The past two weekends I watched and coached 9 sailors from St. Thomas Aquinas High School at Club420 Midwinters, and sailed J24 Midwinters as trimmer for my college coach Robby Brown. Here's a somewhat random rendering of what went down and what we learned, plus an afterthought on weather or not each area relates to High School Sailing. Enjoy!
Recap:
Both 3 day regattas were sailed in enclosed Bays, Jensen Beach and Hillsborough Bay in Tampa. The majority of the races were sailed in over 10 kts, but with a shortened-course-drifter at each regatta. At the C420 Mids 2 boats, Chris Williford/Dae Kelly and Sophia Reineke/Patrick Shannahan were in a position to finish in the top 10 going into Sunday's Gold Fleet racing (the 102 boats were split into 2 fleets). Unfortunately they struggled with Starting and Sophia had a breakdown, dropping several places. Preparation and trap/spin inexperience led to not quite the results we were going for, but it was nevertheless great to see these sailors compete with the best in the C420 Class.
above: Chris and Dae horizon jobbing a race. Below: when did sailing become like short track speed skating? When you race 50 boats that all go equally slow. Mack n' Max are the purple and black kite second from left. Chris and Dae are the middle rasta kite that wins this cluster &*%$ (look for 7211 stopping, going inside and shooting out) Mack and Max are never in clear air and needed to stay low longer before trying to cross under/in front of the fleet. Or just go high on the reaches (worked all regatta).
My J24 team was similarly unprepared, having a 1.5 hour practice on Thursday as our only time in the boat together since last year. Being rough around the edges cost us some points in a couple races, falling for a Jud Smith fake jybe, and getting start-fouled to a 16th left us in 4th overall after 4 races. On Saturday we had better communication in the boat, consistent if unspectacular mid-pin starts, and posted 4 top 4 finishes, putting us in 2nd, 2 points behind current World Champion Will Wells, and 10 pints ahead of 3rd (past world Champ John Mollicon) But on Sunday, the Bay was so smooth birds got a good look at themselves, and racing was (frustratingly for us) canceled.
Applies to High School Sailing Y/N? Yes. Good learning opportunities on mentally and physically enduring a 3 day regatta in the cold (could happen at Mallory/Baker) and sailing in Oscilating Shifts from a strategic and technical standpoint.
Toward Supercrewing: The more complex the boat, and the higher the level of competition, the more critical the crew becomes to the overall success of the boat. The basic responsibilities of the crew on any boat are: Sail trim, Heel control/weight placement, communication. But look at any of these responsibilities further and they branch out into a plethora of things a crew must do well! In the Club 420, crews had to learn the ins and outs (literally) of trapezing, wire to wire tacks, and how to sit forward in light air - all just to keep the boat flat! Oh, and do that while trimming your sails perfectly, using kinetics at the appropriate time, anticipating boathandeling maneuvers, and keeping your skipper in phase and out of trouble in a 50 boat fleet!
Some tips for doing all of this well:
* Crews must read sails like a Driver. When trimming the J24 genoa, Robby and I spent most of the upwind legs both looking at the same things - the jib telltales, and the water 0-5 boatlengths to windward. When a puff would hit, I would ease the Genoa - to allow the boat to head up (aka steering with the Jib), but only just enough to get a small flicker on the windward telltale, or a slight bubble in overpowering conditions. As Robby would head up, I had to wind the Genoa back in at exactly the right speed to maintain flow. This was a significantly faster technique than a cleated jib sheet (I never cleated the jib) because instead of stalling in a puff or lift with the stalled jib pushing the bow down, we converted lifts to speed and headed up just as quickly, also maintaining a consistent angle of heel. In the C420, the crew plays the jib a lot less, but needs to read it to know when to move in and out - and read the water for the same info.
* Compartmentalize Communication. Everyone has specific things they need to talk about during each part of the race so we avoid both omission and redundancy. The skipper should talk jib trim to the crew - "ease," "trim!" depending on what groove (pinch/foot) they are trying to sail, and the crew needs to react immediately (always remember to trim smoothly despite the panic in your Drivers voice!). The crew can sometimes remind the driver the state of their trim - "got you eased 4 inches of the spreader" and should notice if the driver is not pointing high enough - "you've got Ups!" But the majority of the sail trim conversation upwind should flow from driver to crew. In the C420 the crew absolutely has to notice and communicate puffs, windshifts, and the angles, speeds and positions of other relevant boats. In the J24 the shift/puff calling was handled by the Tactician, and other that trimming, I focused mainly on watching the corners - telling the skipper when the lead boats on each side were continuing out or tacking back; and weather they looked ahead or behind us. Upwind, the skipper speaks the language of speed, while the crew paints a picture of the course.
Downwind the roles reverse: the crew must focus on the kite and communicate the pressure they feel in it (head up when it feels too light, down when you have a puff), while the C420 skipper needs to look back to get puffs and a clear lane.
