but with our lead
now only 2-3 BL’s. He gybed to the right side while we held a little
bit further before making our gybe. We found we could sail about the
same angles with Alain, unlike yesterday, and we seemed closely
matched on boat speeds. We held our lead and even extended a bit by
the last bottom gate. He closed it up on the weather leg and gybed
immediately around the top mark while we held the left longer…now
about 3-4 BL ahead. We had a very good downwind on the left and were
8-10 BL ahead at the next crossing…and held it all the way to the
finish, taking a 10th place. We’d done it, finally beating Alain in a
race with some wind! I’m sure his having a new crew must have no small part
of it…but we rejoiced nonetheless.
The Last race of the day saw even more wind…now at 12-14 kts. Got
into a bit of a traffic jam at the RC boat end of the start
line…with some boats trying to barge in at the 0.5 Tornado-sized
hole remaining in front of Charlie & Johnny. Lots of shouts &
screams. The barger ended up straight in front of us at a full stop,
we had to be quick to bleed speed and avoid running over his rear
beam. At the gun the whole lot of us just sat waiting for the jam to
clear. Got going though and were in pretty good position, relatively
clear and aft of Charlie & Johnny once again. After few minutes, the
Chu’s tacked over and crossed ahead of us….then I saw them slowing
out of the corner of my eye…one man was in the water, trying to
hold on to the rear quarter of the boat…Glenn said he then slipped
away fully, and the helmsman had to go back for him. Turned out a
trap line had let go. We continued our weather leg and again found
ourselves in mid pack on approach to the top mark….but we were
having some trouble holding our angle with the others. Tried
different downhaul & rotation settings to figure it out. Seemed out
sail was flatter than the others and we were needing to foot more
to get the hull out. Couldn’t quite make it as full as we thought it
should be. Need more Carbon mast theory I guess. We were making some
really hot tacks in this building wind…our coaching session two
weeks ago was really helping here! Once again Martin & Ben beat us to
the top mark…but I think we beat Alain & Mark. The Chu’s must have
been somewhere behind but I didn’t see them. On the downwind, we
found the Chu’s (they have a easy to recognize German flag
spinny)…they came around the top mark behind Alain and ahead of the
Mark. We had a good off wind, staying out ahead of Alain. The next
upwind saw the chu’s pass Alain and at the second top mark they were
right behind us. We made a good gybe to the center, getting up to
speed fast and speeding across their bows…some 5-6 BL ahead. They
held a bit more before gybing below us. We had a real foot race down
the course…Alain to weather and back a little, Chu’s to lee and
back a little less. At the last gate, the Chu’s just beat us to the
marks and went left, we took the right. Alain also took the left.
About 1/4 way up the leg, we were double trapped and doing ok, when
there was an expensive sounding BANG from the back of the boat! A
quick scan revealed the main sheet cleat support had completely
broken off the Harken Carbomatic! The cleat was rotated fully up and
potentially fouling the line. Glenn swung in to see what he could do
while I very carefully feathered the boat into the wind to reduce
loading and the risk of getting a gust without the ability to ease
the sheet. We decided to remove the line from the cleat and just leave
the cleat rotated up as it wasn’t hurting anything else…we’d just
have to sail the rest of the last weather leg & off wind with the mainsheet
hand-held…no biggie!
Once we got going again…we found we hadn’t lost much ground to the
Chu’s & Alain…we made what looked like a good layline call and a
very good high speed tack. On approach, the layline shifted enough
that things got a little thin…and we were in trouble to make it. We
had to crab a little in the gusts. The good news was we had passed
the Chu’s…they tacked to the mark before crossing our sterns, so
they must have been able to really point well compared to us. At the
top mark offset, we were faced with a huge mass of weed stretched out
in front of us. You could see where it had been churned well by many
passing Tornado’s! We could not avoid a big hit and got so much on
the blades & boards steering became almost useless. Once the spinny
was up I headed up hard to lift the hull to get at least one side
clear. Then we gybed and did the same on the other hull. Chu’s also
had some problems I think….so we could hold our small lead. At the
finish we had them…crossing in 9th…our best placing yet.
Full Results can be found here:
<http://www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/results06/tornadoNatsD2_res.htm>
Here we are in a nice shot from yesterday ahead of Mark H…not sure
what race of leg:
<http://sdyc.org/gallery/TornadoNationals/tornado2>
More shots here:
<http://sdyc.org/gallery/TornadoNationals>
There is also a great graph showing the order of each boat rounding
the marks from race #1 yesterday…you can see we had a good 1st
weather leg in 9th and lost it all by the 1st DW gate:
<http://www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/results06/tornadoNats_rds1.pdf>
Mike
Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:21 pm
Re: US Nats Day 2
Just slapped up a few pics I took today…nothing
artistic… just the nearby boats in the parking lot this morning and a few
of my exploded Carbomatic Triple block:
<http://www.pbase.com/d30/gallery/tornado_events>
Mike.
Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:47 pm
US Nats Day 3
Day 3 at the US Nats saw another light wind situation. It was a
struggle to get to the start…we left the dock at ~10 am, well before
any other team and still didn’t make it to the race course until nearly
1.5 hours later…a tow boat was much welcomed for the last 25 minutes.
Start was delayed about 30 min to allow more wind to fill in.
Race 6 started in ~6-8 kts. Team Full Tilt made a good start near the
middle of the line just to leeward of Charlie & Johnny. They quickly
blew past, clearing our air and we held on as long as possible…but
found our point was off compared to most boats. After a tack out to the
right, we had dropped back some and still couldn’t point too well. We
tried a few changes in the setup (less rotation, more downhaul, more
outhaul) and it seemed to help some. We were near the back at the first
top mark. We had a good 1st off-wind leg, holding our position and
gaining some ground Alain, who was a good 5 or 6 BL ahead and below.
Nearing the 1st bottom gate, we had converged with Alain & Leo on CAN 2
(who were leading us overall in the series 50 points to our 51) and
were flirting with an inside overlap situation…moment by moment the
overlap would establish and then evaporate as we both headed up for
speed and down for leeward ground. I asked Glenn to watch for the 2 BL
circle at the right-hand gate mark…while I was riveted on the Transom
of CAN 2, watching for the crucial overlap. Just before 2 BL’s, we had
it and called for room. He complied, leaving just a little more than 1
Tornado’s width between himself and the mark…we somehow managed to
turn on a dime and squeeze it around the mark…barely 6" to spare
between the mark on the left side and the CAN 2 on the right!…When it was
over, we were in a worse situation since we had to loose some much
speed in the tight turn. But, that’s racing! We got going and held the
gap constant for a while. Our setup changes were helping here…we
could point better and speed was ok. Glenn got me to feather the helm
to weather and ease back to lee every few seconds to help work our way
up. Took some focus and a little time to find the right amount, but it
definitely helped in this wind range. By the next top mark, we were
closer to CAN 2 and certainly within range for an attack off wind.
Alain gybed immediately after the top mark to take a hitch out to the
right, we held and went to the left for a bit to gain some leverage on
him. It paid off big by the bottom gate…we were a good distance out
in front.. Surprisingly we found we had also passed Team
Thinschmidt/Wierda USA 840.We lead them around the gate mark, but
wanted to stay off to the right so decided not to cover both CAN 2 &
USA 840 who shortly tacked up the middle. This proved a mistake…as
840 passed in front of us at the next cross…but we still had Alain,
though the lad had slimmed a great deal. We managed to hold him off
down the final run, taking a solid 10th place…and tying up the
overall points at 61 each.
In Race 7 we made a so-so start, getting a bit shut in near the RC
end…and had to sail in bad air for a while afterwards before the
leaders tacked over to the right. Once we were higher than them, we
also tacked and found we had a good pace & point with those tops teams
once in clear air. At the tack for the starboard layline, we were in
the pack with Mike Granfield (813), Ollie & Kelly Jason (699) & Chu’s
(1094). We liked the extra pressure going up the right side, so at the
top mark we gybed back over immediately to that side, despite all the
leaders going to the other side. This paid well, as we were just ahead
of 813 at the 1st gate…about in 9th place. Did it all again on the
next weather leg…staying right up & downwind. We were holding off 813
as he also came with us this time. Managed to squirt some ~10 BL’s
ahead on approach to the finish…and then we saw a crossing boat on
port coming at us…it was Team Chu….we were in a controlling
position in starboard gybe, even though they were on the layline to
cross line and we still had to make one more gybe. We held him out,
forcing him to gybe to starboard…we held just long enough to make a
good clean layline gybe to reach the finish…he gybed right with us,
but it was over…we’d passed him and finished in 8th place…our best
of the series!
The last race of the series saw us in a good RC end start in clear air.
We took our favorite right side, but it wasn’t as good anymore. Still
we had some close crosses with 813 & 699. We were surprised to find
ourselves ahead of Martin & Ben M. USA 824…for once! They were abeam
7 below by about 10 BL’s half way to the right layline. We made it to
the top mark in a solid 9th or 10th. Marty had gained a little at the
bear-away and kept us working hard to hang on to our lead down to the
1st gate. The next weather leg he went left while we kept to the right.
At the next cross he was ahead by ~10 BL’s. We held off Alain & Mark
H. until the finish, taking another 10th.
Overall Team Full Tilt finished in 10th, ahead of CAN 2 by a slim 4
points. We were very pleased with our progress in the series…making
big improvements in the light air between day 1 & 3. Doing respectably
well in the heavy air on day 2.
Time to rest up a little tomorrow, the lay-day, before the Pre Trials
begin. I Will be sailing with a brand-shiny new crew…never raced before
and only been on the boat twice! He’ll be getting a real baptism by
fire!
