Shape of the Jib - episodes 1, 2 and 3

Episode 1: A New Hope

It was back to the water (at last!) on 17th April. 

I know I was feeling a bit rusty, but it was a chance to try out 13941 after a long break due to the COVID lock-downs. 

Luckily, the boat appeared in good shape. A new tie-down was required for the port spinnaker sheet. We have a new bowsprit - to keep the spinnaker sheet from falling in the water - made from an old burgee mast bent back on itself, and the burgee needed to be replaced. Other than that, we were good to go.

Winds were light - F1 with gusts of no more than F3. 

The day was three races back-to-back: A, followed by B, followed by the final A race.

Romek Kowalewski offered to crew for me, and he made a good job of keeping the boat flat. Romek is currently learning how to fly the spinnaker, and he preferred to just crew today, so we "cruised" around the "B" race, but were able to keep track of the rest of the fleet. 

For the third race, we apparently fouled a Laser being helmed by a friend of mine - I guess neither of us were properly paying attention, as I was not even aware of having been in anyone's way. That third race was compounded by snagging the bow of the committee boat with the main halyard on the downwind spinnaker run.

Apart from that, it was good to get out in the water. Hopefully, the cobwebs have been cleared out, and we can look forward to a season of learning how to sail again.

Episode 2: The Phantom Menace

I was looking forward to the following racing on 24th. The plan was A, B, with a tea break and final A race.

Winds were F3-F4 with some exciting gusts. Tom Lohan was crewing for me, and looking forward to his own race later on in the afternoon.

In the first race, we had a middle-of-fleet start, and were taking time before we got control of the boat in the slightly stronger winds compared with the previous week. Although I have never been front-of-the-fleet, I did feel that we were holding our own on the beat to the Eastern part of the lake.

On the spinnaker run down towards the number 2 buoy, we were still holding off a few other boats. Then a  gybe round number 2, down to number 1 on a quick reach, and back into a beat heading east again. Then it happened.

As we got onto the beat, the boat did not feel right. Looking at the genoa luff, there was a huge curve where the rig tension luff wire should have been. It was as if the rig tension had been let off going downwind. I do sometimes let out the genoa tension downwind (something that is more common in a boat like a Star than a GP14, I know...), but could not remember having done so this time. Nevertheless, I yanked on the rig tension - to find that nothing was reponding. Clearly something was very wrong. 

It took quite a while as we drifted around trying to master the boat and get back on the beat. Then it became clear what had happened. The pulley sheave block for the genoa - that controls the entry of the genoa halyard into the mast - had completely pulled out of the mast. 

I guess that was primarily a case of "wear and tear" - to boat itself is 14 years old - and the rig tension that I had put on had simply pulled the sheave out of the mast. The block was only held in place by two self-tapping screws. Maybe my enthusiasm with the halyard had been a last straw. Game over.

We abandoned the race, sailed back, and tried to repair the damage with some help from some parts from my friend "Scooter". We parked the boat under a building, so we could work on the block from the balcony. But to no avail. 

My attempts to work on the rig tension of the mended block had a worse effect - I pulled out some metal from the mast.

So we took the mast off the boat, and I went home, contemplating several hundred pounds needed for a replacement mast. 

Episode 3: Revenge of the Jib

During the week, a Force - in the shape of Craig Sanders - intervened. 

Craig had seen my issues, and during the week he pop-riveted two pieces of metal onto the mast and re-connected the block. In so doing, he saved me a significant amount of money. 

So all looked well. It was time to try out the boat again on 1st May.

The conditions looked promising for a shake-down of the new halyard setup. Winds were F1with a couple of gusts of F2. Although the wind was veering and backing quite a lot. At one time it was Northerly, and later on it became more Westerly. Tom Lohan was keen to have another go.

When setting up the boat, it appeared that I could not pull on enough tension - something I put down to the different sized pulley on the sheave block. And bearing in mind the light winds, there did not seem to be a problem with having only 350 lb of pressure, rather than the normal 400 lb. Little did I know what had happened.

Due to an approaching storm, the decision was taken to do three races back-to-back. 

The races were reasonably uneventful. I was able to get a fairly good start in both of my races, and Tom did a blinding start, and was 4th up the beat. However, we were both a bit slow on the rest of the race, and so we slipped back. 

I think my biggest problem at the moment is a lack of focus / concentration.  My aim in the weeks ahead is to improve my focus over the duration of a race, starting at the starting, and then focusing on making sure I am strong on the first leg - then build on that. I don't expect to do any "Open" events this year - if I can focus on improving my fleet position in the Harp, then I will be content this year. Maybe the Worlds in 2022 ? But only if I can improve in the meantime. 