* Have a repeatable Choreography. We do this all the time with roll tacks, but when learning a new boathandleing skill, you need to find the most efficient way to do it, and get it done! I always try to be as smooth as possible, and never clomp my feet on the boat. When swinging into the companionway to trim in light air, or for a 420 crew swinging into the forward leeward box in light air, try to distribute your weight among your arms as well as your legs. Be careful not to touch anything you shouldn't (the vang, boom, or sails). Move without altering your jib trim, but always land in a position to see (possibly with with neck gymnastics) and trim the jib.
* Anticipate maneuvers like sets and douses, so you are calm and ready for them. When things do go wrong know why and problem solve as quickly as possible. Know that you make the boat go fast and have a quiet confidence in your ability to do this!
Applies to High School Sailing Y/N? Absolutely. Top Crew-work is essential to competing on a National level. For further reading on the skipper crew relationship, check out this article by Nikki Bruno.
Notes on Spinnakers:
Trimming a spinnaker can be thought of much like trimming a regular sail. The goal is to induce flow over the sail from the luff to the leech. Present a shape too close to paralleling the wind direction and it luffs. Over-trim it and it stalls. The Kite is only complicated because of these variables:
* The Tack (windward bottom corner) moves fore and aft on the axis of the pole.
* The chord depth (curve) of the sail is varied by the overall trim of the sheets (see picture).
The trimmer/crew should therefore:
*Strive to bring the pole back and ease the sheet until we have flow (windward edge of the kite will indicate this by curling in and out).
* ...bearing in mind the kite should be fuller and farther out from the rig in light air (also, through Jybes and when the Genoa is up), pulled back and flattened ("strapped") for area in heavy air.
*Spinnaker kinetics are more delicate than upwind kinetics because the fabric and thus the shape is more volatile. In J24's much of my trimming was aimed at 'stabilizing' the kite - discouraging the belly from billowing back and forth. However, in the 420 in surfing conditions, the crew pumping the sheet and guy once per wave is critical to catching waves. Crews got a lot of practice pumping without luffing or stalling the kite, and 'body pumping' in concert to turn the boat to a deeper angle on each wave.
Applies to High School Sailing Y/N? Not really - we don't use spinnakers. However, reading a sensitive sail is always good practice as crews do need to ease the Jib to the max and read telltales on a reach.
J24 World Champ Luke Lawrence recently explained to me that he likes crewing better than coaching, because "...with coaching, some of your kids win, others loose; with sailing on a team, you have the ability to help everbody win!" Cole Alsop, in his motivational remarks to our C420 group before Sunday, encouraged shipmates to "say something nice or positive to the other person in the boat." While a recent Sailing World article stressed the need for a "Glue guy" on each boat, our J24 was really blessed with at least 3. Mark Leibol our Tactician kept everybody loose by telling inappropriate jokes between each race, while Jim Traum was the consumate teammate, scrubbing the bottom, and going down in the bilge whenever it made the boat go faster. I Speed polished the hull the day before the regatta and wiped the deck and pre-rigged each morning. We each noticed each others contributions and it significantly improved our communication and sense of unity from day 1 to day 2 of the event.
Its important to note that negative team chemistry is equally possible. When you make you teammate rig the boat because its cold any your feeling lazy, then how can you expect them to trust you and give 100% of themselves the rest of the day on the water? While I don't have a tape recorder in each boat, it seemed that the culture aboard some of the C420 teams was less than synergous. While books and books and audiobooks have been written about the internal mental Zone required to excel in competition (The Inner Game of Tennis, Winning in One Designs, Michael Blackburn's Sailing Mind Skills), what you do externally for your team's psychology is equally important.
Applies to High School Sailing Y/N? Yes.
(Lack of) Preparation Looses Sailboat Races
The above picture is of us botching a spinnaker set and nearly snapping the pole, all because the leeward "twing" (works like a guy hook) got accidentally cleated on the upwind leg and I let the kite fill before the guy was hauled in. We also had a beat with terrible roll tacks because I forgot to downsize the Jib sheets (we use 2 sets) when it got lighter. At the C420 Mids, Mack n Max were late to a race because they had to untangle the spinnaker. Acceptable - had it not been the first race of the regatta! Chris and Dae lost 10 boats (and later another ten on light air hull trim + a Yellow flag) with an epic wrap in their kite, which could have been prevented by "running the tape" (working your hand down the green windward edge to take out any twists) between races. In regattas where places come down to a couple points, these mistakes hurt! Take the time to prepare to the best of your abilities - there really can't be any 'down time' at practices or regattas.
Applies to High School Sailing Y/N? Yes!!! The list of things you need to check is shorter, and you can get redress if things out of your control break. However, you also have to check out an entirely new boat each time you go sailing! In SAISA where the equipment sucks, you need to have a checklist - Main Hal? Jib tension? Shrouds Taped? Boat/Tanks Dry? Hiking Strap lines? Tiller universal? Rudder Down Line? Sheets in good shape? Outhaul, Vang Cunningham right? - that you go over every time you step in a new boat.
Here's to another midwinter's season of getting on the water, breaking things, having fun, and attempting to grow as sailors.
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