2008 NSW Championship

You can read a more unbiased account elswhere but here you can read what I was doing.

Results were somewhat better than expected (understatement):
Friday: 3 (Inv), 7, Saturday: 14, 13, 1, 1, Sunday: 3, 3, 1.
= 3rd overall and first master (over 40)
Results are here

Friday was drizzle 20kts and big waves reminisent of Black Rock 2005. There was some damage to a few boats and some retirements, even some good boats who did not get wet at all.

My Tiger was foilng quite well upwind and I sailed conservatively downwind with only one swim in each race. Getting past the big rollers was a challenge, I remembered Rohan's advise from 2005 about following the crests and only bearing away when there was flat water ahead. I spent a lot of time slowing the boat down rather than going over a cliff into oblivion. My back ended up sore form the repeated body movements needed to trim the boat bow up and bow down.

3rd in the inv race just behind Matt Belcher was encouraging. He was faster but had many swims both upwind and down. Scott was a leg ahead aparently comfortable in the conditions. Les Thorpe and Dave Lister both broke gantries, three scows lost masts.

For Heat one a few more hot boats ventured out, I sailed a similar race and gained a 7th, well back but a good number to start the regatta. Prowler Zeros were 1, 2, 3 and a long way in front of me.

That evening at the RSL there was a lot of talk about downwind sailing in big waves. One idea canvassed was to heal the boat and pull away hard as you crest the wave, this drives the bow down and prevents an over the falls breakout (you have to have done it to understand what that means, but it usually means the foils find air, the bow finds deep water, your shoulder finds the shroud, and you go looking for the centreboard to climb back on to). The bear away is followed by a strong luff up which raises the bow (if the boat is still healed) so it rides over the next crest.

I practiced this on Saturday morning, whenthe wind had moderated slightly, but the waves seemed the same. It is certainly faster to be passing waves downwind that waiting for a flat patch to go ahead. When I got it right I also gained lots of ground to leward and was at times able to gain on some boats which I would have expected to be losing out to.

But the wind gradually lightened, and combined with the fleet filling out further with over night replacements, and repairs to boats and egos, my places dropped to about where my seedingd from last week predicted, 14th and 13th, generally losing several places on the last downwind.

My observations of the boat and foils were that the wand was working very well in flexing the top skin hing upward, so my ride height was well controlled and I had few over height problems, (upwind the ride was quite bumpy as the wand bounced over the waves and the flap responded quickly) but also that the wand and bungee were not good at pushing in down flap when the boat was too low, requireing a lot of work on my part to roll body weight aft and trim for speed to maintain ride height. This was OK when it was windy enough but as the breeze slackened to maybe only 12 kts iwas sailing wider angles than most people just to stay up, and consequently losing places. So I have to improve the hing or linkages to get more down flap.

Back to the regatta:
Saturday afternoon the wind died to about 5kts, still steady from the south but the waves vanished. Prestart the boat felt great.

I trimmed a little bow down in the rudder foil to help trim the boat without sitting a long way forward. This also presents the two foils at a couple degrees +ve incidence which is here min drag is for these cambered foil sections. Its important not to move too far forward and trim the boat bow down as this brings the foils into a high drag area.

The P&B sail looked good with a little cunningham and virtually no vang. The lower luff curve reduction for the stiff mast seemed to make achieving a suitable shape for light winds much easier. I suspect the KA sails were needing so much load on the mast to flatten, that the stresses in the sails were preventing freeing of the leach. If the sail is too full it can not be squared out downwind enough in the light either.

So Heat 4 ended up a one lapper with a close battle between Matt and I. He understood the top mark and his two extra tacks were about the difference at the end. Ht 5 was similar except he lead all of the way, and even opened up a bit with a short foiling burst downwind on lap one. Then he forgot the middle mark of the second lap and slipped back allowing 4 boat through.
2 guns. People wanted to look at my foils, some thought I had changed to centre board and rudder, not true.

Sunday, light again. I would have been happy to go, but in fairness, the wind was very light, switching and there were glassy patches. A lot of people did not even rig. The RC decided he could not set a course accurately enough and deferred for 3 hrs. Matt commented that it looked like better conditions than it will be at the Olympics.

By 2pm there was a light SE and a course was set. When we started the wind went lighter and tried to switch left. Matt rounded first, I was about 5th at the top. It faded downwind and the race was shortened, I slipped past two for a 3.

Ht 7. The wind went to NE and settled at about 5 still not quite enough for the fly weights to foil. I got covered a bit after the start and did not round well. Matts Belcher and Day plus Scott lead out and occasionally foiled. Alan G foiled past me at one point. Then on the secon lap Matt B had a relapse and forgot the middle mark again, Matt D followed him and I was back in the game. Ran past Alan to the finish and 3.

Last race was a match race most of the way with young Sam McKnight sailing what wouuld have been the ideal boat for the conditions, a Hungry Tiger without hydrofoils. He had speed but I managed to get around the first lap ahead and he stayed below me up the last time when he should have tacked for clear air. In theend he clipped a mark and his circle left me with a goodlead. He still finished 2nd.

I think the places of Les, Sam and myself show that the Hungry Tiger is still a top performer in sub foiling conditions. Also my sail and the new Truflos (used by Scott, Les, Sam and Ben Crocker) seem to have closed the gap on the KA dominance of the last several years. Maybe the slightly smaller luff curves make them better in the light.

I also think that my new foil with no hinge gap on top and minimal on the bottom must have helped. Maybe my foil mold also has a lower camber section which would be less drag in the light also.

A good weekend, Lovely place to sail and very well run by JBSC and Steve Lymbery.