If you saw a very tanned, tired, bruised, and grinning sailor on the dock Sunday night, most likely they had just come off a J22! What a way to end the course racing for this summer. 8 boats were treated to 7 to 11 knots of south westerly breeze and five great races.
The day started with a "bang" (literally as one J22 did it's best to sink the committee boat with a t-bone to the transom.... favor the PIN guys!) and ended with a "phew" after 5 very competitive races. Cheers to the whole fleet for really stepping up the level of competition this summer. One mistake and kiss the top half of the fleet goodbye in each and every race (on a personal note I thought my team did some of the best sailing we have done all season and finished a distant 4Th!)
As usual the top three places were decided by three points (amazing isn't it) and a big congrats to Bill Griffin and his team for pulling off the win. Chris Fields and crew with another great day just one point out of first, and Dave Nickerson and company showing how one mistake (PMS in 2nd race) can cost you the day in third.
So on to the season totals to date with just one more week to go. As is stands now we have sailed 43 races this summer. With 75% of the races counting I calculated 10 throw outs so far. With next week counting as three races that means we will throw out a total of 11 races. What this all means....get this...the season title comes down to who beats who in the round the island Ram Island race next week between the Don't Tell Mom and Woof teams... being just two points apart! Talk about pressure! AND if Woof beats Don't Tell Mom by just one place, we may have to go to the tie breaker to decided the season winner! The combinations are maddening and this is my best guess, the point is... it's really close. Good luck and have fun.
A huge thanks everyone on a great season of buoy racing! Participation was up nicely this third season with an average of 2.3 more boats on the line every week. With two more locks for new boats and a few more fence sitters, we are well on our way to a solid double digit fleet next season (and a 20 boat fleet looks even more real each season). Make sure you tell everyone how much fun we are all having.... if you want to borrow the J22 tattoo I have on my forehead just ask!
Next week, final race, Ram Island Race, you must send in your entry by Wednesday of this week! Click Here to Register!
Race By Race for the Day
Rave by Race for the Summer so far!
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3 comments:
Fun racing yesterday, those starts are little out of control! How'd you guys have your boat set up? You two and Woof had whole another gear from the rest of us. I could never seem to hold my lane off the start, which was togh given the short beat. Close in speed, but couldn't keep the bow up with any of the fast guys. I think maybe the rig was too loose, there was a fair amount of sag in the shrouds. We had the boom on centerline, sheeted hard enough for the top battne to stall about maybe 70% of the time. And the job foot touching the foot rail on the bow, with the car adjacent to the shrouds. It all looked pretty good but wasn't going that fast. The first two races were too short to even try anything and they ran the races so quick by the time we got the boat cleaned up I couldn't adjust the rig. I think I need to travel to a regatta this Fall to get comfortable in the boat. Which ones are you guys going to?
Thanks,
Peb
Peb-
It was great to see you out there.
We were set up fairly loose - definately for the lulls not the puffs. I needed backstay in the puffs to keep the boat flat. Our lowers were extremely loose & our leward uppers were usually loose. I put a 1/2 turn on the uppers after the first race. I'll get the numbers before Wed night.
It seemed that even thought the boat was favored if the leeward boat got bow out at all they were eventually able to pinch off everyone else off. Once we got out to the powerboat waves the leeward boat could put its bow down when it needed to while the boat on its hip were stuck in point - game over.
I usually try to keep the boom close to centerline. If I'm trying to go fast I think the top tell tale is flying 50% - less if I'm pinching. We trim the jib as tight as it can go without curling the foot.
Hope this help - although I'd be more inclined to listen to what Dave has to say.
We (Dave, Gary & I) went to Lake George last year which was great. We're going to Cleveland this year - I think it's so we can go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but I'm not sure.
Chris
I trim the main probably even harder than Chris. My top tell tale hardly ever files. Boom about on centerline.
We tune the rig till the leeward upper shroud is just a little loose. We had about ½ an inch of sag to leeward at the spreaders = lowers really loose. See http://www.j22.com/tuning_thoughts.html This works for the Norths pretty well and the Qs should be close enough that this technique will get you in the ball park. I no longer use the Loos gauge.
Jib was pretty tight – We trim to the leech tell tale that you can see through the upper main window. Get it just flying strongly. I ignore the foot. As a reference to where we are, I look at the distance between the clew and the jib block (that of course changes a little when you move the lead).
A great regatta for you to go to this fall would be Lake George. Bill Griffin plans to go by the way. We had such a great time last year and intended to go back, but it conflicts with NAs in Cleveland. I need more big fleet experience and am looking towards the Worlds next August in Rochester. It’s not far away, why not?. We’ll likely do Lake George again next year.
Hope this helps.
Dave
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