Sponsored by Melges 20 Class
Click for the race report reading guide
Race Area
Once again, it looks like the left wind is on top. It could be that the wind is bending and entering the bay??? (is a bit exaggerated on the image)
Start
A bit of pin bias, but all the boats closer to the mid/pin were further behind the line so no bias got used by them. Kuai with a great start and fleet control with good speed/height.
1st Upwind
Kuai had some solid lead, but allowed too many boats to end up on its left side, and left was almost always strong before the top mark. Also, trying to get the layline from the far right is usually not the easiest task. MBlue managed to sneak into the lead.
Top Mark
The port tack mark approach is a very powerful tool, and you should almost always try to avoid shooting the right layline from far. Here is the classic example of one boat sailing 16m on port after crossing and making the mark, while the other one sailed 49m on port, so at least 33m longer than needed.
Always check if you can avoid shooting at the mark from the far right. Plan ahead. If you are in the front, it is always possible to do. If in the back, plan it in advance. Think about multiple things about the fleet and approach. For example if upwind was shifty and there are large gaps between the boats, you can come from the left since there will be no train of boats blocking you from tacking close to the mark… If boats are ahead on the right and already many on the layline, avoid going behind them. The first one tends to overstand and others just go more and more above the layline.
1st Downwind
Kuai overtook MBlue with an earlier gybe. In very light winds, this brings you to the cleaner side of the course and you are creating a bit of a windshadow to the boats that gybed after, but not far enough from you. Kuai and GhostR got nice gust after gybe and went low and fast.
Gate Rounding
left hand side mark a bit favored so GameC and USMM overtook some boats.
2nd Upwind
MBlue is the biggest loser of the leg. You can clearly spot them being headed and not reacting to it (large blue curve in the right corner). Just a quick recap of the situation and all would scream for a tack there. Usually strong on the left before the mark. A whole fleet is more left than us and we are in a good rank at the moment. Compass numbers are growing all the time…
Sentinel and Boomer made similar mistake. Not taking the left to go to the top mark but sailing way further around.
Skipping one header can often turn your potentially great upwind in a disaster. You miss the rhythm, and end up too much on the side… The GPS track shows us nicely whenever boat chooses to ignore it and just sails lower and lower all the time. What I find useful is saying the compass numbers loud all the time. Then the whole team has an idea of what is going on. You don’t need to remind yourself what the number was before because they are always said and, therefore, much harder to forget.
2nd Downwind
Kuai, USMM and MBlue used the right shift to gybe and go pretty fast downwind in the direction of the finish. The course ended up a bit skewed with more sailing on starboard. Partly due to the left shift in the 2nd part of the downwind. GhostR and Boomer are probably under the layline.
