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!

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