Final Results here:
<http://www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/results06/tornadoNatsFinal_res.htm>
SDYC website Gallery:
<http://www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/index.htm>
Mike
Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:39 pm
US Olympic Pre-Trials Day 1
Well, we had a interesting day 1. Started with the a rain system
moving through early in the day…winds in the 4-5 kts range. Around
noon, the RC delays about 35 min. to wait for wind. Race 1 started in
about 6-7 kts, but half way up the 1st leg, winds had built to 10-11.
We were doing ok in 9th or 10th until first spinny dump…sheets got
snagged around the lee bow and under the boat. My rookie crew Jonathan
had to figure out how to hang on to the slippery bow deck to clear
the lines while I had to park the boat for while. We lost only one
spot and got going again. Winds were continuing to build, at about
half-way point we had around 13-14 with white caps beginning to form.
Found it difficult in the final weather leg to depower and work out
what worked for the new crew weight in this heavier air. We held on
to finish in 11th.
Race 2 started in ~15 kts. We hadn’t worked out our kinks yet and
found we couldn’t point with the fleet…got hammered pretty bad up
the 1st leg. Tried slowly increasing down haul and increasing
rotation…this seemed help a lot. We hadn’t had time to swap the jib
clew plate hole position for the jib sheet shackle between races…so
we were still running the upper hole for lighter conditions (leech
closed). We also had the spinny sheet block in the 3rd tramp lace
from the front beam…, which is considered good for light to moderate
air, tightens up the leech. We probably needed it on the 4th lacing.
By the 1st off wind, we were back in 10th or so. Other boats were
also having some troubles…saw Marty round up suddenly and basically
stop to fix something. During our hoist, the spin halyard had become
caught around the mast spreader and prevented a clean hoist. We lost
a fair bit of time solving that. Alain was able to close up and pass
to lee. Couldn’t chase him down on the leg and didn’t quite have the
rig depowered for the 2nd weather, so he extended on us some more. My
crew Jonathan took a nasty slip while on the wire and slammed pretty
hard on the gunwale…he was in a lot a pain but wanted to keep
going. 2nd off wind leg saw him about 15-20 BL’s ahead the leeward. We
worked it as best we could and seemed to close up some, but couldn’t
get on his wind before the gate marks. We seemed to be running a bit
better to weather and held our distance constant…but were not in
any position to attack him off wind. Tried to split gybes but he
wouldn’t let us go…gybed to cover. We crossed the finish line in
10th or 11th….but no other boats were still on the course…so a
couple must had retired for some reason.
We Didn’t have much time before the sequence started again. Got the
jib clew put down a couple of holes but didn’t have time for the spin
blocks before the sequence started. Had a pretty decent start in
clear air. Found we could point better with the fleet. Took and early
hitch out to the right. At the starboard layline we were in 9th or
10th. USA 699 tacked just below and abeam of us and it looked like we
would drive over them pretty easily when SNAP! I found my self in the
water hanging on the mainsheet, my trapeze line had broken. Boat
heeled up extremely high and was nearly gone. Jonathan was at the
main beam dangling from the spin pole, I was still holding the main
sheet and lifting out of the water when the boat spun on it’s side
into the wind, losing all power and she came down again. Now it was a
fight to stop it footing off and re-accelerating. I still had a now
mangled tiller in one hand…broken in two places but surprisingly
not yet in 3 pieces. I pushed the helm over to round up while
hanging off the rear quarter. Jonathan was already back on the tramp
and told him what to do to depower the main. I got back on and we
settled down to assess the situation. There was no point
continuing…the tiller had now crumbled away and pretty much
everyone had passed us anyway. Jonathan had twisted his arm pretty
badly while dangling from a line on the spin pole, he needed a good
rest. We headed for home.
It would turn out that two other boats also retired…Mark H. & I
think Team Chu. Mark had the most amazing story…a sea lion leapt out
of the water directly between the bows while they were under
spinnaker and landed on their aluminum spin pole…bending it pretty
heavily. Then they also pointed out a second very odd event…they were
surrounded by dolphins earlier in the same race and heard a big bang
on the hull. Once home, they discovered two 15 inch, parallel slices
about 2 inches apart through the outer skin of the hull below the
waterline. They guessed a dolphin somehow did it, but I can’t see how
such a pair of gashes could be made by such smooth streamline
beasties!
They are working hard tonight to repair their pole and hull to get
back out there tomorrow. At first they were considering buying a
carbon pole from another team. Alain offered a bare C pole as a loan.
I looked carefully at their bent pole and suggested to bend it back
to near straight and just go with it. That was easiest & cheapest.
Then they discovered a very nasty hole in the underside of the upper
lip on the their Guck carbon snuffer hoop. Not sure how/when that
happened, but they will try to get a fix going tomorrow. I
recommended using a plastic water bottle section to wrap around the
rim and tape in place…might work.
I also learned that team Chu had a medical emergency…apparently an
eye got hit by a boom and the victim taken to hospital.
This sailing stuff is dangerous!
I will be working on replacing a missing trap line in the morning.
I’ve already fitted a replacement tiller. Jonathan doesn’t sound like
he will be able to sail tomorrow, so I’m making calls to find a
substitute….so far nothing has firmed up…. Mike