So we returned to the jetty with a relaxed approach. It had been a fruitful start. I was confident that I was on the start of a learning season. 

But I could not let down the genoa. The rig tension was stuck up, and would not release. And that was in addition to the fact that I had not been able to pull it on earlier. The penny dropped - the genoa halyard was jammed into the sheave block. 

Sure enough, when we turned the boat over, we had to struggle to unjam the halyard. 

On inspection, it became clear that the existing block and pulley were too far worn. In addition, when examining the jib halyard, the metal had frayed, and had gained a "memory" kink. It was time to order a replacement for each. 

So it was back home to crack open the laptop and try to source a new Jib Halyard and Sheave block. 

The next episode will follow shortly....

High Winds in the Harp - Glorious day

This Saturday (31st October) was a great days sailing. 

Tom & I saw forecasts of 14 knots, gusting in the 20s and 30s at times. It was worth thinking about - should we go out?

On arrival at the Harp, we reminded ourselves that we may not be able to sail again for some time - since it was rumoured that England would be in 'Lock-Down' during November. So this would be a rare opportunity - so we decided to go for it.

As we launched 13941 into the Harp, we were almost the only team that was prepared to risk the high winds.

I must admit that I was a bit nervous, but Tom was a great crew, and we managed to keep the boat flat - most of the time.

Sarah (Tom's other half) took a few photos and video of us - it does look a bit calm from that direction, but once we were in the middle of the lake, we were able to get the boat on the plane multiple times. 

We came in after an hour for a quick break. We were advised that there was a problem with the safety boat, so we hung around on shore until they were able to get another safety boat ready for supporting the plain sailors (who went out with full reefing), as well as supporting ourselves. 

The second session that morning was not quite as enjoyable - the rain had began to arrive, and with it some complex wind shifts. But we kept going, and stayed upright - it was great fun.

After lunch, we looked at the conditions and decided to join in the racing. 

The first race was a 2-1-8-7, against a south-westerly wind. Before the starting gun, we did some practice gybes, and promptly capsized. I was able to get on the centreboard, and we were able to join the racing successfully, with no issues, but it was a reminder not to be too confident. 

We made a cautious start (why do I always do cautious starts????) and were mid-fleet along the first leg. Tom did a great job of keeping the boat flat, and we were fighting along side Andy Shrimpton and Andy Wadsworth for some of the time. As we rounded no 1, we flew the kite, which was another confidence booster. 

As time went on for that race (which was nearly an hour by the time we finished), we gradually lost position, and slipped back to the bottom of the fleet of about 8 boats.

I thought we were going to be 'not last' at one time, when Andy Shrimpton lost it and capsized, so we had another boat behind us. 

In the final leg, we lost the starboard pulley block for the spinnaker, so no more spinnaker flying for the day.

After we rounded number 1 on what was to become the final leg, we were overtaken by Andy Shrimpton and Roger, who came screaming past with a full kite. There was no way we were going to catch them with only 2 sails. 

So we were last, but had really enjoyed ourselves. 

We started preparations for the second race, with Tom helming this time. As we did, a massive gust came through, and the Cunningham sheet and genoa lead-string caught up in the genoa sheets. It took ages for me to untangle them, so we started really down the fleet. 

But I was getting tired, so Tom agreed to go in - we had had a great day, but I did not want to chance things too much. 

At the end of the day, we had had a failed spinnaker pulley, a patch needed in the Mylar main, and also a burgee was seriously bent on the top of the mast (probably due to the mast-head boyancy). But underlining all of that, we had had a glorious time, got some real experience of high winds, and a massive boost of confidence. 

Will lock-down keep us off the water next month? Who knows? But we had had a day worth savouring.

Commodores Cup 2020 - encouraging teamwork

I have been gradually easing myself into sailing over the last few months.

The Welsh Harp Sailing Club have put together some very sensible precautions and systems to ensure that everyone is safe, based on RYA advice. For example, any racing is at owners' risk, and we have to carry a mast-head bouyancy aid in order to prevent dinghys becoming inverted in the case of a capsize. This takes some of risks away from having safety boat crews who are limited, due to corona virus.

Nevertheless, I did not want to take too many risks going back onto the water. So for the last few weeks I have just contented myself with single-handed practice in 13941. I have done this for a number of weeks on early Saturday mornings, and then come off the water before everyone else piles in for the Saturday Training and/or Racing.

As my own confidence grew about the level of risks, I also helped out with Dinghy Instructing in a recent RYA Level 1/2 course which was run by the Welsh Harp Sailing Club. 

Finally, I began to tag along with the "Plain Sailing" practice, and provided some Dinghy coaching for a family with their own GP14. The fact that this was a transom-main rigged boat did add to the excitement !

So having built up a bit of confidence, it was time to get back into racing.

The opportunity for this was the Commodores Cup, which is an annual event for GP14 and Lasers, run in the form of a full regatta over a complete day. 

For health reasons, we did not have any lunch provided, and tea and cakes were missing. But it was still an attractive opportunity.

Tom agreed to crew for me, and is also keen to crew for me going forward. He is married to Sarah, who crewed for me a year ago. Tom had also previously crewed for Lesley Kaye. Lesley was also a mentor to me over the years, but had sadly moved away to Portland - which is a great place to sail. So I had a crew member who was very competent, which really helped my confidence.

My aim for the day was to enjoy the time, and "feel the boat", rather than trying to intellectualise everything that was happening.

Wind was fairly mild, but we would need to hike out at times. It was varying in direction from the South or from the West. So we knew that we could not use one lap of a race as too much of a guide for the following lap. Wind was force 1 to 2 only.

For the First Race, the course was 2-1-6-7-3, which built a kink into the course, which required a bit of forward planning. It looked like a pin-end biased line. However, I suspected that we would have more chance with clear air on the committee boat end. I was proved right, as we were level with the fleet up the first beat. However, we tacked too early for the mark, and were caught up on a port tack against a lot of other boats. Prudence dictated that we dropped back. This put us mid-fleet. 

I was pleased that we were "fighting" with the lower part of the fleet for much of the time. We were able to make a couple of moves at the leeward mark, and gain a place or two, and then lost that on the beat. (we need to find out why this happened). All in all, we finished 9th out of 12 boats.

The Second Race had the same course, but this time we ducked some of the fleet to find clear air at the start. But we were lower down the first beat than previously. Tom's spinnaker work was really helping us keep our pace. I was having to concentrate hard to bear away in gusts, but head up slightly in a lull, in order to keep the wind flowing over the sails. Again, we were 9th out of 12.

For the Final race, the course was changed so that there were more spinnaker gybes, and the course was shorter.We were caught up in a gaggle of boats on the committee boat end during the start, and probably crossed the line last. So any a gain was going to be an achievement. We dropped back to 10th. But were rewarded by the fact that we had beaten off attacks from behind, and were catching other boats ahead. 

In conclusion, Tom & I totally enjoyed the experience. We had taken some boats in the good times, and lost at others. But confidence was high.

I'm hoping that we will be able to build on this for the future- hopefully move up the fleet a bit.

(Not) Racing my GP14 during the lock-down

I am sure that I am not the only Dinghy Sailor who is aching to be back on the water.

We dream of that feeling of the wind in our hair, of the perfect roll-tack that lee-bows the opposition, of the thrill of the spinnaker launch that gets us powering downwind ahead of the opposition.

But, realistically, it looks like it will still be some time. The club to which I belong is still locked down, although we are at least able to visit the club to check our boats. Whilst I am keen to restart racing, I know that to go back too soon would be dangerous. So we are stuck at home.

So what to do? Well, here are a few ideas that I have found useful during this period:

Exercise and Diet

It took me a while to realise that this at-home culture was not doing me any good, so I took up running (well, jogging really !) to ensure that I kept a reasonable level of fitness. If, like me, you doubted that you could run for more than 5 minutes, take heart. It is possible to expand your capability so that you can keep going for 20 minutes or more. So that gives me some achievable, specific goals to work at. And helps my cardio at the same time.

At the same time, it's really instructive to keep track of what you eat - I have to admit that the weight is going up - so time to limit my food intake a bit.

Reading 

Last Christmas I was given a really good book on Sailing "From Back to Front". I am sure that most people have a copy of "Start to Win". Throw in the RYA book on "Tactics" and there is plenty to keep me occupied, and away from the television.

Although reading about sailing (and not being able to put anything into practice) can seem frustrating, I console myself with believing that I am accumulating a font of knowledge that will pay dividends in the future.

Visualisation and Dreaming 

According to psychologists, the top athletes make use of visualisation as a technique to implant their skills into the deeper part of the brain. We sometimes talk about 'muscle memory' - the ability to instinctively respond to a situation. So take heart, if you are day-dreaming about sailing, maybe you are doing yourself some good, by establishing strong sailing skills which can guide you later on.

And Finally...

When we do get back on the water, I know I will need to take it in stages, since my 'sea legs' will have worn off. The only consolidation is that so will everyone else.

See you on the water again ... some time soon, I hope !

All systems working properly

Sarah & I took out 13941 for Saturday Racing yesterday.

Everything worked properly.

The day started with a single-handed check-out. The boat seemed very well balanced, and ready to go.

I helmed the first race, and we took our normal place near the back of the fleet. My objective these days is to learn as much as possible about how to race the GP14. The fact that I have such an objective is proof that I am now comfortable with the boat.

We made some progress through the race, lost a few positions, and gained a few. I think we were 4 or 5 boats from the end. Lots to learn.

Sarah then helmed the second race. We had a difficult start - the line was quite short, so we were behind the line at the start, then tacked to port, ducked the fleet and found ourself in a lifting tack on the right hand side of the course.

My crewing let us down at least once - we were leading some boats out of a mark rounding and I got her to tack in front of another boat. We had to do turns, which left us as the back of the fleet. Then things got interesting.

At this point, Sarah did really well - probably the best helming ever. We systematically overtook at least 4 other boats to claw ourselves back into the race. Pride was restored.

And, at the end of the day, there was no water inside the boat.

We are ready for the new year.

Now, where was that copy of  Start to Win.... ?

Where is all the water coming from?

Today was an important day; my beloved 13941 was back on the water.

I was really impressed by the work that Ben Dingwall had done with the repair to the bow, and looking forward to sailing her again.

It took most of the morning to get everything set up. I did not check the mast rake or other mast settings, but I know the rig tension was correct.

Weather was very very mild this weekend - about 1 or 2 knots, and coming from different directions every time - typical Welsh Harp, in fact.

Sarah & I sailed out together, seeing this as primarily a "shake down" cruise, rather than real racing.

The challenge I find in light wind courses is the need to keep focused and concentrate on the very minute wind changes all the time. For the first race, I accidentally balked Lydia (14038), and had to apologise later. She was very gracious about it. We started near the top of the fleet during the first beat, but went too wide, lost concentration, and ended up half way down. From then on, things got worse. At one time, we were at the back of the fleet. But coming up to the penultimate buoy, it seemed to me that there was a chance to sail "loose" for the committee boat, rather than the finish buoy. It worked, and we took a couple of boats before the finish.

For Sarah's race, she also made a reasonable start, but it is not easy sailing in light winds, particularly if you do not have much experience of roll tacking. So she lost a lot of places, but we were again able to sneak in a couple of gains on the final leg.

The last race was an unfortunate mixture of things done correctly and things done very badly. I think we ended up last overall.

However, it was an enjoyable day.

The only problem was when we took the boat off the water. I estimate that we had had a couple of gallons of water (10 litres?) pour out of the bung between the two "skins". What had it come from? I have no idea.

I noticed that the starboard self-bailer had filled with water, so clearly there is a leak somewhere there. And it is possible that we had shipped water through the centreboard casing when we roll tacked the boat.

So we have some investigation to do.

Next Stop: the Brent Regatta during the Bank Holiday Monday. Looking forward to it.

Venetian 2019 - Progress

Saturday 6 April, 2019.

The 63rd Venetian to be held at the Welsh Harp.

And Sarah was crewing for me.

Because my beloved 13941 was still in for repair, we were able to use Tom & Sarah's boat - 13851, although it was carrying the sail numbers 1388.

Winds were force 4, with gusts of force 5. It was coming in from the East, which is usually a good sign for me, since I have sailed well in that situation before, and I know that the southern shoreline can be faster than the northern one in those conditons.

Bearing in mind that we had only sailed together about 3 times, we focused on enjoying ourselves, and ensuring that we did not hit anything!

Unfortunately, we did not have particularly good starts in any of the races. The first race I mis-timed the run to the line, and was below a gaggle of boats on the line. Time to tack off to port, and get ducking them all. But we were able to finish 17th in that race, out of 25 entrants.

The second race was after lunch, and we had problems rigging the boat, which meant that we actually set out from the pontoon and straight into the race. Overall finishing position 22nd.

The third start was better, but we still had to tack off and duck boats before we could find a passing lane. Final position was 19th.

So the biggest achievement was the first race. The course was 7-8-1-2, which meant a spinnaker run to 2, followed by a quick reach. At the final lap, we then had to beat for the committee boat. As we came in to number 1, we had a couple of boats near us. Rather than gybing the spinnaker, we dropped it and hardened up, keeping very high on the reach from 1 to 2, which would give us the inner lane at 2, and luff up anyone trying to climb over us. This worked - textbook. So we hardened up at number 2 and went full-pelt to the committee boat (biased line to the committee boat end) and managed to gain our 17th place from that manoeuvre.

So allowing for the discards, we ended up 19th. Not last, and we had shown some potential.

The spinnaker work had been fun, and we had done some great tacking.

All in all, and extremely enjoyable day. A great encouragement.

I still have a tendency to pinch too much, and must keep the boat flatter, but its a good beginning.

Now, about the idea of taking part in the other Southern Travellers series this year....